Education Millennium Development Goals

In 2000, 147 heads of state and government met at the United Nations to discuss the global concern of poverty. They identified eight Millennium Development Goals. The goal to cut poverty in half by 2015 was pledged by 189 nations. Education is recognized as a catalyst for change and will help to achieve all eight of the goals. The Millennium Development Goals are: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), malaria, and other diseases; ensure environmental stability; and create global partnerships for development.

Those who live in extreme poverty are some of the most vulnerable. More than 2.2 billion people are on the edge of, ...