In this paper we examine the strategies being employed by post-conflict countries in Africa to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals. We argue that to attain these goals, these
countries will need to alter the way they undertake development planning. Rather than design
strategies to achieve best outcomes with limited resources, reaching the MDGs will require
that governments identify what resources are needed in order to meet the agreed ambitious
objectives. In post conflict circumstances, as evident in Liberia and Sierra Leone (the two
countries we examine), three particular challenges to achieving the goals stand out: a history
of economic reversals, extremely weak institutional capacity, and popular distrust of
government. We argue that rather than treat these features as a limiting factor on
development, they should be integrated within development strategies, by including them
among the needs to be met as part of an MDG strategy and by adopting strategies that draw
on considerably more ambitious models of consultation, information dissemination and
transparency than are presently being employed.