MDGs to speed up development of the poor countries

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Aminul Islam Akanda in the first of a two-part article on MDGs progress of Bangladesh
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of eight international development goals to be achieved by the year 2015. All the United Nations (UN) member countries and 23 international organizations have agreed on the goals to speed up development of the poorest countries in the world. The goals are: (i) eradicate extreme poverty and hunger (MDG 1), (ii) achieve universal primary education (MDG 2), (iii) promote gender equality and empower women (MDG 3), (iv) reduce child mortality (MDG 4), (v) improve maternal health (MDG 5), (vi) combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (MDG 6), (vii) ensure environmental sustainability (MDG 7) and (viii) develop a global partnership for development (MDG 8). The MDGs has 21 targets and a series of measurable indicators against each target.
How can the progress of the MDGs be evaluated in an easy method? Identification of major targets and key indicators through scanning out of all targets and indicators can be an option. The targets with quantitative restrictions seem coherent to measure numerical progress. Moreover, the timeframe, to be achieved between 1990 and 2015, with base year 1990 and target year 2015 is often omitted to shorten discussion. Accordingly, nine targets out of 21 and 16 indicators out of 60 are identified as major, which are much related to reduce poverty through the improvement of social and economic conditions of the people.
How are the major targets and key indicators distributed among goals? For MDG 1, two targets out of three and four indicators out of nine are selected. The selected targets are (a) halve the proportion of people earn less than one dollar a day and (b) halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. The only one target of MDG 2 is to ensure a full course of primary school for children everywhere. Out of three indicators, two are chosen as key indicators for MDG 2. The sole target for MDG 3 is to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015. All the three indicators for this goal of women empowerment are considered important. The only one target of MDG 4 is to reduce under-five mortality rate by two-thirds, for which two indicators out of three are considered as key indicators.