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Mind the communication gap
How can we get the public and governments to take the MDGs more seriously?
The United Nations often reminds us that the Millennium Development Goals, which leaders committed to at the UN Millennium Summit in New York in 2000, are lime-bound and measurable goals for socio-economic advancement". The eight MDGs come with a set of 18 specific targets and 48 indicators. They cover a broad spectrum, from halving absolute poverty and combating HIV, to getting all children to attend primary school, and saving mothers from and childbirth-related deaths.
But these all-important targets have failed to capture the popular imagination. Even among government officials, levels of awareness and enthusiasm vary considerably. The reason the MDGs are not catching on is clear: nobody is discussing them in simple terms.