29 August 2012: A new report from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) discusses the role of UNDP programmes – including Millennium Development Goal (MDG) GoAL WASH, Cap-Net, the Community Water Initiative, Every Drop Matters, the MDG Spanish Fund, and the Millennium Acceleration Framework – in achieving water and sanitation targets of the MDGs. The report underscores challenges and notes that sanitation is one of the two MDG targets that remain most off-track.

The report, titled “UNDP Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Portfolio: Accelerating MDG Progress Through Governance Reform and Local Action,” outlines the goals of UNDP programmes and highlights projects and actions taken under them. A featured project under MDG GoAL WASH addresses water governance in Liberia through the operationalization of the Liberian Water Supply and Sanitation Commission (WSSC). Other examples come from Belize, Iraq, Mali, the Philippines, Saint Lucia and Turkey.

Goals identified in the report include: supporting community-based water resource management and water supply and sanitation projects in rural areas; capacity building in sustainable water management; determining how to accelerate MDG implementation; improving water and sanitation governance; and supporting community based solutions. [Publication: UNDP Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Portfolio: Accelerating MDG Progress Through Governance Reform and Local Action]