New analysis from The ONE Campaign tracks progress on Millennium Development Goals and development financing in Africa

Call for EU to prioritise health, agriculture and education programmes in poorest countries in next long-term budget

New analysis published today shows that 30 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have accelerated progress in the last three years on reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and 16 are on track to halve extreme poverty by 2015, but further momentum is at risk due to laggard countries where progress has stalled or gone into reverse.

According to ONE’s 2013 DATA Report, Financing the Fight for Africa’s Transformation, top performing countries include Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, Ghana and Ethiopia.   But at the same time some very large countries, such as Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are failing in many areas and slowing down regional progress.

Eloise Todd, Brussels director at ONE said:

“This report shows that when developing countries focus on improving health, agriculture, and education, amazing things can happen.   But donors still have a crucial role to play at this make or break moment for the MDGs.

“As the EU decides how to spend its next 7-year aid budget, it must prioritise the poorest countries and support targeted and accountable programmes in health, agriculture and education. The results could be truly transformational.

“Specifically, funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the GAVI vaccines alliance, and agriculture and nutrition programmes should be ramped up significantly. If the EU is to rise to the challenge in this final sprint towards the MDGs, these smart investments will be crucial.”

The report is the only major study to rank countries on their overall progress on the MDGs and also assess the contribution that sub-Saharan African countries’ own spending is having on their performance.

The findings show a clear correlation between African countries that are allocating a greater share of government spending on health, education and agriculture over the past decade and improved MDG progress in those areas.  From 2000 to 2011, Ethiopia lifted an estimated 10 million people out of extreme poverty, and over the same period the government spent nearly 45% of its total budget on health, agriculture, and education.

Notes to editors

The full report can be downloaded from www.one.org/data.

Co-founded by Bono, ONE is a campaigning and advocacy organisation of more than three million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease… because the facts show extreme poverty has already been cut in half and can be virtually eradicated by 2030.  Learn more at ONE.org.

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