Training Report: Millennium Development Goals in the SAARC Region

Training Course on 

Millennium Development Goals in the 

SAARC Region: Progress, Prospects and Way Forward 

July 16-21, 2012 

Organized by 

SAARC Human Resource Development Center 

Islamabad-Pakistan

Training Report 

Millennium Development Goals in the 

SAARC Region: Progress, 

Prospects and Way Forward 

July 16-21, 2012 

Organized By 

SAARC Human Resource Development Centre 

Islamabad-Pakistan

Contents 

Contents 

Foreword 

Executive Summary 

i 

ii 

Introduction 1 

Inaugural Ceremony 3 

Introductory Session 4 

Working Sessions 5 

Concluding Ceremony 

Annexure 

Annex-I 

Annex-II 

Annex-III 

Annex-IV 

List of Participants 

Working Program 

Power Point Presentations by Resource Persons 

Country Reports

Foreword 

Foreword 

At the onset of the new millennium, 189 world leaders from Member States of the 

United Nations made a historic commitment during the United Nations Millennium 

Summit in 2000 when they agreed to adopt the Millennium Development Goals 

(MDGs) with the aim of bringing peace, security and development to all people. The 

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight goals, 18 targets and 48 indicators to 

be achieved by 2015 that respond to the world's main development challenges. 

All the SAARC Member States have committed to achieving the MDGs; however 

pprogress towards reaching the goals has been uneven. With only three years remaining, 

Member Countries have started to take a serious look at their ability to meet the targets 

of the MDGs adopted in 2000. The SAARC Member States have to strengthen 

commitment to the MDGs through integration of the MDGs driven targets into their 

national and sub-national policies and legal frameworks as well as in budgetary 

priorities. Achieving progress towards the MDGs entails multi-pronged approaches 

including inclusive and sustainable growth, investment in anti-poverty programs, 

effective service delivery, adequate investment in education and health sectors, good 

governance, creating job opportunities, capacity building and fiscal stimulus for social 

expenditure. 

I hope that the report of the training course “Millennium Development Goals in the 

SAARC Region: Progress, Prospects and Way Forward”, will be useful for government 

policy makers, planners, academics and all those working for the common objective of 

meeting the MDGs by 2015. It has been prepared to facilitate the exchange of 

knowledge and to stimulate discussion. 

I extend my thanks to the distinguished resource persons, experts and participants for 

their valuable contributions during the training sessions. Thanks are due to the SHRDC 

Staff particularly Dr. Javed Humayun, Research Fellow (Training)/Course Coordinator 

and Mr. Rehmat Wali Khan, Education Officer/Focal Person for making the training 

course a success. Finally, I express my gratitude and thanks to the SAARC Secretariat 

and Member States for their continued support and cooperation. SHRDC is looking 

forward for comments and views, if any, to improve the contents and quality of the 

future training programs. This report is also available on the SHRDC website: 

www.shrdc.org. 

Dr. Riffat Aysha Anis 

Director SHRDC 

I



SAARC Human Resource Development Centre (SHRDC), Islamabad organized a 

training course on “Millennium Development Goals in the SAARC Region: Progress, 

Prospects and Way Forward” from July 16-21, 2012. Brig (R) Amanullah, Director 

General, National Centre for Rural Development, Islamabad inaugurated the training 

course. Participants from Afghanistan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka 

attended the course. 

The main objectives of the training course included: to assist senior policy makers, 

planners, and practitioners of the region to develop and implement the MDGs-based 

national development strategies through sharing of good practices and lessons learnt; to 

develop skills to help integration of the MDGs into national development plans and 

strategies; to assess progress on implementing the MDGs in the region; to discuss the 

constraints, challenges, prospects and way forward for achieving the MDGs in the 

region; to provide the participants with an opportunity to share experiences, best 

practices and propose policies and programs to achieve these goals with the help of 

development partners; to suggest different ways and means for reaching national and 

regional targets for meeting the MDGs; and, to assess the public sector resources and 

needs for developing a global partnership for achieving the targets as per commitment of 

the 8th Goal of the MDGs. 

The training consisted of a series of thematic and group sessions. The course was 

interactive and participatory in discussing concepts and sharing of ideas. Experts from 

the SAARC Member States were invited to make presentations on various aspects and 

discussion during the sessions took the agenda forward. The resource persons explained 

themes and highlighted the connections, theories and practices related to HRD and the 

MDGs. The participants were divided into three working groups for in-depth discussion 

on specific topics. They prepared group reports and presented their findings and 

recommendations in the final session of the training course. 

At the end of the training course, Dr. Rffiat Aysha Anis, Director SHRDC distributed 

certificates among the training participants. Feedback received from the participants 

indicated the training course a great success as the participants gained first hand 

information about the status and progress on implementation and prospects of the 

MDGs in the region. They found the contents of the training course highly relevant and 

the course greatly assisted in improving their capacities to integrate the MDGs-based 

strategies into national development plan of their respective countries and raising 

awareness about their roles and responsibilities to achieve the MDGs in the region. 

II

Introduction 

Introduction 

The world leaders joined together in September 2000 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, 

U.S.A. to adopt Millennium Declaration translated into the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The 

MDGs were set to be achieved by 2015, using 1990 as the reference year. These are time bound goals with 

quantifiable targets. These goals promote basic human rights and focus the world community's attention on 

achieving significant and measurable improvements in people's lives. The specific objectives of the MDGs 

are to: reduce extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and 

empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other 

diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and, promote global partnership for development. These goals 

are further split into 21 targets, measurable via 60 indicators. The first seven goals are mutually reinforcing 

and are related to reducing poverty in all its forms. The last goal - global partnerships for development - is 

about the means to achieve first seven goals in resources deficit countries. The world would need to make its 

contribution in realizing the commitment on the MDGs made by them. Without such a commitment, majority 

of the resources deficit countries, including South Asia may fail to improve their social indicators as per the 

MDGs' requirements. Achieving the MDGs requires integration of the MDGs into national and sub-national 

policy and legal framework as well as in budget priority. 

With only three years remaining, countries are beginning to take a serious look at their ability to meet the 

targets of the MDGs adopted in 2000. Further, they have also started critical evaluation of present progress 

towards attainment of the MDGs. Different policies and strategies in the SAARC region reflect the efforts of 

the member states in line with achievement of the MDGs. For example, the Government of Bangladesh has 

developed a policy document that outlines a number of policy measures for achieving the MDGs. Similarly, 

various education campaigns and initiatives in India contribute towards enhancing the educational standards 

in the country. Nepal has some success stories on Gender Equality and Pakistan contains some of the best 

models of Environmental Sustainability where most of its targets related to environment are "on track". 

Despite the progress made in different areas of the region and impressive gains by the SAARC Member States 

in achieving high economic growth and poverty reduction over the last two decades, 39 % of the world's poor 

live in the region and the region has the highest incidence of poverty (43 % of its population) . Further, in spite 

of substantial progress toward improving education and health indicators, the region is still seriously "off 

track" in some of the MDGs targets. Thus success in achieving the MDGs depends, to a large extent, on this 

region's performance in the next three years. There is no doubt that each SAARC Member State has 

formulated policies, strategies and programs in line with the MDGs but the region's performance is mixed in 

achieving different targets. There are several factors/constraints that affect tracking the MDGs in the region. 

SAARC Member States have adopted policy of human resource development as a priority area in line with the 

MDGs to improve standard of living of the people. The countries' development strategy envisages massive 

investment in strengthening its human resource base to produce a skilled and competent workforce that can 

respond to the increasing demands of a steadily growing economy, resulting economic growth and poverty 

reduction. However, experience of some of the South Asian countries suggests that implementation of the 

MDGs has been influenced by knowledge gap, low skills and low growth due to different external and 

internal shocks. Further, institutional capacities to develop marketable skills through education and 

vocational training are weak and exposure to new technologies is severely limited. 

The low levels of productivity and limited resources usually result in decline in public and private investment 

which inhibits the timely achievement of certain the MDGs. There are also cultural and socioeconomic 

barriers for the MDGs in the SAARC region that fully or partially affect the initiatives. One of the major 

constraints in the achievement of the MDGs in the region is unavailability of relevant data. Most of the cases 

are underreported and misclassified due to lack of research and information. The unavailability of authentic 

and reliable information impedes formulation and implementation of targeted policies and actions. It is, 

therefore, important that SAARC countries should make concerted efforts to design, coordinate and 

implement policies and programs to achieve the full range of the MDGs to overcome the problem/constraints. 

In the situation of present progress towards achieving the MDGs, and with the 2015 deadline approaching, 

1

Introduction 

policy initiatives as usual are not enough to meet the MDGs. The SAARC Member States have to strengthen 

commitment to the MDGs through integration of the MDGs driven targets into their national and sub-national 

policies and legal frameworks as well as in budgetary priorities. They need to mainstream the MDGs within 

the policy-making body of the government and establish the MDGs legislative committee to promote 

structural response. Further, achieving progress towards the MDGs entails multi-pronged approaches 

including inclusive and sustainable growth, investment in anti-poverty programs, effective service delivery, 

adequate investment in education and health sectors, good governance, creating job opportunities, capacity 

building and fiscal stimulus for social expenditure. 

The SAARC Member States will also need to step up their efforts to replicate good practices and lessons learnt 

from early achievers in the region. Development partners of SAARC Member States are critical to the 

achievement of the MDGs and must fulfil the requirement to help mobilize the required resources. Prospects 

for the region to achieve most of the objectives are bright. Keeping in view these prospects, a training course 

is designed to assess the progress, prospects and way forward for SAARC Member States in achieving the 

MDGs and propose policies and programs to achieve these goals with the help of development partners. The 

one-week training course will develop participants' knowledge and skills to assess the progress, prospects and 

way forward through various in-house exercises and group discussions. 

The objectives of the training course were to: 

• assist senior policy makers, planners, and practitioners of the region to develop and implement the 

MDGs-based national development strategies through sharing of good practices and lessons learnt; 

• develop skills to help integration of the MDGs into national development plans and strategies; 

• assess progress on implementing the MDGs in the region; 

• discuss the constraints, challenges, prospects and way forward for achieving the MDGs in the region; 

• provide the participants with an opportunity to share experiences, best practices and propose policies 

and programs to achieve these goals with the help of development partners; 

• suggest different ways and means for reaching national and regional targets for meeting the MDGs; 

and, 

• assess the public sector resources and needs for developing a global partnership for achieving the 

targets as per commitment of 8th Goal of the MDGs. 

Methodology 

To achieve the training objectives, a number of methodologies including lectures and demonstrations, peer 

work and group work were used. Resource persons arranged activities according to the nature and 

requirement of their respective themes to make the topics comprehensive and interesting for the participants. 

Each presentation was followed by a question-and-answer session in which participants asked questions and 

gave their inputs in relation to the topic under discussion. The participants came up with specific suggestions 

and recommendations related to the training theme in the group works. 

Participants’ Profile 

Participants’ profile included: 

a) Mid-level policymakers/functionaries, master trainers/professionals from government and 

semi-government organizations working in the areas of the MDGs, social sector 

development, HRD, 

planning and development, policy analysis and advocacy, and governance; 

b) Researchers and scholars on the MDGs as well as those working on HRD; and, 

c) NGOs and private sector representatives. 

According to Asia-Pacific Regional Report 2009/10, UNDP, a 1 % point fall in per-capita GDP growth translates on average, depending on the 

country, into a 0.5-0.8%points decrease in growth of per capita private health spending, a 0.5-0.7% points decrease in the growth of per capita public 

health spending, and a 0.3-0.5 % points decrease in growth of per capita education spending. 

Melt-down in global economy in 2008 and sharp increase in Oil prices early in 2008. This is likely to produce a double dividend-not only boosting 

growth more rapidly but also accelerating progress toward the MDGs. 

2

Inaugural Ceremony 

Inaugural Ceremony 

The inaugural ceremony of the training course was held on July 16, 2012. Honourable Brig (R) Amanullah, 

Director General, National Centre for Rural Development, Islamabad graced the occasion as chief guest. 

Participants from Afghanistan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka attended the course. The 

course brought together participants from Afghanistan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The 

ceremony started with the recitation of few verses from the Holy Quran. 

Dr. Riffat Aysha Anis, Director SHRDC in her welcome address highlighted the main objectives and contents 

of the course. She said that the SAARC Member States have to strengthen their commitment to the MDGs by 

integrating the MDGs driven targets into their national and sub-national policies and legal frameworks as well 

as in their budgetary priorities. They need to mainstream the MDGs within the policy-making body of the 

government and establish the MDGs legislative committee to promote structural response. Further, achieving 

progress towards the MDGs entails multi-pronged approaches including inclusive and sustainable growth, 

investment in anti-poverty programs, effective service delivery, adequate investment in education and health 

sectors, good governance, creating job opportunities, capacity building and fiscal stimulus for social 

expenditure. The SAARC Member States need to step up their efforts to replicate good practices and lessons 

learnt from early achievers in the region. She hoped that the one-week training course would enable the 

participants to develop knowledge and skills to assess the progress, prospects and way forward through 

lectures, in-house exercises and group discussions. 

Brig (R) Amanullah, in his inaugural address said that over the last two decades, South Asian region has 

witnessed a plethora of MDG-related declarations, high-powered commissions, plans of actions and regional 

projects to achieve MDGs. The region has made significant progress on some MDGs, but still lags behind in 

several others. The vast amount of resources and planning required for MDGs’ achievements is beyond the 

capacity of individual economies especially Least Developed Countries. He urged that regional economic 

integration is the best way forward and is more viable as economies are on a level-playing field. Regional 

economic integration will offer opportunities for strengthening the overall environment in which MDGs can 

be achieved and enable the smaller economies to extend their markets and reap efficiency gains from 

specialization and economies of scale and scope. He added that enhancing regional cooperation is a 

multifaceted task that will require the implementation of bold policy initiatives at national and regional levels. 

He noted that each country in the region has its own specific challenges to address, however, across the region 

there are many common issues and priorities. Connectivity and cooperation is vital in addressing the key 

challenges in the region and facilitating progress towards achieving all the MDGs by 2015. Dr. Javed 

Humayun, Research Fellow (Training) / Course Coordinator extended vote of thanks to all the dignitaries, 

resource persons, participants of the course and media persons. 

3

Introductory Session 

Introductory Session 

Dr. Riffat Aysha Anis, Director, SHRDC, Dr. Javed Humayun, Research Fellow (Training) and Mr. Rehmat 

Wali Khan, Focal Person took over the introductory session. The session was intended to provide the 

participants with an opportunity to introduce themselves along with their qualification and professional 

responsibilities. The contents and methodology of the course were also introduced during this session. 

List of participants and working program are given as Annex-I and Annex-II respectively. 

