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Achieving
the MDGs and Reducing Human Poverty
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Endowed with rich natural resources
and vast, fertile land, Sudan has
great potential to become a major
international agricultural producer.
However, the country remains as one
of the least developed in the world.
Past growth in Sudan was not sufficiently
broad-based. Investments and services
are concentrated in and around Khartoum
State with little infrastructure in
rural areas. The significant disparities
between rural and urban regions has
contributed to growing inequalities
in the different regions and to an
increase in the urban informal sector
accounting for more than 60% of the
Gross Domestic Product. This state
of affairs has encouraged a rural-urban
migration that has weakened the agricultural
productivity and consequently deepened
poverty in both urban and rural areas.
According to the 2011 Human Development
Report, Sudan ranked as the 169th
country among 177 states. The hardest
sector hit by poverty are people living
in rural areas, in particular women
and Internally Displaced People (IDPs)
who constitute about 12% of the total
population. Latest figures on the
Sudan’s poverty rate estimates
that 46.5 % of the total population
lives in poor conditions and that
only 58.7 % of Sudan’s population
had access to improved sanitation.
In the educational sector, access
to school enrollment has reached 71.1
% in 2010 with notable regional disparities
ranging from 93.75% in Khartoum to
only 36.1 % in the Red Sea state.
Prevalence of child malnutrition is
high, at 31.8% in 2010 with a target
of reaching 15% for the year 2015.
Gender equality is one of the priority
issues for development in Sudan and
women are granted a quota of at least
25 percent representation in national
or state parliaments in the 2008 Electoral
Law, which is also reflected in the
real political representation of women
in the National Assembly.
UNDP's support in the area of poverty
reduction focuses on improving the
national capacity to plan and monitor
a comprehensive approach to the reduction
of human and income poverty, in line
with the Millennium Development Goals
and the UN Development Assistance
Framework (UNDAF) for Sudan.
In addition to supporting a variety
of income-generating activities to
reduce poverty, and increase food
security and employment in rural Sudan,
UNDP continues to promote an institutional,
social and economic environment conducive
to poverty reduction.
UNDP and the Poverty Challenge
in Sudan
As a Member State of the United Nations
and in signing the Millennium Declaration,
Sudan has committed itself to reducing
by half the proportion of people living
in extreme poverty, which is the first
of the eight Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) - a goal that developing
countries aim to have achieved by
2015
The main objective of the UNDP’s
development interventions in Sudan
is to support progress towards achieving
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
This involves strengthening national
and sub-national capacities for MDG
reporting, promoting MDG based policies,
as well as MDG-based strategic planning.
UNDP works closely with the Ministry
of International Co-operation and
the Ministry of Social welfare.
Key policy interventions in this area
have included the preparation of the
(1) MDG Report 2010, which aims to
measure progress towards the MDGs
in Sudan, and generate national and
public awareness and policy dialogues
for the MDGs and pro-poor policies
and the (2) National Human development
Report 2011 on “Peace and Human
Development”, which will support
continuing discussion, understanding
and action towards promoting sustainable
human development in Sudan.
UNDP currently provides capacity development
support to the Ministry of International
Co-operation, the Ministry of Finance
and National Economy (MOFNE) and the
Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.
Collectively, this support represents
a comprehensive strategy for strengthening
national capacities for aid management
and co-ordination in Sudan involving
all national and foreign aid partners.
National counterparts are also assisted
in the facilitation of aid planning,
monitoring and evaluation mechanisms
in line with the Joint Assessment
Mission (JAM) Results Framework for
Sudan and 5 year strategic development
Plan for Sudan.
As part of its anti-poverty strategy,
UNDP works with the Central Bank of
Sudan and the Sudanese Microfinance
Development Facility to strengthen
the national micro-finance coordination
mechanism and expand microfinance
services across the country through
mobile phone technology (jointly with
the Central Bank of Sudan and the
Sate of Northern Kordofan.)
Strategic development interventions
in UNDP aspire to develop the capacity
of the Government to manage, coordinate
external assistance, and facilitate
aid planning and monitoring and evaluation
mechanisms.
UNDP collaborates with the Ministry
of Youth and Sports to help micro
business and enterprises create career
opportunities for graduate students.
Additionally, UNDP supports the Ministry
of Labor in establishing a voucher
based training system that will expand
job opportunities for under-graduate
students.
The following projects
provide detailed information on UNDP’s
interventions for poverty reduction
and progress on the MDGs across the
country: |
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