The third session of intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda was held last week, where Member States discussed goals and targets proposed by the Open Working Group. There is consensus that the goals and targets should not be reopened, as doing so would disrupt the delicate political balance. The co-facilitators proposed 19 targets that would benefit from slight technical revision, an exercise that will continue through to the May session, where Member States will then decide if they want to adopt the revisions. Read more.

Additionally, Member States discussed a proposed set of global indicators developed by the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC). This preliminary list, in an attempt to limit the number of overall indicators, proposed two indicators per target. Delegates expressed the need to ensure all targets are appropriately represented and measured by their respective indicators, and encouraged the UNSC to be thorough in their work. The proposed indicators will continue to be developed by the UNSC through March 2016.