Fact Sheet
Achieving the Millennium
For more information,
please contact:
John Ruthrauff
Director of
Member Advocacy
InterAction
jruthrauff@interaction.org
Tawana Jacobs
Senior PR Manager
InterAction
tjacobs@interaction.org
InterAction is the largest
alliance U.S.-based
nongovernmental
international humanitarian
relief and development
organizations, with 193
members. Our members
operate in every developing
country, working with local
communities to overcome
poverty and suffering by
helping to improve their
quality of life.
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August 2010
Development Goals (MDGs)
In September 2010, world leaders will gather to assess progress made to date in
achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were crafted in 2000 when
they first convened at the United Nations Millennium Summit and agreed to eight
significant and measurable development goals to end global poverty by 2015. With
only five years remaining, citizens and organizations in the United States and around
the world are holding their governments accountable for upholding their promises.
In his speech to the UN General Assembly in September 2009, President Obama
announced he would present a global plan at the upcoming summit; and, in a move
that demonstrates the United States’ leadership and commitment to achieving the
MDGs, his plan was made public on July 30—over a month prior to the September
event.
InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based nongovernmental international hu-
manitarian relief and development organizations, applauds this act and strongly
urges the Administration to consider the following key recommendations* on each of
the eight MDGs as the plan is finalized.
*Complete InterAction MDG policy paper can be found at
http://www.in teraction.org/millennium-development-goals-2010
Summary of Recommendations
Goal 1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• More than 1 billion people, one-sixth of the world’s population, suffer from
chronic malnutrition and hunger.
• Worldwide, 1.2 billion people live on less than $1 a day.
• 24,000 children die each day due to conditions exacerbated by poverty.
InterAction Policy Recommendations to Achieve Goal 1
»» Fully fund Feed the Future’s three-year budget of $3.5 billion.
»» Pursue the country-led, whole of society approach of Feed the Future.
Goal 2 Achieve universal primary education
• One billion people are currently unable to read a book or sign their names.
• More than 1 million primary school-aged children remain out of school.
• To date, only 37 of 155 developing countries have achieved universal primary
school completion.
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 InterAction Policy Recommendations to Achieve Goal 2
»» Launch a Global Education Initiative to galvanize and coordinate education assistance that boosts access and
quality, and leads to host country sustainability.
»» Devote sufficient resources to close the global Education for All funding gap.
»» Provide meaningful support for a reformed and independent Education for All Fast Track Initiative.
»» Ensure educational opportunities are provided for marginalized children and youth.

Goal 3 Promote gender equality and empower women

• Studies show that when a country educates its women, mortality rates fall, and the health and education oppor-
tunities for the next generation improve.
• Two-thirds of the world’s illiterate populations are women.

InterAction Policy Recommendations to Achieve Goal 3

»» Integrate gender into all foreign assistance policies and programs.
»» Pass the Internal Violence Against Women Act and ratify the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
»» Create an Office of Gender Integration, which reports directly to the USAID Administrator.
»» Focus educational assistance on overcoming barriers for girls in school.

Goal 4 Reduce child mortality; Goal 5 Improve maternal health; and Goal 6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and
other diseases
• A child born in a developing country is 13 times more likely to die before they reach five years of age than a child
born in an industrialized country.
• Between 1990-2006, 27 nations, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa, made no progress in reducing child mortality.
• Every minute a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth. Ninety-nine percent are in developing countries.
• Infants of mothers who die during childbirth are more likely to die with the first two years of life.
• Every day, 7,500 people are infected with HIV, and 5,500 die from AIDS.
• Other tropical diseases continue to affect nearly 1 billion of the worlds poorest annually.

InterAction Policy Recommendations to Achieve Goal 4, 5, and 6

»» Fully fund and implement the President’s Global Health Initiative.
»» Fufill commitments to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and other health programs.
»» Scale up efforts in fragile and disease-burdened states, and design and implement health programs in relief
environments that lay the foundation for strengthening health systems and transitions to development.
»» Support research for effective and sustainable prevention and treatment programs.
»» Support the G8’s Muskoka Initiative on maternal, newborn, and child mortality, and play a leadership role in
promoting the Joint Action Plan for Maternal and Child Health to be launched at the September UN MDG
Summit.
»» Promote gender equity and assure quality of access to health care.

Goal 7 Ensure environmental sustainability

• One billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and 2.5 billion people lack access to basic sanita-
tion services.
• Only 22 percent of the world’s fisheries are sustainable, which threaten the world’s poorest and most vulnerable
who live in coastal communities.

InterAction Policy Recommendations to Achieve Goal 7

»» Tackle climate change domestically in the U.S. to support and facilitate and international agreement through
the UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) process.
»» Develop a comprehensive strategy for water, sanitation, and hygiene development assistance.
»» Develop a comprehensive international urban development policy.

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Goal 8 Develop a global partnership for development
• Developed nations initially promised to dedicate 0.7 percent of their national income to aid for developing nations.
Since, only 23 nations have lived up to their pledge.
• For the average developing country, the burden of servicing external debt fell from almost 13 percent of export
earnings in 2000 to 7 percent in 2006, creating a more favorable environment for investing and allowing them to
allocate more resources to reducing poverty.

InterAction Policy Recommendations to Achieve Goal 8

»» Expand full duty-free and quota-free market access to all exports from the Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
»» Promote the expansion of Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) .
»» Work with U.S. and local civil society to strengthen local ownership and build national capacity.
»» Implement Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action principles on aid effectiveness.