Keeping our millennium promises
Much needs to be done for Egypt to reach its development goals, write Michele Ribotta and Christopher Louise*
It is always a good sign when intellectuals, researchers, politicians and members of civil society talk to each other. This is what happened recently at the Public Administration Research Centre at Cairo University. The subject was Egypt's future and the gathered minds were discussing the United Nations' first report on Egypt's progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The goals, set by heads of state at the UN's 2000 Millennium Summit, reflect the commitment of world leaders to honour previous pledges to reverse poverty and remove the most damaging social problems faced by millions of people worldwide.
Egypt is embracing the idea of setting targets to improve the development situation in the country. The government has made a commitment to halving poverty, ensuring universal quality education, empowering women, reducing mortality rates of mothers and their children, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and protecting the environment.
But what does this mean for Egypt and its citizens? In the first place, the MDGs help reaffirm Egypt's international commitments to advancing human development. In this sense, Egypt shows its willingness to be part of the international community's continuous efforts to improve the lives of people. Second, the MDGs help the Egyptian government to prioritise the development needs of the country and provide a forum for discussing the social, economic and political challenges that deeply affect poor and disadvantaged communities.
The active participation of the government in June in discussions of the first country progress report on reaching the MDGs is a sign that politicians take these challenges seriously. Though the report showed that Egypt is potentially on track to reaching the MDGs 2015 targets, it also showed the emergence of worrying gaps in income levels and living standards between Lower and Upper Egypt and between urban and rural areas. It also becomes clear how increases in Egypt's population may also affect the attainment of development targets over the next decade.
It is often said that "if you can measure it, you can manage it", and the MDGs are all about managing improvements in Egypt's development situation. It is no wonder then that the United Nations is encouraging the Egyptian government to establish an internal monitoring mechanism to measure the country's progress in each of the MDGs areas. This system of monitoring will show how fast or slow things are going towards reducing poverty, improving women's education and protecting the environment. Everyone can benefit from a monitoring system, which provides an accurate picture of the country's development situation. Policy-makers can see immediately what areas need most attention, development specialists can target their assistance more effectively and citizens can have a basis for influencing the decisions which affect their lives.
Monitoring development indicators must depend on accurate official statistics and an open and transparent handling of their analysis -- the objective being to give Egyptians a true picture of the development situation in the country. But producing meaningful statistics is not the only pre-condition for achieving the MDGs. In the first place, meeting the MDGs will largely depend on the capacity of the state to modernise itself and improve its accountability and the structures of governance that determine the rule of law. Second, civil society needs to take up a greater role in planning, implementing and monitoring Egypt's development policies through new forms of active citizenship.
At the end of the day, this is the road that needs to be trod if Egypt is to successfully face the challenges, satisfy the many hopes and honour its promises.
* The authors are staff of United Nations Development Programme. The opinions expressed by them do not necessarily reflect the view of the United Nations.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 23 - 29 January 2003 (Issue No. 622)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/622/ec3.htm