Millennium Development Goals Challenges and Country-Level Opportunities for UNFPA Population and Development Branch Technical Support Division February 2002

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Millennium Declaration set 8 mutually reinforcing time-bound development goals and related targets for progressively eradicating poverty MDGs bring together and build on the 7 International Development Goals (IDGs) of the global conferences - but exclude ICPD RH goal MDGs and targets now at forefront of development agenda: agreed by developing countries and development partners – capture multidimensionality of poverty Baseline for MDGs 1990: target for realisation 2015

What are the MDGs? Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger - ½ proportion of people living on <$1 a day - ½ proportion of people who suffer from hunger Achieve universal primary education - Ensure boys and girls complete primary schooling Promote gender equality and women’s empowerment - Girls and boys have equal access to all levels of education Reduce child mortality - Reduce <5 mortality by 2/3

What are the MDGs? (2) Improve maternal health - Reduce maternal mortality by 3/4 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases - Halt and reverse spread of HIV/AIDS - Halt and reverse spread of Malaria and Tuberculosis Ensure environmental sustainability - Integrate sustainable development into country policies - To stop the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources - Halve the proportion of people unable to reach or afford safe drinking water Progress towards these 7 goals and 11 targets monitored through 31 agreed indicators

What are the MDGs? (3) New eighth goal to monitor developed country commitments for supporting efforts of developing countries: Develop a global partnership for development - includes 7 targets, eg trade, aid, debt and special needs of LDCs, partnerships with private sector - 17 additional indicators MDGs can also be monitored by qualitative assessments, eg - Provision of special assistance to children orphaned by HIV/AIDS - Significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

ICPD RH Goal and MDGs MDGs do not override other goals and targets reached at global conferences of 1990s, e.g. ICPD RH goal Universal access to quality RH services by 2015 ICPD RH goal not included in MDGs but essential for meeting MDGs, especially child, maternal, HIV/AIDS and gender goals – directly related to health, social and economic outcomes ICPD RH goal should be included and reported in on country-level reports

MDGs and Human Rights Focus on goals and targets consistent with rights-based approach to development can help create awareness of rights and mobilise resources for meeting obligations and entitlements - Generally poor and excluded whose rights are ignored and who lack access to information and services - Time-bound goals and targets can accelerate progress if they help build alliances and trigger complementary actions MDGs need prioritising in relation to country setting and combined with national poverty goals and targets

MDG Reporting Global reporting annually: led by UN-DESA to General Assembly with comprehensive report every 5 years Country-level reporting: led by UNCT through production of periodic MDG reports (MDGRs) – important for UNFPA to participate in their preparation - Advocacy tool for stimulating debate and mobilising resources - Intended to be reader-friendly MDGRs help provide a focus to national development debate and mobilise UNCT around concrete and common development agenda

Contents of MDGRs Context and setting For each MDG - status of progress - major challenges - resources requirements - capacity for monitoring ICPD RH goal and other priority national development goals should be included

Analysis and the MDGs Where is country in relation to goal? What progress made in past ‘n’ years? What are the linkages with other goals? What are the constraints and challenges? - Generally declining levels of ODA, mounting debt burdens derailing achievement of MDGs, especially in poorest countries How can constraints be overcome and challenges met? Are there multisectoral plans to meet goals?

MDGs and CCAs/UNDAFs/PRSPs MDGs provide a core and common development focus for CCAs/UNDAFs Indicators used for tracking MDGs a sub-set of those in 2002 revised CCA Indicator Framework MDGs can be used as entry point for UN engagement in PRSPs and enhance social sector focus Use of MDGs in CCAs/UNDAFs and PRSPs helps give momentum to ensuring provision of basic social services targeted towards poorest

Opportunity for Collaboration Increasing common ground in aim to eradicate poverty provides new partnership opportunities for jointly addressing development challenges and for measuring results Use of common indicator framework helps: - build evidence-based culture - identify weakneses in national statistical capacity - build alliances for supporting data collection activities UNFPA can play a lead role in mobilising technical and financial support for building national statistical capacity, esp. for population-based gender-sensitive indicators

Resources and Support MDGRs already completed for Cambodia, Cameroon, Tanzania and Viet Nam - available at DevLink on UNDG website MDGNet, launched by UNDGO, is an on-line virtual resource centre also accessible through UNDG Guidance Note: Reporting on the MDGs at the Country-level By to: Director, Technical Support Division