“Let us be clear about the costs of missing this opportunity: millions of lives that could have been saved will be lost; many freedoms that could have been secured will be denied; and we shall inhabit a more dangerous and unstable world.”

Costing methodologies

In 2004, the Millennium Project supported the preparation of strategic planning and costing studies in a selected number of “pilot countries”– Dominican Republic , Ethiopia , Ghana , Kenya , Senegal , Tajikistan and Yemen – to help identify the best ways to integrate Millennium Development Goal targets and timelines into their national strategies to reduce poverty.

In the Dominican Republic, the Presidential Commission on the MDGs (COPDES for “Comisión Presidencial sobre los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio”), along with several State Secretaries and the Planning Office, government institutions and organizations of the UN system, issued a report entitled “Invirtiendo en el desarrollo sostenible de la República Dominicana: evaluación de necesidades sobre los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio” . This report presents the results of the costing and strategic planning study to reach the MDG by 2015 and serves as a model for the 2006 Plans to reach the MDGs. Nicaragua, Ecuador , and Peru also have had significant experience in this area.

Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals
"Investing in Development brings together the core recommendations of the UN Millennium Project. By outlining practical investment strategies and approaches to financing them, the report presents an operational framework that will allow even the poorest countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015."