The United Nations and strategic partners have launched MDG Monitor, a web site dedicated to tracking down progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), globally and at the country level. The web site was launched on 1 November 2007 in New York by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator and representatives from technology giants Google and Cisco.
With the 2015 target date fast approaching, the MDG Monitor web site will provide a one-stop resource for finding out where the goals are on track, and where additional efforts and support are needed. It has been compiled by UNDP in close co-operation with various UN agencies, and showcases existing UN data. The figures presented are from the official MDG Indicators database, maintained by the UN Statistics Division, in close collaboration with agencies and organizations within and outside the UN system, including UN DESA´s Statistics and Population Divisions, UNDP´s Human Development Reports, and the World Bank´s World Development Indicators. The complete MDG database can be accessed at http://www.mdgmonitor.org/millennium-development-goals.
The web site is designed as a tool for policymakers, development practitioners, journalists, students and others to:
- Track progress through interactive maps and country-specific profiles;
- Learn about countries´ challenges and achievements and get the latest news; and
- Support organizations working on the MDGs around the world.
The IAEA is a key player in promoting development goals. Valuable contributions to human development are being made through IAEA-supported technical and scientific projects in various parts of the world. The focus is on health care, child nutrition, energy, food and water, set in the context of the world´s wider efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve goals for development and security.
An exhibit by the Department of Technical Cooperation at the IAEA´s 51st General Conference in September showcased no less than 40 projects that featured the use of nuclear technologies to assist countries in achieving development goals. (Read Brochure)
Background:
In September 2000, the largest-ever gathering of world leaders ushered in the new millennium by adopting the Millennium Declaration. The Declaration, endorsed by 189 countries, was then translated into a roadmap setting out goals to be reached by 2015. In this roadmap countries committed themselves to making the right to development a reality for everyone and to freeing the entire human race from want. They acknowledged that progress is based on sustainable economic growth, which must focus on the poor, with human rights at the center.
The Declaration calls for halving by the year 2015, the number of people who live on less than one dollar a day. The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) build on agreements made at UN conferences in the 1990s and represent commitments by all countries to reduce poverty and hunger, and to tackle ill-health, gender inequality, lack of education, lack of access to clean water and environmental degradation.