WE CAN END POVERTY 2015- MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

OVERVIEW

The Programme of Action agreed to at the International Conference on Population and Development, along with benchmarks added at the ICPD+5 review, inform the eight Millennium Development Goals (derived from Millennium Summit). These mutually reinforcing development blueprints guide UNFPA in its efforts to improve lives, support reproductive health and rights, and advance gender equality.

ICPD — International Conference on Population and Development

The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) was a milestone in the history of population and development, as well as in the history of women's rights. At the conference, the world agreed that population is not about numbers, but about people. Implicit in this rights-based approach is the idea that every person counts. The conference also made it clear that empowerment of women is not simply an end in itself, but also a step towards eradicating poverty and stabilizing population growth. Reproductive health and rights are cornerstones of women's empowerment.
UNFPA, governments and development partners marked the 15th anniversary of the ICPD, in 2009 by taking stock of how much has been accomplished and how much more is left to do. A series of expert meetings and events helped to identify gaps and challenges, to consolidate lessons learned over the last 15 years, and to come up with practical recommendations for accelerating progress.

Millennium Development Goals

At the Millennium Summit in 2000, 189 Member States agreed to help the world's poorest countries significantly by the year 2015. A framework for progress consisting of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was derived from the Millennium Declaration adopted by these world leaders.
Throughout 2010, the UN system will be reviewing progress, identifying gaps and looking for ways to accelerate progress. A number of events and reports will lead up to a MDG 10-Year Review in September 2010.
The MDGs serve as a time-bound, achievable blueprint for reducing poverty and improving lives agreed to by all countries and all leading development institutions. They guide and focus development priorities for governments, donors and practitioner agencies worldwide.
At the 2005 World Summit, the largest-ever gathering of world leaders reaffirmed the need to keep gender equality, AIDS and reproductive health at the top of the development agenda. Subsequently, additional targets, including MDG5b on universal access to reproductive health by 2015, and related indicators,  were added to the Millennium Development Goals