When the Millennium Development Goals were agreed nearly a decade and a half ago, there was a problem. Agreeing to halve poverty may have been a laudable goal, though many would have said that eliminating of poverty should have been on the table. Along with addressing gender inequality, hunger, maternal health and a host of other ills, the MDGs and the Millennium Declaration laid out a vision for addressing problems that had been ignored for too long. But the most crucial question – how will we pay for the fulfilment of that vision? – was the proverbial “elephant in the room,” barely asked or even acknowledged, and never fully answered.
As the United Nations moves towards adopting a new set of development goals and targets, developing countries are all too aware of this failure. Finance must be a key component if the coming process is to successfully deliver a set of ambitious Sustainable Development Goals.