Making the MDGs Work Better for Women: Implementing Gender-Responsive National Development Plans and Programmes

Important commitments have been made by Governments in the past years and the pivotal role of gender equality for development and poverty reduction has been recognized at all levels. However, a major challenge today is turning these commitments into actions. Many national development plans still lack a gender perspective; governments and aid agencies still lack gender expertise; policies still lack appropriate gender sensitive targets and indicators; documents and studies still lack accurate data disaggregated by sex and gender statistics; and overall, commitments to gender equality lack provisions for financing and implementation.

Making the MDGs Work Better for Women draws on good practices to elaborate key strategies for accelerateing the pace for reaching the MDGs. Women's empowerment and progress towards gender equality drives all of the MDGs. Making the MDGs work better for women implies that they work better for all.