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We can be.

We must be the first generation to end extreme poverty.

A global promise to rid the planet of acute poverty once and for all between now and 2030,

and to create a fairer and more equal world.

A 15-year plan, but everyone, everywhere.

With no one left behind.

Sounds ambitious? Well, that's what the wide-ranging sustainable development goals agreed at the United Nations last September

were meant to be. This month they succeeded the Millennium Development Goals,

the global framework for the last 15 years for accelerating the fight against poverty.

I'm Mike Waldridge, and in this BBC World Service programme,

The New Face of Development,

I'll be drawing on a 50-year career in journalism

and first-hand experience of efforts to tackle poverty

that goes back to working with farmers cooperatives in Uganda in the late 60s.

And I'll try to shed some light on the dilemmas around the effectiveness of international development

and global goals of this kind.

I think we've made tremendous progress over the last 15 years in delivering on these millennium Development Goals. The key target there

was halving the proportion of people living in absolute poverty up to 2015. Well that's

been done. That was achieved well ahead of time, largely because of strong economic growth in China

...