Civil society organizations

Civil Society and the Millennium Development Goals

Partnerships with civil society organizations are pivotal to mobilising public opinion and raising public awareness. In countries across the world, civil society groups have a special interest in one or more of the MDGs, while larger coalitions are involved in issues of poverty and global justice.

Many have a proven capacity for broad-based mobilisation and creating bottom-up demand that holds leaders accountable – skills essential to placing the MDGs at the heart of national debates and development priorities. The role of civil society organizations is crucial not only in campaigning for the goals, but also in monitoring progress to generate and sustain political momentum and public interest.

Read more about civil society and the MDGs CSO perspectives on the MDGs (commissioned by UNDP) The MDGs (Journal of the Society for International Development) Seeking Accountability on Women's Human Rights - Women Debate the MDGs (Women's International Coalition for Economic Justice) We the Peoples 2005: mobilizing for change: messages from civil society (North-South Institute)

UNDP engages with civil society on the MDGs through supporting CSOs in a) MDG advocacy and campaigning, b) implementing the goals and c) monitoring and reporting on progress.

Role of CSOs in monitoring the MDGs - CSOs in a number of countries are actively monitoring the MDGs. In Nepal, for example, the Nepal Network for
Sustainable Development (NNSD),a loose network of NGOs, CBOs and experts working for sustainability,
reviews and participates in monitoring progress on the goals.Their findings were published in Millennium Development Goals: Monitoring Report of Civil Society (Nepal 2004)

Localizing the MDGs

Multiple efforts at localizing the MDGs exist across UNDP practice areas. They include decentralizing national planning initiatives to ensure that national policies fit with local needs. A key component of this work is to ensure the full participation of local actors, among them communities. Some initiatives have focused specifically on bringing visibility to community practices, recognizing their important role in meeting the goals, and scaling up their practices to the policy level. These initiatives entail promoting access to information, building capacity, broadening peoples’ participation, strengthening cross-sectoral networks, building alliances and engaging communities at the dialoguing and negotiating table. Outputs have included peer to peer exchanges among communities to share their knowledge, skills and practices, community perspectives of the MDGs and empowering community based organizations to advocate on behalf of their communities for implementation of the goals.

In order to help localize the MDGs, UNDP has been organizing community to community learning exchanges on innovative practices to achieve the MDGs as well as workshops with UN agencies, international organizations, governments, academic and research institutions, NGOs and the media. Click here to learn about the Community Commons Dialogue