Global development goals were adopted by United Nations member states in 2015. They were a call to members to work towards ending poverty, protect the environment and ensure people live in peace and prosperity.
There are 17 goals specified as part of the plan and they are integrated; this is a recognition that action in any of them will impact outcomes in others and that any proposed development must seek to manage social, economic and environmental impacts.
The goals have a central pledge that no person be left behind. This means that member countries have committed to prioritizing progress for their poorest citizens first. These global goal seek to bring about life-changing achievements in reducing poverty, hunger, diseases (such as AIDS) and ending discrimination against women. The United Nations Development Agency has been tasked with helping implement these goals through its work in over 170 countries around the world.
