We're falling short, Kofi Annan warns the world.

• Position: Current Trends

Presenting his first annual progress report on implementing the Millennium Declaration, the Secretary-General warned that the world was falling short in meeting the agreed objectives and said that prospects for reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on current trends were "decidedly mixed", with marked differences between and within regions. Insufficient progress was being made in meeting the broader objectives on issues such as human rights, democracy and good governance, conflict resolution and the special needs of Africa. Without progress on a much broader front, "the ringing words of the Declaration will serve only as grim reminders of the human needs neglected and promises unmet" (see centrespread detailing the eight MDGs).

The Secretary-General is initiating a millennium campaign to make the commitments better known throughout the world and to ensure that they are the focus of global action. The UN system will work with national governments, civil society, international financial institutions and other partners to produce a series of regular national reports-complementing his annual global reports on the Millennium Declaration- to measure and monitor progress towards achieving the MDGs on a country-by-country basis. "Our hope is that, in this age of democracy, annual reporting will force action", he said. A dozen pilot country reports have already been completed. The aim is to have every developing and transition country produce a progress report by the end of 2004. with regular reports thereafter. These reports are already being successfully used to identify challenges and opportunities for real results on the ground, working with civil society, government officials and other partners, including the private sector.

Mr. Annan appointed Eveline Herfkens, former Minister for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, to act as his Executive Coordinator for the Millennium Development Goals Campaign. (Ms. Herfkens' article "Global Alliances and Multilateral Policy", in the Chronicle, Issue 3, 2000, can be accessed online at www.un.org/chronicle.).

The overall campaign will be supported by research from a new initiative-the Millennium Project-that will mobilize networks of scholars from developing and developed countries to...