Montenegro

MDGs in Montenegro

In 2009, the Government of Montenegro initiated preparation of the new report on the Millennium Development Goals, which is expected to be published in 2010. Different to the 2004 Report on the progress towards the achievement of the Millennium development goals in Montenegro (see link below), the new report will include nationalized targets and would contain rather comparable data series calculated with nationalized indicators. The process of MDG Report preparation is led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, and the MDG team includes five thematic working groups comprised of representatives of relevant Ministries and Civil society organizations and the representatives of the UN system in Montenegro.

In November 2009, the UN Country Team and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized trainings on MDG report formulation process for inter-ministerial task force and for civil society. The first workshop was facilitated by colleagues from the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS and UN agencies whereas the second workshop was conducted by UN focal points for MDG report preparation process and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. UN focal points for MDG development process attended numerous follow up meetings between the Task Force and civil sector and provided knowledge on MDGs, description of the Report preparation process, division of tasks for the Report preparation and they continue to be involved in the entire process until finalization of the report.

Further, draft reports are expected to be publicly presented for the sake of receiving comments/suggestions from all interested parties in an open and consultative manner.

It is expected that the final report will be adopted by the Government of Montenegro in June/July 2010, and it should be published and finally presented to the UN Assembly in September this year.

MDGs in Montenegro: In the beginning

The authors of Montenegro’s first MDG report in 2005 (MDG report-MNE) succinctly contextualized the situation in the country in the following statement:

“This MDG Report is set in the context of the overall situation in the  Balkans since 1990 and their aftermath  which  has  profoundly  affected  all  of  the  MDG  goals  and  targets  since  1990 and undoubtedly will affect the likelihood of the achievement of some of them.  Not surprisingly, the decade of the 1990s for Montenegro was a decade of deep economic, social and political crisis. The war and collapse of former Yugoslavia in the first half of the 1990s, the economic sanctions of  the UN  Security  Council against  FRY, and many mistakes  of domestic economic  and  social policies resulted  in  the  sharp  decline  of  economic  activity  and  dramatic increase of unemployment and poverty.” (page 5)

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