Accountability for achieving the MDGs: The role of parliaments

The world is now well beyond the mid-point between adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the target date of 2015. Despite progress towards achievement of some of the targets in Africa, numerous goals and targets are likely to be missed unless additional, strengthened or corrective action is taken urgently. This paper builds on the 2010 manual on Parliamentary Engagement with the MDGs and the content of the training workshops held with Parliaments. It furthermore provides a rationale for increased Parliamentary engagement with the MDGs in Africa, a summary of the challenges faced by African Parliaments when engaging with the MDGs and an outline of possible solutions to those challenges.