Old challenges and new opportunities for the MDGs: now and beyond 2015

As we approach the 2015 date by which the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) are to be achieved, there is increasing scrutiny as to the progress towards their achievement. The MDGs were intended to be global targets and not necessarily to be assessed at the country level. In other words, countries were to contribute to the global targets but not be held to account against them, as they were originally conceived. In practice though, countries are assessed against the global MDG targets. It is appropriate that continuing interest be paid to the achievement of the MDGs, however it is also necessary that the global community now start to turn its attention to what framework for addressing the world's development needs beyond the MDG timeframe following 2015. The ‘poverty landscape’ has changed significantly in the last decade – partly as a result of the international community's focus on the MDGs – and so it is necessary that a new approach to poverty alleviation reflect this changed reality. This paper introduces a range of papers presented at an international conference on the MDGs that critically analyse the current MDGs and pose questions as to how should we follow the MDGs beyond 2015.