As we approach the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), discussions about what should follow them offer a historic opportunity to rethink global development. The post-2015 agenda clearly needs to tackle the unfinished business of the MDGs – including ending extreme poverty and attaining universal primary education. But it also needs to be much more ambitious, being crafted in a world in which the prospects for many of the poor and vulnerable men and women are actually worsening, and inequality within countries is widening.
Real ambition is needed in terms of a global vision for ending poverty and reducing inequality by 2030. And that vision can only be delivered if the ambition is matched with an equally strong commitment to reframing development models – particularly the flawed economic and financial policies that underlie today’s crises. We cannot continue with a global economy that works best for those with the most privilege and money, letting inequality burgeon, unemployment grow, while the life prospects of a large proportion of the world’s people remain vulnerable.