This inter-agency document provides practical guidance on how UNCTs can support national counterparts monitor the MDGs through such software tools as DevInfo.

The Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems (FIVIMS) Initiative promotes better understanding of the characteristics and causes of food insecurity and vulnerability and contributes to improved policy and programme formulation, targeting, implementation and monitoring progress of interventions to reduce hunger and poverty at local, national regional and global levels. FIVIMS was established following the 1996 World Food Summit (WFS) at the request of Member States, as a key step towards achieving the WFS Plan of Action goals in the fight against hunger in the world. FIVIMS also plays a key role in achieving the MDGs to reduce poverty and hunger.

This handout was circulated at the second MDG Support Group Meeting in Stockholm on 20 February. Stressing the low demand for and poor supply of data, this handout provides a general overview of the importance of statistical capacity at the country level, introduces a project that would help minimize the statistical challenge faced and recommends the support structure used and coverage needed.

This Seminar was intended to identify positive approaches to capacity building for labour statistics, recognizing (i) labour statistics systems in their own right and (ii) labour statistics as part of the wider statistical system. The focus of the Seminar was on strategies that should be pursued within countries and by agencies providing technical advisory services. It was felt that these strategies are required, no matter what the sources and scale of the available funds, because no amount of external funding can make up for inadequate policies and strategies for statistical capacity building. Furthermore, it was agreed that the development of labour statistics should be included in the overall national strategy for statistics development.

UNAIDS has developed the Country Response Information System (CRIS) as an information tool for national AIDS councils or equivalent. The CRIS comprises several databases including the Indicator Database that stores data relating to the UNGASS indicators. These indicators directly feed the HIV/AIDS MDGs. The present version of the Indicator Database, in five UN languages was released in June 2003. To date, 75 countries have been trained in its use and almost 20 countries are using the CRIS for data storage and analysis. Technology: HTML, XML, Visual Basic scripting, SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE), Windows 2000, Microsoft Office.

UNDP Kazakhstan has launched Kazakhstan InfoBase, an online database of expanded MDG indicators, which provides an integrated overview of human development in Kazakhstan and facilitates monitoring of progress. Kazakhstan InfoBase provides information on the 8 MDG areas as well as on economic growth, national accounts, trade and finance, presenting them in tables and illustrative charts. Most of indicators are accompanied with a clear-cut definition and calculation methodology. The database is searchable by keywords, contains a glossary and a list of the national and international sources used. All tables are downloadable as Excel sheets. The TOR for the InfoBase, the technical details and the admin interface are sotred here.

This site provides country profiles for 40 of the indicators designated in the "Road Map" for international monitoring, to the extent data is available. Data is from the Statistics Division's UNSTATS UN Common Database

Established in November 1999 in response to the UN Economic and Social Council resolution on the goals of the UN Conference on Development, the PARIS21 Consortium was launched to act as a catalyst for promoting a culture of evidence-based policymaking and monitoring in all countries, and especially in developing countries.