“Do Everything” Development

In September 2000, representatives of 189 countries met at the U.N. Millennium General Assembly in New York and adopted the Millennium Declaration concerning peace, security, and development issues. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), listed below, emerged from this gathering. Since then, virtually all the leading aid institutions have endorsed the MDGs, including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and in all levels of education no later than 2015.

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.

Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources. Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water. Have achieved, by 2020, a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system… Address the special needs of the least developed countries… Address the special needs of landlocked countries and small island developing states… Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries… In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth. In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable, essential drugs in developing countries. In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications.