Middle East/North Africa and the Millennium Development Goals: Implications for German Development Cooperation

Abstract

How relevant are the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for the Middle East and North Africa? What consequences do they have for development cooperation, especially German development cooperation, with that world region? The study by Markus Loewe provides an answer to these two questions. It notes that many countries in the Middle East and North Africa region lag behind in eliminating extreme poverty and hunger, improving the quality of education, eliminating gender disparities, protecting the environment and providing for good governance and democracy. One reason for this state of affairs is that the rulers in the region are insufficiently committed to effective reforms.

German development cooperation can make useful contributions to (implementing/the implementation of) the MDGs. It should call on partner countries to step up their engagement in favor of the MDGs. It should cooperate more intensively with countries that are truly committed to achieving the MDGs. And it should document, for each of its partner countries, and far better than it has in the past, what kind of contributions it intends to make to implementing which of the MDGs.

Keywords: Millennium Development Goals/MDGs, development cooperation, donor alignment, aid effectivenerss, development policies, development aid, international goals, Arab countries, Middle east and North Africa

JEL Classification: F35, F42