NEW YORK – USAID, together with development partners around the world, is making significant strides in achieving the ambitious goals set to meet the needs of the poor by 2015 by the Millennium Development Challenge under the United Nations. 

USAID and its British counterpart UK Department for International Development (DFID) hosted an event on Wednesday, Sept. 26 in New York, NY during the UN General Assembly (UNGA), that celebrated their joint work aimed at meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

At the event, USAID drew attention to projects in Afghanistan, El Salvador, Indonesia and Rwanda, while DFID showcased projects in Bangladesh, India, and Zambia to demonstrate that progress is being made to achieve the eight MDGs.   USAID and DFID also highlighted collaborative work in the Horn of Africa.

“We are making incredible progress on the once illusive first MDG goal of eliminating extreme poverty and hunger,” said Rajiv Shah, Administrator of USAID.  “Within a generation, if we continue on the trend we’re on, we can reduce extreme poverty by more than 60 percent—lifting more than 700 million people out of dollar-and-a-quarter a day poverty and back from the brink of hunger and malnutrition.”

He added, “But if we accelerate our progress from three percent annual reduction to over six percent and focus on key turnarounds in some difficult countries, we could get a 90 percent reduction.  We could essentially eliminate dollar-and-a-quarter head count poverty.”

USAID partnered with DFID for a second year at an event centered at UNGA to draw attention to the importance of the global development community’s work together to reach the MDG targets by 2015.  Both agencies invited representatives from the field to relay personal experiences on how collaborative global efforts are successfully meeting the needs of the world’s poorest people.  Amina Mohammed, UN Special Advisor on Post-2015 Development Planning and former MDG adviser in Nigeria, offered her perspectives on progress to achieve the MDGs. 

The MDGs set ambitious targets to:  1) End extreme poverty and hunger; 2) Achieve universal primary education; 3) Promote gender equality; 4) Reduce child mortality; 5) Improve maternal health; 6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; 7) Ensure environmental sustainability; and 8) Develop a global partnership for development – by 2015.

Dr. Shah and Secretary of State for DFID Justine Greening co-hosted the event