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

Middle East / North Africa and the Millennium Development Goals
The overview then indicated the urgency of problem-solution as regards
the individual MDGs in the countries listed. The shaded boxes indicate
that a country is faced with major problems in implementing one of more
MDGs. This makes it clear for the reader which MENA countries are especially
reliant on external support, and in which sector this support is
needed: For Iraq and the low-income countries Yemen, Mauritania, and
Sudan, this is the case in nearly all sectors; only in Iran is the situation
somewhat better. But it is possible to identify clear-cut priorities for the
remaining MENA countries. All of them have major problems in implementing
MDG1 (alleviation of poverty and hunger) and several targets of
MDG8 (good governance, reduction of youth unemployment, access of the
population to modern technologies). Most of these middle-income countries
also have deficits with regard to MDG7 (environmental protection)
MDG3 (political and social equality for women), and quality of primary
school education – an aspect that the overview does not show clearly because
no clear-cut indicators have been developed for it.
The entries in the boxes of Overview 7 show, in keeping with the assumptions
made above, the MDGs to which German DC is in a position to provide
contributions within its priority sectors. However, the disposition of
individual partner countries and priority partner countries to solve problems
could not be shown in the overview since this would have impaired
the clarity of the presentation – and because no reliable data are available.
The comparative presentation clearly shows that German DC with the
MENA region is conducted primarily in sectors in which it is in a position
to contribute to reaching MDG1 and MDG7 in particular. Thus far most of
the MENA countries have made insufficient – or no – progress on these
two goals. On the other hand, German DC is hardly engaged at all in sectors
like e.g. health, where it could contribute above all to reaching MDG4
and MDG5, two goals that the MENA countries might well achieve.
However, Overview 7 also shows that as a donor Germany has only a limited
level of engagement in sectors marked by a high urgency to solve existing
problems. Only in a few countries, for instance, is German DC supporting
measures aimed at
– promoting democracy and good governance (one target of MDG8;
German Development Institute 135