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The current draft document, produced after
formal discussions, panels and U.N. working group meetings,
includes 17 goals and 169 targets such as ending hunger,
combating climate change and ensuring access to safe water.
Critics say the list, designed to replace the eight Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) that expire this year, is too unwieldy
to be effective, too costly to monitor and will be hard to
measure because of a lack of data in many countries.
"Progress is made when you're paying attention to the indicators
of success. If there's no way of measuring progress it's less
likely that you actually make (it)," WaterAid policy analyst Tim
Brewer told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"The idea that we should cut indicators just to keep the list
short, that's prioritizing the wrong thing."
Brewer contested the argument that measuring the goals through
so many indicators would be too difficult for developing
countries, forcing them to focus too much on monitoring rather
than progress, arguing that many countries already gather the
data.
"Countries already monitor ... more indicators than are implied
by the goals and most of what is implied by the goals either is
already measured or needs to be measured for the country
priorities to move forward," he said.
During the period in which the MDGs were being pursued, several
countries demanded additional indicators to help them measure
progress, Brewer said.
Some countries, like Pakistan, Rwanda, India and Ethiopia, even
have their own goals, which they aim to achieve before the new
development deadline in 2030, he added.
HOSPITALS NEED WATER
Simplifying the list of indicators would create the risk of
missing out some targets meant to be reached on the way to
achieving some of the goals, Brewer said.
If the indicator for the water goal focused only on improving
access to water at people's homes, it would miss out on
improving access in health centers and schools, he said.
"To have hospitals that don't have clean water and where people
are not able to use hygienic sanitation ... the problem is
obvious, isn't it?" he said.
World leaders are due to adopt a set of new development
objectives for the next 15 years at a U.N. summit in September.
(Reporting By Magdalena Mis; Editing by Tim Pearce)
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