BILL GATES - MELINDA GATES

IN 2015 at the United Nations, world leaders adopted 17 goals aimed at reducing poverty, inequality and other global ills by 2030.

Such goals have long been championed by philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates. So in 2017 the  Gates-Foundation launched Goalkeepers, an initiative to spur action and and track progress toward the goals.

Its 2018 status report says there have been ''mind-blowing improvements in the human condition'' -but it also calls for more investment and innovation in fighting poverty lest progress against it stall.

I recently sat down with the Gates for a rare joint interview on the new report :

Susan Goldberg : I've just read the Goalkeepers report. Why did you decide to start doing this?

Melinda Gates : Because we think that the news that the world has made this incredible progress, this increases in lives saved, the reduction in poverty - that news really isn't out there. The UN set these amazing goals for the future to help us continue to reduce poverty and we want to make sure that we hold people accountable for that progress and really inspire the next generation of leaders who are going to take these tasks.

Susan Goldberg : One of the things I liked about the report is that the audience is treated as adults   -you're saying there are some areas where it's really tough and we're not making as much progress as we'd like. You talk specifically about how while poverty is going down everywhere, it's not going down quite as fast in Africa.

Melinda  Gates : When we travel on the continent, we see this unbelievable potential, particularly with the young people coming up who have so much energy and ingenuity. But the reality is there's also poverty. And so how do you make sure that the progress that we're seeing that's moving forward in places like Rwanda or Ethiopia, that it reaches everybody? And that the lessons that are being learned in certain countries are spread?

The Honor and Serving of the Great Undertaking and interview continues in next publishing.