UN General Assembly
2013

to face a host of other challenges such as environmental vulnerability, abuses of human rights and lack of or limited access to essential services. Lifting people out of poverty therefore requires a holistic approach. Thirdly, strong political will and the transformation of partnerships have accelerated the attainment of most of the MDG targets. Finally, I wish to make a cautionary note that we need to be aware of the fact that different continents were at different stages of development when we established the MDGs. That created pressure, sometimes leading to unintended consequences. In the case of Malawi and other countries, in our efforts to achieve universal access to education, the quality of education was compromised, yet access and quality should not be separated. We all recognize that the task of developing and achieving consensus on the theme “The post-2015 development agenda: setting the stage” may not be an easy one. However, we know a lot more today about what works and what does not work than we did 13 years ago. We know that in order to achieve real and