The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI), a project of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, was founded by world-renowned development expert Jeffrey D. Sachs, as the urban complement to the Millennium Villages Project, which aims to eradicate extreme poverty in rural sub-Saharan Africa. MCI works with under-resourced cities near to the Millennium Villages, to help the cities, too, achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, including the most fundamental goal of halving extreme poverty.

MCI engages domestic, regional and international partners to improve social services and livelihood opportunities in urban settings. MCI is currently working with 11 cities to conduct needs assessments, improve public service delivery and design social and economic development strategies to help these Millennium Cities achieve the MDGs.

For more information, please visit our website at www.mci.ei.columbia.edu