Hitting the Target and Missing the Point: Is the United Nations Playing Games with the World's most Vulnerable?

摘要

This article examines the policy of using target-setting and measurement to deliver on the United Nations' (UN) development goals. Using evidence from similar monitoring and management strategies in the United Kingdom (UK), we question the purpose ofusingprocess and outcome targets and suggest that this approach can he counter-productive. It can also leadto a situation wheremaintaining publicrelations andimageisprioritisedattheexpense of making real impacts on key development issues. While the UN's aims are praiseworthy, we suggest that the somewhat simplistic methodology adopted is damaging to the very people that the UN is seeking to help.