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Comprehensive Review of National Development Strategies
For a national development strategy to be truly Millennium Development Goal (MDG)-based, it
needs to do much more than mention the MDGs as aspirations. It needs to be linked systematically
with the MDG targets and timelines—and be based on a detailed assessment of the public
investment strategies needed to achieve the MDGs. As a general rule, one can apply the following
five-point checklist to review whether a strategy is really MDG-based. Note that the checklist is
separate from questions of implementation. Even the best national development strategy needs to be
systematically implemented and managed through benchmarking, results-based management, and
linked to a medium-term expenditure framework and annual budgets.
1. Ambition—Are the targets aligned with the MDGs?
The first thing to evaluate is whether a national development strategy’s targets are aligned with the MDGs.
Are they equal to the MDGs, more ambitious, or less ambitious?
2. Scope—Is the strategy aligned with all of the MDGs?
Many national development strategies refer to the MDGs by name but discuss only a few of them. Even if a
national development strategy sets MDG-consistent targets for, say, education, it also needs to set MDGconsistent targets for health, hunger, and the rest of the MDGs. Moreover, issues such as the environment,
gender equality, and urbanization need to be addressed in an integrated manner.
3. Rigor—Are the targets substantiated with solid analysis of the needed inputs?
National development strategies that set ambitious targets need clear, intervention-based strategies for
achieving them. Outcome targets are crucial, but input targets are also crucial for achieving outcomes. It is
important that all necessary investments be included in an MDG-based strategy. All too often major
investments in transport and energy are not included in existing strategy documents, even though the MDGs
cannot be met without them.
4. Timeframe—Is the strategy grounded in a long-term assessment of needs?
National development strategies that cover only a three- to five-year period need to be grounded in an
assessment of long-term investment and policy needs. Critical capacity constraints need to be addressed
upfront since they require long-term investments in training and human resources—such as doctors and
nurses, who require many years of training—or infrastructure development plans. To be MDG-based, a
national development strategy needs to be embedded in a decade-long needs assessment and action plan that
works backward from the MDGs and other national goals to identify the required sequence of investment and
policies.
5. Financing—Is the budget consistent with the level of inputs needed to achieve the MDGs?
MDG-based budgets should be set from a careful assessment of how they will meet a population’s needs. For
example, the WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health outlined the baseline costs of a scaled-up
functioning health system in low-income countries at $30–$40 per capita (WHO 2001). The UN Millennium
Project has identified similar benchmarks for LICs in other sectors. If one sees a $4 per capita annual public
health budget as part of a strategy to achieve the MDGs, it is clear that the budget does not reflect needs. At a
deeper level of detail, particularly if cost estimates are conspicuously low, one needs to inquire whether the
budget includes full costs of service delivery—for instance, capital and operating costs. Operating costs are
very often overlooked, consigning strategies to a low probability of sustainable implementation.
6. Monitoring and Evaluation—Is there a strategy for evaluating progress and making changes?
Meeting the MDGs will require that strategies remain “living documents”, and are periodically reviewed,
evaluated, and changed. Clear lines of accountability and concrete, goal-based benchmarks for progress are
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essential components of a national development strategy. Intervention based strategies with concrete targets
can be used to monitor spending and outcomes against measurable benchmarks.
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Checklist for MDG-based national development strategies
 Background/Diagnosis
 Does the analysis of current progress include all MDG related sectors (education, hunger, rural
development, gender, health, water and sanitation, environment, urban development, transport,
energy, science and technology, cross-national infrastructure, public management)?
 Are outcome indicators (including population data) disaggregated as needed (for example, by
gender, region, level of income)?
 Are constraints, bottlenecks and challenges to improving MDG related outcomes clearly defined
(including coverage, household and community and policy related issues)?
 Does this build on existing sector strategies?
 Are currently available resources outlined (national and by sector)?
 Are population trends and dynamics considered and analyzed?
 Are current/baseline coverages identified? (e.g. water, electrification, roads)?
 Goals, objectives and targets ( level of Ambition) ;
 Are there specific national outcome targets aligned with the each MDG and other national goals?
 Are objectives indicators SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timebound)?
 Are the operational input targets proposed in line with reaching the MDGs and other national goals?
 Does the proposed timeline fit into a longer-term strategy to achieve the goals?
 What is the scale-up path, and does it correspond to the needs in each sector?
 Intervention Packages (Scope)
 Does the strategy include all of the intervention areas necessary to achieve the goals (rural
development, urban development, education, health, gender, environment, science and technology,
cross-national infrastructure, public management)?
 Is the strategy mix appropriate for what is needed achieve the goals?
 Are the intervention areas integrated and consistent with the pillars of the strategy?
 Who are the targeted populations in the strategy? Are the poorest and most vulnerable populations
targeted?
 Relevance of interventions (Rigor)
 Are sectoral strategies based on detailed needs assessments that identify the full set of infrastructure,
human and financial resources required to support scale-up of interventions?
 Are proposed interventions evidence-based?
 Are all barriers to access (particularly for the poor) considered and addressed?
 Timeframe
 Does the national development strategy fit into a longer-term approach to achieving the MDGs and
other national goals?
 Is there consistency between short/med-term goals and longer-term vision?
 Is there a sequencing of interventions that identifies and addresses key capacity-building
interventions needed upfront to achieve long-term goal?
 Costs and allocation of resources (Financing)
 Are the interventions costed?
 Does the financing analysis (domestic and external financing) align with the needs emerging from an
MDG-consistent strategy? What are key gaps in the area of analysis?
 Is the budgeting process tied to the MDG based needs assessment?
 Are different “scenarios” considered, in terms of expected growth and external financing?
 Does the budget analysis include the following:
 % of the total needs financed by households?
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% of the total needs financed by domestic government?
% of the total needs financed by external resources (financing gap)?
Current and projected ODA by sector?
Needed capital expenditures?
Needed recurrent expenditures?
 Monitoring and evaluation
 Does the document include a monitoring and evaluation component?
 Does the document include a structured and systematic approach to monitoring and evaluation,
including clear lines of accountability;
 Are measurable benchmarks defined?
 What is the feedback mechanism to revise the strategy based on outcome indicators and evaluations?
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