Progress report and critical next steps in scaling up : education for all, health, HIV/aids, water and sanitation : synthesis paper (volume 1 of 5)

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide a clear direction and compelling call for action. They have galvanized the international community to renew its commitment to the objectives of reducing poverty and improving the basic human development outcomes of poor people across the world. A new framework of mutual responsibility and accountability to achieve the MDGs was confirmed by the summits in Monterrey, Doha, Johannesburg, Rome, and Kyoto. Developing countries committed themselves to undertaking policy and institutional reforms and embodying them in country programs such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), the primary strategic and implementation vehicles to reach the MDGs. Developed countries also committed to supportive actions in the form of trade-openness and increased assistance to the Overseas Development Association (ODA) for countries engaging in genuine reforms. International development agencies responded to the MDG challenge with commitments of institutional re-alignment, innovative instruments, and stepped up knowledge and financial services. The Development Committee has attached central importance to this agenda and has sought to regularly review progress through clear and measurable indicators. It requested a progress report on the implementation of the Education For All Fast Track Initiative (EFA FTI), and also urged the World Bank to pursue work towards scaling up activities in the areas of HIV/AIDS/communicable diseases, and water and sanitation services. This Synthesis and its 4 addenda papers focus on these "service-delivery MDGs," that is, the goals for which effective service delivery is an important instrument and report to the Development Committee on key implementation issues being encountered in scaling up. Scaling up in this context means achieving outcomes-at country, regional and global levels- commensurate with the scale of the challenge. The process of scaling up is not straightforward and the magnitude of the challenge is formidable. [authors abstract]