Group photo of training participants with the chief guest 

4

Working Sessions 


Main points of the power point presentations by the resource persons and country reports are summarized 

below: 

Dr. Savita Sharma, Adviser, Planning Commission of India presented her paper on “Data Requirement for 

Monitoring of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)”. She informed that the United Nations formulated 

eight goals known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that must be achieved by 2015.The 

Millennium Declaration provides the basis for the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It recognizes 

that nations are interdependent for example in security, finance, health, migration and the environment. It 

articulates a composite framework combining human security, human development and human rights 

frameworks. MDGs are a set of tools for tracking progress toward basic poverty reduction and provide a very 

basic policy road map to achieve these goals. Developing countries have to achieve Goals 1 to 7. For this the 

Governments must implement the MDGs by integrating them into their policies, plans and budgets; 

improving governance, transparency and accountability. Rich countries must help developing countries to 

achieve MDGs 1 to 7 and do their utmost to achieve MDG 8. She noted that one of the criticisms of the MDGs 

is the difficulty or lack of measurements for some of the goals. It is argued that goals related to maternal 

mortality, malaria, and tuberculosis are in practice very difficult to measure. Household surveys are often 

used by the organizations to estimate data for the health MDGs. These surveys have been argued to be poor 

measurements of the data they are trying to collect, and many different organizations have redundant surveys, 

which waste limited resources. Countries with the highest levels of maternal mortality, malaria, and 

tuberculosis often have the least amount of reliable data collection. 

http://southasia.oneworld.net/Files/MDG%20Case%20Studies%202008.pdf 

www.worldbank.org/depweb/beyond/global/chapter6.html 

5


She opined that prioritizing interventions helps developing countries with limited resources to make 

decisions about where to allocate their resources. The MDGs also strengthen the commitment of developed 

countries to help developing countries, and encourage the flow of aid and information sharing. The joint 

responsibility of developing and developed nations for achieving the MDGs increases the likelihood of their 

success, which is reinforced by their 189 country support (the MDGs are the most broadly supported poverty 

reduction targets ever set by the world). 

She highlighted that the issue of monitoring MDGs in this region is that reliable data is not available on most 

of these indicators on a regular basis. Sources of data are census/survey/administrative records. It is not 

possible to have census or surveys for every information on an annual basis as it is very costly. Administrative 

data has its own problems particularly in social sector. The reporting agencies tend to report biased results. 

There is an urgent need for strengthening of overall data collection system by establishing a comprehensive 

data collection system. She discussed in length requirements and availability of data on the MDGs by the 

region. She said that the countries publish periodic reports assessing the progress of MDGs. UNDP also 

assesses periodically the progress and has recently released a report. 

Ms. Sharafiyya Jameel presented the country report of Maldives. It was informed that Maldives has 

achieved five out of the eight MDGs ahead of the 2015 deadline, making it South Asia’s only “MDG-plus” 

country. Progress has been substantial in eradicating extreme poverty and hunger (MDG1), achieving 

universal primary education (MDG2), reducing child mortality (MDG4), improving maternal health 

(MDG5), and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (MDG6). Progress has been relatively 

slower toward achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment (MDG3), ensuring environmental 

sustainability (MDG7) and developing a global partnership for development (MDG8). 

Main challenges in achieving all MDG’s are: limited skilled human resources; geographical isolation of its 

islands; provision of facilities to islands with very small population; and inequality between Male’ and other 

islands. Social norms and newly established democracy can also hinder progress and socio-economic and 

structural changes. The report also informed that achieving the environment goals is especially critical to the 

country, considering the vulnerability of the country to environmental changes and the heavy reliance of the 

Maldivian economy on its environmental resources. Biodiversity accounts for 71% of national employment, 

49% of public revenues, 62% of foreign exchange, and 96% of GDP. Tsunami (2004) costed 62% of the 

national GDP, compared to less than 3% in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India. It is equally important to ensure 

that human rights principles, non-discrimination, inclusion and participation are factored into achieving the 

MDGs with equity. 

Maldives has been moved from LDC status in January 2011. Overall, external debt stock of the public sector 

has nearly tripled in recent years, growing from US$ 331.8 million in 2004 to US$ 969.2 million in 2009. 

Mobile teledensity increased more than 140% in 2008 and provided opportunities for e-business, e-service, 

and e-governance. The number of mobile subscribers grew from 8,000 in 2000 to more than 450,000 by 2009. 

Broadband service expanded especially to the atolls. 

Mr. Hazrat Bilal and Mr. Mohammad Amin jointly presented the country report of Afghanistan. It was 

stated that Afghanistan endorsed the Millennium Declaration as well as the MDGs only in March 2004. 

Afghanistan, however, having lost over two decades to war, has had to modify the global timetable and 

benchmarks to fit local realities. Afghanistan has defined its MDGs’ contribution as targets for 2020 from 

baselines of 2002 to 2005. Despite extreme poverty, ill health, and hunger, Afghans define lack of security as 

their greatest problem. Hence, the government of Afghanistan has added this new goal to the eight global 

MDGs recognizing the critical role of peace and security in achieving the other MDGs. The UN Development 

Assistance Framework of UN Agencies in Afghanistan is designed to support the national priorities through 

the ANDS. In Afghanistan the MDGs will be the basis for the Afghanistan National Development Strategy. 

Poverty measurement in Afghanistan is severely constrained by lack of data. It is difficult to reliably estimate 

and track the Global MDG indicators for income or asset poverty, but available data suggests that about 20% 

6


of rural households are chronically food insecure and another 18% face seasonal food shortages. So, 20-40% 

of Afghans need varying levels of food assistance at different times of the year. Poverty in areas without 

irrigation is likely to be higher with 65% of the households are food insecure. Afghanistan has revised the 

MDG targets, which is to be achieved till 2020 on income level the 3%. Proportion of people who suffer from 

hunger will be decreased about 5% till 2020. 

In late 2001, more than 5000 schools were built or renovated. More than 100,000 teachers have been trained 

and recruited. More than 7 million male and females students are enrolled in schools and about 8200 students 

are enrolled in different universities around the country in 2011. Literacy rate of the entire population is 28%. 

Female literacy rate is comparatively low around 10 %. Regional comparisons of primary schools 

completion rates for girls and progress toward MDG goals showed Afghanistan to be the only country out of 

16 ranked as “seriously off track. Women in Afghanistan are more likely than men to be engaged in various 

types of informal activities, such as unpaid family work, and small-scale economic activities that are difficult 

to measure, and that offer less enjoyment of employment rights and benefits. Afghanistan has almost the 

highest percentage of seats allocated for women in the national parliament. This will have little impact on 

enhancing women's political participation. 

According to the report, infant and under-five mortality rates in Afghanistan are among the highest in the 

world. The Under-5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) and the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) are targeted to reduce by 

50% of the 2003 levels by 2015 and by two-third by 2020. At 1600 deaths per 100,000 live births, the maternal 

mortality ratio (MMR) in Afghanistan is equal only to the most poor, conflict-affected countries in the world. 

It is estimated that 65 women die from pregnancy-related causes per 1000 live births. Afghanistan is a 

potentially high-risk country for the spread of HIV/AIDS. Drug abuse is prevalent; most users inject drugs 

through shared needles and are unaware of the dangers. There is no systematic testing for HIV before blood 

transfusion. 

In 2007, the World Health Organization released a report ranking Afghanistan lowest among non-African 

nations in deaths from environmental hazards. Lack of access to improved water sources and poor sanitation 

is a major contributory factor to poor health outcomes. As forest cover decreases, the land becomes less 

productive, threatening the livelihood of the rural population. Loss of vegetation also creates a higher risk of 

foods, and also causes the soil erosion and decrease the amount of land available for agriculture. 

The report stated that to meet the MDGs in Afghanistan, the level of investment in the security sector, 

transport and infrastructure must be maintained. At the same time, MDG achievement also hinges on a 

significant increase of investments in the social sector. The development of the Interim ANDS in 2005 and the 

full ANDS in 2006 provides the opportunity for donors to support the government in prioritising policy 

choices for the period until 2010. However, this involvement also obliges donors to enhance the overall 

effectiveness of aid by better aligning their support around the priorities articulated in the ANDS, and by 

harmonising and simplifying their policies and practices. 

Dr. Savita Sharma presented the country report of India. According to the report, India’s MDG framework 

recognizes all the 53 indicators that the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) endorsed in 2003. 

However, India has found 35 of the indicators relevant to India. As per available statistics, the percentage of 

the population in poverty declined from 45% in 1993-94 to 37% in 2004-05. In 2009-10, the India’s Head 

Count Ratio (HCR) has declined from 37.2% in 2004-05 to 29.8. According to the new estimate of HCR at the 

national level (47.8%), the country is required to achieve a HCR level of 23.9% by 2015 in order that MDG 

target 1 is achieved. With this rate of decline, the country is expected to achieve poverty HCR level of 26.72% 

by 2015. Anti poverty programs and policies operating in the rural areas are: National Rural Employment 

Guarantee Act (NREGA); Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY); National Rural Livelihood 

Mission (NRLM); Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) or Indira Housing Scheme. Programs launched in the urban 

areas include: Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission; Integrated Housing and Slum Development 

Program; Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana (SJSRY). 

7


India’s trend of the proportion of underweight children below 3 years of age shows that India is going slow in 

eliminating the effect of malnourishment. According to the official estimates, the proportion of underweight 

children has declined by 3 percentage points during 1998-99 to 2005-06, from about 43% to about 40% and at 

this rate of decline is expected to come down to about 33% only by 2015. Nutrition Programs include: 

National Mid-Day Meal Scheme; Integrated Child Development Scheme or ICDS (1975). Food Security 

Programs for the poor include: Targeted Public Distribution Scheme (TPDS); Antyodaya Anna Yojana; 

Annapurna Scheme; and National Food Security Bill. 

By the measure of Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) in primary education, the country has already crossed by 2008- 

09, the 95% cut-off line regarded as the marker value for achieving 2015 target of universal primary education 

for all children aged 6-10 years. Primary enrolment of 6-10 year old children has improved from 83% in the 

year 2000 to over 95% in 2007-08. The country is on the track to achieve cent percent primary education for 

children in the primary schooling age of 6-10 years ahead of 2015. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) guarantees 

free and compulsory education to the children of 6 to 14year age group as a fundamental right. The survival 

rate at primary level up to Grade V has increased to 76% in 2008-09. India is likely to attain 100% Youth 

literacy by 2015. 

The target for eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary enrolment by 2005 has not been 

achieved in India as per the available data for Gender Parity Index (GPI) for Enrolment, in the sense that 

though almost perfect parity was attained in the primary level of enrolment, it was not so in secondary level. 

However, by the cut-off line for achievement as internationally recognized, the target has been achieved for 

primary grade by 2007-08. The rates of increase in GPI signify India’s on the track progress to achieving 

gender parity in enrolment by 2015, even for secondary grade. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan or ‘Education for All’ 

program recognizes that ensuring girl’s education requires changes not only in the education system but also 

in societal norms and attitudes. The ratio of literate women to men in the age group 15-24 years stands at 0.88 

in 2007-08. The ratio of literate women to men in the age group 15-24 years tends to exceed by 2015, implying 

reaching a state of gender disparity against male youths in literacy by 2015. In India, the share of women in 

wage employment in the non-agricultural sector is slow. The percentage share of females in wage 

employment in the non- agricultural sector, stood at 18.6% during 2009-10. It is projected that with this rate of 

progression, the share of women in wage employment can reach a level of about 23.1% by 2015. 

The Under-Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) at national level has declined during the last decade. U5MR in India 

for the year 2010 stands at 59 and it varies from 66 in rural areas to 38 in urban areas. To reduce U5MR to 42 

per thousand live births5 by 2015, India tends to reach near to 52 by that year, missing the target by 10 

percentage points. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has declined by six points between 2008 and 2010 with IMR 

at national level being 47 in 2010. With the present improved trend due to sharp fall during 2008-09, the 

national level estimate of IMR is likely to be 44 against the MDG target of 27 in 2015. The national level 

measure of the proportion of one-year old (12-23 months) children immunized against measles has registered 

an increase from 42.2% in 1992-93 to 74.1% in 2009. India is expected to cover about 89% children in the age 

group 12-23 months for immunization against measles by 2015. Thus, India is likely to fall short of universal 

immunization of one year olds against measles by about 11 percentage points in 2015. To reduce child 

mortality rate, child health interventions under the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Program include: 

Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses (IMNCI); Promotion of Infant and Young Child 

Feeding; Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) Program; and Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) Control. 

India has recorded a sharp decline in the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) by 35% from 327 in 1999-2001 to 

212 in 2007-09. India tends to reach MMR of 139 per 100,000 live births by 2015, falling short by 30 points. 

The coverage of deliveries by skilled personnel has increased almost from 33% in 1990 to 52% during 2007- 

08. With the existing rate of increase in deliveries by skilled personnel, the likely achievement by 2015 is only 

to 62%, which is far short of the targeted universal coverage. In order to improve maternal health, maternal 

health care facilities include: ante-natal care; natal care; post-natal care. 

8


The estimated adult HIV prevalence in India was 0.32 % in 2008 and 0.31% in 2009. The adult prevalence is 

0.26 % among women and 0.38% among men in 2008, and 0.25% among women and 0.36 % among men in 

2009. Among pregnant women of 15-24 years, the prevalence of HIV has declined from 0.86% in 2004 to 

0.48% in 2008. The Government of India has responded to the challenge of HIV with appropriate policies, 

strategies and programs. The national AIDS Control and Blood Policies were adopted in 2002. 

The total Malaria cases have consistently declined from 2.08 million to 1.6 million during 2001 to 2010. India 

has contributed to approximately 24% of the total global new cases detected during the year 2009 as per the 

WHO Global Report 2010. There has been an increase in the number of TB patients registered for treatment 

from 1.29 million in 2005 to 1.52 million in 2010. Repeat population surveys conducted by Tuberculosis 

Research Centre indicate an annual decline in prevalence of the disease by 12%. Programs to control Malaria 

and TB include: National Malaria Control Program; National Malaria Eradication Program; National Anti 

Malaria Program; Enhanced Malaria Control Project (EMCP); National TB Program and Revised National 

Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP). 

The forest cover of the country as per 2007 assessment was 6, 90,899 km which is 21.02% of the geographical 

area of the country. As per 2011 assessment, the country has a forest cover of 6, 92,027 km, which constitutes 

21.05% of the country’s geographic area. There is an increase in forest cover by about 1128 sq. km between 

2007 and 2011. A network of 668 Protected Areas (PAs) has been established, extending over 1, 61,221.57 sq. 

kms. (4.90% of total geographic area), comprising 102 National Parks, 515 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 47 

Conservation Reserves and 4 Community Reserves. The country is on track in increasing the protection 

network for arresting the diversity losses and for maintaining ecological balance. The prevailing trend over 

time suggests attainability of almost cent percent coverage of safe drinking water by 2015, including both 

rural and urban sectors. 

