Robert McNamara was Defense Secretary of the US when President Lyndon B. Johnson started the "War on Poverty". Inspired by this experience, as president of the World Bank, McNamara began in 1973, a global fight against absolute poverty, which he promised to eradicate "by the end of this century."

Years later, Republican President Ronald Reagan mocked his Democratic predecessor saying that "LBJ declared war on poverty ... and lost ". The same can be said of McNamara. Forty years after this global war started, the World Bank now marks 2030 as the date for completion.

To avoid the embarrassment of another defeat, on top of decades of delay, the Bank seems to be lowering the bar that measures progress. McNamara drew the line of absolute poverty at 30 cents, or its equivalent in purchasing power of each national currency.

Workshop. (Photo: CARDET).

The main problem with the MDGs, globally, is that the overall approach towards development they represent is quite narrow, limiting countries’ incentives to institute structural changes that would foster development.

This is particularly evident in the case of Goal 2: ‘Achieve Universal Primary Education,’ which excludes economically active people in developing countries who are in need of further education, re-skilling or vocational training. Using the case of Cyprus, we can examine how the Lifelong Learning strategy it adopted made the link between LLL and sustainable development, and ask whether the Cyprus model provides a potential model for developing countries in the post-MDG agenda.

High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. (Photo: NGLS)

A group of Southern NGOs, led by DAWN, ANND and Social Watch, is gathering signatures in order to send this letter in the coming days to the members of the High Level Panel that is advising the UN on the content of a future Agenda for Development post-2015. To add your signature to the letter please write to socwatch@socialwatch.org.

Here is the map of the complicated road towards a development agenda post 2015.

Check out this visual from The Broker that shows which actors play a role in the Post-2015 process and provides links for further information.

In a highly publicized speech, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim announced in April that the new "highly ambitious" target of his institution will be "ending extreme poverty in the world by 2030." He said that developing countries have “a chance -- for the first time ever -- to end extreme poverty within a generation." Yet, that same goal was set 40 years ago by then World Bank president Robert McNamara and the target date was the year 2000. What's the excuse for a delay of 30 years?