Poverty reduction and good governance

The Committee for Development Planning was established in 1965 as a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council. Its original terms of reference were subsequently modified and, in 1998, the Committee was renamed the Committee for Development Policy (CDP). The Committee provides inputs and independent advice to the Council on emerging cross-sectoral development issues and on international cooperation for development, focusing on medium-and long-term aspects. The Council is an intergovernmental body responsible for formulating policy recommendations to Member States and to the United Nations system on matters pertaining to development. It is also responsible for coordinating the work of the United Nations specialized agencies, its own subsidiary functional commissions and the five United Nations regional commissions. Each year, the Council advises the Committee about the theme(s) that the Committee should consider at its annual session. The General Assembly, the Secretary-General and the subsidiary bodies of the Council can also propose, through the Council, issues for consideration by the Committee. In addition, the Committee itself often makes suggestions to the Council concerning its work programme. The Committee is also responsible for undertaking, once every three years, a review of the list of least developed countries (LDCs, on the basis of which it advises the Council regarding countries which should be added to the list and those that could be graduated from the list. In its identification of LDCs, the Committee considers three dimensions of a country's state of development: (a) its income level, measured by gross national income (GNI) per capita; (b) its stock of human assets, measured by a Human Assets Index (HAI); and (c) its economic vulnerability, measured by an economic vulnerability index (EVI). The annual meeting of the Committee usually takes place in March or April of each year and lasts five working days. During this period, the Committee discusses the agreed topics and drafts its own