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Millennium Development Goals (Sudan)
Introduction:
In
the year 2000, representatives of 189 member
countries of the United Nations, including the
Sudan, signed the Millennium
Declaration. The Millennium Declaration was
translated into eight time-bound
development goals that represented the basic
needs and conditions for human development:
eradication of extreme
poverty and hunger; achievement of universal primary
education; promotion of gender equality
and empowerment of women; reduction of child
mortality; improvement of maternal health; combating
HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB and other diseases and
ensuring environmental sustainability. For each goal
a number of targets were
specified and for each target a number of
quantitative indicators were identified.
The year 2015 was
earmarked as the last year of a timeframe for
achieving the specified targets from their
initial values in the year 1990.
The
political and security situation as well as the
quality and availability of data, particularly in
conflict areas, mandated that
this first Millennium Development Goals Report
(MDGR) be produced only as
interim. The fourth population census was undertaken
in 1993 and the fifth census, which should have
been carried out in 2003 was not feasible
because of the conflict. With the signature of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement
(CPA), the top priority on the reconstruction and
development agenda of both the
national Government and the Government of
South Sudan is the updating of vital statistics and
data. This interim report
will, therefore, be updated and integrated as soon
as more accurate data and statistics are
available to reflect a more accurate
assessment of the status of the MDGs nationwide
including the south.
The
above-mentioned political and data situation also
mandated the form of this first MDGR for the
Sudan. While the MDGR is produced as a
unified report, it is composed of two separate
sections: section A covering
the Sudan and section B covering the South Sudan
SPLM-controlled areas.
The
launch of the 2003 Human Development Report (HDR) in
February 2004 gave added impetus to the
process of preparing the first MDGR for the
Sudan. The launch took place in Khartoum under the
patronage of the Presidency and with full
participation of key partners such as the Higher
Council for Strategic
Planning and the Ministry of International
Cooperation as well as a wide representation of
nongovernmental organizations
such as the UN Association and was inaugurated by
the Assistant President.
The event was well
attended, not only by policy makers and donors but
also by civil society. The event,
held in Khartoum, was web-cast to other areas
of Sudan, demonstrating how technology can be used
creatively for advocacy and outreach in a
context like Sudan. The MDGs obtained good coverage
from the press and other
media together with the 2003 HDR. As a result of the
launch, the Government pledged full
support to the production of an MDG report
for the first time. The official commitment by the
GOS to the MDGR greatly
facilitated the formation in June 2004 of a
high-level ministerial committee, and a
multisectoral
technical committee that took forward the work on
the MDGR. UNDP attended both government
committees’ meetings as facilitator and
catalyst to the MDGR preparation process. UNDP also
played acoordination role vis-à-vis the UN agencies
through convening coordination meeting and through
supporting advocacy and technical
workshops/meetings with relevant lead UN agencies
designated by the Resident
Coordinator (RC).
The
MDGs advocacy and reporting process was also
extended to the South. UNDP supported the
participation of some of the SPLM officials
in global MDGs events. Section B of the report was
prepared to cover
specifically the South Sudan, SPLM-controlled areas.
Senior SPLM officials in various
secretariats, along
with UN agencies, the World Bank and NGOs were
consulted in the production of
section B and
contributed through the provision of sector-specific
documentation or feedback. It is
envisaged that the SPLM will establish a
consultative mechanism on the MDGs with
representatives of the
relevant institutions of the Government of South
Sudan (GOSS), the UN system, civil society and the
private sector to foster understanding of
their significance to the development strategy for
South Sudan.
The Thematic Goal Groups (TGGs) under an
RC-designated lead UN agency played a major role in
technically backstopping the review and
situation analysis of progress on each of the goals.
The result of hard work by
the GOS, TGGs, lead UN agencies and UNDP is that
Sudan has a current credible, national
report that will serve as an important base
for future advocacy and monitoring of the MDGs.
It
is planned that in 2005, the MDGR ‘process’ will go
down to the regional level by initiating regional
MDGR processes in three/four pilot regions,
particularly conflict-affected ones. Civil society
is expected to participate
and monitor progress on implementing MDGs targets.
Improvement in security in 2005 is
expected to further enhance the quality of
data and consequently assessment of the status of
the MDGs nationwide.
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