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Millennium Development Goals

What are the Millennium Development Goals?

In September 2000, 189 world leaders came together at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The Declaration committed nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and set out a series of time-bound targets - with a deadline of 2015 - that have become known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The MDGs were designed to unify and improve development efforts by increasing the coherence and consistency of policies and programs undertaken by different development actors. They represent a compact between all the world’s major economic players, highlighting some of the priority areas that must be addressed to eliminate extreme poverty.

The 8 Millennium Development Goals are:

Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Achieve Universal Primary Education
Promote Gender Equity and Empower Women
Reduce Child Mortality
Improve Maternal Health
Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Develop a Global Partnership for Development

How are the MDGs monitored/assessed?

The MDGs include a framework of locally defined, measurable targets that were agreed to be achievable. These targets include timelines and a deadline for each of the goals against which progress can be assessed. Performance against these targets is being monitored closely to ensure that all actors involved are held to the highest possible standards of performance. The United Nations releases yearly Millennium Goals reports and the Secretary General’s reports to the General Assembly include progress towards the MDGs. The UN has also established the MDG Monitor, which provides a breakdown of progress towards each target by country as well as information about if countries are considered on track to achieve the targets (see link below). Additionally, many other development actors including NGOs and national governments are monitoring their progress towards the MDGs.

How does the Australian Government support the MDGs?

Australia is a signatory to the United Nations Millennium Declaration and has incorporated the MDGs into its aid program. In order to reach the MDGs the Australian Government is committed to increasing its aid budget to 0.5% of Gross National Income by 2015 and improving the effectiveness of its aid through the Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE), which was established in 2006.

In 2008, the Australian Government announced Australia’s endorsement of the MDG Call to Action; a global initiative encouraging donors to engage broadly in their communities to reduce poverty and achieve the MDGs in collaboration with the private sector and civil society.

The 2009/10 Budget included a new initiative, the Community Call to Action, to raise awareness of the MDGs. The Community Call to Action Fund ($1.5 million) provides grants to community organisations, peak bodies and small business to help raise Australian public awareness and support for international development and the MDGs through their member networks. (Source: AusAID: Millennium Development Goals)

Is the world on track to meet the MDGs?

Since the Millennium Declaration much progress has been made towards achieving the MDGs. The number of people living in extreme poverty has decreased from almost a half of the population of the developing world in 1990 to around a quarter in 2005. However, despite the gains, no region in the world is on-track to achieve all of the Goals, and some regions are off-track on many of them. There has been some progress in Sub-Saharan Africa, but it is estimated that the region as a whole will not achieve any of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 based on current progress.

Inequity at the national level has also slowed progress in many countries. AusAID research on progress on the MDGs in the Pacific, for example, reveals disparities in different sectors of the community (AusAID: Tracking development and governance in the Pacific).

MDG 5 to reduce maternal mortality has seen the least progress, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, where negligible progress has been made so far. The global economic crisis has also hampered recent efforts, slowing and even reversing progress towards many of the MDGs.