UNDP Ministerial Forum in Mexico focuses on Multidimensional Progress and its measurement

The seventh Ministerial Forum on Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, held on 30-31 October 2014 in Mexico City, focused on Multidimensional Progress in the region. The event included ministers from more than 30 Latin American and Caribbean countries who had come together to discuss an agenda for social and economic development. The vice-presidents of Uruguay and the Dominican Republic were among the participants.

In the keynote addresses, OPHI’s Sabina Alkire illustrated how national multidimensional poverty measures can be used as tools for policies; Gonzalo Hernandez Licona from the Mexican National Council for Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL) shared Mexico’s experience in using its multidimensional measure for policy; and Alicia Barcena from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) analysed the macroeconomic context and the need for policy innovation.

In a roundtable chaired by Enrique González Tiburcio of the Ministry of Social Development of the Government of Mexico (SEDESOL), ministers from Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela shared their experiences in using multidimensional tools for policy, reporting back to the plenary.

Substantive presentations were also made by senior dignitaries including:

• Helen Clark, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• José Antonio Meade Kuribreña, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mexico
• Rosario Robles, Ministry of Social Development of the Government of Mexico (SEDESOL)
• Gonzalo Robles, Spanish Cooperation
• Jessica Faieta, UNDP
• George Gray, UNDP

The Ministerial Forum is a meeting organised annually by the UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, with support from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation. The forum aims to enable decision-makers to share experiences of social policies and address challenges in the region. This year’s forum will feed into a regional UNDP Human Development Report profiling multidimensional metrics and their use to spur social and economic progress.

This is the first year that the Ministerial Forum has taken place in Mexico. It was hosted by SEDESOL, which has used Mexico’s multidimensional poverty measure proactively, for example in the Crusade Against Hunger.

Download Sabina Alkire’s presentation: 'Multidimensional progress in low and middle income countries'