In light of the current economic slowdown, the prospect of achieving most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 looks increasingly slim. Hence at this stage, it is crucial that strategic choices regarding the MDGs are revised realistically. Limited resources – both domestic and official development assistance (ODA) – should be allocated ‘optimally’ among the individual goals, and across the developing world. However, the questions of how a country should set its priorities among the broad range of development goals, what financial and institutional resources it should allocate for each goal, and how it should address potential trade-offs are contentious.

In this context, there is a need to shed more light on how different groups of stakeholders perceive the MDGs in a broader context of development. Hence this research project will conduct a choice experiment survey in seven developing countries around the world. The survey will investigate how different groups of stakeholders identify their development priorities. The choice experiment will also probe stakeholders’ preferences relating to the sources of funding necessary to achieve the targets. The results of the survey are likely to have a considerable impact on the policy debate on the MDGs.