MDGs in Kosovo

Millennium Development Goals - 2015

The UN Global Conferences held in the 1990s raised global social, economic and environmental issues facing both developing and developed countries in the world today. Their findings and recommendations, as contained in individual action plans for national governments, represent an important basis for UN activities at the country level.
  They contain negotiated commitments of all UN member states and specific strategies derived from the collective experiences of governments, civil society representatives, and UN system agencies. They identify common crosscutting themes underlying the broader goals of sustainable development and poverty eradication, providing a basis for enhancing the quality and impact of country-level development efforts. In a joint effort, each member country pledges to implement the action programmes agreed upon in accordance to its priorities.In September 2000, 147 heads of State and Government – and 191 nations in total adopted the Millennium Declaration. The Declaration outlines peace, security and development concerns and mainstreams a set of inter-connected and mutually reinforcing development goals into a global agenda. As part of the preparation of the Road Map report on the implementation of the Millennium Declaration, discussions were held with the UN, IMF, OECD and the World Bank with a view to develop a comprehensive set of indicators for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Why Millennium Development Goals? The UN recognizes the formidable challenge countries are faced with in implementing these action programmes. For this reason, it seeks to intensify its collective contribution to national development efforts. In order to help focus national and international priority setting, goals and targets should be limited in number, be stable over time, and communicate easily to a broad audience.

Millennium Development Goals and Kosovo Kosovo representatives were not sitting at the Millennium Summit and thus have not signed its declaration. The Goals that stand out from this declaration are nonetheless relevant to the situation in Kosovo and represent a set of national political commitments to help focus many of country’s own long-term development priorities. Adopting, tailoring, and monitoring the Millennium Goals are a sure way not only to enhance human development in Kosovo, but also to ensure that Kosovo's population is not left behind in this global effort.To help the Kosovo Government use the MDGs as a tool for development, in 2004 UN Kosovo prepared a baseline MDG Report, entitled ‘Where will we be in 2015?’ The Second Millennium Development Goals report was launched on 17 of November 2007. The second report analyzed the probability of achieving the MDG’s by 2015 in Kosovo. Bellow is the data of baseline report and the probability of achieving them based on the Second Millennium Development Goals Report for Kosovo.

MDG Highlighs in 2011 

The MDGs are a set of goals that are time-bound, specific, easy to measure, assess and compare. They include twenty-one feasible straightforward targets to be met through country policies and programs, international aid, private sector and civil society engagement. These targets consist of sixty indicators which help monitor and keep track of progress made towards reaching the targets.MDGs are aimed at addressing extreme poverty in its many dimensions: income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion-while promoting gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability. They also aim to provide access to basic human rights; the right of every human to provisions of health care, shelter, and physical security. The MDGs set out a vision for inclusive development that expands the choices of all people in segments of society, and prioritizes the elimination of structural, institutional and cultural obstacles to participation in development.The MDGs provide a road map, a framework and a vision of a world free from poverty and hunger, with universal education, better health, environmental sustainability, freedom, justice and equality for all. The MDGs not only help measure progress on specific developmental challenges, but also serve as a framework for development for countries worldwide. The quantifiable goals help facilitate identification of bottlenecks and challenges for development, and also provide a basis for cross-country comparisons in their level of achievements. In 2011, UNDP and other UN Agencies produced the first Common Development Plan to tackle social inclusion and Millenium Development Goals. Concerted efforts of all UN Agencies, funds and programmes will target issues related to several MDG goals. . A new MDG report on Kosovo is pending for the upcoming years. However, UNDP Kosovo launched the Human Development Report on Social Inclusion in Kosovo in 2011. The aim of the report was to generate policy debate about tackling poverty and social exclusion in Kosovo. The launching of the report followed a number of roundtables discussions with policy makers, parliament members, civil society organizations, local government representatives and representatives of the media. The main conclusions of the report were that poverty in Kosovo remains high and above regional averages, poverty is more concentrated in rural areas, poverty and lack of education opportunities seem to be correlated, poverty affects health and overall wellbeing of the people in Kosovo and finally it is more prevalent among women, youth and ethnic minorities. In the same year, the programme launched the Poverty Week campaign which saw several high level activities targeting different audiences. The campaign was concluded with the ceremony of the Poverty Award held in October 2011.

Advocacy on gender equality has been sustained throughout the year and in several approaches. The advocacy strategy has been channeled towards different audiences and tackling various root causes of gender inequality. Firstly, the programme has been working closely with the Policy and Research Unit to produce research-based evidence to inform plans and actions on gender equality. Secondly, it has been working closely with UNDP projects to channel resources and efforts to this important goal. Thirdly, it has been working closely with Kosovo Government and Gender Equality Office in particular to adopt laws and regulation which protect the rights of women and mainstream gender into all government political, economic and social affairs. In 2011, several UN Agencies: UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women, UNICEF, OHCHR launched a new joint project on Gender Based Violence Project in order to tackle the important phenomena that hinder gender equality in Kosovo. 

Reporting and Follow up: Key to Progress 

Monitoring and reporting on the progress made is important to keep the MDGs alive in the public and political agendas. Periodic reporting of MDGs is considered as a tool to measure progress, assess the situation and help identify bottlenecks for improvement. All in all, MDGs are made to serve as a scorekeeper for developmental challenges of each place, and a guide to further improvement.Having committed its institutions to work towards achieving the MDGs, Kosovo has agreed to follow up on progress and maintain regular reporting. As a result, the UN Kosovo Team has undertaken its third form of reporting on the progress of MDGs. In 2004, the UNKT produced a first baseline report for Kosovo Where will we be in 2015? - which provided the initial benchmarks as to where Kosovo stands regarding the MDGs. The baseline was followed by the 2^nd MDG Report for Kosovo, published in 2007, which developed further on the initial benchmarks and provided further analysis and assessments.This 2011, the UNKT produced a new publication related to MDG - People Behind Figures - which is a snapshot of figures which reveal the situation of the most vulnerable groups in Kosovo.  the third MDG report, but in a simplified form with a quick read. The aim is to follow up on initial benchmarks and provide relevant information as to where Kosovo stands against the commitment to achieve the MDGs by 2015. 

Challenges to Reporting on MDGs 

Kosovo faces difficulties in ensuring availability of reliable data to measure and assess progress towards MDGs.The efforts to measure, to monitor, and report on progress towards MDGs in Kosovo have highlighted the need to improve the capacities of SOK to produce, analyze and disseminate data.The population census in Kosovo has not been held since 1981. The SOK still lacks full human, infrastructure and monetary capacities to make appropriate data available, despite continuous support by the government, non-governmental and international actors.Reliable data are at the core of ensuring good analysis, monitoring and reporting on the achievement of MDGs and in developing adequate policies that help face developmental challenges. Kosovo needs to build a stronger statistical system, create a basis by holding the census, and ensure increased and better coordinated financial and technical support from the international community.Despite the fact that Kosovo still faces challenges with data collection, the report can in fact present some useful information on current progress and shortfalls related to development.

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