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DE RUEHC #7433/01 1261947
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O R 051939Z MAY 08
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO ALL DIPLOMATIC POSTS COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHINGTON DC 4032
RUEATRS/TREASURY DEPT WASHINGTON DC 9425
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC 0397

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 STATE 047433 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON PREL UN
SUBJECT: GUIDANCE: U.S. APPROACH TO THE MILLENNIUM 
DEVELOPMENT GOALS 
 
ALSO FOR USAID MISSIONS 
NSC FOR KARA MCDONALD 
 
 
 
 
 
 
¶1.  This cable is an action request for USUN (see para. 
12) and is intended as a brief overview of current U.S. 
policy for other posts.  More guidance is available on the 
State/IO Bureau intranet website (see para. 13). 
 
¶2.  Summary.  The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have 
gained increased prominence in international conferences 
and events.  Posts can expect interlocutors to raise in 
the context of the UN General Assembly, and some may seek 
U.S. participation in various fora to highlight specific 
MDG goals.  The U.S. supports completing certain 
time-bound "core" goals in the Millennium Declaration, but 
does not utilize the UN's MDG "Road Map" or its 
performance indicators.  We strongly support the original 
goals set out in the Millennium Declaration and are 
working hard to achieve them globally, by supporting 
states that take ownership of their own development and 
incorporate the MDGs into their national development 
strategies.  Our policy differs from others on how best to 
achieve the MDGs by putting less emphasis on official 
development assistance as the path to countries achieving 
the MDGs and more emphasis on the importance of national 
leadership and good governance in development; by 
establishing a pro-growth economic policy; investing in 
people; and by addressing the obstacles of fragile and 
failing states.  End summary. 
 
MDGs - Center of Development Debate 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  A number of international conferences and high-level 
events are touching on the Millennium Development Goals 
(MDGs).  In addition, some states (the U.K., Denmark) are 
drawing attention to their unique agendas for achieving 
certain goals.  The goals cover a number of policy areas 
where the U.S. has existing development programs.  In 
these fora we are proactively explaining our approach to 
development and the MDGs. 
 
What The MDGs Are and What They Are Not 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  The MDGs are the internationally agreed goals in the 
Millennium Declaration, signed in 2000.  The U.S. focuses 
on contributing towards achieving certain time-bound 
"core" goals in the Declaration: 
 
-- To halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the 
world's people whose income is less than one dollar a day 
and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and, 
by the same date, to halve the proportion of people who 
are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water. 
 
-- To ensure that, by the same date, children everywhere, 
boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full 
course of primary schooling and that girls and boys will 
have equal access to all levels of education. 
 
-- By the same date, to have reduced maternal mortality by 
three quarters, and under-five child mortality by two 
thirds, of their current rates. 
 
-- To have, by then, halted, and begun to reverse, the 
spread of HIV/AIDS, the scourge of malaria and other major 
diseases that afflict humanity. 
 
-- To provide special assistance to children orphaned by 
HIV/AIDS. 
 
-- By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in 
the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers as 
proposed in the "Cities Without Slums" initiative. 
 
Since 2000, however, the goals have been modified and 
repackaged by the UN into a "Road Map" in an attempt to 
give states a framework for achieving them and reporting 
 
STATE 00047433  002 OF 004 
 
 
on their progress.  As of today, the Road Map contains a 
combination of numbered goals taken from the Millennium 
Declaration and the 2005 World Summit Outcome document. 
 
¶4.  The UN Road Map says that all of the goals in it are 
time-bound, although some of the original goals the UN 
drew upon are not.  The Road Map also contains 
"performance indicators," which are supposed to measure 
progress towards achieving the goals, not become goals in 
themselves. 
 
¶5.  It is important to emphasize that the goals measure 
global progress towards certain objectives.   They do not 
by themselves represent a comprehensive development 
strategy, as some assert or imply.  However, they may 
overlap with or be incorporated into national development 
strategies. 
 
U.S. Perspective on the MDGs 
---------------------------- 
 
¶6.  The Millennium Declaration is a landmark document 
because it united every country in the world to work to 
achieve some simple objectives in a time-bound manner. 
While General Assembly resolutions are not binding, this 
one rallied broad support.  Tremendous progress towards 
the goals has been made globally.  For example, the 
proportion of people who live on less than $1 a day fell 
globally from nearly a third to less than a fifth between 
1990 (the base year for measuring progress towards the 
MDGs) and 2004.  Under current economic trends, the world 
is on track to meet the goal of reducing poverty by half 
by 2015.  This will be a monumental achievement. 
 
