Like almost all countries in the world, Nepal has committed itself to achieving the human development targets embodied in the Millennium Declaration by 2015. The eight time-bound goals specified in the declaration have received unprecedented acceptance by policymakers, academics, civil society, and the development community. The goals include halving income poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education and gender equality in schooling; reducing infant and child mortality by two thirds and maternal mortality by three quarters; reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS; and halving the proportion of people without access to safe water. Most of the targets are to be achieved by 2015, from their levels in1990