Get more bang for the bucks and end world poverty

It’s time to recommit to funding work on the Global Goals because it’s saving lives and helping people escape poverty, write Bill Gates and Bjorn Lomborg.

The Global Goals are a phenomenal idea. They’re what happened when the UN came together and said: “Here are the world’s biggest problems, and here is how we’re going to measure progress on them.” The 17 goals include promises to end extreme poverty and hunger, fix climate change and education, and reduce inequality and corruption.

This year is the midpoint between the start of the goals, in 2016, and 2030, when they’re supposed to be accomplished – and while the goals have done a great deal of good, the world is falling short on nearly all of them. This is the perfect time to assess them, recognise what’s working, admit what isn’t working and refine our approach so we can do the most good for the people most in need.

Governments, foundations and other funders have made strong commitments in aid and other support for the world’s poorest, using the goals to guide where they spend the money. As the saying goes, “What gets measured gets managed.” Here’s the problem: the goals are too much of a good thing. The 17 commitments are accompanied by a huge number of targets – 169, to be exact.

Having so many targets wouldn’t be an issue if the world were stepping up to fund all of them. But it’s not. Despite record commitments from donors, one report has found funding will be short at least $US10 trillion to $US15 trillion ($22.8 trillion) each year for the rest of this decade. That’s roughly equivalent to all of the taxes collected by every government in the world.

This shortfall calls for a two-pronged approach. First, do whatever is possible to shrink the gap. Donors need to meet and even exceed commitments to meeting the goals. Although overall foreign aid went up last year for the fourth straight year, most of this increase amounted to refugee and humanitarian aid required by Russia’s war on Ukraine. Assistance for the least well-off countries declined.

There are notable exceptions. France, The Netherlands, the US and China have increased their funding for health in low-income countries. The Gates Foundation is on track to increase its total giving by 50 per cent – to $US9bn a year by 2026 – with a focus on health and development.

Second, even as donors step up, all of us need to recognise that inflation and rising interest rates are stretching governments to the limit. The sad reality is the world is not going to find $US10 trillion more each year for the Global Goals. So we need to identify the best buys in development – investments that will do the most good.

In a project led by Bjorn and featured in his book Best Things First, economists identified 12 efficient policies that delivered big benefits at relatively low costs. They found improving the conditions around births could save the lives of 166,000 mothers and 1.2 million newborns a year at less than $US5bn annually. An additional $US5.5bn a year spent on agricultural research and development for the poor would reduce malnutrition, help farmers thrive in a warming climate and drive down food costs – delivering benefits worth $US184bn annually. Other recommendations include efforts to prevent tuberculosis and malaria, immunise more children, improve education and strengthen land ownership rights.

But the principles are even more important than particular policies. Let’s recommit to funding work on the Global Goals because it’s saving lives and helping people escape poverty. And let’s acknowledge the need is greater than the available funding, which means we need to focus on efforts that will have the most impact.

Bill Gates is co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Bjorn Lomborg is president of the Copenhagen Consensus.