UNDP in Ukraine

In September 2000, the largest-ever gathering of world leaders ushered in the new millennium by adopting the Millennium Declaration. Ukraine also took the responsibility of reaching the Millennium Development Goals till 2015. The global MDGs were adapted to the Ukrainian context taking into consideration the particularities of the country's development. They were translated into 6 priority areas and 13 specific long-term targets. It's time to deliver on the promises!

Goal 1: Reduce poverty

Target 1: Reduce by half the proportion of people whose daily consumption is below USD 4.30, measured in average PPP (parity purchasing power), as compared with 2001
Target 2: Reduce the share of the poor by one third (based on the nationally defined poverty level)

Goal 2: Increase access to quality life-long education

Target 3: Raise enrollment rates by 2015, in comparison with 2001
Target 4: Raise the quality of education

Goal 3: Ensure sustainable environmental development

Target 5: Increase the proportion of people with access to clean drinking water by 12% from 2001 to 2015
Target 6: Stabilize air pollution from stationary sources
Target 7: Expand the network of natural and biospheric reserves and national parks to 10.4 % of the overall territory of Ukraine

Goal 4: Improve maternal health and reduce child mortality

Target 8: Reduce maternal mortality by at least 17%
Target 9: Reduce the mortality rate of children under 5 years by at least 17%

Goal 5: Reduce and slow down the spread of HIV/AIDS and TB

Target 10: Reduce the rate of the spread of HIV/AIDS by 13%
Target 11: Reduce the number of TB cases by 42%

Goal 6: Ensure gender equality

Target 12: Achieve a ratio of at least 30:70 for either genders in legislative and executive offices
Target 13: Halve the gap in incomes between men and women

Progress in achieving Ukrainian MDGs (table)

Ukraine

MDGs help track progress in country policies and programmes

In Ukraine, following the advocacy and capacity-building efforts of the UNDP team, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were nationalized in 2003 and are now used to track progress in government policies and programmes.

Over the period from 2000 to 2008, Ukraine has managed to record significant progress in advancing human development. In particular, Ukraine succeeded in reducing absolute poverty, ensuring access to school education, improving maternal health and reducing the mortality rate of children under 5 years. However, the relative poverty remained practically unchanged, the disparity between life expectancy of men and women is growing, while the effectiveness of fighting with HIV/Aids and TB somehow deteriorated.

Out of the eight global MDGs, poverty reduction (Goal 1) is by far the number one priority for Ukraine. Widespread poverty is one of the most acute socio-economic problems for the country. The extent of poverty, its depth, and a critical income polarization between social groups are a major cause for concern.

In Ukraine, despite robust economic growth which started in 2000, 28.1 per cent of people still live below the poverty line of UAH430 (about USD100) per person a month, according to official statistics (in 2005 - 27.1%, in 2006- 28.1%). The worst situation is observed in rural areas, where almost 40 per cent of the population are poor. This is toughly aggravated by non-income poverty dimensions, such as lack of infrastructure or very limited access to adequate healthcare.

High inflation in 2008 and poverty patterns in Ukraine, as well as in most former Soviet countries, are different from those prevailing in other parts of the world. Here it exists against the background of developed industry, skilled labour force and relatively low unemployment.

For Ukraine poverty is a fairly new phenomenon, which originated from the re-distribution of resources during the country's historic transformations on the way to a market-based economy.

As growth lifts economies like Ukraine into the ranks of middle income countries, definitions of absolute income poverty, as reflected in the Millennium Development Goal One's indicator of the proportion of people whose consumption is below USD1 per person a day, become less meaningful, and measures of social exclusion and regional disparities become increasingly important.

However, the non-income dimensions of poverty, - as they are defined in the Millennium Development Goals, - remain quite relevant for Ukraine - particularly in terms of gender disparities, male life expectancy trends, and environmental sustainability, including climate change.

Regardless of the measurement methodology applied, the scale of poverty in Ukraine requires immediate response from the national Government, local communities and business.

The UNDP Ukraine-MDGs Project has been successfully implemented and aims at helping the Government accelerate the achievement of the MDGs in Ukraine.

The Project mainly focuses on the development and adaptation of new methods and approaches that will translate the MDGs into operational targets of government policy. The important country stakeholders for the MDGs are the Ministry of Economy (Project's key partner and MDG focal point at the national level), line ministries, regional authorities, non-governmental organizations, business communities, academia, and the media.

UNDP offers support in building local government capacity to foster regional development. Besides assisting decentralization and poverty reduction, capacity must be built at the local level to develop strategies and plans for regional development, sustainability, and good governance.

Achieving national MDGs is possible but only through further economic policy development in line with the MDGs, bringing some policy changes and joint efforts at the country's both central and local levels. These should be based on the further formation of sound market liberalization mechanisms, strengthening political democracy, human potential development, national and cultural pluralism and other self-regulation mechanisms existing in well-developed civil society.