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It was the best news for decades, when in 2000 world leaders acknowledged that the most urgent matter at the dawn of the new century was to put an end to poverty, and that the world has the resources and the know-how to do so. With the UN Millennium Declaration, the international community finally achieved the political consensus on what should be done by whom, after years of disagreements between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Governments, between international financial institutions and the United Nations system, and between the North and the South. Leaders repeatedly declared that they would “spare no effort” to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015.

The MDGs brought together for the first time a shared vision on development, representing a global partnership based on a shared responsibility by all countries. Developing countries have the primary responsibility for achieving these Goals. But rich countries acknowledged in MDG 8—develop a global partnership for development—that poor countries cannot achieve the goal unless rich countries increase and improve the effectiveness of their aid and change the rules of trade to foster development. The MDGs can only be achieved if Governments of both rich and poor countries live up to their promises.

The MDGs have their limitations. They do not capture other commitments made in the Millennium Declaration on governance, transparency, participation and human rights, which are not simple to measure, but are essential for the achievement of the Goals. Furthermore, while the first seven MDGs reflect international consensus derived from earlier UN conferences, the content of MDG 8, involving rich countries’ commitments, was only discussed and agreed internationally in other fora following the Millennium Summit, such as the Doha Development Agenda (2001), the Monterrey Consensus (2002) and the Paris Declaration (2005). However, the essence of these commitments was reaffirmed in the Outcome Document of the World Summit in 2005.

Global goals, local solutions. While the MDGs were set at the global level, they can only become meaningful if they are adopted and adapted for local relevance. The Goals should not be a “one-size-fits-all” cookie-cutter solution, but should be localized and customized to country circumstances. Priorities and the degree of ambition should be locally determined and owned. Achieving the MDGs on social services, such as education and health, can be fairly straightforward and would involve investing in these sectors at the country level. However, country-specific MDGs also require that the poverty goal is not neglected. This, in turn, involves a complex set of domestic and international policies, supported by investment leading to income generation through “decent work” in the productive sectors, particularly agriculture and agro-processing, which for nearly all least developed countries are crucial sectors for generating labour-intensive growth for the poor.

The UN Millennium Campaign. The MDGs have proven to be of great value as a framework for citizens’ mobilization. Over the years, the United Nations has set some 50 goals for economic and social development. But the degree to which the “goals set” became “goals met” depended on citizens’ support and the degree to which they were publicly recognized and “owned” beyond the development agencies and UN officials. In short, citizens’ mobilization is key.

The MDGs will not be achieved at the United Nations. Although it can create a platform for Governments to make commitments, it cannot enforce compliance by Member States. Only the citizens and elected representatives can hold their Governments accountable for the promises they made at the United Nations. Obviously, the international community has the resources and the know-how to achieve the MDGs. At the Millennium Summit, agreement was reached on the division of labour between rich and poor countries. Thus, as UN Secretaries-General Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon have repeatedly stated about the MDGs, “the lacking ingredient is political will”.

Political action at the national level is essential. As politics and voters are local, achieving the MDGs needs to become an attractive “vote-getter” issue at the national level. But this requires awareness of the Goals and citizen advocacy to remind Governments of their promises. In 2002, Mr. Annan and former United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Mark Malloch Brown decided to launch a campaign for this purpose. In consultation with heads of all UN agencies, I was invited to create and lead this effort as an inter-agency UN initiative, but functioning at “arms length” from the UN system. It was the first time that the United Nations initiated an effort to build awareness of internationally agreed objectives, and to inspire and mobilize citizens to hold their Governments accountable for their achievement.