Middle East / North Africa and the Millennium Development Goals ...

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Markus Loewe
Additional indications are presented in the national MDG reports. According
to the guidelines drawn by the United Nations Development Group
(UNDG 2003) every national MDG report should assess the quality of the
so-called “supportive environment” for the implementation of every single
MDG in the respective country. What this means is the level of motivation
and commitment of the relevant actors (i.e. the government, but also civil
society) to implementing the MDGs. The only reports that contain no such
assessment are the Algerian and Tunisian ones.
The assessments of the other MDG reports differ substantially. The supportive
environment in Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Syria
has in general been assessed rather positive, while the assessments for
Mauritania, Iran, Yemen, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Territories have
been more negative (see Table A13, Annex).
These divergences can in part be explained. The MDG reports with a more
or less critical tenor have as a rule been prepared by UNDP or another
neutral institution. The reports presented by Morocco, Syria, Bahrain, and
Egypt, however, have been prepared by the respective national government
or by a quasi-governmental research institutions. The rulers of these
countries are of course interested (for reasons of internal and external legitimacy)
in seeing the MDG reports present their commitment to implementing
the MDGs in a positive light.
However, it is difficult, on intuitive grounds, to accept the fact that Saudi
Arabia, whose MDG report was released by UNDP, should have received
a better assessment than any other MENA country, especially in view of
the fact that the kingdom has shown substantial deficits in implementing
several of the MDGs.
There are also contradictions between the assessments of various observers
of developments in the MENA countries. Some praise in particular the
commitment of the governments of Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Morocco to
the MDGs while others note that all statements made by politicians of
these countries are nothing more than lip service.
4.3 Influence of the MDG agenda on national policy
It is also not yet possible to say definitively to what extent the MDG agenda
has led to policy changes in the MENA countries. It is true that they are
German Development Institute