The latest report on the progress of millennium development goals (MDG) by the United Nations has said that robust social protection and employment schemes such as India's Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) reduce poverty and reverse inequality.
In its report, ‘What Will it Take to Achieve Millennium Development Goals,' the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has said the MNREGS is known for improving livelihoods through legal guarantee of up to 100 days of paid work per annum for landless labourers and marginal farmers. The state is legally bound to provide unskilled manual work for households, and failure to do so within 15 days of applying automatically entitles the applicant to unemployment benefits.
The MNREGS also regenerates the rural sector by improving infrastructure and enhancing agricultural productivity. It covers water conservation, irrigation canals, flood control and road construction.
The scheme created a significant number of jobs in about 530 districts of the country between 2006 and 2008, benefiting about 46 million households. Forty-six per cent of the beneficiaries were women. The daily wage rate under the scheme is estimated to have been nearly 50 per cent more than the wage rate just before it was implemented.
Drawing on evidence of what has worked in 50 countries, the report provides an eight-point MDG action agenda to accelerate and sustain the progress over the next five years.
The eight points focus on supporting nationally owned facilities and participatory development; pro-poor, job-rich inclusive growth, including the private sector; government investments in social services such as health and education; expanding opportunities for women and girls; access to low carbon energy; domestic resource mobilisation; and delivery on official development assistance commitments.
From abolition of primary school fees leading to a surge in enrolment in Ethiopia to innovative health servicing options in Afghanistan reducing under-five child mortality, the report brings forward concrete examples that have worked and can be replicated even in the poorest countries.
Rapid improvements in both education and health, the report illustrates, have occurred in countries where there were adequate public expenditure and strong new partnerships.
Evidence found in the assessment also suggests that reduction in poverty and hunger occur when economic growth is job-rich and boosts agricultural production. Ghana's nationwide fertilizer subsidy programme, for instance, increased food production by 40 per cent and reduced hunger by nine per cent between 2003 and 2005.
Albania was praised for adopting a ninth MDG, reforming public administration, legislation and policies to promote accountability and enhance development results. Country-led development and effective government, argues the report, are at the root of achieving the MDGs.
The assessment also denotes the links between many of the goals. For example, improving opportunities for women and girls and expanding access to energy, both, have a multiplier effect on MDG progress. The provision of generators in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and Senegal, has helped to free up an average of two to four hours per day for women, which they have been able to spend on education, improving their health and generating additional sources of revenue.
This assessment finds that well-targeted and predictable aid is a critical catalyst for meeting the MDGs, and has produced significant results in Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda and Vietnam, by making more resources available for service delivery. Evidence, however, also suggests that countries need to expand their own domestic resource mobilisation and adjust their budgets to ensure the maximum return on their investment.