Given the 1990 level for households without any sanitation facility at 76%, India is required to reduce the 

proportion of households having no access to improved sanitation to 38% by 2015. It is expected that at this 

rate of decline, India may achieve to reduce the proportion of households without any sanitation to about 43% 

by 2015 missing the target by about 5 percentage points. The latest estimate based on DLHS-3 for 2007-08, 

however, indicates that about 42.3% households have access to improved sanitation facility and the 65th NSS 

round reported 47.6% for 2008-09. 

The number of telephone subscribers has increased from 0.67% in 1990 to 76.03% in 2011. Over a period of 

12 years, internet subscriber base had increased by 97 fold from 0.21 million in 1999 to 20.33 million in 2011. 

It was concluded that despite the existence and launch of various programs and policies to address the major 

areas of concern under the MDGs, the progress toward achieving these goals appears to be satisfactory in 

some areas and not up to the mark in others. With only about 6 more years to go toward the set time for 

achieving these goals, the only way to do so would be to further intensify our efforts in reaching out to the 

unreached populations and ensuring uniform distribution of resources in the areas where we are not on track 

and give momentum to the progress toward achievement of the MDGs. 

Mr. T. M. Qureshi, Ex- Joint Educational Adviser, Policy and Planning Wing, Ministry of Education, 

Islamabad while taking a session on “MDGs and System of Indicators to Assess and Analyze Progress with 

Special Focus on Education” said that the endorsement by the Government of Pakistan (GoP) to the 

Millennium Declaration places an obligation on the State for leading the process in the formulation and 

finalization of the MDG Report, as annual feature. He informed that an indicator is an individual or composite 

statistic that relates to a basic construct in education, and is useful in the policy context. Education indicators 

are the statistics that reflect important aspects of the education system, but not all the statistics about education 

are indicators. Indicators are, thus, expected to assist policy makers as they formulate schooling goals and 

translate those goals into actions. Indicators should be: specific, measurable, attributable, relevant, and 

timely. Statistics qualify as indicators only if they serve as yardsticks; for example, the number of students 

enrolled in schools or the number of institutions or the number of teachers is an important fact. It does little to 

tell us how well the education system is functioning; however, survival rate to grade 5, or transition to 

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secondary education or literacy GPI can provide considerable insight into the health of the system, and can be 

appropriately considered an indicator. A good education indicator system is expected to provide accurate and 

precise information to illuminate the condition of education and contribute to its improvement. 

He said that the international community defined Education For All (EFA) at the Dakar Forum in 2000, in 

terms of a set of six time bound goals. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) team succeeded in 2003 to 

quantify some of these goals through EFA Development Index (EDI); which is a composite of relevant 

indicators, providing one way of reflecting progress towards EFA as a whole. The currently agreed four 

constituents of EDI and their corresponding indicators are: Net Enrolment Ratio in Primary Education; 

(EFAI:6); Adult Literacy: Literacy Rate of the Population Group Aged 15 and Over; (EFAI:17); Quality of 

Education: Survival Rate to Grade-5; (EFAI:13); and Gender Parity: Gender Specific EFA Index 

(EFAI:18++). Pakistan ranks 119 out of 127 countries with EDI value of 0.656. 

He noted that of the eight MDGs, formulated in September 2000, two are directly related to educational 

provision. MDG 2 calls for the achievement of universal primary education by 2015, whereby every child will 

complete a full course of primary education. MDG 3 calls for the promotion of gender equality and 

empowerment of women with specific targets for the elimination of gender disparities at primary and 

secondary school levels by 2005 and across all education levels by 2015. 

He stressed that education is a powerful driver for poverty reduction and sustainable socio-economic 

development. It empowers people with the knowledge and skills they need to increase individual and 

household income, to expand employment opportunities and to fight against hunger and malnutrition. Public 

spending on education is one of the most beneficial investments, a country can make in its future well-being. 

Social change, employment, competitiveness, innovation and long-term prospects for economic growth rely 

considerably on the expansion of quality learning opportunities for all. Estimations by the EFA GMR team for 

the MDGs summit include that “171 million could be lifted out of poverty, if all students in low-income 

countries left school with basic reading skills”. 

Brig. (Retd) Amannullah, Director General, National Centre for Rural Development, Islamabad while 

speaking on “Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Poverty Alleviation in Pakistan” mentioned that 

the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the centrepiece of development efforts of the 

Government of Pakistan. The 18 global targets and 48 indicators adopted in 2000 have been translated into 16 

national targets and 37 indicators keeping in view Pakistan's specific conditions, priorities, data availability 

and institutional capacity. The MDGs have been incorporated into the Government's two important 

macroeconomic frameworks including the New Growth Framework which focuses on inclusive growth and 

increasing total factor productivity, and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) which is a framework for 

social and economic policies. Government's key planning document on development, Medium Term 

Development Framework (MTDF) 2005-10 also endorsed the MDGs. To date, however, sufficient progress 

has only been made on about half of the targeted indicators while others lag behind. 

He stated that there is a general agreement that the poverty fell in Pakistan during 2002 to 2006 period, from 

34% to 22% largely on account of high growth, greater donor assistance and increased remittances. However, 

there are disagreements over what the extent of poverty in Pakistan is at the moment, since 2007 and 2008, the 

economy has been under considerable pressure due to domestic and external developments which forced the 

government to remove a large number of subsidies and large number of people have fallen into poverty. The 

main causes of increase in poverty in Pakistan are: global financial crisis of 2008; deteriorating law and order 

situation in the country further aggravated in 2008-09; domestic costs of fighting militancy; and the growing 

tide of internally displaced persons. As a result, GDP growth has decelerated. Resource constraints are 

manifested in low public sector development spending and adversely affecting the situation of poverty and 

employment in the country. He highlighted the challenges in alleviation of poverty which include large 

population of about 180 million people, rapidly growing at the rate of 2.5 % annually; highly traditional 

society; inadequate social and health services; high military spending; high infant mortality (91 per 1000); 

illiteracy rate 50% for men and 76% for women; and problem of extremism and terrorism for the last one 

decade. 

10


He said that in order to reduce poverty, the Government of Pakistan launched Poverty Reduction Strategy 

Paper (PRSP) in 2001 in response to rising trend in poverty since 1990s. The PRSP consisted of the following 

five elements: i) accelerating economic growth and maintaining macro-economic stability; ii) investing in 

human capital; iii) augmenting targeted interventions; iv) expanding social safety nets; and v) improving 

governance. Recognizing the need to protect the poor and the vulnerable and minimize the adverse effects of 

poverty, the Government has launched several social safety net programs including Pakistan Poverty 

Alleviation Fund; Pakistan Bait-ul-Mall; and Benazir Income Support Program (BISP). Programs under 

Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal are Individual Financial Assistance (IFA), Child Support Program (CSP), National 

Centres for Rehabilitation of Child Labour, Vocational / Diversified Vocational Schools, Pakistan Sweet 

Homes (PSHs), Langer Program, and Institutional Rehabilitation through NGOs. Programs under BISP 

include: Monthly Stipend; Waseela-e-Haq; Waseela-e-Rozgar; Waseela-e-Sehat; and Waseela-e-Taleem. 

Due to the transparency, objectivity and efficacy of the program international financial institutions and donor 

agencies have shown full trust in BISP. 

He concluded that Poverty Alleviation needs a multi-dimensional approach and no single policy can 

completely address the needs of poverty reduction. Macro-economic stability and sustained growth is a prerequisite 

to build a thriving economy. It requires interventions to enhance incomes and ensure growth 

combined with effective safety nets programs to cater to the needs of the marginalized and the poor. It requires 

interventions in the production system, transfer of resources and employment programs. Government at all 

levels is highly committed to poverty alleviation programs and all efforts are being made to ensure continuity 

of these programs. It is hoped that by 2015 substantial progress will be made to achieve MDG on Poverty 

Alleviation in Pakistan. 

11


Dr. Aurang Zeb, Group Leader Nutrition, Nuclear Institute for Food & Agriculture (NIFA), Peshawar took a 

session on “Health and Nutrition Situation of under Five Children in South Asia”. He informed that health is a 

state of complete physical and mental well being and not merely the absence of disease whereas nutrition is 

the science or study that deals with food and nourishment. The 4th MDG (Reduce Child Mortality) has six 

indicators which are: i) under-five mortality rate; ii) infant mortality rate; iii) proportion of fully immunised 

children 12-23 months (%); iv) proportion of under 1 year children immunized against measles (%); v) 

proportion of children under five who suffered from diarrhoea in the last 30 days and received ORT (%); and 

lady health workers’ coverage of target population (%). In Pakistan, Under-Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) has 

declined to 86.5 from 117 since last 15 years. Although the Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF) 

target for 2010 was 77, there is a little chance that Pakistan will be able to achieve the 2015 MDG target of 52. 

The current Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is 70, here again Pakistan has missed the MTDF target of 65 for 2010 

and it is very unlikely that Pakistan will be able to achieve the target of 40 by 2015. Proportion of fully 

immunised children, 12-23 months, is also unlikely to be achieved due to poor performance of the EPI. 

Proportion of under-1 year children immunised against measles is also unlikely to be achieved due to 

difference in the targeted and achieved percentage as targeted percentage is more than 90%, but the current 

achieved percentage is 86%. But the indicator of proportion of children under five who suffered from 

diarrhoea in the last 30 days is likely to be achieved due to good progress in the last couple of years, and the last 

indictor, Lady Health Workers’ coverage of target population, and its progress shows that it is likely to be 

achieved by 2015. 

In India, U5MR declined over last decade down to 64/1000 live births in 2009. India will reach 54/1000 live 

births by 2015 missing the MDG target by 12 percentage points. IMR declined by 30 points in the last 20 years 

but likely to be 45.04/1000 live births against the MDG target of 26.67/1000 by 2015. Immunization coverage 

against measles reached 72.4% in 2009; and is likely to fall short of target by 12 percentage points in 2015. 

He informed that globally, more that 150 million malnourished children under the age of 5. Half of the world 

malnourished children are in 3 countries of South Asia – India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Around 35% of the 

9.2 million deaths in under 5 children are associated with under nutrition. One third of all Asian children are 

stunted – an indicator of growth retardation. 70% of the world stunted children are found in South Asia. 

He said that iron is the most widespread of all nutritional deficiencies holding back human development at 

significant cost to societies and economies. Iron deficiency is the leading cause of anemia. Vitamin A and 

Zinc are specific micronutrients that are both vital for child survival. Vitamin A deficiency is prevalent in most 

of the countries of Asia & Africa affecting preschool-age children and pregnant women. Zinc deficiency can 

impair the immune system and increase the risk of death from common childhood infections including 

diarrhoea, pneumonia, and malaria. It can also cause stunted growth, hair-loss, and lesions. Regions with high 

risk of Zinc deficiency include South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and several countries in Latin America. 

Iodine deficiency has multiple adverse effects in humans, termed iodine deficiency disorders, due to 

inadequate thyroid hormone production. Globally, it is estimated that 2 billion individuals have an insufficient 

iodine intake, and South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are particularly affected. Iodine deficiency during 

pregnancy and infancy may impair growth and neurodevelopment of the offspring and increase infant 

mortality. Deficiency during childhood reduces somatic growth and cognitive and motor function. The 

clinical implications of calcium deficiency include rickets, poor bone mass accrual as well as abnormal fetal 

programming during pregnancy, poor peak bone mass due to poor accrual in childhood and adolescence, 

postmenopausal osteoporosis and osteoporosis of the elderly. Daily calcium intake in South Asia as per 

recommendations is far lower. 

He concluded that malnutrition has long been known to undermine economic growth, perpetuate poverty. It 

causes heavy economic losses and contributes to half of all child deaths. Developing countries that invest in 

better nutrition for their children get high returns on their spending. 

12


Prof. Dr. Faqir Muhammad Anjum (TI), Director General, National Institute of Food Science & 

Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad presented his paper on “Food Security And Safety in 

SAARC Region”. The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing “when all people at all 

times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life”. Food security is 

built on three pillars: food availability, food access and food use. 

Agriculture holds a central place in all South Asian economies, except for Maldives. Moreover, this sector 

employs more than half of the labour force in the SAARC countries, reaching 97% in Bhutan. SAARC 

countries accounts for 23% of the world’s population, but generates hardly two percent of global income. 

Housing 40% of the world’s poor (living on less than US $1 a day). 35% of the world’s under-nourished, the 

Region has the highest concentration of poverty and hunger in the world. About 35% of the peoples in 

Bangladesh, 25% in Sri Lanka and 20% each in India and Nepal are undernourished. 

He said that major causes of food insecurity in the SAARC region are: low productivity of crops and livestock 

as compared to that in many developed countries; decline in agricultural GDP in most of the SAARC 

countries; investment for maintaining their vital irrigation infrastructure which has led to its rapid 

deterioration; large disaster prone areas; recurring droughts in the arid and semi-arid parts; geographical 

location in terms of inaccessibility for trade because Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan are landlocked countries; 

heterogeneity in their physical and natural resources, endowments, biodiversity, socio-economic conditions; 

dominance of agricultural sector; urbanization; and climate change. 

He highlighted that the region is facing five groups of challenges: i) alleviation of hunger and poverty through 

accelerated and sustained agricultural growth; ii) synergistically enhancing productivity and profitability of 

small holdings, and ensuring environmental protection; iii) obviating risks and climate change management; 

iv) farmer-market value chain-employment linkage; and v) ensuring responsive policy reforms, adequate 

strategic interventions and satisfactory program implementation. 

He informed that Food Security Index (FSI) has been developed for South Asia covering Bangladesh, India, 

Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka based on the four indicators which are: i) per capita food availability index 

(50% weight); ii) per capita food production index; iii) self-sufficiency ratio index; and iv) index of inverse 

relative food price (last three equally weighted for the remaining 50%). The FSI for the SAARC region 

showed fluctuations in individual years but an overall upward trend till 2000 after which it fell in 2001 and 

then sharply in 2002. Subsequently, it improved; however, by 2008 it was only marginally better as compared 

to 1990. Strategies to achieve food security may include economic measures, research and development, 

development of infrastructure, establishing formal and informal education, modern methods of processing, 

role of the government. 

