Session I
The MDGs can't be put on hold

EU governments’ commitment to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was slipping badly well before last autumn’s financial meltdown tipped the world into recession, and now fears for the future of the MDGs are deepening fast. The crises are hitting the vulnerable hardest with an estimated 100 million more already pushed into poverty. What policy initiatives are needed by international actors ranging from the EU to the UN, the IMF and the World Bank that could protect vulnerable economies and their development efforts from the recession? In the wake of the food and fuel crises of 2008, what is the likely impact of the financial crisis on emerging markets and how best could the world’s richer countries alleviate it? Can saving the MDGs become a rallying cry for the development community?

Session II
Is re-thinking our aid architecture a realistic answer?

Multi-pronged coordinated and flexible responses are needed today more than ever. If the economic pressures on donor governments are to become a serious threat to development assistance, what is the case for re-thinking the aid architecture of the world’s rich countries? Has the time come for expensive duplications inherent in national aid programmes to be rationalised, especially within the EU and not only among the “traditional” donor community, but also with emerging donors and private sector? And is a more coherent approach to American and European development efforts already long overdue? How do host governments see their own development priorities in times of recession, and what aspects of today’s aid architecture would they wish to see changed?