In 2000, 189 countries of the world came together to face the future.

And what they saw was daunting. Famines. Drought. Wars. Plagues. Poverty. The perennial problems of the world. Not just in some faraway place, but in their own cities and towns and villages.

They knew things didn’t have to be this way. They knew we had enough food to feed the world, but that it wasn’t getting shared. They knew there were medicines for HIV and other diseases, but that they cost a lot. They knew that earthquakes and floods were inevitable, but that the high death tolls were not.

They also knew that billions of people worldwide shared their hope for a better future.
So leaders from these countries created a plan called the Millennium Develop- ment Goals (MDGs). This set of 8 goals imagined a future just 15 years off that would be rid of poverty and hunger. It was an ambitious plan.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been one of the leading organizations working to achieve the MDGs. Present in more than 170 countries and territories, we funded projects that helped fulfil the Goals. We championed the Goals so that people everywhere would know how to do their part. And we acted as “scorekeeper,” helping countries track their progress.

And the progress in those 15 years has been tremendous. Hunger has been cut in half. Extreme poverty is down nearly by half. More kids are going to school and fewer are dying.

Now these countries want to build on the many successes of the past 15 years, and go further. The new set of goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aims to end poverty and hunger by 2030. World leaders, recognizing the con- nection between people and planet, have set goals for the land, the oceans and the waterways. The world is also better connected now than it was in 2000, and is building a consensus about the future we want.

That future is one where everybody has enough food, and can work, and where living on less than $1.25 a day is a thing of the past.

UNDP is proud to continue as a leader in this global movement.