The document discusses the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were established by the United Nations to be achieved by 2015. It outlines the eight goals, including eradicating poverty and hunger. However, various challenges threaten to derail progress towards achieving the MDGs, such as unresponsive institutions, lack of capacity, inadequate resources, poor infrastructure, and social attitudes. New challenges in the 21st century like food crises, financial crises, and climate change have further impacted progress. For the MDGs to be achieved, these challenges must be addressed through policies, increased aid, trade reform, and social change.

1. Can the Millennium Development Goals be attained
Can the Millennium Development Goals be attainedThe millennium development goals
(MDGs) are global development goals expected to be achieved by the year 2015. The goals
have been embraced by the 193 member states of the United Nations (U.N.) and an estimate
of 23 international organizations (Melamed et al, 2010: 2). The MDG goals are eight and
include doing away with severe hunger and poverty, gender equality promotion and
empowerment of women, fighting disease epidemics and reducing child mortality rates.
Improvement of maternal health, achievement of universal primary education, promotion of
environmental sustainability and development of a global partnership for development are
the other goals in the MDGs. MDGs aim to encourage development through the
improvement of economic and social conditions in the poorest countries in the universe.
These goals came about from the Millennium Declaration that was produced by the U.N. in
the declaration it is asserted that every person is entitled to the right to dignity, equality,
freedom, and basic standards of living such as freedom from violence and hunger (Melamed
et al, 2010:3). These ideas got implemented through the MDGs which set targets and
indicators aimed at eradicating poverty and the other objectives by the end of the fifteen
year timeline set.The millennium development goals can be achieved once the various
challenges threatening to derail efforts to realize these goals are addressed. Unresponsive
institutions and poor implementation is one challenge that is faced in the pursuit of these
goals. An example is the weak growth and unequal distribution of income in Benin which
greatly constrains the eradication of extreme hunger and poverty (United Nations
Development Programme, 2010:10). Lack of capacity is another challenge whereby service
delivery has been hindered by capacity restraints. Administrative shortages and lack of
professional personnel are sample capacity restraints. The areas most affected by capacity
restraints are rural areas because of the poor infrastructure and related facilities.
Inadequate resources cannot be overlooked as a challenge since lack of finances hampers
the efforts aimed at realizing the MDGs. This is especially made worse by the global food
and financial crises being experienced therefore leaving many nations straining to maintain
their commitment to the goals and preventing the reversal of successes focused on attaining
the Millennium goals. Mali is an example of a nation facing this challenge as the anaemic
mobilization of funding is constraining their progress despite the public commitment
shown by donor countries (United Nations Development Programme, 2010:12).Inadequate
infrastructure cuts across many nations especially developing ones whereby scenarios such
as the lack of infrastructure to enable distribution of education services to everybody are

2. observed. Social attitudes arising mostly from individual cultures greatly influence the
efforts aimed at attaining the MDGs. Cambodia is a nation with significant optimism in its
ability to realize the MDGs (United Nation Development Programme, 2010:15). However
the culture in the country encourages traditional gender roles, continues to practice
violence against women even with the legislative intervention present and low nutritional
rates are apparent in women as a result of the prevailing social attitudes. Vulnerable groups
such as orphans, the elderly and disabled persons face disproportionate poverty. The high
rate of inactivity of disabled persons in Serbia for instance reduces their rate of
unemployment. This in turn continues to promote poverty since without employment the
disabled persons continue to sink in poverty. Poor data and monitoring mechanisms have
also hindered some countries from reaching the MDGs targets. The fact that since the 1996
Independent Household Survey no new information on income and consumption had been
collected hampered measurement in 2009.There are those challenges that are related to
conflict and disaster. Those countries that are affected by conflict and fragility have a long
way to go before attaining the MDGs compared to other nations. In order for the MDGs to be
achieved effectively, peace, security, and low disaster risk are necessary. The Central
African Republic for instance is behind on the Global Partnership for Development Goal due
to the withdrawal of some organizations and development partners owing to the Military
and political crisis that has been in the nation for the past two decades. The delivery of
services is also disrupted in crises since the infrastructure is destroyed and damaged and
scarce resources are diverted from being invested in social services.In addition to conflict
and disaster related challenges there are new and emerging challenges especially the
unprecedented global events that arose in the late 21st Century first decade years. Food
prices especially staple foods rose sharply in 2007 and consequentially decelerated the
progress of the MDGs (United Nations Development Programme, 2010:14). In some nations
children have been forced to discontinue schooling so that they can work and help provide
income for food and other basic necessities. The Global financial crisis is also another new
challenge that the MDGs have had to counter. A specific event was the 2008 autumn
breakdown of sub-prime mortgages in America as well as other risky and complex credit
products in the whole world which brought the economy of the world to a near collapse.
Although the financial crisis was contained, many nations’ economies were changed
greatly and pulled them back by a great margin (Singer, 2008:469). Climate change is also a
recent challenge for the MDGs. Dating from the mid-20th century global temperatures have
been gradually on the increase due to the concentration of greenhouse gases. Weather
patterns, for instance, droughts and flooding have changed. The developing countries are
expected to be affected most because they do not have the social, financial, and
technological resources to adapt to the climate change.The challenges evaluated need to be
first eliminated first in order for the Millennium Development Goals to be attained. New
drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics should be introduced hence calling for a critical research
agenda relating to the MDGs. Resources are important as evidenced by the constraints
arising from lack of them. Low income countries presently spend insufficiently on health yet
they aim to achieve the health goals. Since the global estimates are available as to what is
needed more aid should be provided to these countries. Aid should be doubled, annuals

