ABSTRACT
Millennium Development Goals—widely known as MDGs—are a set of international goals that member states of the United Nations established at the 2000 Millennium Summit as policy instruments to achieve human development for communities worldwide. At their core, the eight MDGs and 21 associated targets are mechanisms of international cooperation for addressing global concerns such as poverty reduction, health, education, and sustainability. Created with a sunset clause set for 2015, the MDGs have laid the foundation for systematic global efforts at tackling development challenges. As governments negotiate a Post-2015 Development Agenda and a new set of goals—Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—this entry seeks to synthesize the story of the MDGs with an eye toward key lessons from their design, function, and impact.
