Monitoring & Assessment A key function of the Centre in fulfilling its mandate is the monitoring of global trends and conditions and the assessment of progress in implementing the Habitat Agenda at the international, regional, national and local levels. The monitoring function is done through two main instruments: Global Urban Observatory and Statistics and Best Practices. By working at all levels and with all relevant stakeholders and partners, the Centre contributes to linking policy development and capacity-building activities with a view to promoting cohesive and mutually reinforcing social, economic and environmental policies. On the request from the Human Settlements Commission the Center has devised a monitoring system. The UN-HABITAT monitoring system has three main components: The Statistics Programme which regularly collects data from member countries and cities The Urban Indicator Programme which regularly collects indicators from more than 200 cities The Best Practices Programme, which has compiled over 1100 best practice cases in 600 cities The Centre is participating in tracking Millennium Declaration goals by providing 4 indicators and slum index based on them for Goal 7, target 11. Those indicators are: % People with access to sanitation % People with access to safe water % People with secure tenure % People in permanent housing/dwelling UN-HABITAT finds these indicators very relevant to achieving a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, as proposed in the " Cities without slums" initiative. UN-HABITAT is focal point in the UN system for monitoring and implementation of this goal.