The aspiration of the development agenda beyond 2015 is to create a just and prosperous world where all people realize their rights and live with dignity and hope [Report of the Secretary-General on a life of dignity for all: accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015, para.76. (A/68/202)]
Eradicating poverty in all its forms, tackling exclusion and inequality, and empowering women and girls are instrumental in bringing this vision to life [Report of the Secretary-General on a life of dignity for all: accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015, paras.83-85. (A/68/202).]
Consistent with a human rights-based approach and poor people’s perspectives, UNFPA encourages Member States to ensure that the post-2015 agenda be designed to, among other priorities:
- Realize gender equality and women’s empowerment, including fulfilling their sexual and reproductive rights;
- Achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health services throughout the life-cycle, especially for women and adolescents and youth;
- Expand the capabilities that young people, especially adolescent girls, require for employment, health, resilience, participation and citizenship;
- Enhance national capacity to assess, project and plan for population dynamics that affect sustainable development;
- Protect individuals, families and communities from conflict, disaster and violence, including eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls.
UNFPA proposes that the following goals, targets and indicators be included in the post-2015 agenda framework:
- A stand-alone goal on gender equality and women’s empowerment as well as mainstreaming gender equality throughout the framework.
- A target under a health goal: Universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
- A stand-alone goal on investment in the capabilities of adolescents and youth for sustainable development
- Targets under a governance goal (or mainstreamed throughout the framework), relevant both from the perspectives of a human rights-based approach and accountability: Improve national capacity to generate, make available and analyse disaggregated sociodemographic and health data. Good quality data for development ensures evidence-based decision-making.