International Actors

UN
OECD
The World Bank and the IMF
EU
Ireland’s Contribution
DFID

UN

• Within the international system, the monitoring of the MDG targets and indicators, and progress towards achieving them, is being led by the UN, complemented by a major program of research and advocacy. These efforts involve monitoring at the global and country levels. At the country level, the UN Country Teams support the governments of the developing countries in monitoring progress and preparing national MDG Reports (MDGRs). UNDP, in its capacity as chair of the UN Development Group and as manager and financial supporter of the Resident Coordinator system, coordinates support for preparing these country reports at least once every 2-3 years.
• The MDG and the Role of the United Nations
• Millennium Campaign United Nations
• The role of the Millennium campaign represents the main gateway through which the United Nations is mobilizing people and raising awareness for the Millennium Development Goals. Outside the Millennium Campaign, the UN has led and supported other campaigns (link: Other UN-Led MDG Campaigns) aimed at involving governments, citizens, volunteers, etc.
• Millennium Project – United Nations
• The UN has set up a special initiative, entitled the Millennium Project, mandated to identify the operational priorities, organizational means of implementation, and financing structures necessary to achieve the MDGs. The Millennium Project was designed to contribute to the policy dialogue between partners and cultivate a shift from the aspirational to the practical measures required to make headway towards the MDGs. The analysis produced by the Project is also expected to serve as a platform for campaign messages.
• Country Reports – UNDP
• Country-by-Country reports
  The United Nations Development Group (UNDG), led by UNDP has developed a country level reporting system for developing as well as donor countries. These reports are to act as vehicles to mobilize national populations in support of the Goals. In addition, international reporting mechanisms have been set up to monitor the progress relating to the implementation of the MDGs. This international reporting is undertaken by the UN Secretary-General who presents annual reports to the General Assembly.
• DevLink – United Nations Development Group
  
• Millennium Development Goals – United Nations
  
• Millennium Development Goals – UNDP
  
• Millennium Development Goals – WHO
  
• Millennium Development Goals – UN-Habitat
  
• Human Rights in Development – UNHCHR
  
• Education for All – UNESCO
  
• UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
  
• UNICEF homepage
  
• UNICEF Statistics
  
• Food and Agriculture Organization homepage
  
• UNIFEM homepage
  
• UNFPA homepage
  
• Gender and the MDGs

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OECD

• In 1996, the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) pioneered the International Development Goals as concrete targets in its Shaping the 21st Century report, stating it was time to “select, taking account of the many targets discussed and agreed at international fora, a limited number of indicators of success by which our efforts can be judged”. The DAC proposed a global development partnership effort to achieve ambitious but realisable goals.
• All of the DAC’s work relates to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Specific work focuses on monitoring the goals, increasing aid effectiveness in pursuit of the MDGs, and in 2004, examining the link between conflict prevention and peace-building and the MDGs.
• Making Poverty Reduction Work: OECD’s Role in Development Partnership Contributing to global development is a key objective of the OECD as an intergovernmental agency and through its collective membership. What does the OECD bring to the international effort to achieve the international goals?
• Development Assistance Committee (DAC) High Level Meeting
• March 2005. The annual DAC meeting of aid ministers and agency heads looked for ways donor and recipient countries could improve the lives of poor people, including those suffering under unstable or corrupt governments, by using aid more effectively. Better co-ordination amongst donors and between donors and recipients will be a big step in the right direction, but indicators and monitoring are also crucial.
• More about the DAC and the MDGs.
• OECD/DAC Network on Gender Equality is an international forum that brings together gender experts from bilateral and multilateral development agencies to define common approaches, share good practice, innovative ideas and state-of-the-art research on gender related topics. Civil societies are also invited to contribute to activities and participate in events that the network organizes.

