PLAIN THOUGHTS – Tracking the local progress of MDGs

2015 is the target year by which time governments around the globe are set to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the “passionate commitment” made by world leaders to address extreme poverty and human deprivation.
Adopted by member states of the United Nations (UN) in 2000, specific targets and quantifiable indicators are set to accomplish in a 15-year period the eight MDGs: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development.
The Philippines is among the leading countries in Asia and the Pacific in terms of data availability for tracking progress towards the attainment MDGs.
As of March 12, 2015, the MDG Watch posted at the website of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the progress made on every goal and target has varied levels of performance.
Many indicators posted performance beyond the periodic requirement, suggesting very high probability of even surpassing the global targets. Some did behind the current level of performance, showing the need for extra effort to achieve the desired results while others made very slow pace of progress, implying that the desired condition is difficult to achieve.
The availability of the latest data also varied in terms of time reference. Some are updated as of 2014 while many are as old as 2008. In Davao Region, the latest progress report was posted in 2013. The actual performance in 2015 may be captured in statistical tabulations that would only be available in the succeeding couple of years.
But based on the latest data on hand, provinces and cities in Davao Region also posted an uneven scale of success or shortfall. This outcome is actually predictable in view of peculiar realities in every geographic location and population.
For instance, in terms of proportion of population below the poverty threshold, Davao Oriental placed on top with more than half of its population living below the poverty incidence.
At the rate of progress being made, all Local Government Units (LGUs) in the region, except Compostela Valley, exhibited low probability in reducing by half the poverty ratio gap and the proportion of population living below the subsistence incidence or food threshold, the minimum income needed by a person to satisfy her or his nutritional requirements that is 2,000 kilocalories per day.
But all showed high probability in cutting by half the proportion of population without sustainable access to basic sanitation except for Davao del Sur where almost four in every ten households have no access to sanitary toilets. It is also the province where almost half of birth deliveries were not attended by skilled health personnel.
Davao del Sur also ranked second to Davao Oriental in having the highest ratio of maternal mortality while Davao City posted the double-digit lowest rate. Yet, Davao City topped in terms of infant mortality ratio, in the death rate associated with tuberculosis and in the prevalence of illnesses associated with malaria.
Almost half of the region’s inhabitants have no access to land tenure. No single LGU will likely make remarkable accomplishment under this indicator after the 2015 target year.
But all the LGUs posted high probability in cutting by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and the proportion of households using solid fuels for cooking.
All the LGUs also exhibited high probability in achieving universal primary education and in eliminating gender disparity in all levels of education not later than 2015.
Although some of the time-bound and measurable indicators are beyond the control and influence of local governments, the rate of progress or shortfall in every LGU is also closely linked to how its respective local development policies, programs and approaches are systematically integrated and mainstreamed in every level of governance to achieve MDGs.
As frontline institutions, LGUs have the primary responsibility of providing basic services for the improvement of quality of life particularly in the delivery of devolved social and economic services.
With significant chunks of public expenditure decisions made at the local levels, the indispensable role of the LGUs in realizing the MDGs hinges upon the willingness and capacity of every local government for increased public spending in favor of programs that directly impact human development.
Whether the LGUs in Davao Region fare well in playing its significant role to attain the MDGs will be best gauged in the succeeding years when all the statistical data are obtained and calculated after the 2015 target year of global commitments.