Development Cooperation
Millennium Development Goals
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — a set of agreed, measurable, time-bound goals on poverty and hunger, universal education, gender equality, child health, maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, environmental sustainability, and global partnership. Includes the active participation of the following UN Partners:
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- the Millennium Campaign to end poverty by 2015
- the UN Department of Economic & Social Affairs (DESA)
- the World Bank
- the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
- the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
- the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
- the World Health Organization (WHO)
- the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)
- the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
- the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
- the International Labour Organization (ILO)
- the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
- the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
- the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
- the UN Development Group
- the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
- the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
- the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
- the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
- the World Food Programme (WFP)
- and the UN Regional Commissions: for Africa (ECA), Europe (ECE),
Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP),
and Western Asia (ESCWA).
Other UN and Related Bodies
- The United Nations Development Group — unites the 33 UN funds, programmes, agencies, departments, and offices that play a role in development. Its aim is to ensure the delivery of more coherent, effective and efficient support to countries seeking to attain internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.
- The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- UNDP’s Human Development Report — an annual report on a particular development theme.
- United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) — an independent UN organization working closely with UNDP; it makes investments in the least developed countries (LDCs) using grants and loans. It is the only UN body working on the ground exclusively in LDCs.
- The UN University’s World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) — undertakes applied research and policy analysis on global development and poverty issues.
Background and Resources
- MDG Gap Task Force Report 2009 — The second Report of the MDG Gap Task Force comes out as the global economic crisis continues to threaten efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. In the Preface, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the Report "demonstrates how to deal with existing and emerging gaps between commitment to and achievement of Millennium Development Goal 8, which is to develop a global partnership for development".
- Millennium Development Goals Report 2009 — The Report finds that more than halfway to the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), major advances in the fight against poverty and hunger have begun to slow or even reverse as a result of the global economic and food crises, and warns that, despite many successes, overall progress has been too slow for most of the targets to be met by 2015.
- United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development — The United Nations convened a three-day summit of world leaders from 24 to 26 June 2009 at its New York Headquarters to assess the worst global economic downturn since the Great Depression. The aim of the Conference was to identify emergency and long-term responses to mitigate the impact of the crisis, especially on vulnerable populations, and initiate a needed dialogue on the transformation of the international financial architecture, taking into account the needs and concerns of all Member States.
- UNDP Annual Report 2009 — The burgeoning financial crisis that came to a dramatic head in September 2008 after more than a year of volatile food, energy and commodity prices compounded a series of shocks already being felt around the world. The report notes "As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stated, ensuring that aid goes to the poorest countries will be crucial in preventing the economic crisis from becoming a crisis of human development and security."
- The United Nations Development Agenda — a comprehensive overview
- The United Nations Development Agenda -- Development for All (pdf file) — reviews the decisions of the major conferences and summits held between 1990 and 2005 in an integrated manner, drawing implications for current and future development strategies.
- UN Declaration on the Right to Development — adopted by the General Assembly on 4 December 1986.
- The United Nations Global Compact — a public-private policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with 10 universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. The Global Compact aims to mainstream those 10 principles in business activities around the world, and to catalyze actions in support of broader UN goals, including the Millennium Development Goals. (See box, MDGs)
- Doha Development Agenda of the World Trade Organization (WTO)