In an interview with IPS, Sylvia Mwichuli, deputy director of the U.N. Millennium Campaign, discussed the progress African nations have made in reaching the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) number three, women’s empowerment and gender equity.

Mwichuli said that the African countries that have achieved the most progress include Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Nigeria, South Africa, Malawi and Zambia.

“Ghana and most of the North African states are on course to meet all and even surpass some of the targets,” she said.

Internationally, however, MDG 3 was one of the hardest to achieve. “Girls’ primary education enrollment still lags behind that of boys and their dropout rates widen as they go up the ladder of education,” she said. Additionally, 70 percent of the world’s poor are women and children.

The campaign ends in just six years.

Uneven Progress on Development Goals-IPS