He mentioned that the level of attention to food safety stems from: the increased incidence of food-borne 

illness worldwide; food safety governing national productivity by way of both household; community health 

as well as by capitalizing on export potential. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the 

United Nations’ (FAO) report 2010, the total extent of the food-borne disease problem in the developing 

world (SAARC countries) is likely higher but difficult to estimate since its victims often cannot track down 

the cause and do not seek medical attention. Besides, medical systems in most countries are ill equipped to 

monitor outbreaks. Regularly falling prey to food-borne diseases such as Cholera, Diarrhea and Hepatitis A, it 

is here that the real tragedy manifests itself. Strategies to ensure food safety should take into account: 

development of national food safety policies and infrastructure on the basis of local needs assessment; food 

legislation and enforcement; increasing awareness of food processing technologies; education of 

households/consumers in hygienic handling; improving the hygienic quality of street-vended food; 

epidemiological surveillance. He also discussed the Punjab Food Safety and Standards Authority 

Ordinance-2011. 

13


Dr. Baikunta Aryal, Joint Secretary, Economic Affairs and Policy Analysis Division, Ministry of Finance, 

Nepal in his presentation discussed “Threats in Attaining MDGs: South Asian Perspective”. He said that the 

adoption of the Millennium Declaration represented a historic global commitment. It is a thought that 

attempts to raising awareness about globally neglected agendas; mobilizing global attention for accelerating 

the development actions; orienting for balanced world development and eradicating poverty. The Millennium 

Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of quantified and time-bound goals for dramatically improving the 

human condition by 2015. Their instrumentality is defined as long term visions; identified benchmarks; and 

planned targets. Poverty alleviation is an important motivational force behind the formation of MDGs. 

Poverty includes three dimensions such as: i) income, ii) human, iii) inclusivity. These three dimensions of 

poverty look independent; however they are interdependent. 

He outlined the major threats to achieving the MDGs. MDG1: growing food insecurity and lower food 

production; rice exports to western world; high inflation; less employment opportunity; and rising inequality. 

MDG2: low investment in education; non-availability of qualified teachers; poverty; social disparities; poor 

school infrastructure; high dropout rates.MDG3: socio cultural values; illiteracy; insufficient legal reforms; 

lower level of inclusive development. MDG 4: poor health facilities; illiteracy; weak synergy between 

preventive and curative actions; lack of awareness; nutrition; poor hygienic condition. MDG5: socio cultural 

values; illiteracy; poor health service facilities; lack of awareness and skilled health personnel; poor 

infrastructure, sanitation and hygienic condition; family planning service. MDG6: lack of investment on 

productive employment and employment opportunity; iIlliteracy; poor hygienic condition; unskilled health 

personnel; poor infrastructure; perception towards the affected person. MDG7: climate change; melt down of 

Himalayas; tradeoff between development and environment protection; higher cost of production and 

development; dependency on environment for fuel; lack of appropriate policies. MDG8: lack of coordination 

among different development agents; global financial crisis; recent Euro Zone Crisis; reduced employment 

opportunities abroad; deteriorating international trade; weak ICT development; and language barriers. 

He recommended to: build national ownership and leadership for development strategies; adopt forwardlooking 

macroeconomic policies; promote national food security strategies; adopt policies and measures 

benefiting the poor and addressing social and economic inequalities; promote universal access to public and 

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social services; strengthen social protection; improve quality service delivery; ensure the full participation of 

all segments of society, including the poor and disadvantaged in decision-making processes; respect, promote 

and protect human rights, including the right to development; enhance opportunities for women and girls and 

advance the economic, legal and political empowerment of women; invest in the health of women and 

children to drastically reduce the number of women and children who die from preventable causes; improve 

governance system; maintain transparency and accountability in resource mobilization; promote South- 

South and triangular cooperation, which complement North-South cooperation; strengthen regional ties; 

promote effective public-private partnerships; expand access to financial services for the poor, especially 

poor women; strengthen statistical capacity to produce reliable disaggregated data for better programs and 

policy evaluation and formulation; strengthen and increase use of ICT. 

Mr. Roomi S. Hayat, Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Rural Management, Islamabad made a presentaion 

on ‘Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): 3 Years to the Deadline’. He mentioned that the Millennium 

Development Goals (MDGs) have provided an important motivational force and yardstick for the progress. In 

their design, the goals were deliberately ambitious and their achievements requiring unparalleled progress in 

most countries. The fact that many countries will achieve a significant number of the goals and transform the 

quality of life of hundreds of millions of people should be a sign of hope and spur an action for others. The 

challenge for their remaining three years and beyond is to learn from and build on this progress. 

He informed that this year’s UN report on progress towards the MDGs highlights several milestones. The 

target of reducing extreme poverty by half has been reached five years ahead of the 2015 deadline as has the 

target of halving the proportion of people who lack dependable access to improved sources of drinking water. 

Conditions for more than 200 million people living in slums have been ameliorated double the 2020 target. 

Primary school enrolment of girls equalled that of boys, and we have seen accelerating progress in reducing 

child and maternal mortality. 

The UN report represents a tremendous reduction in human suffering and is a clear validation of the approach 

embodied in the MDGs. But, they are not a reason to relax. Projections indicate that in 2015 more than 600 

million people worldwide will still be using unimproved water sources; almost one billion will be living on an 

income of less than $1.25 per day; mothers will continue to die needlessly in childbirth; and children will 

suffer and die from preventable diseases. Hunger remains a global challenge, and ensuring that all children are 

able to complete primary education remains a fundamental but unfulfilled target that has an impact on all the 

other goals. Lack of safe sanitation is hampering progress in health and nutrition; biodiversity loss continues 

apace; and greenhouse gas emissions continue to pose a major threat to people and ecosystem. The goal of 

gender equality also remains unfulfilled, again with broad negative consequences given that achieving the 

MDGs depends so much on women’s empowerment and equal access by women to education, work, health 

care and decision-making. He stressed that we must recognize the unevenness of progress within countries 

and regions, and the severe inequalities that exist among populations, especially between rural and urban 

areas. 

In the case of Pakistan, most of the MDG targets seem unachievable by 2015. Poverty reduced between 2002 

and 2006 but it started to rise again. Targets for MTDF were not achieved so this indicator is unlikely to be 

achieved. Similarly, access to primary education, gender equality and improved maternal health are less likely 

to be achieved. Pakistan has made progress on some indicators of reducing child mortality but the overall 

target seems to be unachievable. On the other hand, Pakistan has done well to combat HIV/AID, Malaria and 

other diseases and the targets of few indicators have already been met. Similarly, Pakistan has already met the 

targets of ensuring environmental sustainability and global partnerships for development. 

Country report of Pakistan was jointly presented by Dr. Arshad Mahmood Uppal, Dr. Aurang Zeb, Ms. 

Nargis Bano, and Ms. Bushra Sadiq. It was informed that according to the Pakistan Millennium 

Development Goals Report (2010) produced by Planning Commission, Government of Pakistan, the targets 

for the Medium Term Development (MTDF) 2009-10 have not been met in the three indicators for Goal 1, and 

i required to help in coming close to achieving the MDG 2015 targets. 

15


Goal 2 ‘Achieve Universal Primary Education’ focuses on three indicators. i) Net enrolment at primary level 

remained below 60% until 2008-09; although, there has been marginal improvement in it over time, the MDG 

target of achieving 100% net enrolment ratio by 2015 requires an increase of 43 percentage point in the next 

five years. ii) The completion/survival rate of students enrolled in primary schools also present a dismal 

scenario that implies that almost half of the students enrolled in primary schools do not complete their 

education; the interim target for 2009-10 was set at 80% and could not be achieved. iii) Pakistan’s literacy rate 

remains considerably short of the MDG target of 88% by 2015, although it has marginally improved to 57% 

by 2008-09. 

With regard to the four indicators for Goal-3, ‘Promote Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment’ the 

status of Pakistan is: i) Pakistan has made steady though slow progress with regard to the Gender Parity Index 

(GPI) for primary and secondary education. Despite the fact that Pakistan has missed the MDG target of 

gender parity in primary and secondary education in 2005, with the current pace, the MDG target of gender 

parity is likely to be unachievable by 2015. ii) Youth literacy GPI improved during 2004-09. With the existing 

pace, the MDG target of 1.00 by 2015 is likely to be unachievable. iii) Women’s share in wage employment in 

the non-agricultural sector has increased but Pakistan is making slow progress towards achieving the target. 

iv) With regard to number of women seats in the national parliament, Pakistan has shown substantial 

improvement over the years. The proportion of seats in the present National Assembly is among the highest in 

the world. 

Pakistan’s status on Goal 4 ‘Reduce Child Mortality’ shows that out of six indicators, Pakistan’s performance 

in achieving the desired MDG targets by 2015 is unsatisfactory particularly in case the first two indicators i.e. 

the under-five mortality rate and infant mortality rate. Though, Pakistan has managed to lower the under-five 

mortality rate, there is still a need to reduce it by 42 percentage points by 2015, a high improbable outcome. 

The target for 2015 for the proportion of under-five years suffering from diarrhoea was achieved ahead of 

time. Similarly, the coverage of households Lady Health Workers (LHW) increased from 38% in 2001-02 to 

83% in 2008-09 in the first nine years of the MDGs; hence, the attainment of 100% coverage by 2015 seems to 

be on track. 

In terms of the first indicator of Goal 5 ‘the Maternal Mortality Ratio’, Pakistan has a considerable distance to 

go to meet the MDG targets by 2015. For the maternal mortality ratio, the MDG target for 2015 still requires 

almost a halving of the ratio. The 2015 target for skilled birth attendants is still more than twice of the 

proportion achieved in 2008-09. A third indicator relating antenatal care also shows low progress. In terms of 

family planning indicators, the contraceptive prevalence rate is considerably short of the 2015 MDG target. 

Goal 6 ‘Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases’, covers five indicators. Recent trend shows that 

HIV/AIDS spread is increasing; however, Pakistan is still classified as a low prevalence country. The 

government is giving special attention to the situation and with commitment shown to this disease it seems 

possible that Pakistan will achieve the target by 2015. The percentage of TB cases detected and cured under 

DOTS has increased from 79% in 2001-02 to 85% in 2008-09 and the MDG target has been met before time. 

Malaria related issues need attentions as the proportion of population in malaria risk areas using effective 

malaria prevention treatment and measure has increased slightly by ten points (from 20to 30) during 2001 to 

2009. 

Pakistan’s status on Goal 7 ‘Ensure Environment Sustainability’ shows that the land area under forest cover 

has marginally increased from 4.9% in 2004-05 to 5.02% in 2008-09. Pakistan has become one of the largest 

users of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in the world and the MDG target for this indicator has already been 

achieved. Water supply coverage increased from 53% in 1990 to 65% in 2008-09; however, it still has a long 

way to go in reaching the MDG target pf 93% by 2015. The sanitation coverage in the country has increased 

from 30% in 1990 to 63% in 2008-09 according to the PSLM survey 2008-09. However, it is still a long way to 

go in reaching the MDG target of 90% by 2015. 

Pakistan’s location, both in terms of geography and in terms of development has become and can remain a 

focal point requiring help and assistance to achieve all seven of its MDGs by means of the Goal 8, which 

16


includes greater market access, development assistance, and greater connectivity. Pakistan has been an aid 

dependent country for many decades and aid has been crucial for achieving many of its developmental goals 

and MDGs. With trade now replacing aid as a means to development, Pakistan’s desire for greater market 

access is largely supply-constrained, where Pakistan narrow export base has limited exportable services and 

commodities. Therefore, bilateral and multilateral overseas development assistance can play a key role in 

providing support in developing the faculties of Pakistani producers to take advantages of the global economy 

rather than be victims of it. 

Dr. Baikunta Aryal presented the country report of Nepal. According to the report, Nepal is one of the 189 

countries committed to the MDGs, a pledge renewed in its current Three Year Plan (2010 -2013). It was told 

that Nepal will be able to achieve most of its MDG targets by 2015, except for the more complex ones such as 

full employment and climate change which will require stronger efforts and an appropriate environment. 

Nepal is likely to achieve poverty target of MDG 1. The country's current poverty level is 25.4%, suggesting 

that it has been reduced by 5.5 percentage points since 2005. The 2009 assessment indicates poverty reduction 

rate in rural areas (18%) is slower than that in urban areas (20%). Hunger target of the same goal is unlikely to 

be achieved as Nepal has a very high rate of child malnutrition: half (49%) of children under five are stunted 

and one third (39%) are underweight.This figure is within the top five in the world. Although, there has been 

some development on the hunger indicators in the past, the recent rapid rise in food prices and the 

consequences of climate change pose the main challenges in achieving the target. 

MDG 2 ‘Achieve Universal Primary Education’ Nepal has shown remarkable improvement in the net 

enrolment rate (NER) at primary level from 64% in 1990 to close to 93.7% in 2010 today. However, serious 

concerns remain about the quality of primary education and the low school completion rates. The quality 

issues can be addressed only by a child-friendly environment in schools. Completion rates can be addressed 

through measures to increase the inclusiveness of education, and targeted policy to help the people in the 

poorest economic quintile groups. 

MDG 3 ‘Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women’ and associated targets are possible to achieve if 

changes are made. Girls' enrolment is approaching the same levels as the rates for boys - 95 girls for every 100 

boys now enroll in primary school. However, women's low status in the control of resources and political 

decision making remains, as does high incidence of violence against women (including early marriage and 

sex selective abortions). Serious measures should be taken to ensure the implementation of Nepal's 

international commitments for women's empowerment and gender equality. Key commitments include the 

CEDAW, and the UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. 

MDG 4 “Reduce Child Mortality” and associated targets are likely to be achieved. A well-coordinated scale 

up of highly effective child survival interventions, such as Vitamin A distribution, immunization and 

pneumonia treatment has contributed to the fact that the mortality rate among children under five years has 

been halved during the past 10 years. The largest challenge today is addressing mortality among newborns, 

now accounting for 54% of all deaths among under-five children. 

As far as MDG 5 ‘Improve Maternal Health’ is concerned, the available data suggests that mortality rate 

during childbirth has fallen from 850 in 100, 00 mothers in 1990 to 229 in 2010. However, only 1 out of 5 

births are attended by a skilled birth attendant, linking also clearly to the high mortality rates of newborns. 

Access to maternity and reproductive health services should be made universal and free of cost, as provided 

by the Interim Constitution. The provision and retention of skilled staff and equipped and functioning 

facilities in rural areas is key to this. 

With regard to MDG 6 ‘Combat HIV and AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases’ the national figure on HIV 

prevalence is slightly reversing 0.49% in 2010. However, Nepal's HIV epidemic is concentrated among 

population groups at higher risk of transmission - injecting drug users, female sex workers, men who have sex 

with men, and high-risk migrants. A well performing and integrated National TB Control program has 

17


resulted in a significant decline in tuberculosis cases, from 460 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 1990 to 244 in 

2010. 

