4th Asia-Pacific Urban Forum in Hanoi (12-14 October 2005)

Plenary: Overview presentations

Erna Witolear, UN Special Ambassador for the Millennium Development Goals in Asia explained in her keynote speech why it is imperative to localize the MDGs.

The challenges and constituencies of MDGs exist primarily at the local level, she said. In addition, local governments are more able to practice the holistic development approach necessary to accommodate the interdependencies of the Millennium Goals. It is also at the local level where opportunities for cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder cooperation are most frequent. Yet, even though the implementation of MDGs takes place at the local level, it requires supportive national policies and an active provincial/state level role working as an interface between national and local implementations.

Download Ms. Witoelar's presentation “Localizing Millennium Development Goals”

Yap Kioe Sheng, Chief, Poverty Reduction Section, Poverty and Development Division, noted that the MDGs do not distinguish between urban and rural poverty despite the significant differences between the two. Urban poverty is not so much a lack of essential services, like is often the case in rural areas, but rather: the exclusion from services because of the illegal status of the house or its occupants or the high cost of these services.

He then presented a number of ways how cities can localize the MDGs in order to accommodate the distinct characteristics of urban poverty. First, urban forums in cities and towns can prioritize the MDGs in line with local conditions. Second, local governments or urban forums can adjust the Millennium Development Targets and Indicators, while maintaining the Goals. And third, local governments or urban forums may formulate additional Goals that deal with specific local problems of urban poverty.

Download the full paper “Making the Millenium Development Goals Work for Cities”