Millennium Development Goals

Sakiko Fukuda-Parr is Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School, New York. From 1995 to 2004, she was Director of the UNDP Human Development Reports.

• Introduction: Goals and norms of development Part I Shaping the international development agenda: From human development and human rights to basic needsChapter 1. Prospective circa 2003: The Millennium Development Goals—why they matterChapter 2. Retrospective circa 2013: Recapturing the human rights vision of the Millennium DeclarationPart II The marketplace of ideasChapter 3. The emergence and spread of the global poverty normChapter 4. The poverty narrative and the political economy of developmentChapter 5. Are the MDGs a priority in national poverty reduction strategies and aid programs? Only a few are!Part III Global goals and the power of numbers Chapter 6. Global goals as a policy tool: Intended and unintended effects of quantificationChapter 7. The power of numbers: How targets perverted human rights and human development agendasChapter 8. Framing the discourse and shaping agendas: The MDG hunger target and the narrative of food securityChapter 9. MDGs as performance measures: Faulty metrics that penalize countries starting behindChapter 10. Conclusion: Global goals to set international agendasSelect bibliography

‘This book, by one of the foremost analysts of development goals, presents a review of the strong influence but also the limitations of the United Nations’ MDGs. It holds important lessons on the use of global goals, and it is a must read in the era of the SDGs launched by the UN in 2015.’ - José Antonio Ocampo, Professor, Columbia University, USA. Former UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs'This critically important book examines the consequences of using numerical goals for development. Focusing on the major contemporary development initiative, Sakiko Fukuda-Parr exposes serious limitations of governance by indicators, particularly for a human rights approach to development.' Sally Engle Merry, New York University and author of 'The Seductions of Quantification: Measuring Human Rights, Gender Violence, and Sex Trafficking' 'Just like the king in "The Little Prince" claimed to command the sun to set every evening, the MDGs have been credited with results that would most likely have happened anyhow, while obscuring increased inequalities and structural causes. A privileged witness and participant, Sakiko Fukuda-Parr brilliantly documents in this book two decades of development practice and narrative and draws unavoidable conclusions.' - Roberto Bissio, coordinator of Social Watch