Working Document on the New Development Indicators Reflecting the Realities, Needs and Priorities in Monitoring Human and Social Development in Africa Beyond 2015
At the dawn of the third millennium, the member States of the United Nations Organization signed the Millennium Declaration which was the common platform of priorities to address the various dimensions of poverty in particular hunger, unemployment, disease and lack of housing as well as gender inequality and environmental degradation.
As a result, the need to monitor the progress in attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provided an opportunity for several developing countries from various regions to develop their statistics systems for improved information, to support development policies based on factual evidence.
In Africa, a mandate was given by the Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) during the Summit held in Syrte, Libya in 2005 to the African Union Commission (AUC), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to prepare and submit for review an annual report on the progress in Africa in attainment of the MDGs. Accordingly, African countries and development partners increasingly acknowledged the crucial need for better statistical information not only as conceptual and policy-planning tools based on facts but also as a means of providing improved support to policy implementation, monitoring of progress, and assessment of the results and impact of development initiatives, including the MDGs.
