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Mandates
The Millennium
Declaration and related goals (MDGs),
the Habitat
Agenda and Johannesburg
Plan of Implementation on the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD) form the primary mandates for the work
of the section.
While all divisions in UNESCAP contribute to poverty reduction
efforts, the Poverty and Development Division, and in particular
the Poverty Reduction Section within that division, are responsible
for the implementation of the sub-programme on poverty and development.
MDG 1 focused on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger is of
particular relevance to the section’s work, together with
MDG 7 on ensuring environmental sustainability.
PRS focus areas: Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
|
Goals and Targets |
Indicators |
| Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger |
| Target 1: Halve, between 1990
and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than
one dollar a day |
- Proportion of population below
$1 per day
- Poverty gap ratio [incidence x
depth of poverty]
- Share of poorest quintile in national
consumption
|
| Target 2: Halve, between 1990
and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger |
- Prevalence of underweight children
(under-five years of age)
- Proportion of population below
minimum level of dietary energy consumption
|
| Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability |
| Target 9: Integrate the principles
of sustainable development into country policies and programmes
and reverse the loss of environmental resources |
- Proportion of land area covered
by forest
- Land area protected to maintain
biological diversity
- GDP per unit of energy use (as
proxy for energy efficiency)
- Carbon dioxide emissions (per
capita)
|
| Target 10: Halve,
by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access
to safe drinking water |
- Proportion of population with
sustainable access to an improved water source
|
| Target 11: By 2020,
to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of
at least 100 million slum dwellers |
- Proportion of people with access
to improved sanitation
- Proportion of people with access
to secure tenure
|
The section collaborates closely with UN partners, and in particular
UNHABITAT, in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda. In 2000,
UNESCAP and UNHABITAT, in collaboration with The Urban Governance
Initiative (TUGI), UNDP/UNOPS, WHO, ADB and CITYNET, organized
the Regional
High-level Meeting in Preparation for Istanbul +5 for Asia and
the Pacific, held in Hangzou, China.
In response to the need to localize the Habitat Agenda to match
more closely different local conditions and cultural environments,
and involve key local implementers, UNESCAP has issued Guidelines
for Localizing the Habitat Agenda in Asia and the Pacific.
Through the Regional Consultative Meeting on Good Urban Governance,
UNESCAP is developing a concept paper on “Localizing the
MDGs for Urban Areas in Asia and the Pacific”. This paper
will outline specific activities that can be undertaken to take
the MDGs to the city level, using MDG 1 and 7 as entry points.
In follow-up to WSSD, the Poverty Reduction Section, in collaboration
with other sections and divisions of UNESCAP, is implementing
a Pro-Poor Public-Private Partnership Project (PPPPP),
with funding from the Government of the Netherlands. With the
growing trend towards partnerships between governments and the
formal for-profit private sector, there is a simultaneous fear
that (a) economic and financial objectives will dominate the partnership
and (b) the increased efficiency and consequent cost-reductions
will be neutralized by removal of subsidies, price increase and
reduced access for the poor. In response to these dynamics, the
project focuses on identifying ways to develop a pro-poor component
in partnerships between the government and the formal for-profit
sector, with the aim to ensure that the poor actually benefit
from the partnership. The Poverty Reduction Section’s role
in the project is specifically to develop guidelines for, identify,
and document such good and innovative practices in pro-poor public
private partnership, where available.
In line with UNESCAP’s technical cooperation strategy, the
prime focus of its poverty reduction work is to assist countries
of the region in attaining the MDGs and implementing the outcome
of major United Nations global and regional conferences such as
those listed above. Yet UNESCAP’s role is also to go beyond
this, to identity the specific needs and demands of its members
and associate members in order to make a significant contribution.
This means localizing the global agendas to make them more relevant
to their national and local partners in poverty reduction. Mechanisms
to do so include conducting effective need assessments through
its intergovernmental bodies and through feedback received from
missions, consultations with core partners and stakeholders and
situation analyses. Feedback mechanisms are also being built into
the networks of partners initiated and supported by UNESCAP.
Related links:
State
of Progress Toward the Achievements of the Millennium Development
Goals in Asia and the Pacific
The
Challenge of Slums- Global Report on Human Settlements 2003 (UNHABITAT)
The
State of the World's Cities Report 2001 (UNHABITAT)
Istanbul+5:
Reviewing and Appraising Progress Five years after Habitat II
The Habitat
Agenda in the Pacific: Managing the Transition from the Village
to the City in the South Pacific
Draft
Aide Memoire: Implementing the WSSD Plan of Implementation at
the Municipal Level – Sustainable Development Leadership
Forum, Hong Kong SAR 2004
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