The UN Millennium Report proposes each country prepare a detailed shopping-list of interventions, from education and health to environmental protection, to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. But what kinds of interventions do they have in mind? The report outlines a host of “quick wins” - comparatively cheap, highly effective investments that could be effective in most developing countries - that give us a good sense of what later investments could entail.

Here are some examples:

  • abolishing fees for school uniforms
  • nitrogen replenishment treatment for agriculture
  • free school meals
  • breast feeding support with micronutrient supplements
  • annual deworming of schoolchildren
  • basic health training in villages
  • antimalarial bednets
  • eliminate health fees for essential services
  • increase sexual health
  • expanding AIDS, malaria and TB treatment, for example achieving the “3×5” target of getting 3 million people onto AIDS treatment by 2005 (the report came out in late 2004)
  • slum upgrading
  • establishing off-grid electricity sources for remote areas, including solar
  • legislation to ensure property rights for women
  • campaigns against violence towards women
  • appoint science advisors for presidents and prime ministers, getting women into policy processes, community support for tree-planting.

“The Quick Wins are not the only interventions needed to reach the Goals,” points out the report, but “the ones with very high potential short-term impact that can be immediately implemented.” (p26)

Still, that gives us an idea of the specific kinds of investments the Project envisage - a similar list to those outlined in Sachs’ book, and many also tried out in Sachs’ Millennium Villages. But as we noted with reference to the villages, it’s one thing to make interventions in certain areas, another to “scale up” to making interventions at national and Africa-wide level. What kind of guidance does the Report offer on scaling-up?

Page numbers come from the Overview Report. You can also see the full 300+ page version, ten key recommendations, or the reports of the individual task forces.

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