Social development: Progress so far

This chapter provides a summary of progress made so far in the social development field from the perspective of goals and targets. It looks at state and organizational responses to social development; and the achievements of goals and targets and outcomes. Organizations such as multi-lateral institutions (e.g., United Nations), state governments and nongovernment agencies have shown encouraging responses to social development ideas and plans, though such responses alone may not be adequate. The review provides the global and regional level assessments of the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the critique of them. In the last section, it introduces the promising Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and initial reactions to them. This analysis hopefully presents a glimpse of progress made to advancing social development.