Achieving the MDGs and Reducing Human Poverty
Advocacy, Capacity Building, Monitoring and Pro-Poor Policies
The programme promotes and enhances partnerships with government and other stakeholders to achieve the MDGs by 2015. It will advocate the MDGs to and engage government institutions, civil society, business and private sectors. This will be reflected in policies, plans, budget and implementation strategies to meet MDG targets.
UNDP will also support regular national MDG needs assessment, analyze policy constraints, help monitor precise trends and gaps and update input targets. Additional efforts in capacity building of basic sectors and LGUs to strengthen convergence efforts and anti-poverty interventions at the local level will also be undertaken.
On advocacy, UNDP supports interventions that include:
- The preparation of the MDG Country Progress Report to generate national and public awareness and policy dialogues for the MDGs and pro-poor policies;
- The National Human Development Report (NHDR) for continuing discussion and action towards human development targets;
- Country needs assessments and dialogues on the policy environment related to the projected trends in achieving targets based on MDG horizons; and (iv) internal and external assistance in closing financing gaps and scaling up of investments and resources required to meet the MDGs by 2015.
In terms of monitoring the MDGs, UNDP supports the building of capacities of agencies and data providers in monitoring the MDG targets through: active participation in organizing policy dialogues and exchange towards enhancing statistical comparability across countries and developing international standards in methodology in measuring progress for each specific MDG target; harmonizing with minimal cost the existing national statistical system to generate accurate and gender-disaggregated data for MDG monitoring and reporting relative to specific MDG targets; and the use of standard computer software, to be developed in close collaboration with the UN Country Team, for inputting and storing data from the national statistical system and other sources that will generate user-friendly reports and trends on achieving the MDGs.
MDG-based Poverty Reduction Strategy
UNDP’s approach in reducing human poverty in the Philippines is to promote growth with equity entailing the creation of more wealth while closing the gap between the rich and the poor. The country needs to be on the road towards sustainable development to achieve the MDGs in 2015. UNDP will support the development and implementation of national policies that are pro-poor and gender-balanced, with clear linkages to specific programmes designed to contribute to the empowerment of the poor.
Strategies to be employed under this component include: multi-stakeholder approach, unity and convergence in targeted areas, capacity building, strengthening of institutional mechanisms; asset reform and effective asset utilization; unleashing entrepreneurship and increasing access to credit, capital and productive resources; mobilizing private-sector support; advocacy for internal and external resource mobilization to scale up investments and interventions to achieve MDG targets; and social protection for poor and vulnerable groups.
As a strategic start-up, UNDP will support the Philippine government in formulating an enhanced MDG-based poverty reduction strategy (PRS) program for 2005-2010 that focuses on the operational mechanisms of reducing poverty incidence from 34% to 17%, in line with MDG 1 of halving poverty by 2015. The PRS is aligned to the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) 2004-2010 targets, and will keenly identify, develop, and enhance the Government’s anti-poverty programmes.
The enhanced PRS will identify macro and sectoral ‘flagship’ programmes and projects, local poverty initiatives, roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders, legislation to create the enabling environment conducive to growth and poverty reduction, institutional processes and mechanisms to allow a more proactive and effective participation, especially of the poor, allocation and additional required resources, and monitoring and evaluation tools. UNDP will also support an intense broad-based advocacy campaign for the PRS.
Microfinance
The Microfinance component will respond to the need for an exponential increase in the supply of microfinance services to three million entrepreneurial poor by increasing coverage to the very poor and underserved, including women, and hard-to-reach poor areas. This requires a two-pronged strategy that consists of priming both vertical and horizontal outreach growth of breakthrough Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) from the previous phase of the UNDP Microfinance Sector Strengthening Project (MSSP I) to promising new and expansion areas. This component emphasizes that gender concerns be mainstreamed in the Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) that will be assisted, thereby helping bridge the income disparity between men and women.
Indigenous Peoples
UNDP will continue to support the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) through the preparation and development of models of implementation of Ancestral Domains Sustainable Development and Protection Plans (ADSDPPs). Central to the assistance to Indigenous Peoples is capacity building on leadership and the management of ancestral domains.
This intervention addresses the tenurial security of Indigenous Peoples communities; increased capacity for Indigenous Peoples communities in self-governance and management of their resources with clearly formulated ADSDPPs, with the participation of traditional leaders, elders and representatives from women and youth sectors. This will lay out future development plans of the community and enable its members to effectively govern themselves; improve and promote the sustainable utilization of their resources; and improve quality of life of Indigenous Peoples communities based on their self-determination.
Unleashing Entrepreneurship
Unleashing entrepreneurship responds to the Philippine Informal Sector (IS) Country Program objective to promote and increase the access of IS to productive resources for enterprise growth and build on trade opportunities with the help of the LGUs. This component promotes the creation of opportunities to facilitate transition of informal entrepreneurs towards formality, recognition and larger participation in local economies.
Crucial to this intervention is the development of an enabling local policy and regulatory environment that will promote entrepreneurship, wider access to broader financing options for micro entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and identification and development of innovative products and approaches in social protection like micro insurance in the area of health and social services.
Strengthening Institutional Mechanisms
UNDP will help strengthen institutional capacities to formulate, implement and monitor anti-poverty strategies by the basic sectors, civil society, and local government units to converge within the PRS framework and work together effectively for poverty reduction at the local level. The objective is for institutions to make informed decisions, to take active positions on key policy issues and to participate in the design of anti-poverty programs and projects.
Responding to HIV/AIDS
UNDP’s response to HIV/AIDS addresses the overall goal to enhance commitment and capacity at all levels, including government and civil society to prevent the spread of the epidemic and mitigate its impact. Strategies include:
- Leadership and capacity enhancement with a focus on LGUs for a minimum comprehensive response;
- Mainstreaming and integrated responses through activation of the multi sectoral AIDS Councils;
- Partnerships bringing together Persons Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) organizations, other CSOs, private sector and government for a meaningful involvement of PLWHAs; and
- Broad-based advocacy and communication through a media strategy developed and implemented at the national and local levels.
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