Third Annual International and Interdisciplinary Conference

In memory of Robert E. Prasch III

Progress or Posturing? Examining the Progress of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals

March 12-14, 2015

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were designed to significantly reduce poverty and disease by 2015, thereby improving the lives of the world’s poorest, have not yet been fully realized. To date, progress on the MDGs has been uneven, with some countries achieving many of the goals while others have realized none. Why have the results been so uneven? Were the goals unrealistic and poorly defined? Were they focused on the ends without paying enough attention to the process and the means? Working from an interdisciplinary perspective, conference participants critically examine progress made toward achieving the MDGs while highlighting structural problems and institutional inefficiencies that have hindered the intended outcomes.

Organizers and Contact Information

Tamar Mayer, Robert R. Churchill Professor of Geoscience, Director of the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs, and Director of International and Global Studies, mayer@middlebury.edu

Robert E. Prasch, Associate Professor of Economics

Sarah Stroup, Associate Professor of Political Science, sstroup@middlebury.edu

Merrill S. A. Baker-Medard, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, mbakermedard@middlebury.edu