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Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals, over a relatively short period of time, have gained tremendous currency, primarily in development circles but increasingly in related trade and finance circle. Many actors are now counting on the goals, commonly referred to as the "MDGs," to galvanize disparate and sometimes competing development agendas and are imagining how they might become a powerful political tool to hold governments and international institutions accountable.
During the Millennium Summit held in New York in September 2000, all 189 UN Member States adopted the Millennium Declaration, which contained a group of goals and targets, some of which were later refined through the Roadmap towards the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration: Report of the Secretary General to the General Assembly (A/56/326, September 2001), and have since become known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These eight goals are essentially centred on national targets for poverty, education, gender equality, and environmental sustainability, but also include targets for establishing an international trade and finance policy framework that favours development. Numerical targets have been set for each goal, most of which are to be achieved by 2015.
Over the last two years, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has taken a lead in building up political support for the MDGs. This support was evident during the International Conference on Financing for Development and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in which the international financial institutions (IFIs), World Trade Organization (WTO), UN agencies and scores of governments highlighted their importance. While some civil society organizations (CSOs) were initially more circumspect with regard to the MDGs as a concept, they too have entered the debate and are beginning to explore if and how the MDGs might fit programmatically into national and international strategies.
Headed up by UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Mark Malloch Brown, Chair of the UN Development Group (UNDG) and overall head of the MDG campaign, the UN system is coordinating the three pillars supporting achievement of the MDGs: reporting (Millennium Reports); campaigning efforts (Millennium Campaign); and research (Millennium Project). The UN is quick to point out, however, that it is not the UN that must achieve the goals but rather societies, governments and institutions pulling together in the same direction.
For additional information on the MDGs please visit the resource links listed below.
Millennium Indicators Database