Meeting the UN's development targets in Cuba: lessons from the global south

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.12.2.0252
• Pages: 252-271
• Published date: 01 December 2020
• Date: 01 December 2020
• Author: Emily J. Kirk,Chris Walker
• Subject Matter: development,UN,sustainability,millenium,equality,environment

InternatIonal Journal of Cuban StudIeS 12.2 WInter 2020

ACADEMIC ARTICLE

MEETING THE UN’S DEVELOPMENT

TARGETS IN CUBA: LESSONS FROM THE

GLOBAL SOUTH

Emily J. Kirk

Dalhousie University

Chris Walker

St Mary’s University

Emily J. Kirk is a Research Fellow in the Department of International Development Studies,

Dalhousie University, Canada. Her work focuses on gender equity and global health,

and she is the author of Cuba’s Gay Revolution: Normalizing Sexual Diversity through a

Health-Based Approach.

Chris Walker is a doctoral student in the International Development Studies Department

at St Mary’s University, Canada. He is the author of Venezuela’s Health Care Revolution

and would like to thank the Canadian Institutes of Health Research [grant number GSD-

140256] for their funding in support of his global health research.

Resumen

Para muchos el análisis de los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio de las Naciones

Unidas (MDG en inglés) deja unas imágenes de comunidades pobres y marginalizadas

en el sur global que reciben apoyo financiero, préstamos, y apoyo de varias ONG del

norte global. Pero, ¿puede un país del sur global, con recursos muy limitados, alcanza

tanto los MDG como los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (SDG en inglés), y hacerlo

sin el apoyo, apoyo financiero del norte global y la industria de desarrollo? El caso de

Cuba, y su estrategia de desarrollo sostenible, podría ofrecernos algunas pautas sobre

la forma de superar estos retos. En particular este artículo analiza los éxitos de Cuba al

cumplir con los objetivos, tanto de MDG como de SDG, en cuestiones de salud pública,

educación, igualdad de género y medio ambiente.

MeetInG tHe un’S deVeloPMent tarGetS In Cuba 253

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Abstract

For many, discussion of the UN’s development goals inspires images of poor

and marginalised communities in the global south receiving aid, loans, and

NGO support from the global north. Can a country from the global south with

limited resources reach the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well

as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and do so without the support,

aid or influence of the global north and the development industry? The case

of Cuba and its sustainable development approach may offer some evidence

for overcoming these challenges. In particular, this article will examine Cuba’s

successes in meeting MDG and SDG targets in healthcare, education, gender

equality and the environment.

Keywords: development, UN, sustainability, millenium, equality, environment

Introduction

For many, discussion of the UN’s development goals inspires images of poor and

marginalised communities in the global south, receiving aid, loans and NGO

support from the global north.1 By contrast, the UN and the global north are typi-

cally envisioned as industrialised, modernised, and largely responsible for assisting

low-income nations to achieve development targets. Yet, can a country with lim-

ited resources from the global south reach the Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and do so without

the support, aid, or influence of the global north and the development industry?

1 It is very important to note that “global south” is not utilized as a strictly geographical

reference. This article will utilize “global south” in place of other terms such as “devel-

oping”, “underdeveloped”, “Lower Income Country (LIC)”, and “Third World”. As

Sinah Theres Kloß (2017: 1) notes: “The global south is not an entity that exists per

se but has to be understood as something that is created, imagined, invented, main-

tained, and recreated by the ever-changing and never fixed status positions of social

actors and institutions. For the context of knowledge production in academic institu-

tions, the idea of the global south may be embraced as a process or practice through

which new modes of knowledge production are created and learned and more bal-

anced relationships in the global system of knowledge production are achieved.” Thus,

the global north and “the west” both act as an important point of contrast in terms of

“development”.