26 September 2013: The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) has released two reports outlining the Pacific region’s progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The reports, ‘2013 Pacific Regional MDGs Tracking Report’ and ‘Sustaining Progress and Moving Forward: 2013 Tracking the Effectiveness of Development Efforts in the Pacific Report,’ assess development outcomes in Pacific countries, and the effective use of government and donor development, respectively.

Both reports cover the 14 Forum Island Countries (FICs): the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The 105-page MDGs Tracking Report highlights key regional achievements including that ten of the 14 FICs are successfully reducing child mortality, and that most are achieving universal primary education. According to the report, the achievement of MDG 1 (reducing poverty) remains the key regional challenge, with only two FICs, Niue and the Cook Islands, on track to achieve this goal.

The 30-page Tracking the Effectiveness of Development Efforts in the Pacific Report notes good progress in implementing the Forum Compact, ensuring effective progress of national development plans. The report recommends that FICs: urgently address human resource and institutional capacity constraints; and make efforts to reduce aid fragmentation, through the increased use of country systems, including taking responsibility for tracking missions and controlling overload. [PIFS Press Release] [Publication: 2013 Pacific Regional MDGs Tracking Report] [Publication: Sustaining Progress and Moving Forward: 2013 Tracking the Effectiveness of Development Efforts in the Pacific Report]