3. spending on HIV/AIDS should be increased, and donor spending on health should be
increased fivefold. Use of long-term commitments from government donors in leveraging
immediate and extra resources from private markets can be utilized by the proposed
International Finance Facility (IFF) and help achieve the required increase (Singer,
2008:.475).Reduction of trade barriers is also another key issue that policy makers need to
consider (Haines and Cassels, 2004: 396). These barriers erected by wealthy nations
disadvantage the developing countries as the exports from developing countries get
rejected. Developing countries should also improve their efforts and change the social
attitudes of nationals. The policies that policy makers should be monitored to ensure they
are effectively implemented. These policies should themselves address the challenges that
have been seen to decelerate the realization of the MDGs. Turning to proxy indicators for
instance jobs, education and literacy are sample solutions offered in the challenge of poor
data and monitoring mechanisms. Weight and growth assessments are policies that some
countries have incorporated in order to watch malnutrition levels. Education and training
programmes would work best to solve the lack of capacity in some countries. Focusing on
the hard-to-get regions is also another policy that would ensure the rural areas which are
most affected by capacity constraints are not overlooked. Social attitudes are hard to change
but legislative action, awareness, and education programmes, workshops training women
on vocational and entrepreneurship skills and many more initiatives aimed at changing the
way locals regard women would go a long way in changing existent negative attitudes in the
society (United Nations, 2010: 6).In conclusion, the millennium development goals are goals
that once realized would eradicate most difficult conditions experienced by people and
improve standards of living for every individual in the worlds. There are various challenges
that the MDGs have faced in the past, presently face, and are expected to face in the future.
Lack of capacity resources and infrastructure are examples of the challenges that
developing countries face. There are those challenges that are related to conflict and
disaster. These challenges have already affected the country that was plagued by the crisis
and continue to affect the country for some time longer before the nation can recover fully.
There are also new and emerging challenges that are being experienced in present times
such as global financial crises, climate change, and increase in food prices (United Nations,
2010: 6). Some measures can be used to counter these challenges. Monitoring of policies to
ensure they are implemented effectively can be applied. Policies such as focusing on hard-
to-get regions would ensure rural areas are prioritized. Advocating for increased aid to
developing countries would help reduce the financial problem and inadequate resources
issue. The poor data and monitoring mechanisms issue can be addressed by innovation such
as use of proxy indicators. The millennium development goals can be achieved through the
elimination or reduction of the various challenges and introduction of new policies that
adjust to the changing world in terms of technology and climate.Reference ListHaines, A &
Cassels, A. 2004. Can The Millennium Development Goals Be Attained? British Medical
Journal, 329 (7462): 394-397Melamed, C., Higgins, K & Sumner, A. 2010. Economic growth
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http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=4892&title=millennium-development-
goals-equitable-growth-policy-briefSinger, M. 2008. Drugs and development: The global

4. impact of drug use and trafficking on social and economic development. International
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