Posts Tagged 'Millennium Development Goals'

HomeTag: Millennium Development Goals

Welcome to Fantasy Island: Financing for Development

McLeod Group Blog, July 28, 2015

It’s pretty much official: The UN’s hugely ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), not yet formally launched, aren’t going to be worth much more than the paper they are being written on. If proof is needed, just read the 39-page report of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, held in Addis Ababa in July.

There, the world’s development ministers, a few heads of state, the aid community and what the UN likes to ...

Continue Reading →

Categories: Blog

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

What’s Good for the Goose: Universality and the SDGs

What’s Good for the Goose: Universality and the SDGs

McLeod Group Blog, June 1, 2015

Universality – the idea that certain norms should apply to all countries alike – is a crucial feature of many aspects of international life, from the United Nations Charter to the Declarations of Human Rights. Still, the idea that wealthy nations should be submitted to the same standards as poor ones can be a surprisingly touchy political subject. The latest example is the UN’s new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDGs are the successors to those ...

Continue Reading →

Categories: Blog

Tags: , , , ,

Canada at the UN: Vacuum Cleaner Salesmen with Attitude

Canada at the UN: Vacuum Cleaner Salesmen with Attitude

McLeod Group Blog, Sept. 26, 2014

After several years of pointedly snubbing important UN General Assembly gatherings, Prime Minister Harper deigned to appear this year. His speech was full of his familiar platitudes about maternal and child health care, but without any reference – as always – to the reproductive health issues that kill so many young women and mothers. This deadly oversight notwithstanding, Mr. Harper has developed a proprietorial attitude towards maternal and child health, as though it is ...

Continue Reading →

Categories: Blog

Tags: , , , , , ,

McLeod Group at the CCIC-CAIDP Conference May 2014

Clan McLeod was out in force at this event, sharing the limelight with Joe Clark, Development Cooperation Minister Christian Paradis and a broad mix of Canadian development actors drawn from the memberships of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC) and the Canadian Association of Independent Development Professionals (CAIDP).

The highlight of our participation was a session, ‘Taking Stock: the Changing Context for Development’. The event was informal, even if the room was packed. It was a set of frank and lively conversations ...

Continue Reading →

Categories: Blog

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Idealism and Hubris

November 20, 2013

Nina Munk’s new book, The Idealist: Jeffrey Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty, has received a lot of attention in recent weeks, not least because it is well written, deals with an important subject, and because it goes after a very high-profile champion of development assistance.

It will be recalled that the economist, Jeff Sachs, Columbia University wunderkind, spent time in Poland and Russia at the end of the Cold War advising on the transition from communism to ...

Continue Reading →

Categories: Blog

Tags: , , , ,

At Least He Made the Trains Run on Time: Canada’s Maternal and Child Health Initiative

May 2, 2011

The Globe’s John Ibbitson is not alone in cutting the Harper government some slack in the realm of foreign affairs when it comes to the maternal and child health “initiative”. He says that Mr. Harper “convinced the major developed nations to sign on.” (“Harper Abroad…” Oct 22.) This has now passed into the realm of urban myth, where announcements often take the place of action.

In fact the entire MCH “initiative” was little more than smoke and mirrors. The ...

Continue Reading →

Categories: Blog

Tags: , , , , ,

Harper, Multilateralism and the UN: How will he Manage Demands from his Base?

December 12, 2010

Moving to the centre in order to get elected is a time-honoured tradition in Canadian politics. That’s basically what Stephen Harper did recently when he addressed the United Nations General Assembly in October in an attempt to shore up Canada’s bid for a seat on the Security Council.

His speech was, well, almost Pearsonian, replete with references to “the sovereign equality of countries,” justice and human rights, and its affirmation of Canada’s role in UN peacekeeping and aid efforts. ...

Continue Reading →

Categories: Blog

Tags: , , , ,