UNDP Sudan | The UN Millennium Development Goals in Sudan

Despite its challenging post-conflict situation, many of Sudan’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) indicators are comparable with the averages of sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. The Human Development Indicator, combining life expectancy, literacy, income, has increased from 0.35 to 0.52 from 1975 to 2004. However, Sudan is characterised by stark differences between urban and rural areas, and particularly between its regions. In particular, the South as a whole is at a much lower level on most MDG indicators than the North.

As a Member State of the United Nations and signatory to the September 2000 Millennium Declaration, the Government of Sudan is committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Sudan considers these goals as a framework for development and hopes to attain them on time. In the south, the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) has made the MDGs one of its top priorities.

Emphasis was placed on the MDGs in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and the Joint Assessment Mission. Achieving these goals is also the focus of the currently developed Poverty Eradication Strategy Paper, and the guiding force in the ongoing process of developing the National Five-Year Strategy (2007-2011). Furthermore, the emerging policy strategies and internationally supported programmes all make reference to the MDGs. Decentralization, a cornerstone of the CPA, aims to bring administration and resources closer to the people, especially those who are poorest and have the lowest MDG indicators. The next step would consist of allocating the necessary resources to these plans and setting up efficient monitoring systems.

The efforts of the Ministry of International Cooperation, as lead ministry for the MDGs, focuses on advocacy and reporting on progress towards the implementation and achievement of the MDGs, in addition to identifying the institutional structures tasked with overseeing the implementation of the MDGs. The responsible Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning of the Government of Southern Sudan, is also taking the MDGs as a reference point for its development planning.

Sudan has only one Interim MDG Unified Report yet, published in 2004. The report has two separate parts covering North and South Sudan. This was due to recently ended twenty year civil conflict between the government in the North and the Southern Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) with the (CPA) in 2005. A conflict in the East of the country was only settled in 2006, and a conflict in the western region of Darfur is not yet resolved. All these conflicts brought huge costs to human development. This sets a challenging context for progress and achievements of the MDGs.

UNDP's Role
Through monitoring and reporting progress towards the MDGs, UNDP helped the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement to prepare the country’s first interim unified MDG Report in 2004 . The report was launched in September 2005 by the President Omer Albasheer.

UNDP also supports the economic policy making process, including the development of a Poverty Eradication Strategy Paper, a National Five Year Plan (2007-2011), and other policies, and is secretariat to the Integrated Framework of Trade Related Technical Assistance. Furthermore, UNDP is supporting the work on the country’s first National Human Development Report, to be published in 2008.

UNDP continues also to play its role with regards to MDG reporting on national and state levels, promoting MDG-based policies and strategic planning while scaling up its advocacy efforts. In addition, most of UNDP’s projects are closely linked to the MDGs and work towards a common set of goals.