In the year 2000, governments from 189 countries signed the Millennium Declaration, thereby informally agreeing to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 that were finalised later and outlined in the Road Map towards the Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The MDGs, a blueprint to global development, resolved to eradicate extreme poverty, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, improve gender equality, achieve universal primary education, ensure environmental sustainability, and improve global partnerships in development globally.
The common vision of attaining universal human development, through specific time-bound and measurable targets and indicators was indeed strategic, as it brought together different agencies having different mandates on a common platform, enabling inter-agency cooperation, streamlining monitoring, and reporting on progress on the different goals, as well as ensuring necessary funding for the UN system to accomplish them. Most importantly, it raised new hopes, energy and collective action for human advancement.
