In an attempt to alleviate poverty by 2015, the international community adopted the Millennium Declaration in September 2000. The Declaration constitutes an unprecedented promise by world leaders to address, as a single package, peace, security, development, human rights and fundamental freedoms. The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—along with a set of targets and indicators—serve as milestones against which to measure international and country progress towards the overall goal of reducing extreme poverty. Each MDG addresses an aspect of poverty and thus envisions a world free of poverty and the negative effects of poverty on sustainable livelihoods. Time-bound and usually quantifi ed, the Goals should be viewed as interdependent because they are mutually reinforcing and progress towards any one goal is dependent on progress towards others.