Q&A: Helen Clark, 2010 UCL Lancet Lecturer

Isaac Ghinai and Martin Everson, presidents of UCL global health society MedSIN , let us into their conversation with Helen Clark , United Nations Development Programme Administrator, based on her Lancet Lecture that took place at UCL on 22 November. The full lecture can be viewed below. You said in your lecture that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the 'most comprehensive set of agreed benchmarks for development progress', and yet you stress the importance of national ownership in creating effective policies. Do you therefore think the MDGs are a helpful framework? ?I think they are helpful, because they are goals and not policies. There are many ways of getting these goals, and international organisations must give national governments the freedom to design their own strategies. That's not to say we can't offer our advice and expertise; multinational organisations like UNDP have the benefit of overview; I see our role as a 'global knowledge network'. We've seen what works in different settings and we've seen what doesn't. It's this kind of insight that we can share with developing countries.