Progress towards MDG 7 ‘Ensure Environmental Sustainability’, shows that rural people's access to modern 

sources of energy has improved over recent years through the expansion of grid-based and off-grid 

decentralized options, including both electricity and non-electricity technologies. Proportion of the 

population with sustainable access to improved water sources (%) is 46 in 1990 which is improved in 

year2010 i.e.84.1 where the target is just 73. Proportion of the population with sustainable access to improved 

sanitation in 1990 was only 6% whereas it is increased to 49.2% in the year 2010. 

The report informed that some of the targets have already been met, however, the targets difficult to meet are: 

employment; survival rate to grade 5; ratio of girls to boys at tertiary levels of education; literate women to 

men aged 15-24 years; percentage of births attended by a skilled birth attendant; universal access to 

reproductive health; and environment related targets. The Needs Assessment Report (2010) says that if the 

government is able to manage resources and build institutional and policy capacity for implementation of 

strategic interventions, most of the MDG targets can be met by 2015. The targets for full employment and 

climate change require strategic and accelerated efforts to be on track- requiring a joint effort from the 

government and development partners. A comparison between projected cost and projected available 

financial resources shows that there are serious funding gaps in all years between 2011 and 2015. 

Country report of Sri Lanka was presented by Mr. Hemachandra Ranathunga. It was told that Sri Lanka has 

moved progressively on the right track in achieving many of the targets of the eight MDGs while fighting with 

one of the world’s most powerful and ruthless terrorist organization. Compared with early years, now Sri 

Lanka has more rooms to achieve most of these MDGs at faster rates because war with LTTE is over and now 

country is embarking to a new growth and development paths. But the main obstacle to achieve MDGs may 

lies with problems related to the governance. 

In the present context, Sri Lanka will have to pay even more attention to achieve Goal 1, ‘Eradicating Poverty 

and Hunger’ because sectoral and geographical disparities could be seen. Although there are many 

innovative social safety-nets and subsidy programs in place, poverty eradication needs to be accelerated even 

further by targeting the needy ones with good governance. With the increase of the number of Internally 

Displaced Persons (IDPs) due to the conflict and Tsunami, a considerable number of people lost their 

livelihoods. This has led to an increase in the poverty headcount ratios. 

Sri Lanka is about to reach Goal 2, ‘Achieving Universal Primary Education’, and is way-ahead of some of the 

countries in the region due to free education policy and other welfare instances since political independence or 

so. The policy of free education at primary, secondary and tertiary levels has also been a key factor that 

contributed to this achievement. Furthermore, participation of private sector for education also made 

significant contribution for these achievements. To provide further emphasis, schooling for children in the age 

group 5-14 years has been made compulsory by an Act of Parliament since 1997. Sri Lanka has also achieved 

a significant progress in Goal 3, ‘Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women’. But in order o fully 

achieve MDG goal 3, Sri Lanka has to work in full speed by addressing issues related to governance aspects. 

The focus on equal education for both men and women is the main driving force that led to the gender equality 

in education. As a result, in Sri Lanka, women are well represented and have a lead in many wage earning 

industries, with a comparatively better social position, even though it is yet to achieve the internationally 

accepted standards and norms of gender equality and empowerment of women. However, compared with 

other South Asian countries, Sri Lankan women have equal opportunity to employment, marriage and family 

wealth. When it comes to higher education more women can be seen in many soft faculties in Sri Lankan 

Universities. 

On the path towards the fourth goal, ‘Reduce Child Mortality’, Sri Lanka is on the lead in the region. As a low 

middle income developing country, it is notable that Sri Lanka has achieved remarkable levels in health 

standards and social development, benefiting from free health care services. The successive governments 

have been taking initiatives directed at reducing infant and under 5 child mortality since Independence, 

18


sometime even before that. There is a widespread network of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Care Clinics, 

as well as services of trained Public Health Midwives. Although free health care was instrumental in raising 

health standards, a government cannot continuously offer free health care due to severe budgetary constraints 

and its inflationary impact. Private sector has also now vigorously entered to this health business and this also 

positively contributed to increase health related indicators of the nation. Overall, poor peoples’ health and 

nutrition related education level have also risen up with income increases. 

With regard to the fifth goal, ‘Improve Maternal Health’ there has been a consistent and a steep decline in the 

maternal mortality ratio for over five decades. Sri Lanka had achieved the maternal mortality rate of 19.7 per 

100,000 live births in 2003 against the target of 10.6 per 100,000 live births to be achieved in 2015. The 

percentage of births attended by skilled health personnel, which is also an indicator that measures the progress 

of the fifth goal, has reached 98.5% against the target of 100%. 

Towards the sixth goal, ‘Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases’, Sri Lanka needs to pay more 

attention on the detection of HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Sri Lanka has been identified as a low HIV/AIDS 

prevalence country with a detection rate of 0.1 per cent prevalence of HIV/AIDS in age group of 15-49. 

However, there has been an increase in the number of cases reported during the past few years requiring 

renewed attention to meet the goal fully. Although the number of Malaria cases reported per year has reduced 

sharply from 210,039 in 2000 to just 591 in 2006, Incidence of Tuberculosis (TB) and dengue is still at an 

unsatisfactory level. There were 8,996 newly identified TB cases reported in 2008 compared with 8,232 in 

2000. Further, the TB associated deaths of 347 were reported in 2006. Sri Lanka has to be more proactive in 

dengue fever eradication as it almost came to epidemic situation in some urban areas of the country by 

reporting many deaths. 

In terms of MDG seven: ‘Ensuring Environmental Sustainability’, extra collective attention is necessary. 

Deforestation, disruption of biological diversity and emission of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases still 

remain. As a result of pollution, the percentage of population that does not have access to safe sources of 

drinking water and safe sanitation can increase, which could exacerbate due to ignorance. Developing 

countries including Sri Lanka may now face new challenges in meeting MDGs, on the fallout of the current 

global economic crisis and other set back such as abolition of preferential trade concessions such as GSP The 

implications of such a set-back could be long-term in nature and could affect the efforts of achieving MDGs 

by those countries. 

Regarding the targets in MDG 8, Sri Lankan has achieved mixed results. Addressing the special needs of the 

Least Developed Countries (LDCs) includes tariff- and quota-free access for Least Developed Countries’ 

exports, enhanced program of debt relief. In these areas the international community has more responsibility 

rather the Sri Lankan side. But some of the given concessions such as GSP (The EU's Generalized System of 

Preferences is a trade arrangement through which the EU provides preferential access to the EU market to Sri 

Lankan over 6400 exports items, in the form of reduced tariffs for their goods when entering the EU market) 

have stopped. In recent past, obtaining commercial loans from expensive world market sources have 

increased. Sri Lankan public health sector always suffer many issues related to the bad governance starting 

from drug and medical equipment purchases. 

Sri Lankan has many good achievements in the ICT field due to very many new initiatives taken by the 

government. Especially e-government project, ICT sector deregulation and ICT infrastructure development 

caused for these achievements. In 2009 Sri Lanka’s telephone density was around 85 (both fixed and mobile) 

and internet and e-mail density is 1.7 for 100 people in population. However, government has 147 web sites 

which provide various information and services to public in addition to various other services provided by the 

e-Lanka project under Information and Communication Technology Agency. 

19

Recommendations of Working Groups 


The training participants were divided into three working groups and were assigned specific topics 

to discuss the status and progress on the MDGs in the SAARC region, share best practices and give a plan of 

action for future to achieve the MDGs within the stipulated time. Some specific recommendations are as 

follows: 

Group-I: 

Policies and Strategies to Expedite Achievements of 

MDGs in South Asia 

• Employment opportunities (productive employment) 

• Skill development (to equip the individuals with technical know how) 

• Provision of funding (loans, grants, scholarships, incentives) 

• Utilization of production (consumption pattern, surplus in market) 

• Market connection (output, profit, benefits, outcomes). 

• Improvement in net enrollment (cash to parents, provision of commodities and other 

facilities like transportation, good infrastructure, specious buildings, airy class rooms, 

playgrounds, boundary walls specially in girls schools, water and sanitation system in 

schools) 

• Merit oriented selection criteria 

• Monitoring system (regularity methodology behaviour) 

• Incentives for teachers (pay package, encouragement on good performance) 

• Teacher parent counseling 

• Free books up to primary classes 

• Result oriented syllabus (to make the students practical and sensible citizen of the land) • 

Firm commitment, dynamic vision, optimistic approach and strong political will necessary 

ingredients to chalk out policies and implement them in letter and spirit to accomplish the 

vision of MDGs by 2015 

Group-II: Poverty Reduction: Solutions to Achieve MDGs 

• Macro economic stability 

• Awareness/education/training 

• Appropriate resource allocation 

• Labour intensive technology 

• Revitalization of vocational training institutions 

• Industrializations 

• Creation of enabling environment for increasing the role of private sector 

• Market access 

• Improved infrastructure 

• Strengthening the social safety nets 

• Public private partnership/productive linkages for all the segments of society 

• Good governance, accountability by the system 

• Corporate farming and value addition in livestock 

• Balance regional development 

• Access to justice (to all segments of society) 

• Initiation of Income Generating Grants (IGG) 

• Microfinance Credit Guarantee Facility 

• Promotion of regional trade 

• Designing, approval and enactment of appropriate legislation 

• Conducive investment environment 

• Democratic reforms 

• Additional resources and technology by the developed nations 

20


Group-III: Development of a Framework for Coordinated Efforts 

among Private, Public & NGOs for Timely Achievement of 

MDGs 

• The Governments should ensure access to primary education, health, water and sanitation, 

roads, agricultural (crop, animal and fisheries) extension services, disease control and 

revenue collection among others 

• They should be responsible for physical planning, human resource development, statistics 

generation, legislation, law enforcement, promoting self-help activities, implementing 

central government, policy and coordinating the activities of non-governmental, 

community-based and faith-based organizations 

• People should be empowered to make decisions about priority services and the way they are 

delivered. This requires the involvement of a broad range of stakeholders, including federal 

and provincial governments at the upper level and the private sector, community NGOs, 

CSOs and CBOs at the lower level 

• The Governments should formulate policies; make funds available; build infrastructure; 

monitor the progress; coordinate between private sector and NGOs 

• NGOs and community should inform the stakeholders about the process; make them 

receptive for the change; and help the people in execution of the programs 

Concluding Ceremony 

The concluding ceremony of the training course was held on July 21, 2012. 

Dr. Riffat AyshaAnis, Director, SHRDC distributed the certificates among the course participants. 

In her concluding remarks, she said that the one week training course aimed at improving the 

capacity of policymakers and practitioners of the participating countries to integrate the MDGsbased 

strategies in national development plan; increase and up-to-date body of knowledge on the 

MDGs: progress, prospects and way forward. She expressed her confidence that after returning 

home, the participants would utilize the knowledge they had obtained through the training course. 

She thanked all the participants and resource persons for their active contributions during the 

training sessions. She wished all the resource persons and participants a safe journey back to their 

home country. She expressed her gratitude to the SAARC Secretariat and Member States for their 

support and cooperation for making the activity possible. 

Dr. JavedHumayun, Research Fellow (Training) extended vote of thanks to the resource persons and 

participants for their valuable contribution to the training course. 

21


Dr. Riffat Aysha Anis, Director SHRDC giving away certificates to the participants 

22

Annex-I 


No. Country/Name Designation/Address Contact 

Afghanistan 

1. Mr. Hazrat Bilal Assistant to Second Secretary, 

Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan 

in Islamabad, H#8, St#90, G-6/3, Islamabad. 

Tel: 00-92-51-2824505-6 

Fax: 051-2824504, 

Cell: 0345 9041273 

2. Mr. Mohammad 

Amin 

Assistant to the Councellor, 

Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan 

in Islamabad, H#8, St#90, G-6/3, Islamabad. 

Email: hazratbilal.m@gmail.com 

Tel: 00-92-51-2824505-6 

Fax: 051-2824504, 

Cell: 0334 9097278 

Email: a.fazilyar@gmail.com 

India 

3. Dr. Savita Sharma 

(Resource Person) 

Advisor, Planning Commission, 

Government of India, 

India 

Maldives 

4. Ms. Sharafiyya 

Jameel 

Nepal 

5. Dr. Baikuntha Aryal 


Assistant Director 

Ministry of Health 

Policy Planning Division, Global Health Unit 

Male, Maldives 

Joint Secretary 

Economic Affairs and Policy Analysis Division, 

Ministry of Finance 

Government of Nepal 

Tel: (960) 3328889 

Fax: (960) 3328887 

Cell: (960) 9669855 

Email: sharafiyya@health.gov.mv 

sharafiyya.j@gmail.com 

Email: baikuntha@gmail.com 

Tel: (977) 1 4211826 

Fax: (977) 1 4211325 

Cell: (977) 9851131913 

23


6. Mr. Muhammad 

Safdar Hussain 

Lecturer 

Government Post Graduate College 

Jouharabad, District Khushab 

Tel: 0454 920041 

Cell: 0331 7701478 

Res: 0454-722478 

Email: safdarshahin@gmail.com 

7. Mr. Mamoon Rashid Executive Officer 

8. Dr. Aurangzeb 


Witness Social Welfare Organization 

Baluchistan 

Deputy Chief (Scientist) 

Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture 

(NIFA), G. T. Road, Tarnab, Peshawar 

Tel & Fax: 0822 501382 

Cell: 0313 8205588 

Email: brainswitness@yahoo.com 

mamoonkasi@ gmail.com 

Tel: 00 92 91 2964058, 

2964060-62 

Fax: 00 92 91 2964059 

Cell: 0333 9014498 

Email: mails@nifa.org.pk, 

drzebkhattak@gmail.com 

9. Dr. Arshad Mahmood 

Uppal 

10. Mr. Sarfaraz Ali 

Korejo 

Additional Principal Medical Officer, 

District Headquarters Hospital Rawalpindi 

Assistant Professor, 

Department of International Relations, Shah 

Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Sindh 

Tel: 051 5556311 Ext. 306 

Fax: 051 5537118 

Cell: 0333 5165232 

Email: amuppal@live.com 

Tel: 00 92 3 24 39280051*4 

Cell: 0344 2003982 

Email: sakorejo@yahoo.com 

11. Mr. Irfan Meer 

Soomro 

Field Monitor Assistant, 

United Nations world Food Program, ouse No. 

A-14, Defense Housing Society, Phase 1, 

Hyderabad, Pakistan. 

12. Mr. Shahid Riaz Senior Nutrition Officer, 

13. Prof. Dr. Nemat -e- 

Uzma 

Nutrition Division, National Institute of Health, 

Park Road, Chak Shahzad, Islamabad 

Pakistan Atomic Energy Model College, Nilore, 

Islamabad 

14. Prof. Irfan Pakistan Atomic Energy Model College, Nilore, 

Islamabad 

15. Ms. Bushra Sadiq Senior Program Officer, 

BARGAD, Rahwali, Gujranwala Cantt. 

