Ms. Mona K. Hider
UNDP Resident Representative, a.i.
ACCELERATING THE ACTIONS FOR ACHIEVING THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS MDGS IN THE MENA COUNTRIES
Millennium strategy and the best practices and policies to accelerate the realization of the MDGs
Thursday, 6 July 2006 Grand Hyatt Hotel
Your Excellency the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation
Your Excellency the Ambassador of Italy
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen
Allow me first to thank you for inviting us today to this special Forum. It is indeed crucial to hold such events to remind us of the commitments made by 189 State members, including Jordan, towards achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were derived from the Millennium Declaration during the Millennium Summit in 2000.
These goals provide a framework for development that increases accountability and can only be achieved with national ownership, sound development policies and transparent good governance. They formed a global development vision that is a political tool in the hands of the world’s poor people with clear measurable targets which allow for continuous monitoring at the global, regional, national and local level
The Millennium Development Goals are about poor people increasing their income and providing adequate food for their children, they are about these children having the opportunity for a school education, proper health care for the mother and her new born babies, equal opportunity for men and women in economic, social and political life, protecting people from HIV/AIDS and life threatening diseases and giving treatment for those who have them, providing people with clean water to drink and a safe environment to live in and finally establishing global partnerships that commit the rich countries to support the less privileged ones especially those who are undertaking necessary reform.
It is of great importance to view the MDGs through the Human Rights framework, as each Goal is linked to the economic, social and cultural rights included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other instruments. This implies that these Goals are not simply development objectives but claimable rights, and taking action to achieving them is a duty of various actors including governments, corporations, international organizations as well as citizens and their representatives and not an act of charity; additionally, the Rights perspective suggest that all actors should protect and promote these rights and to this end a deeper understanding of the policies and institutional framework is needed and citizen’s participation in public decision-making and inclusiveness of the most vulnerable groups is critical.
According to the National Millennium Development Goals Report prepared by the Government of Jordan and the United Nations, the country has achieved good progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, with some of the specific targets already achieved in 2004.
But challenges still remain and include limited water and natural resources, foreign debt, the lack of political stability and security in the region, the weak female participation, poverty and unemployment and an increasingly young population. However the opportunity is there to achieve those goals given that appropriate policies and programmes are set in place and the different actors are firmly committed each within their role towards this end.
Jordan has recently released its National Agenda as a result of a collective national effort. The National Agenda provides a comprehensive unified framework for the development of Jordan, therefore aligning the MDGs with the National Agenda targets would be the key towards the fulfillment of Jordan’s commitment to achieve the MDGs.
Furthermore, UNDP which is, at the request of the UN Secretary-General, the MDG’s scorekeeper and campaign manager has initiated two projects in cooperation with the government of Jordan to localize the MDGs with the aim to go beyond monitoring at the national level. Aqaba will soon launch its MDG report, while Zarqa’s report is under preparation.
According to the UNDP Regional MDG Report, Arab Countries have made significant progress in human development. “Life expectancy has risen, child and maternal mortality rates have declined and illiteracy rates have fallen. A larger proportion of the people enjoy access to safe water and sanitation”. However, the pace of progress has slowed down since the 1990s and the report recommended that development needs to be accelerated. As well, achieving the MDGs in the region has not been even, Jordan shares many challenges with neighboring Arab counties found at varying degrees such as poverty, gender inequality and environmental pollution. Hence, collaboration and cooperation through sharing experiences, learning form each other, and creating south-south partnerships is valuable towards achieving our common goals.
Finally, let us remind ourselves that the target year 2015 set for reducing global poverty by half is approaching, and as the UN Secretary-General puts it, the clock is ticking, therefore, we need to act now to create a world where every human being lives in dignity, with enlarged choices and real hope for a prosperous future.
Thank you all