In Chapter 11 Sachs provides his most direct and cohesive discussion of the international governance framework as it affects poverty, especially for those institutions and forces outside the traditional economic organizations like the IMF. Reflecting the mood of the times, he describes the hopeful Millennium Assembly, including its Millennium Declaration that was later distilled to its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the achievement of which is one of the targets that Sachs proposes and uses for analysis in the book.

The hope was short-lived, mainly because of the airplanes flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York City on September 11, 2001. Afterward, the world (and especially the United States, under its new president, George W. Bush) was soon distracted.

Nonetheless, the MDGs are important for understanding the goal of reducing, let alone ending, poverty within 20 years. Therefore, they must be understood to properly make sense of the book.

The MDGs are comprised of eight broad development targets that are concisely stated with intent of completion by 2015. Sachs adopts them directly as a benchmark along the route toward actually ending extreme poverty by 2025.

The MDGs are:

1.      Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2.    Achieve universal primary education

3.