Tel: 0092 22 2786707-10 

Cell: 0092 303 5552431, 

0332 2926092, 0346 8564324 

Email: irfansoomro@live.com, 

Tel: 00 92 51 9255079 

Fax: 00 92 51 9255099 

Cell: 00 92 333 5162102 

Tel: 051-2207810 

Cell: 0334-5051267 

Tel: 055-3864920 

Cell: 0321-8340322 

24


16. Prof. Manzar Zafar 

Kazmi 

Assistant Professor, 

Department of English, Federal Government 

Post Graduate College, H-9, Islamabad 

17. Mr. Azmat Ali Raja Lecturer, 

Department of Pak Studies, Federal 

Government Post Graduate College, H-9, 

Islamabad 

18. Ms. Nighat Perveen Section Officer, 

Ministry of Human Resource Development, 

Government of Pakistan, 5 th Floor, Block B, 

Pak Secretariat, Islamabad 

19. Mrs. Firdous Bibi Research Officer, (ILO) 

Ministry of Human Resource Development, 

Government of Pakistan, , 

Room No. 013PMI Hostel building, near 

zero point Islamabad 

20. Mr. Irfan Khan Assistant Chief, 

Poverty Section, Planning & Development 

Division, Islamabad 

21. Ms. Mahnaz Kadir 

Kant 

Assistant Chief, Planning & Development 

Division, AJK, Muzaffarabad 

22. Ms. Nargis Bano Assistant Economic Advisor, 

Finance Division, Islamabad 

23. Dr. Muhammad 

Saeed 

24. Ms. Sana Arif Lecturer 

Assistant Professor 

National Institute of Food Science & 

Technology, University of Agriculture, 

Faisalabad 

Institute of Rural Home Economic, University of 

Agriculture, Faisalabad 

Tel: 00 92 51 9213552 

Fax: 051 9103896 

Tel: 00 92 51 9253093 

Fax: 051 9201823 

Tel: 051 9224383, 

Fax: 051 9201777 

Email: irfan.ro@gmail.com 

Tel/Fax: 00 92 5822 921076 

Fax: 05822 921028, 921687 

Cell: 0333 5579080 

Email: mahnazkant@hotmail.com 

Tel: 051 9209547 

Fax: 051 9203388 

Cell: 0331 5294984 

saeeditsf@yahoo.com 

Tel: 041 9201105 

Fax: 041-9201439 

Cell: 0322 7688088 

Tel: 041 

Fax: 041-9201439 

Cell: 0334 6295976 

Email: sanasyed16@yahoo.com 

25. Mr. Shahid Hussain Programme Officer, 

Tel: 051 2822752, 

NRSP-Institute of Rural Management, Fax: 051 2823335, 

House 6, Street 56, F-6/4, Islamabad Cell: 0314-5318174 

Email: info@irm.edu.pk 

26. Mr. Muhammad Ijaz 

Hussain 

Senior Chief, 

Planning and Development Department, 

Civil Secretariat, Lahore, 54000 

Tel: 042 99210339 

Fax: 042 9921887 

Cell: 0333 4379710 

Email: mih281@gmail.com 

25


27. Mr. Muhammad 

Alam 

Senior Research Officer, 

Planning and Development Department, 

Gilgit, Pakistan 

28. Mr. Aslam Nadeem Deputy Chief, F & A Section, 

Planning and Development Division, 

29. Mr. Mirza Farooq Research Associate, Health Section 

P & D Division, Block-P, Pak Secretariat, 

Islamabad 

30. Syed Adnan Rashid Research Associate, Flood Reconstruction 

Unit, P & D Division, Block-P, Pak 

Secretariat, Islamabad 

31. Mr. Mumtaz Ai 

Shaikh 

Sri Lanka 

Deputy Chief, Education Section, 

P & D Division, Room No. 6 3 rd Floor 

PPMI Complex, Sector H-8/1, Islamabad 

Tel: 05811 920214, 920441 

Fax: 05811 920215 

Cell: 0345 5548714 

Email: malampk@gmail.com 

Tel: 051-9201989 

Fax: 051-9211391 

Cell: 0321-5341768 

Tel: 051-9217949, Fax: 9201777 

Email: mirza_or@yahoo.com 

Tel: 051 9093041, Fax: 9223777 

Cell: 033 5430717 

Email: rashid.adnan@gmail.com 

Tel: 051-9250766, 

Cell: 0333-7557449, 

Email: 

mumtaz_shaikh72@yahoo.com 

32. Mr. Hemachandra 

Ranathunga 

Consultant, 

Ministry of Public Management Reforms, 

Sri Lanka 

Tel: 94-71 4782542, 

94-112514162 

Email: hranathnnga@gmail.com 

26

Annex-II 

Working Programme 

Venue: Hotel Margala, Islamabad 

Day 1: Monday, July 16, 2012 

0900 – 0955 hrs Participants’ Registration SHRDC 

0955-1000 hrs Guests to be Seated SHRDC 

Opening Ceremony 

1000 – 1005 hrs Recitation from the Holy Quran 

1005 – 1015 hrs Welcome Address/Training Objectives Dr. Riffat Aysha Anis 

Director, SHRDC, Islamabad 

1015 – 1030 hrs Inaugural Address by the Chief Guest Brig(R) Amanullah 

Director General, NCRD, Islamabad 

1030 – 1035 hrs Vote of Thanks Dr. Javed Humayun, Research Fellow 

(Training), SHRDC, Islamabad 

1035 – 1050 hrs Group Photo 

1050 – 1130 hrs Refreshments 

1130 – 1230 hrs Introductory Session Participants’ Introduction 

1230 – 1400 hrs Lunch Break 

Training Sessions 

Date and Time Topics Resource Persons 

1400 – 1530 hrs Data Requirement/Availability to Monitor MDGs Dr. Savita Sharma 

Adviser, Perspective Planning Division 

Planning Commission, India 

1530 – 1600 hrs Discussion/Coffee/Tea 

Day 2: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 

0900 – 1030 hrs Country Report/ Millennium Development 

Goals in Sri Lanka: Current Progress and 

Way 

Forward to Achieve its Goals by 2015 

Hemachandra Ranathunga, Consultant, 

Ministry of Public Management , 

Colombo, Sri Lanka 

1030 – 1100 hrs Coffee/Tea Break 

1100 – 1230 hrs Country Report/ Policy Initiative to Achieve 

MDGs in India 


Dr. Savita Sharma 

Adviser, Perspective Planning Division 

Planning Commission, New Delhi, India 

1400 – 1530 hrs Country Reports Shakeela Yaqub(Pakistan), .Sharafiayya 

27


Day 3: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 

0900 – 1030 hrs Poverty: A Major Challenge to South Asia in 

Achieving MDGs—A Reflective Analysis 


1100 – 1230 hrs Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and 

Poverty Alleviation in Pakistan 


1400 – 1530 hrs Health and Nutrition Situation of Children Under 

Five Years of Age in South Asia 


Dr. G.M. Arif 

Joint Director, Pakistan Institute of 

Development Economics (PIDE), 

Islamabad, Pakistan 

Brig(R) Amanullah 

Director General, NCRD, Islamabad 

Dr. Aurangzeb 

Deputy Chief (Scientist), Nuclear Institute 

of Food and Agriculture-Turnab- 

Peshawar 

Day 4 : Thursday, July 19, 2012 

0900 – 1030 hrs Threats of Attaining MDGs in South Asia Dr. Baikunta Aryal 


1100 – 1230 hrs Food Security and Food Safety Situation in the 

SAARC Region 


Joint Secretary, Economic Affairs and Policy 

Analysis Division, Ministry of Finance, 

Kathmandu, Nepal 

Dr. Muhammad Faqir Anjum 

Director General, Institute of Food Science 

and Technology, Faisalabad 

1400 – 1530 hrs MDGs’ Years to the Deadline Roomi S. Hayat 

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), 

Institute of Rural Management 

(IRM), Islamabad 


28


Day 5: Friday, July 20, 2012 

0900 – 1030 hrs Country Report of Nepal Dr. Baikunta Aryal, 

1400 – 1530 hrs Group Work and Course Evaluation SHRDC 


Day 6: Saturday, July 21, 2012 

Joint Secretary, Economic Affairs and Policy 

Analysis Division, Ministry of Finance, 

0900 – 0915 hrs Presentation Group 1: Policies and Strategies to 

Suggestions and Recommendations 

0915 – 0930 hrs Presentation Group 2: Reduction of Poverty: 

Solution to Achieve MDGs — Suggestions and 

Recommendations 

0930 – 0945 hrs Presentation Group 3: Development of a 

Framework for Coordinated Efforts among 

Private, Public and NGOs for Timely 

Achievement of MDGs— Suggestions and 

Recommendations 

SHRDC 

SHRDC 

SHRDC 

Concluding Session 

1000 – 1005 hrs Recitation from the Holy Quran 

1005 – 1015 hrs Concluding Remarks Dr. Riffat Aysha Anis, Director SHRDC, 

Islamabad 

1015 – 1030 hrs Certificate Distribution Chief Guest 

1030 – 1040 hrs Address by the Chief Guest Chief Guest 

1040 – 1045 hrs Vote of Thanks Dr. Javed Humayun, Research Fellow 

(Training), SHRDC, Islamabad 

1045–1130 hrs Refreshments 

29

Annex-III 

Power Point Presentations 

by 

Resource Persons


30

31 

Power Point Presentations


32

33 



34

35 



c. National Centres for Rehabilitation of Child Labour 

It is a proactive child labour rehabilitation policy 

Number of initiatives have been taken for the betterment of working children. 

To withdraw them from work places with a view to mainstreaming them into education by 

undertaking programmes for non-formal education. 

159 centres have been established throughout the country on which Rs. 250 million has been 

spent up till February 2012. 

d.Vocational / Diversified Vocational Schools 

PBM has established Vocational Dastkari Schools (VDS) where poor widows, orphans and needy 

girls are given training in a variety of skills to make them self -sufficient to earn their livelihoods 

in a respectable manner. 

PBM has established 144 VDS throughout the country on which Rs. 94 million has been spent up 

till February 2012. 

e. Pakistan Sweet Homes (PSHs): 

PBM has established Sweet Homes for Orphans having accommodation for 100 children in each 

home. 

A total of 28 Pakistan Sweet Homes (Orphanages) have been established so far on which Rs. 133 

million has been spent up till February 2012. 

f. 

Langer Programme: 

PBM is also working for provision of assistance to needy persons. It provided ration 

bags to those affected by natural disasters such as the floods of Sindh and KPK. 

In this regard an amount of Rs. 186 million was spent upto Feb. 2012. 

Institutional Rehabilitation through NGOs: 

It provides grant-in-aid to registered Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) for 

their projects aimed at institutional rehabilitation of the poor and deserving persons 

of the society. PBM has disbursed an amount of Rs. 25 million in this regard up to 

February 2012. 

36


PROGRAMMES UNDER BISP 

a. Monthly Stipend: 

At the time of launching of BISP in July 2008, nomination forms were distributed through 

Parliamentarians. 

Initially 2.5 million poorest of the poor women were enrolled after NADRA verification. 

Rs. 1000 is paid to each recipient per month on bimonthly basis. 

Payments were made initially through postmen but now through Smart Card, mobile phone and 

branchless banking. 

b. Waseela-e-Haq: 

Under this programme, microfinance in the form of returnable soft loans up to Rs. 300,000 are 

provided to recipients. 

Selection is made through a monthly computerized random draw, for setting up small 

businesses. 

A total of 29 draws were held and a total of 35000 recipients were pre -qualified. 

An amount of Rs. 943 million was disbursed to 6,281 recipients while 2,680 new recipients 

started their own businesses. 

It was planned to hold another 5 draws by June 30, 2012 to pre -qualify 10,000 additional 

recipients . 

e. Waseela Taleem ZAKAT 

BISP designed a co-responsibility cash transfer programme titled “Waseela-e-Taleem” 

for the primary education of the children of its recipients whereby 3 million children 

will be imparted education during 2012- 2016. 

The programme is scheduled to be launched in 5 districts during the current fiscal 

year. 

Upto 3 children of a beneficiary family will be given free education. 

Donor’s Support 

Due to the transparency, objectivity and efficacy of the programme international 

financial institutions and donor agencies have shown full trust in BISP. 

Major donors of BISP are: 

World Bank funded Social Safety Net Technical Assistance worth (US$ 60 

million). 

World Bank support for Co-responsibility Cash Transfer for Education worth US$ 

150 million. 

USAID support for cash grants – US$ 160 million. 

Asian Development Bank support for cash grants – US$ 150 million. 

WORKERS WELFARE FUND 

Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) is providing assistance to poor labourers all over the country. 

It provides funds for housing facilities for industrial workers Marriage Grant, Death Grant and 

scholarships etc. 

During the current fiscal year from July to March Rs. 77.000 million has been spent for 

scholarships. 

There are 1,400 beneficiaries of this program, who are children of poor workers. 

Another Rs. 635 million have been disbursed as Marriage Grants from which 9,138 families of 

the workers have benefited. WWF has also disbursed Rs. 342 million for Death Grants for 1,000 

cases of mishaps of workers all over the country. 

Further, Rs 2,540 million expenditures have been incurred during July-April 2012 for 46 housing 

schemes which will benefit 15,000 families of workers. 

Microfinance Initiatives 

The credit programs offer a small loan to the beneficiaries for self -employment purposes that 

can start or enhance their income streams, and eventually making them self-reliant and move 

out of poverty. 

The microfinance industry provides services in three broad categories namely, micro -credit, 

micro-savings and micro-insurance. 

Microfinance services help the poor in accumulating assets and building income generating 

capacities that can provide better access to social services such as health and education, food 

security, and access to basic necessities of life. 

37


38

39 



MDG 3- Promote Gender 

Equality & Empower Women 

Pakistan 2011 

• Progress made since 1990, 

but gender inequality remains 

high. The ratio of F / M 

primary enrolment increased 

from 0.73 in 1991 to a 

• Female literacy rate is 

43% which is lower than 

males i.e. 69%. 

• Progress in parliament. Due 

to the introduction of quotas, 

the proportion of seats in the 

national assembly held by 

women increased from 1% in 

1990 to 21% in 2005 is now 

highest in the world. 

* 

Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, 

preferably by 2005, and to all levels no later than 2015 

MDG 4-Reduce Child 

Mortality 

Pakistan 2011 

• Of six indicators for Goal 

4, Pakistan's performance 

in achieving MDG targets 

by 2015 is unsatisfactory. 

• Child mortality rate has 

decline from 140 to 100 per 

thousand live births 

between 1990-2005. 

