At the UN Millennium Summit of 2000, attended by many of the world's leaders, as well as representatives of 189 countries, 8 goals were adopted – these goals, called the MDGs are alleviation of poverty and hunger, improvement in primary education, child mortality, maternal health, disease, the environment, and, importantly, a global partnership for development. These targets call for substantive improvements by 2015, as compared with 1990.

Why specific targets? They are measurable and can be monitored, and governments can be held accountable for their promises. These goals are interrelated. We will not rescue the world from poverty that entraps more than one billion people without addressing issues like malnutrition, disease and illiteracy that are both causes and symptoms of poverty. Many of the solutions to the problems of hunger and illiteracy are known; for example, medicated mosquito nets to combat the spread of malaria, midwives to assist women in childbirth, fertilizers to increase agricultural productivity, hygiene training to safeguard supplies of clean water.

So far, progress has been mixed. The number of people living in absolute poverty has declined by about 200 million since 1990. Most of the improvement has been in China and India. In sub-Sahara, and western Asia, poverty has actually increased. Still there is some good news – many of the poorest countries have made good progress towards gender equality in primary and secondary education, thanks in part to a UN emphasis on the importance of the education of girls for over all development. Primary school enrollment is now over 90% in Latin America and the Caribbean. Many other areas are on track towards universal enrolment by 2015.

Every September the UN Department of Public Information (UNDPI) and the NGO community at the UN holds a major conference. This year the subject was the Millennium Development Goals, and actions by civil society. Many workshops focused on how civil society can be effective.

One refreshing innovation on the grass roots level was a pre-breakfast meeting of groups united by common values for common goals. Martha Gallahue of the American Ethical Union's National Service Conference was a co-creator of this networking initiative.

In our group we met with a facilitator of the Compassionate Listeners Project, sponsored by Buddhists and Quakers. We joined with a representative of the Nuclear Peace Foundation from the Unitarian Universalists. We also connected with a representative of the League of Women Voters – a varied group with a common purpose.

Next year there will be a major UN conference (www.un.org), Millennium +5 to assess progress after 5 years, and to formulate strategy for going forward, with the non-governmental community actively engaged.