# **Box 2.1:  Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)**

Several of the indicators used in this study are related to those mentioned in the Millennium Declaration adopted in September 2000 by the U.N. General Assembly, which set the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be achieved by countries by 2015. In fact, among the MDGs, 2 include specific targets and indicators that relate directly to infrastructure and energy poverty. these are as follows:

- Goal 7 - Ensure environmental sustainability

- Target 10 - Halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water � Indicator 29 - Proportion of population with sustainable access to an improved water source

- Target 11 - By 2020 to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

- Indicator 30 - Proportion of people with access to improved sanitation

- Indicator  31 - Proportion of people with access to secure tenure (urban/rural)

- Goal 8 - Develop a Global Partnership for Development

- Target 18 - In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

- Indicator 47 - Telephone lines per 1,000 people

The MDGs were however mostly developed for the poorest countries in Africa and do not fit very well the situation in ECA countries, where quality, reliability and affordability of infrastructure and energy services may be more of an issue than actual provision (physical connection). ECA countries are also unusual in that for some MDGs for some countries, performance is deteriorating, not improving. A number of indicators more relevant to the region were therefore constructed for this study. Four broad types of desired indicators were identified, referring respectively to access, reliability, living conditions, and payment for services.

# **2.3. Measurement issues regarding infrastructure and urban poverty in household surveys**

This analysis of urban poverty, including its infrastructure and energy dimensions, relies on recent Living Standards Measurement Surveys (LSMS) surveys, and when these were not available, on Household Budget Surveys (HBS) surveys. LSMS and HBS surveys have been the most frequently used quantitative instrument for poverty monitoring and analysis in the region, as they are the only surveys that contain extensive information on household income and expenditures. The preference given to LSMS over HBS surveys lies in the fact that LSMS surveys usually cover a greater variety of topics, including infrastructure and energy poverty, and receive considerable care in terms of quality control.

Despite their advantages, there are a number of problems with LSMS and HBS surveys for the purpose of a comprehensive analysis of infrastructure and urban poverty in ECA. These problems are set-out below.

# **2.3.1. Urban poverty may not be  properly represented in sample surveys**

Although LSMS and HBS surveys in ECA countries have generally robust sampling frameworks, three groups are consistently under-represented or omitted entirely from the surveys: peri-urban dwellers, those who are homeless and Internally Displaced People (IDP)/refugees. The appearance of slums in the periphery of big cities is a new - and still not well recognized - phenomenon in some countries in the ECA region. Since these peri-urban areas are not administratively part of the city, residents do not appear on the rosters of the local authorities and are excluded from sampling within the official city boundaries. Large peri-urban settlements have been reported outside Bishkek and some Albanian cities, especially Tirana, as well as in the 7