While Africa has generally made positive progress towards achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), performance has been mixed across indicators and countries. Recent food, fuel and financial crises, coupled with threats from climate change and instability in North Africa, are likely to affect the region's MDG achievement. Based on current trends, the continent's overall pace of progress is insufficient to achieve the goals by the target date of 2015.
October 6 saw the release of "Assessing Progress in Africa toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)", a yearly regional report written by UNDP/RBA, The African Development Bank, The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union Commission. This year's annual report urges African countries to enhance the strength and resilience of their poor populations through targeted social protection schemes.
Launching the report in New York, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said "our challenge is to translate this knowledge into policies that make a difference in people's lives." Associate Administrator of UNDP, Rebeca Grynspan, presented the report and said that "meaningful and transformative steps are needed to accelerate progress toward the MDGs in Africa."
Specialised UN agencies such as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have served as important data sources for the report. In addition, this report utilises 10 African national MDG3 reports and supplements the analysis based on UNSD data and other credible international sources and observations, which document MDG-relevant policy initiatives and lessons learned.