• Pakistan has managed to 

lower under-five mortality 

rate, there is still a need to 

reduce it by 42 percentage 

points by 2015, a highly 

improbable outcome. 

• 12-23 months immunized 

against six preventable 

diseases has barely 

increased from 75% to 78% 

from 1990-2008. 

MDG 5- Improve 

Maternal Health 

Pakistan 2011 

• Pakistan has the 6th 

highest number of maternal 

deaths (at least 15,000 a 

year), around 300-400 

deaths per 100,000 births 

• Some progress has been 

made although target is 

unachieved. 

• The percentage of births 

attended by skilled health 

professionals decreased 

from 48% in 2005 to around 

41% in 2009. 

• Less than a third of 

married women use any 

form of contraception. 

MDG 5- Combat HIV/Aids, 

Malaria and other diseases 

Pakistan 2011 

• The government is 

showing commitment to 

eradicating HIV. As the 

prevalence is low, it seems 

possible that Pakistan will 

achieve the target by 2015. 

• Pakistan has the 6th 

highest burden of TB 

disease in the world. The 

incidence has increased 

from 177 to 180, so the 

target seems unachievable. 

• Malaria 

related issues need 

attention as there is an 

increase of only ten points 

(20% to 30%). 

MDG 7-Ensure 

Environmental Sustainablity 

Pakistan 2011 

• Safe water has not been 

well defined so most of the 

drinking water cannot be 

classified as safe. 

• Pakistan has become 

one of the largest users 

CNG for use in vehicles. So 

the 4th and 5th indicator 

has already been achieved. 

• Proportion of sanitation 

has increased from 30% to 

63% in 2008. However it is 

still a long way to go to 

achieve the target of 90%. 

•The possibility to achieve 

this goal seems to be 

difficult. 

MDG 8- Global Partnership 

for Development 

Pakistan 2011 

• The relationship with 

International Partners and 

Pakistan has varied. 

• In the last few years 

development assistance 

has increased. 

• DFID programme in 

Pakistan increasing from 

£15m in 2001 to around 

£200m a year by 2011. 

• USAID is providing USD 

1.5 Billion per year. 

• UN agencies have also 

increased their funding by 

over 100 %. 

• This goal will be 

achieved. 

40


THREATS 

41


42


FOOD SECURITY AND 

SAFETY IN SAARC REGION 

Prof. Dr. Faqir Muhammad Anjum (TI) 

Director General 

National Institute of Food Science & Technology 

University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 

1 

Food Security 

Food security in terms of the following four key aspects: 

Food Availability – Sufficient availability of food with the nation 

through domestic production, net imports (commercial or food aid) 

and carry-over of stocks. 

Food Access – Individual’s capability to purchase food and to be 

able to procure food through safety nets or availability. 

Food Utilization – Consumption of food by the household in a 

proper form. It also takes in to account food preparation, 

Storage and utilization, food safety, nutritional safety and dietary 

balance 

Food Vulnerability – Vulnerability of the population to food 

insecurity due to physiological, economic, social or political 

reasons 

2 

DIMENSIONS OF FOOD SECURITY 

FOOD SECURITY SITUATION IN SAARC REGION 

Economic Overview 

Agriculture holds a central place in all South Asian economies, except for Maldives 

Moreover, this sector employs more than half of the labour force in SAARC countries, 

reaching 97% in Bhutan 

Countries 

Contribution of 

Ag. to GDP (%) 

Ag. labour force as 

% of total labour 

force 

Poverty headcount 

ratio at $2 a day 

(PPP) (%) 

% of 

undernourished 

population 

Afghanistan 40 59.8 na na 

Bangladesh 19.1 45.21 81.33 27 

Bhutan 21.9 96.71 49.49 Na 

India 19.0 55.75 75.59 21 

Maldives 6 15.33 na na 

Nepal 32.9 87.73 77.57 16 

Pakistan 20.4 41.33 60.31 26 

Sri Lanka 13.2 47.27 39.74 19 

Total - 53.7 73.40 - 

3 

4 

Source: Singh (2008) 

ADB (2009) 

43


Food price Index in the SAARC Region 

(FAO, 2010) 

12 

44

45 



46

47 



The 4 th MDG: 

Reduce Child Mortality 

Target: 

Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the 

under-five mortality rate 

23 March 2013 Principles of Nutrition 2 

The 4th MDG: 

Indicator 

Indicators: 

Definition 

1 

2 

Under- five mortality rate 

Infant mortality rate 

3 Proportion of fully immunised 

children 12- 23 months (%) 

4 Proportion of under 1 year 

children immunised against 

measles (%) 

No. of deaths of children under five years of age /1000 

live births 

No. of deaths of children under 1 year of age /1000 live 

births 

Proportion of children of 12 to 23 months of age who 

are fully vaccinated against EPI target diseases 

Proportionof children 12 months of age and received 

measles vaccine 

5 Proportion of children under five 

who suffered from diarrhoea in Proportion of children under 5 years suffering from 

the last 30 days and received diarrhoea in past 30 days 

ORT (%) 

6 Lady Health Workers’ coverage 

of target population (%) 

Households covered by Lady Health Workers for their 

health care services 

23 March 2013 Dr. Aurang Zeb, NIFA, Peshawar 3 

48

49 



50

51 



52


EFA DEVELOPMENT INDEX 

§ The international community defined EFA at the Dakar Forum in 

2000, in terms of a set of six time bound goals. 

§ The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) team succeeded in 2003 to 

. 

quantify some of these goals through EFA Development Index (EDI); 

which is a composite of relevant indicators, providing one way of 

reflecting progress towards EFA as a whole. 

§ The currently agreed/ used four constituents of EDI and their 

corresponding indicators are: 

Ø UPE: Adj. Net Enrolment Ratio in Primary Education; (EFAI:6) 

Ø ADULT LITERACY: Literacy Rate of the population group aged 

15 and over; (EFAI:17) 

Ø QUALITY OF EDUCATION: Survival rate to Grade-5; (EFAI:13) & 

Ø GENDER PARITY: Gender specific EFA Index (EFAI:18++) 

(GEI: the simple average of GPI for the primary and secondary 

Gross Enrolment Ratios and the Adult Literacy Rate). 

Pakistan rank: 119/127 with EDI value of 0.656 

[(0.661+.537+.697+.727)/4] Source: EFA GMR 2011 

15 

T.M. Qureshi, JEA-P&P 

Wing, MoE Pakistan 

Millennium Development Goals 

& Indicator Relating to Education 

2 Achieve Universal Primary Education 

. Targets Indicators 

Ensure that, by 2015, children 

every where, boys and girls 

alike, will be able to finish a 

full course of primary 

schooling 

§ Net enrollment ratio in primary education 

(EFAI: 6) 

§ Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who 

reach grade 5 (EFAI: 13) 

§ Literacy rate of 15-24 year olds (EFAI:16) 

3 Promote gender equality and empower women 

Targets 

Indicators 

Eliminate gender disparity in 

primary and secondary 

education preferably by 2005 

and to all levels of education 

no later than 2015 

§Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary 

and tertiary education (from EFAIs 5 & 6 ++) 

§Ratio of literate females to males of 15-24 

year olds (EFAI: 18) 

§Share of women in wage employment in the nonagricultural 

sector 

§Proportion of seats held by women in national 

parliament 

33 

T.M. Qureshi, JEA-P&P Wing, MoE Pakistan 

53


Out of School Children 

Out of School Children 

T.M. Qureshi, JEA-P&P Wing, MoE 

Pakistan 

34 


35 

Gender Parity Index 


Gender parity index for gross enrolment ratios in primary, secondary and 

tertiary education (Girls’ school enrolement ratio in relation to boys’ 

enrolment ratio), 1999 and 2010 (Girls per 100 boys) 





36 


37 


Human Development in South Asia 





38 

Country 

Public expenditure 

on Education 

as % of GNP (2008) 

Literacy Rate 

(15+) 

2008 

Projected 

Literacy Rate 

(15+) for 2015 

Maldives 8.4 98 99 

Sri Lanka 5.4 91 92 

Iran 4.8 82 87 

India 3.2 63 72 

Nepal 3.7 58 66 

Bangladesh 2.2 55 61 

Pakistan 2.9 54 59 

Bhutan 5.2 53 64 

Source: EFA Global Monitoring Report 2011, UNESCO Paris 

54


Millennium Development Goals 

Inception and Evolution 

The number of people living on less 

than 1 $ per day: 

Hemachandra Ranathunga 

Consultant 

Ministry of Public Management Reforms, 

Colombo 

almost 1 billion 

Around 15% of the World population 

The number of children dying from preventable diseases 

EVERY DAY: 

28,000 

The number of people without basic sanitation: 

2.6 billion 

Imagine living without 

running water, or a flushing toilet. 

A third of the world’s population does. 

The number of children receiving 

no basic education: 

72 Million 

55


The developing world owes 

Debt repayments drain the poorest countries of resources. 

$2 trillion 

in foreign debts 

($2,000,000,000,000) 

It was because of these ideas and the pressure put on a summit 

in 2000 

Ÿ 

It was the Millennium and the world ought to make an 

effort to do something special If they were to release the poor 

countries from debt, then the rich countries would only agree 

Ÿ 

if the released money was spent on things that improve 

the lot of the ordinary people 

Ÿ 

So it was decided that the whole world together, 

especially the poor countries themselves and the richer ones with 

their AID programs, would put all their efforts into achieving 

certain things by 2015. 

Addis Ababa: In September 2000, the United Nations Millennium 

Summit endorsed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 

what was called the Millennium Declaration. More than 180 

countries signed this declaration. The main objective of the 

Millennium Summit was to set quantifiable and time-bound global 

development goals to end human suffering from hunger, 

destitution and diseases, mainly in developing countries. 

Since their inception, the MDGs have been embedded in several 

international and regional initiatives and have had a huge 

influence on policy discourse throughout the developing world. 

The MDGs, which comprise eight goals, 18 targets and 48 

indicators, are the culmination of several international efforts and 

initiatives to mobilize resources for development from the mid- 

1990s 

GOAL # 1 

Eradicate extreme poverty 

and hunger 

Halve the proportion of 

people whose income is 

less than one dollar a day. 

Halve the proportion of 

people who suffer from 

hunger 

Deadline 2015 

56


Did you know that? 

Almost 1 billion people in the 

world (15%) are still living on less 

than $ 1 per day.Half of the world’s 

total population, or 3 billion 

people, survive on less than $ 2 per 

day. 

Are we keeping our promise? 

Sub-Saharan Africa faces significant challenges in meeting the 

Millennium Development Goals. 

East Asia and South Asia together are still home to the greatest number 

of absolute poor people in the world. 

Latin America and the Caribbean saw fairly stagnant poverty rates. 

GOAL # 2 

Achieve universal 

primary education 

Ensure that boys and 

girls everywhere will 

be able to complete 

a full course of 

primary schooling. 



113 million children are denied 

their right to an education. 

In the Asia-Pacific region, 122 

million children under the age of 

14 leave school to become child 

laborers. 

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 49 million 

children work. 

93 Million Children without Access to School 

Number of primary-school-age children not in school, by region (2006) 

There are 43 million children in 

the world who are out of school 

due to conflict. 

Over 10 million children have 

been psychologically suppressed 

by armed conflict. 

Goal # 3 

Promote gender 

equality and 

empower women 

Eliminate gender 

disparity 

in primary and 

secondary 

education, 

preferably by 

2005, 

and in all levels of 

education no later 

than 2015.conflict. 



Over 61 million girls are missing an 

education, 

compared to 54 million boys. 

That’s as many girls as ALL the schoolage 

girls in North America and Europe. 

Giving girls an education can mean the 

difference between life and death. 

Ÿ She doesn’t have to work at hard and 

dangerous labour. 

Ÿ She doesn’t have to work on the 

streets. 

Ÿ She can make informed choices. 

Ÿ Her babies have less chance of 

suffering from malnutrition. 

57


Goal # 4 

Reduce Child 

Mortality 

Reduce by twothirds 

the underfive 

mortality rate. 

Estimated number of 

under-five deaths, by region 

(2006) 

Did you know 

that? 

Every day, on 

average more 

than 26,000 

children under 

the age of five 

die around the 

world, mostly 

from 

preventable 

causes. 

Are NATIONS 

Are NATIONS keeping their promise? 

Many developing countries face challenges 

ahead in improving ways and means for 

wishes of children. 

Goal # 5 

Maternal 

deaths 

estimated at 

536,000 

Latin America/ 

Caribbean 

15,000 

South-Eastern/ 

Western Asia 

43,300 

Developed 

Regions/CIS 

countries 

2,760 

Northern Africa 

5,700 


Women in high-fertility 

countries in Sub-Saharan 

Africa have a 1-in-16 lifetime 

risk of 

dying from maternal causes. 

Improve 

maternal health 

Reduce by 

three quarters 

the maternal 

mortality ratio. 

Sub-Saharan 

Africa 

270,000 

South Asia 

188,000 

Eastern Asia 

9,200 


Women in low-fertility 

countries in Europe have a 1- 

in-2,000 risk of 

dying from maternal causes. 

Women in North America 

have a 1-in-3,500 risk of 

dying. 

Goal # 6 

Combat HIV/AIDS, 

malaria and other 

diseases 

Have halted by 2015 and 

begun to reverse the 

spread of HIV/AIDS. 

Globally, 4.3 million 

people were newly 

infected with HIV in 

2006. 


Did you know 

that? 

Have to be 

halted and 

begun to 

reverse the 

incidence of 

malaria and 

other major 

diseases by 

2015. 

58


Goal # 7 

Ensure environmental 

sustainability 

Halve, by 2015, the 

proportion of people 

without sustainable 

access to safe drinking 

water and sanitation. 

To improve the lives of at 

least 100 million slum 

dwellers by 2020. 


In 1990, there were 

nearly 715 million 

slum dwellers in the 

world. 

In 2000, the slum 

population increased to 

912 million. 

Today, the slum 

population is 

approximately 998 

million. 

By 2020, it will reach 

1.4 billion. 

Are we keeping our promise? 

Access to safe drinking water and 

basic sanitation will not be met in 

Sub-Saharan Africa. 

It is estimated that 133 million 

people living in cities of the 

developing world lack durable 

housing. 

By 2020, it will reach 1.4 billion. 

Goal # 8 

Develop a global 

partnership for 

development 

Address the 

special needs of 

the least 

developed 

countries. 

