Implementation of the Millennium Development Goals

Book excerpt: In September 2000, world leaders from 189 countries, including 147 Heads of State, gathered at the United Nations General Assembly to consider the challenges of the new millennium. They adopted the Millennium Declaration, which set out a vision for inclusive and sustainable globalization (UN 2000 (A/RES/55/2)). The leaders pledged to work towards ensuring that conditions of extreme poverty are eradicated wherever they existed. To actualise this declaration, the UN established eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be achieved by 2015. The goals were broken down into 18 concrete targets and 48 indicators to track progresses in implementation. For the past 14 years thereafter, countries in sub-Saharan Africa have been striving to achieve the goals. So far, some have achieved some of the goals, and the results toward the rest of the goals are also by and large positive, though off-target. This book brings together results of studies on progresses and challenges in the implementation of the MDGs in Lesotho, Kenya, Botswana, Madagascar, Tanzania, Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria. The authors focus on selected goals as cases. The book also presents lessons that can inform the post-2015 development agenda.