We unveiled the first of these, on Tanzania, in London two weeks ago. It was drawn up with the support of the Government by the UN country team, including IMF and World Bank, has already generated a great deal of enthusiasm. Over coming months, we will be steadily expanding this programme, drawing on the UN's strong existing statistical expertise while also working to make sure these new studies are properly integrated with the national Human Development reports. And they will also become key inputs for a forthcoming new annual report by the Secretary-General on meeting the Millennium targets. In this way, I believe we have a unique opportunity to launch a revolutionary effort to build up a new global poverty rating system, linked directly to the targets, that will help mobilize government and civil society, business and labour, activists and policymakers, and the public of North and South alike in a global race to halve poverty by 2015.
Poverty is political.
It is about contests over resources. We must give the poor a voice in this context, and so we must more clearly focus our vision of poverty reduction on systems of good, accountable governance that are built around transparent, democratic institutions at all levels of society. Where parents are involved in schools, where men and women have equal rights before the law, the protections to enjoy the fruits of their own labour, and are directly involved in local and national government, where all citizens are given access to public information the impact on poverty reduction and lasting human development is real and direct. That is something I hope the new center will be able to help us achieve with its focus on the linkages between democratic governance, poverty and conflict. And our new thematic trust funds in both governance and poverty will be key vehicles for driving this process forward in the coming months and years.