Pressure on governments to achieve MDGs.

• Tenlastelegging: Worldwide news

The Inter Press Service in Johannesburg, South Africa, reported in June that global civil society leaders, meeting in Geneva, have called on nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to apply pressure to governments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Civil Society Development Forum also heard that the global picture for progress towards the MDGs is uneven, with sub-Saharan Africa and western Asia set to miss most of the targets--despite there being enough money to achieve the goals.

All regions, including sub-Saharan Africa, are on track to achieve full primary school enrolment (goal two). But sub-Saharan Africa will, on average, not be able to halve the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day, or halve the number suffering from hunger by 2015.

In western Asia poverty rates have doubled over the past few years, while half the population of the whole of the developing world still has no access to sanitation. No progress has been made with reducing the number of underweight children.

Inequality both within and between countries is growing, stressed Salil Shetty, director of the UN Millennium Campaign. Certain countries have shown progress, however, with Tanzania, Rwanda, Mozambique and Bangladesh set to meet many goals.

Some 500 delegates from NGOs across the world gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, for the Civil Society Development Forum which has been arranged by CONGO, or the Conference of Non-governmental Organisations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations. The United Nations Millennium Campaign co-hosts the event. The results of the forum...