¶7.  However, the UN has taken an unproductive tack by 
issuing reports on its Road Map for the MDGs that monitor 
whether states appear to be "on track" or "off track" to 
complete them.  This has had the effect of making 
developing states defensive about their progress or lack 
thereof, and is the basis for arguments that more official 
development assistance (ODA) is the only way to meet the 
goals.  Increasing ODA, while undoubtedly useful in 
particular circumstances, may be counter-productive in 
some environments, is not sustainable, and will not solve 
the economic growth problems faced by many developing 
states. 
 
U.S. Strategy: Positive Dialogue and Getting Beyond the 
MDGs 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
- 
 
¶8.  In a recent debate at the UN on the MDGs, USAID 
Administrator and Director of Foreign Assistance Henrietta 
¶H. Fore delivered a speech that explained the U.S. 
approach toward the MDGs.  In providing MDG-related 
assistance, as we do with other bilateral and multilateral 
development assistance, we work with other donors and 
partner countries and stress the importance of (a) host 
country ownership of the process and good governance, (b) 
pro-growth economic policies, (c) investing in people, 
through health, education and other programs, and (d) 
addressing fragile and failing states, which need special 
assistance (not just more ODA) to achieve the MDGs. 
 
¶9.  While the U.S. does not endorse the numbered MDG 
framework set up by the UN, or the addition of so-called 
"targets" or "performance indicators," we strongly support 
the original goals set out in the Millennium Declaration 
and are working hard to achieve them globally.  For more 
information about our programs, please see para. 13.  The 
U.S. is the largest donor of bilateral official 
development assistance in the world.  Our programs on 
reducing the spread of infectious diseases are the most 
comprehensive in history.  We have a great development 
story to tell and we want to spread a positive message on 
the importance of development. 
 
¶10.  Not all states endorse the UN Road Map for the MDGs, 
yet it is not uncommon to see claims by UN System or other 
organizations that the Road Map MDGs have been endorsed by 
the UN.  For example, a recent UN resolution stated: 
"Noting that full and productive employment and decent 
work for all have been adopted as a new target under the 
Millennium Development Goal 1".  There is no mention of 
'full and productive employment and decent work for all' 
in the Millennium Declaration.  The UN modified its Road 
Map in January 2008 to draw in this goal from the World 
Summit Outcome Document and make it into a time-bound MDG 
target.  The change was not negotiated by member states, 
 
STATE 00047433  003 OF 004 
 
 
nor endorsed -- states only "took note" of the change. 
Posts that encounter references to the MDGs (including in 
documents handled by multilateral development banks, the 
African Union, Organization of American States, and other 
multilateral or regional institutions) should be wary of 
claims that its contents have been "endorsed" by the UN 
or its member states.  In such cases, please check with 
IO/EDA (contact information in para. 13). 
 
Key Points in Discussing the MDGs 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶11.  On an if-raised basis, Post should draw upon the 
following guidance when discussing the MDGs and can find 
additional points by visiting the website for the Office 
of Economic and Development Affairs in the State 
Department International Organization Affairs Bureau 
(IO/EDA) for expanded "megatalkers" on the MDGs (see para. 
13). 
 
¶12.  USUN is instructed to draw on the following points in 
all UN System fora: 
 
-- We strongly support the original goals set out in the 
Millennium Declaration and are working hard to achieve 
them globally, including by helping countries work to 
achieve them. 
 
-- It is important to have a positive outlook on the MDGs, 
and focus on what works, that is, what countries are doing 
to achieve their development goals.  Some countries are 
having more difficulty than others in reaching their 
MDGs.  They can learn from the successes of others. 
 
-- Developing countries face different challenges and have 
different priorities, so not everyone is committed to 
meeting each goal.  Countries are free to choose their own 
set or mix of MDGs, and the U.S. partners with countries 
to help them achieve their development goals. 
 
-- It is essential the each country take ownership of its 
development goals and have its own national strategy to 
achieve them. 
 
-- We also have found that states promoting good 
governance, enabling the private sector, removing 
constraints to growth, and developing public-private 
partnerships tend to have better success in reaching and 
sustaining their development goals. 
 
-- Economic growth is the engine that will enable 
countries to achieve and sustain the MDGs. 
 