The World Bank and the IMF

• The World Bank and the IMF have their mandate to engage in policy dialogue with member countries and report to their respective executive Boards. The World Bank uses its Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) for IDA-eligible countries in the context of the implementation of its Performance-Based Allocation (PBA) policy. The IMF has a mandate, under its surveillance policy to monitor macroeconomic and exchange rate policies in developed and developing countries.
• World Bank- Millennium Development Goals
• IMF - Millennium Development Goals
• The Global Monitoring Report 2005—From Consesnus to Momentum - The Global Monitoring Report (GMR) is an annual report that aims to assess how the world is doing in implementing the policies and actions needed to achieve the MDGs and related outcomes. It is produced jointly by the World Bank.
• World Bank and Donors Must Change to Reach MDGs Says Jeff Sachs

EU

• The EU’s "MDG package": communications and background information
• European Commission, Directorate-General Development / European Commission Directorate-General for Development , 2005
• The core of this press package is formed by three communications ("MDG Package") which outline further EU political commitments and actions in the context of the MDGs and will provide the basis for the actual EU policy response to the MDG challenge for the period 2005-2010. The communications make proposals in the areas of Finance for Development, Coherence for Development and Focus on Africa.
• The document on the Focus on Africa argues that the Union should make a difference in areas where it has a comparative advantage or where it can fill existing gaps and catalyse the actions of other partners. The Communication proposes to assign Africa a political priority and to accelerate the EU’s actions in a limited number of areas, including improving Africa’s governance, interconnecting Africa’s networks and trade and striving towards equitable societies, access to services and environmental sustainability.
• The communication on Coherence for Development identifies a number of priority areas including trade, environment, agriculture where the challenge of attaining synergies with development policy objectives is considered particularly relevant. For each of these priority areas the Commission has defined general orientations, or "coherence for development commitments" that it considers relevant contributions to accelerating progress.
• In the communication on Finance for Development the Commission proposes two intertwined targets to be reached by 2010:
• individual ODA targets for each Member State, differentiated between old and new Member States: The Commission proposes old Member States to increase their ODA to a new individual baseline of 0.51% GNI, in case they have not yet reached it. The Commission proposes the new Member States to reach 0.17% GNI
• a collective average target for the Union of 0.56% ODA/GNI.
• The press package provides some background information on these three proposals, and also some briefs on the following topics:
• The Millennium development goals: Europe cares The MDGs, What has the European Union done to date?
• The MDGs, Our proposal
• The MDGs, Quality and effectiveness of aid
• The package also features the "EU report on Millennium Development Goals: 2000 - 2004", a synthesis report explaining how the EU and its Member States have contributed towards past progress on the MDGs

Ireland’s Contribution

• Address by the Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, T.D. to the United Nations Millennium Summit New York, 6 September 2000
  ……Today, on behalf of the Government and people of Ireland, I wish in this forum publicly to make a commitment to fully meeting the United Nations target of spending 0.7% of GNP on Official Development Assistance. We are putting in place an interim target for the expansion of the programme by the end of 2002 of 0.45% of GNP and we will reach the UN target by the end of 2007.
• Irish Aid and the Millennium Development Goals The Millennium Development Goals, and the specific targets set to enable their achievement to be measured, provide the context in which Irish Aid priority sectors are decided.

DFID

• UK Department for International Development and the Millennium Development Goals

Public Support

• In 2005 there is growing global momentum for political change to alleviate world poverty. The Global Call to Action Against Poverty is leading this campaign and you can see what other countries, particularly in the developing world.
• In Ireland there are coalitions North and South supporting this global movement under the banner of MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY. The unprecedented degree of support- from the general public and from all sectors of society - is evident from the membership of both these coalitions.
• The campaign in the United Kingdom had a large public profile and used a series of international opportunities in 2005 with the G8 taking place in Scotland; the UK Presidency of the European Union, the UN’s planned review of the Millennium Development Goals and the World Trade Organisation ministerial in Hong Kong. These campaigns can be accessed on their website: http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/
• Ireland Millennium Campaign
• Oxfam- Millennium Development Goals Campaign
• 2015: Where will we Be? - A website of the BBC Worldservice Trust
• Global Youth Action Network- Millennium Development Goals Campaign
• BARCELONA FOOTBALL CLUB BACKS THE UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS 0.7% of Barça’s income will be devoted to education projects. FC Barcelona has become the first football club to formally support the UN Millennium Development Goals promoted by the UN Millennium Campaign. The Club’s Foundation will undertake cooperation projects aimed at contributing to the achievement of the Goals by 2015.
• A portal on southern NGOs
• Public opinion Polling and the Millennium Development Goals, OECD, October 2004