Poverty and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the Pacific
The relevance and utility of the MDG framework in helping countries to reduce poverty and improve human development has been endorsed regularly by Pacific Island leaders, their administrations, regional organizations and non-governmental agencies throughout the Pacific since the September 2000 Millennium Summit. In 2003, Pacific Island Leaders noted that, if modified to better reflect Pacific Island circumstances, the MDGs would be most useful in focusing and improving the integration of policy, planning and budgeting into national sustainable development strategies, and in monitoring progress. Adapting the Goals through specific targets and indicators to more accurately reflect regional, national and sub-national contexts and priorities can facilitate more meaningful and useful assessment of poverty reduction efforts as well as of development performance in general.

The 2005 World Summit outcome gave a fresh impetus to countries to develop national sustainable development strategies that would contribute to reducing poverty and achieving the MDGs. The revised MDG Monitoring Framework has reinforced the need to further address the agenda of decent work for all, universal access to reproductive health, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all who need it, and significantly reducing biodiversity loss. Currently, nearly all countries in the region have integrated or are in the process of integrating the MDGs into their national development processes and many have reported on progress. All countries have plans for continued advocacy, monitoring and reporting, and implementation. A regional report on MDG progress covering all 15 Pacific Island Countries (PICs) was compiled in 2004 and as at end 2007 eight PICs have produced national MDG reports with a further six in various stages of completion. The Pacific Plan will also use the MDG framework as a monitoring tool. Thus, at mid-point between the Millennium Summit (2000) and the deadline to reach the MDGs (2015), there is wide acceptance and understanding of the MDGs as a useful development framework to address economic, social and ecological challenges.

Despite this progress, PICs face numerous challenges in their efforts to systematically target and reduce growing poverty and hardship through national planning and development frameworks. There is a clear need for: accurate and timely macro-economic and poverty data and analysis on which to base poverty reduction strategies or institute pro-poor policy reform; further demonstration of how costing sectoral priorities can inform policy strategies and resource allocation decisions to achieve the MDGs; improved capacity in generating, analysing and utilizing quality data and information on poverty in order to better target development interventions to reach the most vulnerable populations and areas; strengthened institutional capacity for monitoring national development plans; stronger links between national/ sectoral planning and budget processes and the review and monitoring of these processes; and improved coordination amongst donors, regional organizations and UN agencies in providing support to countries.
How the Poverty Reduction and MDGS Achievement Team Assists Pacific Island Countries
Promoting poverty reduction through the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), improving capacity for evidence-based policy and poverty analysis, reducing vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS, including among mobile populations and providing support for the creation of national level, private-sector focused enabling environments for the creation of economic opportunities and sustainable livelihoods, are the primary focus areas for the MDG Achievement and Poverty Reduction thematic team in the Centre. Members of the MDG Achievement and Poverty Reduction team are available to provide high-quality and responsive policy advice and technical assistance to help build capacity for regional, national and sub-national efforts for reducing hardship and addressing emerging poverty issues within the MDG framework and the integration of these issues into countries national sustainable development strategies. In particular support is being provided for:

• Poverty analysis and monitoring, the preparation of regional and national MDG reports, integrating MDG targets and indicators into national / sectoral planning and linking to budgeting processes, identifying sectoral priorities and interventions, costing the achievement of the MDGs within national contexts, and pro-poor policy advocacy and the use of MDGs for elaborating and monitoring the Pacific Plan;  
• Strengthening capacity for evidence-based policy analysis and formulation, policy advice on pro-poor macroeconomic policies, the preparation of national poverty reduction and sustainable development strategies and in facilitating regional cooperation in finding solutions to ameliorate the impact of economic shocks on the poor;  
• Promoting more accessible private-sector focused regulatory environments, providing entrepreneurial capacity building and facilitating private sector partnerships for rural livelihoods and Medium & Small Micro Enterprises (MSME) development which will help to improve the economic choices and coping capacities for those people experiencing hardship and poverty in the region;  
• Advisory services on policy and strategy options for: sustainable livelihoods creation, with emphasis on youth-focused strategies and the development of alternative rural livelihoods approaches and models; Youth entrepreneurship development through an ongoing partnership with The Body Shop and Commonwealth Youth Programme; provision of technical support to UNDP Country Offices and development partners to design and deliver programmes aimed at strengthening money management knowledge and skills in the region.  
• Strengthening HIV/AIDS responses to: address countries’ needs and priorities as they relate to human development, governance and human rights; integrating these into MDG-based NSDS, and complemented by the implementation of the regional HIV/AIDS strategy; supporting development of policies and programmes to address human security dimensions of HIV, including reducing vulnerability of women, girls, migrant and mobile populations to HIV.  
• Supporting the full integration of the poverty-energy-environment nexus into MDG-based NSDS, and building capacities of key stakeholders/ local institutions to expand access to environment and renewable energy services, particularly for the poor through the use of PPP modalities where possible.

The UNDP - Pacific Centre, through assistance to UNDP Country Offices, supports Pacific Island countries in gaining a better understanding of poverty and hardship, encouraging them to formulate national sustainable development strategies to meet the challenges of the global economy.