-- The MDGs can be an effective tool to promote action and 
stimulate development efforts around shared objectives. 
While there are many aspirational goals states have 
adopted in the UN, we believe it is important to keep 
discussion of the MDGs focused on the core goals of 
reducing poverty and hunger, improving health and 
education and combating major diseases.  Expanding the 
MDGs risks losing our focus and the shared consensus that 
binds us together in action. 
 
FRAGILE STATES 
 
-- Fragile and failing states -- characterized by weak 
institutional capacities, poor governance, political 
instability, internal conflict and large numbers of their 
people living in extreme poverty -- are the states least 
likely to achieve the MDGs. 
 
-- The U.S. has supported multilateral efforts to improve 
our tools of engagement to help fragile and failing states 
achieve the MDGs.  We need to continue efforts to improve 
these and other tools. 
 
ECONOMIC GROWTH/POVERTY REDUCTION 
 
-- The world has made substantial progress toward the goal 
of reducing poverty and hunger.  Countries that have grown 
rapidly have, with few exceptions, made rapid progress in 
reducing poverty.  Those that have failed to sustain 
significant growth in per-capita incomes have made slow 
progress in reducing poverty, or have suffered increased 
rates of poverty. 
 
-- The end of armed conflict played an essential role in 
setting the stage for some of today's African success 
stories.  Africa has achieved accelerated growth in 
agriculture which is the main source of employment for 
 
STATE 00047433  004 OF 004 
 
 
nearly two-thirds of all Africans, and an even larger 
source of employment to Africa's poor. 
 
-- Sustaining and accelerating agricultural growth in 
Africa will require further policy improvements including 
the removal of barriers to internal and international 
trade, increased competition in domestic input markets, 
and improvements in the security of land tenure. 
 
-- To increase growth in agriculture, states must increase 
investment in infrastructure -- such as rural roads and 
transnational links, including in land-locked countries -- 
and substantially expand irrigation where water resources 
are available. 
 
-- Improved agricultural technology also offers essential 
means to help farmers in Africa and other tropical regions 
adjust to climate change. 
 
MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION (MCC) 
 
-- The MCC's mission is to reduce poverty through economic 
growth, the first of the internationally agreed MDGs, 
which lays a foundation for partner country efforts to 
meet all the MDGs in a sustainable way. 
 
-- The MCC works only with countries that perform 
relatively well in terms of good governance, economic 
freedom and investments in people.  Partner countries are 
responsible for identifying the greatest barriers to their 
own development and then developing and implementing their 
own programs. 
 
EDUCATION 
 
-- Universal primary education is a development benchmark 
which can be reached through multiple routes.  As a 
country's mean level of education increases net enrollment 
rates in primary education will concomitantly increase. 
 
-- However, solely focusing on "children" and "primary 
education" will not produce the mix of skills needed for 
development, nor will it likely be sustainable. Primary 
education must be accompanied by a focus on learning 
outcomes and complemented with other measures such as 
adult literacy. 
 
HEALTH 
 
-- The U.S. coordinates global health assistance in three 
ways:  high level coordination between U.S. and 
host-government partners, global leadership in private 
sector engagement, and strategic coordination of support 
in services in country-specific programs.  (NOTE: Please 
see the IO/EDA Website for interagency talking points on 
extensive U.S. assistance programs on maternal and child 
health, malaria, tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases 
and HIV/AIDS.) 
 
MDG Website 
----------- 
 
¶13.  The IO/EDA Office invites you to visit its website 
with reference products on the MDGs: 
 
http://io.state.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=publ ic.display&sho 
rtcut=47J4 
 
On this website you will find links to resources referenced 
above: 
 
-- the USG approach to development and the MDGs (para. 1); 
-- the latest version of the MDG 'Road Map' (para. 3); and 
-- Henrietta H. Fore's speech at the UN on the U.S. 
approach the MDGs (para. 8), 
 
as well as links to: 
 
-- an "MDGs for Dummies" tutorial in Power Point, 
-- a published booklet on the MDGs prepared for the recent 
UN Event (in color, .pdf format), and 
-- past cables on the MDGs. 
 
We encourage all interested posts to contact IO/EDA staff 
Laura de Otalvaro (deOtalvaroLH@state.gov, 202-647-1307) 
or Andrew Haviland (HavilandAB@state.gov, 202-647-1545) 
for guidance as questions arise, or send an e-mail to the 
e-mail list "IO-MDGs-DL". 
 
¶14.  Minimize considered. 
RICE