IntroductionThere are eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eighteen Targets and more than forty Indicators. Between them they describe what needs to be done to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development in the 25 years between 1990 and 2015. Although many countries are well on target to achieve the goals many are not. At a series of recent international meetings world leaders committed themselves to achieving the MDGs and therefore of freeing the entire human race from want. |
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| This booklet offers a short introduction to what will be involved in achieving the MDGs. The first part answers some common questions by explaining why we needs goals, where they came from, how they will be met and paid for, and how we will know if we are achieving them. Eradicating poverty is an enormous task. It will involve a wide range of people making coordinated efforts at international, regional, national, district, village and even family and individual level. And we cannot leave it to politicians and civil servants to do everything. We will all have to be involved - the private sector, Civil Society Organisations and, most importantly, poor people themselves. |
| The second part of the booklet gives details about the individual Millennium Development goals, targets and indicators and offers some information to show how big the problems are and the extent to which they are being solved. This information changes all the time and you can find updates on the various webs sites mentioned at the end of this booklet. |
| The development business is full of big words and ideas. The third part gives short explanations of what some of the most important words and ideas mean. This includes a dictionary where you will find explanations of all the big words used in this document. |
| The fourth part offers some useful lists that describe the UN system and some of its MDG related values, structures and programmes. There are also some pointers to where you can get more information about poverty reduction in general and about the MDGs in particular. This includes the names of some key documents and websites. On the back cover you will find contact details for MDG information offices in your country. |