Millennium Development Goals

What are the Millennium Development Goals?

In September 2000, at the start of the millennium, world leaders gathered at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration as a way of recognizing their collective responsibility at the global level and their duty to all the world's people. This led to the setting of eight key objectives to be reached by 2015:

	Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger		Improve maternal health
	Achieve universal primary education		Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
	Promote gender equality and empower women		Ensure environmental sustainability
	Reduce child mortality		Develop a global partnership for development

These objectives are known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals, each with its set of targets, are all interrelated and should be viewed as a whole.

Canada announced five priority themes for the international assistance envelope, reinforcing its continued commitment to support developing countries in their efforts to achieve the MDGs. In her address on a new effective approach to Canadian aid, the Honourable Beverley J. Oda, Minister of International Cooperation, indicated that three of these priority themes are of particular importance to programming at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

The other two themes, democratic governance and security, will be pursued across government.

Canada has increased its investments in sectors and initiatives directly related to developing countries' plans for attainting the MDGs. In particular, Canada has made visible and lasting contributions in the areas of child health and education and in addressing hunger through food aid and support for agricultural development.

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Since 2000, Canada has committed to the Millennium Development Goals through a number of major initiatives

• Canada has met its commitment to double its aid to Africa, from $1.05 billion in 2003-2004 to $2.1 billion in 2008-2009
• In April 2008, Canada untied 100 percent of its food aid, allowing for timely and cost-effective responses to international food crises through the flexibility of international procurement
• Canada remains committed to doubling its international development aid by 2010-2011 (relative to 2001-2002 levels), bringing its total aid to approximately $5 billion
• In September 2008, Canada announced that it would untie all its development aid by 2012-2013, consistent with the MDGs, the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, and the Accra Accord

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Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (169 KB, 12 pages)
Accra Accord (548 KB, 38 pages)