Thank you 

59

Country Reports 

Annex-IV 


60


Country Report 

Maldives 

By: Sharafiyya Jameel 

Progress on MDG’s 

Progress on MDG’s 

} Achieved 5 out of 8, MDG+ country 

} Unachieved goals are: Goal 3; promote gender 

equality and empower women, it will face huge 

obstacles in achieving Goal 7; 

ensure environmental sustainability and 

Goal 8 

} Achieved goals show unevenness, and therefore is 

volatile 

} Three reports prepared 2005, 2007 and 2010 

} General challenges in achieving all MDG’s: 

limited skilled human resourcegeographical 

isolation of its islands 

provision of facilities to islands with very small 

population inequality between Male’ 

and other islands 

} Social norms and newly established democracy can 

hinder progress socio-economic and structural 

changes 

MDG – 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger 

} Indicator 1A 

} Population living below $1 perday 

3% (1997) to 1% (2004) 

} Poverty gap ratio 

MRF 15 per day from 91% (1997) to 8% (2004) 

} Share of poorest quintile in nation consumption 6% (1997) to 6% 

(2004) 

MDG 1 

} Indicator 1B 

} Growth of GDP per person employed 2.6(1992) to 14.6 (2006) 

} Employment to population ratio 49.8 (1991) to 54 (2007) 

Indicator 1C 

• Prevalence of underweight children under 5 – 45% in 1997 to 17.3 

(2009) 

• Population below minimu level of dietry – 9 in 1991 to 7 in 2004 

Challenges 

} Poverty is different in Maldives context – isolation of population and lack of 

services in atolls 

} Labor market is dominated by expatriate workers (110 231 workers, census 2006) 

} 38% of youth unemployed 

} Lack of employment opportunities, mismatching of skills, rigidity of social norms, 

discourage girls from working 

} Inequality between Male and islands is obvious – poverty dropped from 23 to 

less than 5 percent in Male’ where as it went down only from 52 to 25% in 

islands (1997 to 2004) High dependence on imported food 

Government efforts 

• Adopt human rights based approach 

• Stimulate local food production 

• Provide soft loans and other financial programs, and structural facilities 

• Extra focus on identifying needs of disabled and vulnerable population 

• Introduction of pension and retirement scheme (2007) and universal health 

cover (2009) 

61


MDG 2: Universal Primary Education 

} Indicator 2A 

net enrollement in primary education – 86.71 (1990) to 99 

(2007) to 95 (2009) 

Boys:Girls 86.71(1990), 97.9 (2007) 94.7(2009): 86.71 (1990), 

100.2 (2007) to 95.3 (2009) 

} Literacy rate 15-24 girls and boys 98 in (1990) to 98.2 (2009), 

98.3 (1990) to 98.5 (2009). Dropped from 2007. 

MDG 2: Universal Primary Education 

} Free and compulsory primary education with 214 primary 

schools 

} Free secondary education 

} Government expenditure on education increased by 9 times 

} Inequality between Male’ and islands 

} Workforce is dominated by foreign workers 


- Free schooling with books and other stationaries 

required 

- Increased effort to develop local teachers 

- Extra attention on education of children with special 

needs 

- Enacted disability law which ensure this right 

- First ever national university opened in 2011 

Despite these efforts, quality of education is low, and 

more effort is needed. Specially to decentralize 

educational management 

MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women 

} Primary education nation wide – 48% girls 

} Secondary education nation wide – 50% girls 

} Tertiary education nation wide – 48% girls 

} Proportion of women in non-agricultural wage employment 

15.8 (1991) to 30 (2006) 

} Number of parliament seats held 12 (2005 -2007) to 6 (2009) 

Achieving of this goal is questionable 


Amended constitution in 2008 ensuring rights of women, 

and upholding principles of women’s equal participation 

Appointment 2 female judges for the first time in 2007 

Violence against women bill enacted in 2012 

Child-sexual abuse bill in 2008 

MDG4 : Reduce Child Mortality 

} . U5MR reduced by 77% between the baseline 48 per 1000 live 

births in 1990 to 11 per 1000 live births in 2011 

} the infant mortality rate reduced 74% from 34 to 9 (2011) 

} 89% of children between 12-23 - months were fully immunized by the age 

of 12 months (2011) Vaccine preventable diseases eliminated 

} Needs further strengthening in neonatal care and mulnutrition 


- Extending health care facilities to islands – atleast a health post in each 

island 

- Government financed universal medical care 

- Telemedicine project – access to experts 

MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health 

} Targets of this goal is influenced by MDG3, MDG 1C and MDG 4 

} MMR is relatively high but reached target 

} Between 1997 and 2011, the Maldives reduced its MMR by 78%, from 

nearly 259 per 100,000 live births to 56 (mainly due to spread of 

obstetric and other specialist medicare 

} 99% of births in 2011 were attended by skilled health personnel, and 

85% of births were preceded by at least four antenatal care visits Volatile 

– annual statistic between 1997 and 2011 shows huge fluctuation 

} MMR reached 46 per 100,000 populations, which again started 

increasing and was recorded as 56 and 82 in the years 2008 and 2009 

respectively 

} Contraceptive prevalence rate has dropped from 42% to 21.4% between 

1999 and 2011 

} unmet need for family planning dropped from 37 per cent in 2004 to 28 

per cent in 2009. 

62


Government efforts: 

- Health regulation – to be enacted 

- Projects to stregthen motherhood and reproductive 

health, adolescent sexual reproductive health, 

reproductive health cancers 

- Address gender-based violence 

} Need to further strengthen public health system 

} Increase local representation in health workforce 

} Currently 80 percent of doctors and 60 percent of 

nurses working throughout the country are 

foreigners. 

- Enaction of gender based violence act 

- Universal health care 

MDG 6 – Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and Other Diseases 

} Low HIV prevalence 

} 14 HIV cases identified, 3 locals 

} 13 cases till 2003 

} Condom use among high risk group is 12% (2004) 

} Proportion of 15-24 age group with comprehensive 

correct knowledge 97% (2004) 

} Proportion of population with advanced HIV infection 

with access to antiretroviral drugs 37.5 

} Thelassemia Last case of polio- 1978 

} Last case of tetanus – 1995 

Although HIV target reached, country is highly vulnerable 

- Biological behavioral survey (2008) finding: 

- STI’s and high risk behavior high among FSW, MSM, and IDU’s 

- - majority of FSW n MSM does not use condoms, and is either 

married or in a relationship 

- Lack of surveillance system as a major gap 

} Large expatriate population is a risk 

} Compulsory to screen, 257 identified and send back, still 

11 expatriates were found positive while living in the 

country 

} Government needs to 

} -strengthen outreach and surveillence 

} Policy changes to address the issue 

} Involvement of NGO’s 

} Currently adopted public health programs will contribute 

to achievement 

} Governments efforts on reducing substance abuse and 

trafficking 

MDG 7 – Ensure Environmental Sustainability 

} 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

Major challenge due to high vulnerability, loss of water resources, 

housing demand, reliance on import, employment dependence 

on biodiversity Vulnerability 

80% of the country lies below 1.5 metres 

no point is further than 1 kilometre from the sea 

lack of access to energy 

economy relies heavily on the environment 

Biodiversity accounts for 71% of national employment, 49% of public 

revenues, 62% of foreign exchange, and 96% of GDP 

- 2004 tsunami cost 62% of the national GDP, compared to less than 3% in 

Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India 

Water 

Water resources are strained, solid waste is an emerging environmental 

issue 

while lack of access to toilet facilities has fallen from more than 60% in 1990 

to 6% in 2006 

access to improved water source coverage has dropped from 96% in 1990 to 

83% in 2006 

90% used no treatment for their drinking water supply 

Utilities companies established throughout the atolls to operate and 

maintain island water and sewerage services 

63

Housing 

8600 shelters lost in the 2004 tsunami not yet fully 

offset as of 2010 

around 50 percent of displaced persons still in 

temporary housing 

Government efforts: 

Distribution of rain water tanks 

Initiate sewerage system projects, with establishment 

of utility offices in all provinces 

Housing project 

Stregthening of environment legislation 

Efforts to increase public education on environment. 

MDG 8 

} Moved from LDC status in 2011 

} External debt stock of public expenditure tripled 

between 2004-2009 

} Mobile teledensity – increase by 140% by 2008 

} E-business, e-service, e-governance initated 

} Mobile subscribers 8000(2000) to 450,000(2009) 

} Broadband service expanding, specially to atolls 

Country Report Afghanistan 

Target 1 A: proportion of people who live 

below $1.25/day 

64


65

66 



Poverty profile 

HCR Ratio (%) Poverty Gap 

Ratio (PGR) 

Squared Poverty 

Gap (SPG) 

Lorenz Ratio (LR) 

Year Rural Urban Total Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban 

1983 45.75 40.79 44.5 12.32 10.61 4.78 4.07 0.2976 0.3303 

1987-88 39.09 38.20 38.9 9.11 9.94 3.15 3.60 0.2983 0.3537 

1993-94 37.27 32.36 36.0 8.45 7.88 2.78 2.82 0.2819 0.3400 

2004-05 (URP) 28.27 25.71 27.5 5.57 5.89 1.64 1.99 0.2998 0.3709 

Head Count Ratio as per Tendulkar Methodology 

Year Rural Urban Combined 

1993-94 50.1 31.8 45.3 

2004-05 41.8 25.7 37.2 

2009-10 33.8 20.9 29.8 

67


Target 2: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the 

proportion of people who suffer from 

hunger 

Nutrition Programs: 

Ø National Mid-Day Meal Scheme 

Ø Integrated Child Development Scheme or 

ICDS (1975) 

Ø Food Security Programs for the poor include: 

• Targeted Public Distribution Scheme (TPDS) 

• Antyodaya Anna Yojana 

Achievement: 

MGD Goal Targets Major 

Indicators 

Goal 2: Achieve 

universal 

primary 

education 

3. Ensure that 

by 2015, 

children 

everywhere, 

boys and girls 

alike, 

will be able to 

complete a full 

course of 

primary 

education. 

Net Enrolment 

ratio in primary 

education 

Proportion of 

pupils starting 

grade 1 who 

reach grade 5 

Literacy rate 

(15-24 yrs) 

1990 

(estimat 

ed 

value) 

Assessm 

ent done 

for the 

latest 

Year 

Value 

achieved 


latest 

year 

MDG 

Target 

2015 

77 2008-09 98.6 100 

62 

(1999) 

2008-09 76 100 

61 2001 76.4 100 

Achievement: 


Indicators 

Goal 3: 

Promote 

gender equality 

and empower 

women 

4. Estimate 

gender 

disparity in 

primary and 

secondary 

education, 

preferably by 

2005, and in 

all levels of 

education , 

no later than 

2015. 

Ratio of girls to 

boys in 

primary 

education 

Ratio of 

Literate women 

to men (15-24 

years) 

Share of 

women in wage 

employment in 

non-agriculture 

1990 

(estimat 

ed 

value) 

Assessm 

ent done 


latest 

Year 

Value 

achieve 

d for the 

latest 

year 

MDG 

Target 

2015 

0.73 2007-08 0.98 1.00 

0.67 2007-08 0.88 1.00 

18.6 

(2004- 

05) 

2009-10 18.6 50 

68


Achievement: 


Indicators 

Goal 4: Reduce 

child mortality 

5.Reduce by 

two thirds the 

mortality rate 

among children 

under five. 

1990 

(estimate 

d value) 

Assessm 

ent done 


latest 

Year 

Value 

achieved 


latest 

year 

MDG 

Target 

2015 

U5MR (per 1,00 

live births) 125 2009 64 42 

IMR (per 1,000 

live births) 80 2010 47 27 

Proportion of 

one year olds 

immunized 

against measles 

42.2 2009 74.1 100 

National Rural Health Mission 

Achievement: 


Indicators 

Goal 5: 

Improve 

maternal health 

6. Reduce by 

three quarters 

between 1990 

and 2015, the 

Maternal 

Morality Ratio. 

MMR (per 

100,000 live 

births) 

(Trends in 

Maternal 

Mortality 2010) 

Proportion of 

births attended 

by skilled health 

professionals 

1990 

(estimat 

ed 

value) 

Assessm 

ent done 


latest 

Year 

Value 

achieved 


latest 

year 

MDG 

Target 

2015 

437 2007-09 212 109 

33 2007-08 52 100 

69


Achievement: 

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Other Diseases 

Achievement: 

MGD Goal Targets Major Indicators 1990 Assessment Value 

(estimated done for achieved 

value) the latest for the 

Year latest year 

MDG 

Target 

2015 

Proportion of land area 

covered by forest 

9. Integrate the principles of 

sustainable development into Ratio of area protected 

country policies and programmes, (to maintain biological 

and reverse the loss of 

diversity) to surface area 

environmental resources. 

Energy use per unit of 

GDP (Rupee) 

Percentage of people 

using improved source of 

Goal 7: Ensure 

drinking water 

environmental 10. Halve, by 2015, the proportion 

Percentage of households 

sustainability of people without sustainable 

without sanitation 

access to safe drinking water and 

facility 

basic sanitation. 

Percentage of people 

using improved 

sanitation 

Forest cover increased by 0.03% or 728 square 

Km between 2005 and 2007 

Ratio of protected area to total area increases by 

0.02% or 698 square Km between 1999 and 2011 

Energy intensity has come down from 0.128KWh 

in 1970-71 to 0.122 KWh in 2009-10 

66.4 2008-09 91.4 83 

76 2008 49.2 38 

18 2008-09 47.6 64 

11. By 2020, to have achieved a 

significant improvement in the 

lives of at least 100 million slum 

dwellers 

Slum population as 

percentage of urban 

population 

* 2001 

42.6 

million 

Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability 


Target 10: Halve, by 2015, the proportion 

of people without sustainable access to 

safe drinking water and basic sanitation 

ØTotal Sanitation Campaign 

ØRajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water 

Mission 

70



Target 11: To achieve by 2020 a significant 

improvement in the lives of at least 100 

million slum dwellers 

Ø The National Urban Renewal Mission (2005) 

whose major objectives are: 

• To scale-up delivery of civic amenities and 

provision of utilities with emphasis on 

universal access to the urban poor. 


• Ensuring delivery of other existing universal 

services of the government for education, 

health, and social security. 

Ø National Slum Development Programme 

(NSDP). 

Achievement: 

Conclusion 


Indicators 

Goal 8: 

Develop a 

Global 

Partnership 

for 

Development 

12. In 

cooperation 

with private 

sector, make 

available 

benefits of new 

technologies, 

especially 

information 

and 

communication 

Telephone 

lines and 

cellular 

subscribers 

per 100 

population 

Internet 

subscribers 

1990 

(estima 

ted 

value) 

Assessm 

ent done 


latest 

Year 

Value 

achieve 

d for the 

latest 

year 

MDG 

Target 

2015 

0.67% 2011 76.03% ** 

0.21 

million 

in 1999 

2011 

20.33 

million 

** 

71

72 



73

Training Report: Millennium Development Goals in the SAARC Region

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