New Sources of Development Finance: Funding the Millennium Development Goals

Mobilizing additional finance to meet the challenges of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is an urgent priority. Developing countries are mobilizing resources themselves to meet the MDG targets by 2015, but they will fall short without additional external flows. Increased private and public money is needed in order for the world's poorest countries to invest in the basic services and infrastructure necessary for human development, and to improve livelihoods and employment for poor people.As a result of the Five Year Review of the World Summit for Social Development, the UN General Assembly in September 2000 adopted a resolution calling for 'a rigorous analysis of the advantages, disadvantages and other implications of proposals for developing new and innovative sources of funding, both public and private, for dedication to social development and poverty eradication programmes'. The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in turn requested the World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki to undertake a project on 'Innovative Sources for Development Finance'. This Policy Brief summarizes the key findings of the study carried out by UNUWIDER. Anthony B. Atkinson, Project Director and Warden of Nuffield College, University of Oxford, has written the Policy Brief drawing on the papers prepared for the project. He acknowledges the substantial contribution made by the project authors, but takes full responsibility for the opinions expressed