Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Millennium Development Goal 1: poverty, hunger and decent work in Southeast Asia

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 32; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01436597.2011.543814

1360-2241

Neil Renwick,

Indian Economic and Social Development

Abstract This article considers three questions: 1) what progress has been made in achieving MDG1 targets?; 2) what challenges remain?; and 3) what more could and should be done? To examine these questions, the article assesses the progress of Southeast Asia in seeking to achieve MDG1. It argues that the region is 'on track' to achieve MDG 1 targets, although significant challenges such as inequality remain. Economic growth, significant structural change and incorporation into global value chains have contributed to MDG progress. However, this is a double-edged sword as exposure to global economic turbulence can increase. The longer-term reduction of poverty, inequality and social exclusion is a question of empowerment of local producers within value chains–a shift in economic power and control through pro-poor strategies strong enough to effect substantive structural change. The article outlines key concepts; identifies the main characteristics of Southeast Asian poverty; outlines what more needs to be done; and concludes by reprising the article's findings and weighing the prospects for 2010–15 and beyond. Notes 1 United Nations, Keeping the Promise: a forward-looking review to promote an agreed action agenda to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015—Report of the Secretary-General, 2010. 2 Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), A Future Within Reach: Regional Partnerships for the Millennium Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok: ESCAP/ADB/UNDP, April 2008, p 11. 3 R Lambert, CBI press release of a speech to Japan Society and Japanese Chamber of Commerce, London, 1 April, 2008. 4 D Dollar & A Kraay, 'Growth is Good for the Poor', World Bank Development Research Group, Washington, DC, March 2000. A complete version of this preliminary paper was published as D Dollar & A Kraay, 'Growth is good for the poor', Journal of Economic Growth, 7(3), 2002, pp 195–225. See also A Kraay, 'When is growth pro-poor? Evidence from a panel of countries', Journal of Economics, 80, 2006, pp 198–227. 5 P Collier, The Bottom Billion, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, p 11. 6 Illustrative examples of this common discourse include ESCAP, A Future Within Reach, p 3; ESCAP,Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in an Era of Global Uncertainty: Asia–Pacific Regional Report 2009/10, Bangkok: ESCAP, 2009, p 2; United Nations, Millennium Development Goals Report 2008, New York: UN, 2008, p 5; R Gaiha, K Imai & MA Nandhi, Millennium Development Goal of Halving Poverty in the Asia and the Pacific Region: Progress, Prospects and Priorities, Occasional Papers 1, Rome: IFAD, 2006, p 7; and Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asian Development Outlook 2010, Manila: ADB, 2010. 7 ESCAP, A Future Within Reach, p 3. 8 UN, Final Outcome of the International Conference on Financing for Development, New York: UN, 2002, p 2. 9 Dollar & Kraay, 'Growth is good for the poor', abstract. 10 M Ravallion, Inequality is Bad for the Poor, WPS3677, Washington, DC: World Bank Development Research Group, August 2005. 11 A. 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