The National Planning Commission (NPC) of Nepal and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have stressed on strategic intervention to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The report 'Millennium Development Goals: Needs Assessment for Nepal 2010' jointly prepared by NPC and UNDP, which was lunched in Kathmandu Wednesday, stated that given the ongoing efforts most of the MDG target set for 2015 are likely to be meet.

However, of the total 60 indicators, some will be difficult to achieve by 2015. These include reducing the proportion of the population below a minimum level of dietary energy consumption, proportion of underweight children aged 6-59 months, proportion of stunted children aged 6-59 months, survival rate to grade 5, literacy rate for 15-24 year old, proportion of births attended by skilled birth attendants, universal access to reproductive health and proportion of the population using an improved sanitation facility, report states.

Launching the report, Dr Dinesh Chandra Devkota, vice-chairperson of NPC said the commission is strengthening monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to monitor MDG related outcomes.

Stating that the government fully intends to take ownership and leadership of development strategies, Devkota further said that government plans to adopt forward-looking macroeconomic policies that promote sustainable development and lead to sustained, employment-centric, inclusive and equitable economic growth.

UNDP Resident Coordinator Robert Piper noted that the preliminary results of the third national Living Standard Survey suggest Nepal has significantly improved in many areas including average household income and per capita income.

This achievement is nothing short of extraordinary given the country's post-conflict status and country's difficult and economic environment, he added.

The report points out that during 2011 and 2015, a total of NRs 1,295.8 billion is required to achieve the target. Out of this requirement, a gap of NRs 451.4 billion is estimated, which is 32.34 percent of the total need.

The report further recommends that all programme implementing partners should focus on small holder farmers, food security, employment centric interventions, nutrition, reproductive health, economic empowerment, and universal primary education particularly for hard to reach group of children, women and the communities.

This report is a joint initiative by NPC and UNDP to estimate the resources needed and identify gaps for achieving Nepal's MDG targets within the next five years (2011-2015). nepalnews.com