The very term United Nations Millennium Development Goals conveys an immensely large undertaking over an extended period of time. The sentence seems obvious, but whether its full impact is all that well understood is another question.
Large, long term developmental efforts require budgets, but we usually think of budgets as being the tool of businesses and governments.Recently though the International Budget Project was discovered by this blog. According to the site, the organization builds civil society budget capacity to enhance public participation and to combat poverty.
An organization that uses discipline of accounting to teach others How to use Budget Analysis to Advance Human Rights (pdf) has its heart (and mind) in the right place.
It goes again to the concept that organizational systems need to be put in place in order to deliver the services to those in need. They don't necessarily need to be complex or bureaucratic, but they do need to be sustainable which means adaptable, scalable and easily replicated. Most of all, they need to be organized and communicable internally and externally. Budgets help to provide both road maps and means of getting from point A to point B.
They also have a blog on a number of different issues of interest. A recent one looks at the impact of the American elections on Global Health by asking "What would Barack do?" « Open Budgets Blog.
Obviously electing those who would support the Millennium Development Goal for Global Health will only be a first step, but it will be an important first step. The Open Budget blog contains a number of other worthwhile articles.
