United Nations Development Programme

• Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
• Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
• Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
• Goal 5: Improve maternal health
• Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
• Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

While the global MDGs agenda has 2015 as its cut-off date, the specificities of the Palestinian situation, make projections for progress difficult to assess. Without progress on the political front, and without the removal of restrictions on access and mobility, conditions will become worse, and instead of reaching the MDGs, a downward spiral is likely.

MDGs Priorities for UNDP/PAPP

1. MDGs integrated into national development planning and resource allocation process

2. Sector specific programmes and policies to advance MDGs (Goals and Targets)

3. Development and operationaliation of the MDGs and poverty monitoring frameworks

4. Effective MDGs communications and advocacy strategies developed and implemented

 

MDG Advancement in 2010 in the occupied Palestinian territory

The occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) is placed in the lower middle-income group of countries in terms of the Human Development Index. With the exception of Goal one, progress towards achieving the MDGs remains favorable in the context of the ongoing occupation and blockade. National support for the attainment of MDGs by 2015 remains strong.  However, nothing short of an end to the occupation and the emergence of a sovereign State of Palestine will create the necessary conditions for significant further progress.

The ongoing social-economic and political crisis in the oPt in general and the Gaza Strip in particular are expected to cause dramatic deterioration in MDG indicators, especially with respect to poverty and hunger, health, and education. In addition to the economic and social closure of the territory, the sharp increase in the prices of major production inputs and basic food supplies together with the world financial crisis has rendered the current national poverty reduction strategies insufficient and less than adequate to face the existing crisis.

The uncertainty in the political situation poses challenges in achieving progress until 2015; the cut-off date for most MDG based national strategies.

The following table summarizes the likelihood of, as well as current trends towards, attainment of MDGs under occupation or in the event a sovereign State of Palestine is established during 2011, as envisaged by the PA.

	Sovereignty		Occupation
Millenium Development Goal	Will Goal be met?	National Support	Will Goal be met?	National Support	Remarks
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger	Likely	Strong	Unlikely	Strong	Persisting high poverty rates and the rise in the number of ‘new poor’ negatively affects food security, as a result of occupation and closure
Achieve universal primary education	likely	Strong	Likely	Strong	In spite of good results in primary education enrollment, quality of basic education requires improvement
Promote gender equality and empower women	Likely	Strong	Likely	Strong	Political participation and educational progress is favourable, whereas women’s economic participation remains low
Reduce child mortality	Likely	Strong	Unlikely	Strong	Goal Almost attained
Improve maternal health	Likely	Strong	Potentially	Strong	Both Ministry of Health and local Palestinian health providers are capable and sensitized to deal with maternal health
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases	likely	Moderate	Likely	Moderate	Due to the low prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the oPt, the focus is on preventing communicable and sexually transmitted diseases as well as providing treatment and care for HIV+ people and their families
Ensure environmental sustainability	Unlikely	Moderate	Unlikely	Moderate	Lack of control over natural resources, particularly water and land, due to occupation, and early stage of environmental protection
Develop a Global Partnership for Development	Likely	Strong	Unlikely	Strong	Shift in donors’ focus from emergency and humanitarian aid to long-term development objectives

 

Press Releases