As signatory to the United Nations Millennium Development Goal Declaration, the Government of Belize (GOB) committed formally in 2000 to pursuing and achieving the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a common set of goals and targets to bring all people up to minimum acceptable standards of human development by 2015.

Belize's First Millennium Development Goals Report completed in 2004 identified a number of key issues to be addressed with respect to each of the eight (8) MDGs.  One such issue was the need for improved indicators for monitoring and evaluating progress in attaining the goals.  To this end, efforts were made to link the MDGs to national planning by identifying monitoring and evaluation needs for effectively measuring progress and informing the development of a National Poverty Elimination Strategy and Action Plan (NPESAP), 2007-2011.