Box 4: An MDG Report for Afro-descendants in Ecuador The UN Country Team (UNCT) in Ecuador established an Inter-Agency Working Group on Intercultural Issues. Under the auspices of this group, a distinct MDG report was produced focusing on the situation of Afro-descendants: Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio: Estado de Situación 2007; Pueblo Afroecuatoriano.15 The report provides an overview of key issues facing these communities and assesses progress towards realisation of each of the MDGs. This report attempts to bring the MDGs closer to the challenges faced by the Afro-descendant population, aiming to: MDGs 1-7 will be explored below for the particular implications of each goal with respect to minorities and to offer some suggestions on how UNDP could support governments to devise MDGs strategies that are inclusive of minorities and respectful of minority rights. MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Minorities often have disproportionately high rates of poverty. Minorities frequently have less access to employment, credit and education opportunities, reducing economic security and decreasing opportunities to improve human capital. Such groups tend to live in areas with lower government investment in infrastructure and social services, thus diminishing their human development and market access. Land rights for minorities may be less secure, placing them at higher risk of displacement, eviction and landlessness. In times of crisis, minorities may find it harder to access emergency aid. Access to justice may be less secure for minorities, leaving  Undertake specific measurements, which incorporate indicators targeting marginalised cultural minorities;  Promote cultural policies, with concrete measures to benefit disadvantaged social groups;  Direct citizen participation of Afro-descendants. In preparing the report, the UNCT worked with the national Corporación de Desarrollo Afroecuatoriano (CODAE).16 Complementary initiatives include the creation of the AfroEcuadorian System of Social Indices (SISPAE) in the Technical Secretariat of the Ministry of Social Development Coordination. them unable to benefit from protective laws and more vulnerable to harm and exploitation. Minorities may be poorer because they have been denied citizenship, lack equal access to social services and full public participation. Many experts argue that the decision to call for a ‘reduction by half’ in extreme poverty and hunger leaves open the possibility that minorities may constitute the majority of those persons still living in poverty and suffering from hunger in 2015. As a consequence, it may be that minorities not only fail to benefit from MDG 1 strategies, but that they could also experience significant increases in inequalities. This could further harm national prospects for growth: the World Bank (2005) found that “the growth elasticity of poverty reduction falls with greater income inequality. In other words, the impact (of the same amount of ) growth on poverty reduction is significantly greater when initial income inequality is lower” (p. 9). MDG 1 strategies could provide disaggregated measurements of Another MDG Report on Indigenous Peoples is also being prepared by the UNCT. 15 See http://www.codae.gov.ec/ (accessed 9 August 2009). 16 36 M A R G I N A L I S E D M I N O R I T I E S I N D E V E LO P M E N T P R O G R A M M I N g