Progress on UN Millennium Development Goals to be tracked by online platform

The United Nations today launched an online platform that will track the progress on the financial and policy commitments made by countries towards realizing the anti-poverty and social development targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

“Starting today, we have a tool that is available and accessible to anyone in the world – a one-stop shop to monitor all commitment made by Member States to help meet the Millennium Development Goals,” Mr. Ban said at an informal meeting of the General Assembly to launch the Integrated Implementation Framework (IIF) website.

There are a total of eight MDGs, ranging from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015. They form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions and have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.

The IIF will provide an overview of all international commitments made in direct support of the MDGs since 2000. It will also provide information on the nature of these commitments, track their delivery, demonstrate inconsistencies and identify gaps between the support provided and the support that is required for achieving the MDGs.

“The time is right. Member States have made numerous commitments to support the MDGs,” Mr. Ban said. “Yet, delivery has not been satisfactory on all fronts.”

He added that while the IIF will not solve the challenge of ensuring delivery on commitments, it will help to “increase accountability and strengthen global partnerships.”

In addition, the website aims to serve as a resource for policymakers, academics, researchers and civil society interested in what governments have done in support of the achievement of the MDGs, and as a springboard for discussions on the post-2015 development agenda.

The UN chief also noted that the IIF will also help to monitor commitments made by countries at the UN Sustainable Development Conference (Rio+20) which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, later this month.

“The IIF will help us continue to monitor the progress of our efforts, including the commitments made in Rio,” he said. “It will also provide insight into the impact of our collective efforts.”

The IIF initiative is funded through voluntary contributions and has so far received funding from the Governments of Canada, Nigeria and the Republic of Korea.