The UNDG launches new resource website

The United Nations Development Group (UNDG) recently launched a website with coordination resources, technical guidance and an array of documents focusing on development issues and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The UNDG is an instrument for UN reform that brings together UN operational agencies working on development. The Secretary General in 1997 created this group in order to improve the effectiveness of UN development at the country level. The Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is in charge of chairing the group on behalf of the Secretary General. This group develops policies and procedures that allow member agencies to work together and analyse country issues, plan support strategies, implement support programmes, monitor results and advocate for change.

With information on training, upcoming events as well as useful tools for reporting on projects, the new UNDG website gives UN Country Teams the opportunity to enrich their knowledge while sharing experiences on the web. Information formerly on RCNet and Devlink can now be found on the UNDG website divided in three main areas: About the UNDG, Achieving the MDGs, and Coordination Net. Under the section dedicated to the first MDG ("eradicating extreme poverty and hunger"), many documents and useful links on poverty and hunger are available for people that work in these development areas at country level.

The UNDG website also hosts the Millennium Development Group Network (MDG-net), a space where UN Country Teams as well as Government and Civil Society practitioners share information and experiences on MDG work through a discussion board.

The UN System Network on Rural Development and Food Security as an inter-agency mechanism for follow-up to the World Food Summit (1996) and World Food Summit: five years later (2002), is included in the wide umbrella of the UNDG and its initiatives to enhance interaction among UN agencies by disseminating information through its various communications tools: publications, website and e-mail list.

FAO, along with the rest of the Rome based food agencies (WFP and IFAD), coordinates contributions such as links to webpages and documents related to food security that can be found on the UNDG website by clicking on the first MDG: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

To access the UNDG website a brief registration is requiered.