The Eight Millennium Goals

The Millennium Development Goal initiative was a project established by the United Nations in 2000. The eight Millennium Goals (MDGs), which were derived from the United Nations Millennium Declaration, are as follows:

1 to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger,

2 to achieve universal primary education,

3 to promote gender equality and empower women,

4 to reduce child mortality,

5 to improve maternal health,

6 to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases,

7 to ensure environmental sustainability and lastly

8 to develop a global partnership for development. (Un.org, 2015)

The declaration according to Sakiko Fukuna Parr “set out a vision for inclusive and sustainable globalization based on Human Rights principles”. (Fukuda-Parr) In

There is still evidence to suggest that the MDGs have been effective in achieving many of their aims. Although 2015 is due to be the final year of the MDGs many would feel that an updated set of goals should be constructed and implemented in a similar fashion to the original eight goals. It has been widely agreed that the manner in which the goals were implemented played a role in their success. Rather than attempting to establish them as laws, which could potentially take years, they were merely adopted as being the right thing to do on behalf of the citizens of developing nations all over the world. There is also a view held by many politicians and members of civil society that environmental objectives should be incorporated into any updated version of the millennium development goals as global warming is now recognized as an issue, which can no longer be ignored. As a result of this the majority of United Nations member states seem to be in favor of implementing an updated set of goals one the MDGs fifteen year cycle has come to a conclusion. (Sachs,

Sachs suggests that the most efficient way to implement the new SDGs would be to break them down into three separate focuses such as “economic development, environmental sustainability, and social inclusion”. (Sachs, 2012)

When the Guardian newspaper published an article focusing on the Millennium Development Goals in 2011 it highlighted one of the major positives of the Millennium Development scheme, which is that the MDGs have brought a worldwide focus onto the sufferings of the developing world, and how these issues need to be addressed urgently. The article referenced a study undertaken by “CAFOD’s 100 voices” which stated, “People in the developing world tend to think it is important to have a global international development framework”. (Williams,