Development experts meet to evaluate MDG progress around the globe

More than 200 development practitioners, government representatives and United Nations staff will meet in Morocco next week to assess and strengthen their work in reducing poverty and advancing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Arab States.

The second Africa/Asia and Eastern Europe Regional Meeting of the MDG Achievement Fund (MDG-F) will take place from June 20 to 22 in Al Jadida, Morocco. Participants will take part in a series of debates and exchanges to share experiences and consolidate learning from more than 70 MDG-F-supported programmes aimed at poverty reduction, UN reform and implementation of the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness.

"This workshop will be a unique and valuable opportunity for our partners to discuss how our work has been advancing in the different regions. The MDG Fund aims to eradicate poverty and inequality and promote equal opportunities within the countries where we work and we believe that looking at what is and is not working can help us achieve our goal,” said Sophie de Caen, Director of the MDG Achievement Fund. One of the goals of the meeting is to boost future work in the region by strengthening joint projects with government and civil society stakeholders in the region.

The MDG-F (www.mdgfund.org) supports national efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, a set of internationally-agreed targets to eradicate extreme poverty and ensure universal access to health, education, food security, gender equality and other development benchmarks by 2015. It funds 130 programs in 50 countries, which are carried out jointly with UN agencies and a range of national, regional and local partners.

The MDG-F funds 74 projects in Africa, Asia, the Arab States and Eastern Europe valued at almost $ 400 million. In Morocco, the MDG-F supports a programme that fights gender-based violence by empowering women and girls, and an initiative that promotes development by strengthening Morocco’s creative industries and cultural heritage.

This meeting was preceded by the MDG Fund Latin America Regional Workshop, which was held June 7th-10th in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.