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ONE responds to the European Commission’s Millennium Development Goals report

The European Commission has published its planned approach for upcoming negotiations on the post-2015 UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for eradicating extreme poverty and improving health and education.

Reacting to the report, Eloise Todd, Brussels director of The ONE Campaign said:

“The Commission says it wants to build on the existing MDGs, focus on economic drivers such as agriculture and help developing countries harness the wealth of natural resources; these are laudable aims.  But there are two critical areas that the Commission also needs to work on.

“First, we need to ask the poorest in the world what they want the post-2015 agenda to be about. The current goals were developed by technical experts with little input from ordinary people.  This time there needs to be much more listening and learning.  The Commission is consulting with over 50 developing countries; that’s good but we want to see them go a step further and make sure the voices of the most vulnerable are heard, and acted upon.

“Second, the lack of reliable data on MDG-related investments and outcomes has been a major challenge to both tracking progress and ensuring effectiveness.  Today’s report recognises that we need more raw data, which we welcome. We still do not know enough about how much money is available, where it’s going, and what results it’s achieving.  The post-2015 goals need to unleash an open data revolution to give citizens and policymakers ways to use relevant information to hold governments and other stakeholders accountable.   The European Commission can start that revolution by opening up its own data, setting the standard and then leading on the issue at the UN summit in September.

“By fighting for these changes in the post-2015 MDGs, the EU can help maximize the impact of scarce development resources and accelerate progress in the fight against extreme poverty in the future.”

Notes to editors:

ONE’s ‘You Choose’ campaign aims to bring African voices to the table as nations consider the post- 2015 development goals.  The radio, SMS and social media pilot project has launched in South Africa and Malawi and will launch in Zambia next week. The project is backed by leading African celebrities including Mary Magambo, Slap Dee, Kachanana, Hugh Masekela, D’banj, Chris Katongo and others.  ONE hopes that citizens’ views collected via the project will be a helpful contribution to the multi-level United Nations-led process that is formulating the future development goals. The project particularly seeks to compliment civil society consultations and those conducted by the United Nations-led My World Project.   www.ONE.org/youchoose

ONE is a global advocacy and campaigning organisation backed by more than 3 million people from around the world dedicated to fighting extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. For more information please visit www.ONE.org

For further information or to arrange an interview with Eloise Todd please contact Dudley Curtis on +32 485 379945 or [email protected]