The MDGs, Empowerment and Accountability in Africa: Retrospect and Prospects

Although the recognition in the historic Millennium Declaration of 2000 of the centrality of accountable governance to the quest for the advancement of the wellbeing of humankind was not translated into one of the MDGs when they were adopted in 2001, it could still have been legitimately expected that the implementation of the eight objectives that were agreed upon would bring important governance benefits in their own right, especially in the countries that were the main targets of the initiative, many of them in Africa. As it turned out however, the governance impacts of the MDGs have – for various reasons – left much to be desired. Correcting the governance discontents of the MDGs in the quest for a post-2015 global development agenda will require much closer and less donor-dominated attention to the strengthening of the local contexts, institutions, and actors of participation and accountability that are critical to securing and advancing democratic governance.