Irenic Thoughts: Make Poverty History

I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat;
I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink;
I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me;
I was in prison, and you came to Me.
—Matthew 25:35-36

In an effort to aggressively work on the issues that grow out of extreme poverty, the United Nations set eight development targets for the year 2015 called The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The eight MDGs share a common focus on improving social and economic conditions in the poorest countries on the planet.

Groups like Episcopal Relief and Development are working on ways to directly address the eight goals and 21 specific targets:

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day.
Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people.
Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

Achieve universal primary education

Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.

Promote gender equality and empower women

Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.

Reduce child mortality

Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.

Improve maternal health

Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.
Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health.

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.
Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.

Ensure environmental sustainability

Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes; reverse loss of environmental resources.
Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss.
Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation (for more information see the entry on water supply).
By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers.

Develop a global partnership for development

Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory. Includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction—nationally and internationally.
Address the special needs of the least developed countries. This includes tariff and quota free access for their exports; enhanced programme of debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries; and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction.
Address the special needs of landlocked and small island developing States.
Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term.
In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth.
In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications.

The goals are concise, understandable and achievable. The plan calls for the developed nations to give to groups working to achieve these goals. The Episcopal Relief and Development website features brief stories of places where they are seeing success in meeting these goals: Click here for ERD's Stories from the Field.

Truly I say to you,
to the extent that you did it to one
of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them,
you did it to Me.
—Matthew 25:40