Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Africa Water, Sanitation May -June 2014 Vol.9 No.3 | Page 20

Post-2015 Development Agenda

Post-2015 Development Agenda

Millennium Development Goals and Post-2015 Development Agenda
Overview
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) –
which range from halving extreme poverty to halting
the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal
primary education – have been a milestone in global
and national development efforts. The framework has
helped to galvanize development efforts and guide
global and national development priorities. While three
of the eight goals have been achieved prior to the final
deadline of 2015 progress has been uneven within and
across countries. Thus further efforts and a strong global
partnership for development are needed to accelerate
progress and reach the goals by 2015. To learn more about
the work of ECOSOC and the United Nations on the
MDGs, click on the panel in the upper-right hand corner.
A global development agenda beyond 2015
The outcome document of the 2010 High-level Plenary
Meeting of the General Assembly on the MDGs
requested the Secretary-General to initiate thinking
on a post-2015 development agenda and include
recommendations in his annual report on efforts to
accelerate MDG progress. The outcome of the Rio+20
Conference on Sustainable Development initiated an
inclusive intergovernmental process to prepare a set of
sustainable development goals (SDGs). There is broad
agreement on the need for close linkages between the two
processes to arrive at one global development agenda for
the post-2015 period, with sustainable development at its
centre.
Building on its success in reviewing progress on the
MDGs through the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR), the
Economic and Social Council will play a major role in the
preparations, implementation and follow up of a post2015 development agenda. The ECOSOC strengthening
process and the Council’s mandated role in the integration
of the three dimensions of sustainable development
should also bolster the Council’s role as a monitoring
platform in the post-2015 era. In addition, dialogue is
being initiated through the Development Cooperation
Forum (DCF) on the possible features of a renewed
global partnership for development, and characteristics of
a monitoring and accountability framework.
Representatives from governments, civil society,
philanthropic organizations, academia and the private
sector are being engaged in these conversations, which will
also examine the broader implications – for development
cooperation – of a post-2015 development agenda.
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Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • June 2014

The Economic and Social Council will play a major role
in the preparations, monitoring and implementation of
a post-2015 development agenda. This will build on the
Council’s success in reviewing progress on the MDGs
through the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR), as well as
its broader support to advancing the UN development
agenda. Dialogue is being initiated through the
Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) on the possible
features of a renewed global partnership for development
in the post-2015 setting, and characteristics of a
monitoring and accountability framework. Representatives
from governments, civil society, philanthropic
organizations, academia and the private sector are being
engaged in these conversations, which will also examine
the broader implications – for development cooperation
– of a post-2015 development agenda. The ECOSOC
strengthening process and the Council’s role coming out
of the Rio+20 Conference in the integration of the three
dimensions of sustainable development should further
bolster the Council’s role in the post-2015 era.

all countries, according to their national capabilities. It
should build on existing com