22 September 2010: The UN has released a new tool – known as the MDG Acceleration Framework – to assist countries in identifing and overcoming barriers to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs include targets related to ending poverty and hunger, expanding access to education, improving maternal and child health, and achieving environmental sustainability.

UNDP Administrator Helen Clark noted that the MDG Acceleration Framework, an innovative approach to speed up progress on the targets, was developed by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with UN specialized agencies, and it addresses disparities and inequalities as one of the major causes of uneven MDG progress across and within countries. The framework enables governments and development partners to identify systematically the bottlenecks preventing MDG progress, as well as the tested and proven solutions which can help overcome them. Ten countries are piloting the approach, including Belize, Colombia, Ghana, Jordan, Lao PDR, Papua New Guinea, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda. Togo, for instance, is focusing on the lack of access to fertilizers, improved seeds and support to farmers as a major obstacle to progress on the poverty reduction goal. Belize is focusing on improving access to water and sanitation. Jordan and Tanzania are focusing on food security, and Tajikistan on how to facilitate access to energy for the poor.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that the approach provides a foundation to accelerate progress over the final five years to the MDG timeline, and noted the importance of understanding the obstacles to development and how to overcome them. [UN News Centre] [MDG Acceleration Framework Report]