{"id":914,"date":"2025-10-02T04:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/a-world-without-poverties-are-mdgs-helping-or-hindering\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T04:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:00:09","slug":"a-world-without-poverties-are-mdgs-helping-or-hindering","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/after-2015\/a-world-without-poverties-are-mdgs-helping-or-hindering\/","title":{"rendered":"A World Without Poverties Are Mdgs Helping Or Hindering"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"content column wide left article content view\" id=\"content\">\n<article class=\"fader\">\n<header class=\"contents\">\n<div class=\"share\">\n\t\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n    var addthis_config = {\n        ui_language = 'en'\n    }\n<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis sharing\">\n\t<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style\" addthis:title=\"A world without poverties \u2013 are MDGs helping or hindering?\">\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_twitter\" tw:via=\"thebrokeronline\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_facebook\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_pinterest_share\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_preferred_4\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_compact\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_counter addthis_bubble_style\"><\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<p>\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">var addthis_config = data_track_addressbar;<\/script><br \/>\n\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/js\/300\/addthis_widget.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n\t<!-- AddThis Button END -->\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"addthis article_options\">\n    \t\t\t\t\t\t<a title=\"Export article to PDF\" class=\"pdf\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/extension\/broker\/design\/broker\/images\/pdficon.png\" alt=\"pdf\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA world without poverties \u2013 are MDGs helping or hindering?<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pubDate\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/experts-and-authors\/taylor-james\/\">James&nbsp;Taylor<\/a>\t\t|<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJune 17, 2025\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"intro contents\">\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a visionary statement. They have focused the attention and intention of the world towards the challenge of our time. But they are a product of our past and as such are simultaneously unhelpful as they distract and misdirect our energies away from where they are most needed in the future.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"body contents\">\n\t\t<!-- body --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">At this peak in our ability to understand and shape our world our challenge lies in humankind\u2019s propensity to impoverish. In our ongoing striving towards creating wealth to meet human need we have arrived at a crisis of poverty. I understand the term \u2018poverty\u2019 as describing the condition of a living system. A poor system is one that is not capable of optimal ongoing progress towards achieving the fullness of its potential. A poor system therefore is unable to contribute fully towards shaping the larger systems of which it is an interdependent part. The word \u2018development\u2019 describes this innate life process that drives the ongoing progress of living systems towards achieving and contributing their fullest potential. The crisis of our time results from the many poverties that limit and threaten human and ecological development.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Behind the use of goals and indicators as means of directing human energy lies a belief that what is needed now (to put it crudely) is better project management. The underlying assumption is that poverty can be managed away, if only we can clarify our goals, identify good indicators, and coordinate efforts and resources towards achieving them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">While it is right that human and environmental poverties should be centre stage, they are not the problem \u2013 they are symptoms, the consequences of the problem. The problem is that the dominant ways in which humankind organises itself have a strong common tendency towards impoverishing. I use the word \u2018impoverish\u2019 as opposed to \u2018poverty\u2019 to focus on the act of making poor rather than on its result. I believe it is in the ways we organise ourselves to act in, and on, the world that the problem lies. The MDGs direct us towards what we need to be acting on, but reinforce the ways in which we have been acting in the past that have contributed to causing the problems we now face.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">New forms of organisation \u2013 based on principles and practices that do not detract, diminish, exclude, and control \u2013 must be sought. The key to the new organisational forms that are now needed lies in the way power is used to achieve organisational goals. The future demands that we rely less on using power \u2018over\u2019 and start using power \u2018with\u2019. We have overused organisational forms that concentrate power and resources as a means of exercising power over people and nature. We are now in search of more effective organisational forms that use power to include and maximise the potential of all.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\tFor the MDGs to have any chance of being realised they need to be pursued through new, more effective organisational forms and practices. In pursuing the goals, change must start not with the poor but with the rich who use their power to shape the world. They must direct more energy towards innovation, creativity and leadership and rely less on managing. They must lead the world in learning its way towards organisations that enrich, empower and include. To succeed, those at the centre will have to enter into new relationships with those residing at the margins. Perhaps a (still rather clumsy) hint of the new organisational forms we are searching for is captured in MDG 8 as \u201cpartnerships for development\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<!-- body --><br \/>\n\t\t<!-- footnotes --><br \/>\n\t\t<!-- footnotes -->\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<section class=\"commentform content column wide left\">\n<div class=\"disqus_content\">\n\t\t\t<a name=\"comments\" id=\"comments\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"disqus_thread\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\t\t\t\t\/* * * CONFIGURATION VARIABLES: EDIT BEFORE PASTING INTO YOUR WEBPAGE * * *\/\n\t\t\t\tvar disqus_shortname = 'broker'; \/\/ required: replace example with your forum shortname\n\t\t\t\tvar disqus_identifier = '2868';\n\t\t\t\t\/* * * DON'T EDIT BELOW THIS LINE * * *\/\n\t\t\t\tfunction trackComment(comment)\n\t\t\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(comment);\n\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\tfunction disqus_config() {\n\t\t\t\t\tthis.callbacks.onNewComment = [function() { \n\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(comment);\n\t\t\t\t\t}];\n\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t(function() {\n\t\t\t\t\tvar dsq = document.createElement('script'); dsq.type = 'text\/javascript'; dsq.async = true;\n\t\t\t\t\tdsq.src = '\/\/' + disqus_shortname + 'https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/blogs\/after-2015\/.disqus.com\/embed.js';\n\t\t\t\t\t(document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(dsq);\n\t\t\t\t})();\n\t\t\t<\/script><br \/>\n\t\t\t<!--\n\t\t\t<noscript>Please enable JavaScript to view the <a href=\"http:\/\/disqus.com\/?ref_noscript\">comments powered by Disqus.<\/a><\/noscript>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/disqus.com\" class=\"dsq-brlink\">comments powered by <span class=\"logo-disqus\">Disqus<\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t-->\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false,"raw":""},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A world without poverties \u2013 are MDGs helping or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template_2.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-914","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A world without poverties \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are MDGs helping or hindering? \/ After 2015 \/ Blogs - The Broker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"James Taylor has worked as a development practitioner since 1977. He is presently the executive director of the Community Development Resource Association (CDRA) in South Africa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/after-2015\/a-world-without-poverties-are-mdgs-helping-or-hindering\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A world without poverties \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are MDGs helping or hindering? \/ After 2015 \/ Blogs - The Broker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"James Taylor has worked as a development practitioner since 1977. He is presently the executive director of the Community Development Resource Association (CDRA) in South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/after-2015\/a-world-without-poverties-are-mdgs-helping-or-hindering\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Homepage - Broker Online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A world without poverties \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are MDGs helping or hindering? \/ After 2015 \/ Blogs - The Broker","description":"James Taylor has worked as a development practitioner since 1977. He is presently the executive director of the Community Development Resource Association (CDRA) in South Africa","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/after-2015\/a-world-without-poverties-are-mdgs-helping-or-hindering\/","og_type":"article","og_title":"A world without poverties \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are MDGs helping or hindering? \/ After 2015 \/ Blogs - The Broker","og_description":"James Taylor has worked as a development practitioner since 1977. He is presently the executive director of the Community Development Resource Association (CDRA) in South Africa","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/after-2015\/a-world-without-poverties-are-mdgs-helping-or-hindering\/","og_site_name":"Homepage - Broker Online","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/914\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}