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ndonesia was the proud recipient of an award from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for its persistence in reducing hunger and malnourishment. Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa accepted the award on Sunday during the 38th FAO conference in Rome, along with several other countries, for halving the proportion of hungry people ahead of the UN deadline of 2015.

The FAO said Indonesia has achieved the first target of the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) of alleviating poverty by reducing by 8.6 percent the people living in hunger from 2010 to 2012, from 19.9 percent in 1990 to 1992. In 2012 there were about 21 million people living in hunger here, compared to 37 million in 1990.

That is still a whole lot and scaremongerers warn the figure will spike with the looming fuel prices hike. But consider all the rapid changes and challenges facing a country in a long transition and one should indeed appreciate the reduction of 16 million people living in hunger within a little over a decade.

Back in 1985, then president Soeharto received a FAO award in Rome for Indonesia's achievement in food self-sufficiency, although now we have gone back to being a rice importer. The latest award will hopefully boost our confidence as we prepare to evaluate where we are after signing up to the UN's MDGs back in 2000.

Meanwhile, we are already looking to a set of newly proposed goals for another 15 years, until 2030.  The UN will deliberate the new goals in September, summed up in a report announced here Tuesday by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, one of three cochairs of the UN High Level Panel tasked to formulate the post-2015 global agenda.

The proposed 12 goals basically encompass further targets of  the MDGs, plus sustainable development goals. Eradicating poverty, for instance, cannot succeed without tackling climate change, the report says.

The task force on the post-2015 report, headed by Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, says Goal 12 is the driver of the other goals ' to 'create a global enabling environment and catalyze long term finance.'

As countries cannot achieve anything alone, support is crucial, particularly from developed nations ' which, the report noted, have not met their target of allocating at least 0.7 percent of their respective gross national product to aid developing countries.  

Also markedly different from the MDGs is the highlight on corruption, given the fact that the continuous theft of public money is eroding efforts to improve welfare in many areas. Goal 10 seeks to 'ensure good governance' and
reduce bribery and corruption.

A main criticism of these commendable goals is the lack of focus on inequality. It seems countries are left to draw up their own strategies, mainly on how to ensure protection for the most vulnerable. Critics here point to our own persistently high maternal mortality rate, where women's deaths related to pregnancy and maternity remain the highest in the region.

Many have praised the better process of the post-2015 reports. If the elite of the world have really honed their listening skills, then our first reaction is to appreciate the work of all those who drafted the proposed global agenda beyond 2015.