A/RES/57/266 the HIV/AIDS crisis by addressing, in particular, the special needs of developing countries through strengthened cooperation and assistance as well as through the implementation of commitments undertaken, as agreed in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, adopted by the General Assembly at its twenty-sixth special session, in June 2001;12 24. Emphasizes the role of microcredit as an important anti-poverty tool that promotes production and self-employment and empowers people living in poverty, especially women, and therefore encourages Governments to adopt policies that support microcredit schemes and the development of microfinance institutions and their capacities; 25. Reaffirms that all Governments and the United Nations system should promote an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies and programmes aimed at the eradication of poverty, at both the national and international levels, and encourages the use of gender analysis as a tool for the integration of a gender dimension into planning the implementation of policies, strategies and programmes for the eradication of poverty; 26. Stresses, as recognized in the Millennium Declaration, the importance of meeting the special needs of Africa, where poverty remains a major challenge and where most countries have not benefited fully from the opportunities of globalization, which has further exacerbated the continent’s marginalization; 27. Welcomes the New Partnership for Africa’s Development13 as a programme of the African Union, the primary objective of which is to eradicate poverty and promote sustainable development on the basis of African ownership and leadership and enhanced partnership with the international community, and urges the developed countries and the United Nations system to support the Partnership and complement the efforts undertaken by Africa to overcome the challenges it faces; 28. Stresses that the goal of halving the proportion of people living on less than one dollar a day by 2015 will not be achieved without serious efforts to address the development needs of the least developed countries and to support their efforts to improve the lives of their people, and in that regard calls upon the national Governments of the least developed countries and their development partners to implement fully the commitments contained in the Brussels Declaration14 and the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001–2010,10 adopted at the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries; 29. Reaffirms the role of United Nations funds and programmes, in particular the United Nations Development Programme, in assisting the national efforts of developing countries, inter alia, in the eradication of poverty, and the need for their funding in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations; 30. Requests the Secretary-General to submit a report to the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session on the implementation of the present resolution; 31. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-eighth session the item entitled “Implementation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997–2006)”. 78th plenary meeting 20 December 2002 _______________ 12 Resolution S-26/2, annex. A/57/304, annex. 14 A/CONF.191/12. 13 6