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Column: Millennium Development Goals

MDG Poll Results: And the winner is...
 

A huge thanks to the more than 300 people who voted, and the more than 50 people who commented on the blog, facebook or sent us an email about the Millennium Development Goals in the last week.

The results are in, and you’ve told us that you think that extreme poverty and hunger needs the most attention, followed by ensuring environmental sustainability, promoting gender equality, improving maternal health and achieving universal primary education.
A number of people emailed and commented that it’s not about just one goal, it’s about all eight. In Tam’s words, “I can't even choose. Feels like I'm saying, "Forget this" to the other seven things...”
And, we’d completely agree.
All of the issues are connected, all of them need action and attention. But – it’s not possible to do everything at once, which is why we break them down by goal.
The problem is that all too often, this allows us to neglect things, as Aaron commented, “Just because sanitation isn't sexy, we really shouldn't forget MDG 7.”
Or, we get stuck addressing symptoms rather than causes, as Shruti noted, “We often see gender equality as being a non-essential part of development, an added-bonus that even developed societies have yet to fulfil, but in the countries where the world's poorest live which are often beset by a seemingly insurmountable number of diverse problems, grass roots development and community empowerment needs to capitalise on the impact and wealth of the female population.”
We’re four months away from seeing our leaders come together in New York to talk about all eight of these goals, not just one of them. We’re five years away from the target dates, when as a global community we’ll need to account for our performance on all eight goals.
That’s why over the next few months, as we lead up to the September MDG Review Summit, we’re going to be posting about each of these goals. We’re going to share videos, blogs and actions about part success, current challenges and future opportunities. We’re going to share stories as much as statistics, and will be featuring posts from guest bloggers, interviews with experts, and stories of people like you and what they’re doing to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
We’re going to start with the first and most voted for goal, and we’re going to pay extra attention to this and other goals that you voted for, and also those that we’re doing worst on according to the research.
As part of this, you’ll also notice some changes to this blog and our broader site to accommodate this extra content. We’ll be re-launching the learn-more section of our site to act as a live catalogue of blogs, videos and comments from you. We’ll be adding extra sharing and interaction functions to this blog, and you’ll see a new look front page to the website.
Finally, we’ll be joining with other organisations to build momentum and campaign to ensure that our leaders keep to their promises this September. We’re planning some exciting events in New York in the week leading up to the Summit, and will be announcing opportunities for you to be involved in the broader campaign and movement in the coming weeks.
Posted by Simon Moss - GPP General Manager in Poverty for column Millennium Development Goals on Jun 9th 2010, 15:11
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8 Goals for Africa
 

“Time is tick, tick, ticking away, [...] there is no time to delay, the Africa we dream of is only 8 goals away.”

These lines from the above music video just released by the 8 Goals for Africa campaign, an advocacy campaign for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the United Nations in South Africa.The song points to the fact that time is indeed running out to achieve the MDGs, a set of eight internationally-agreed goals designed to reduce poverty, hunger, disease, and maternal and child deaths by 2015.

The video was released to coincide with the FIFA World Cup due to begin this week in South Africa. It will be screened throughout the World Cup in fan parks and all public viewing areas across South Africa.

The video is part of an awareness raising campaign which will use the world cup as a platform to engage people at a community, grassroots level and to encourage them to get involved in the campaign. In doing so, it highlights the important and significant role Africans have to play in achieving our common goals.

The song is sung by 8 of the biggest names in African World music including Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Angelique Kidjo and the Soweto Gospel Choir, to name but a few, and it exudes African cultural pride and hope for a better future.

As the music video is led by such strong and powerful African voices, it emphasises to everyday South Africans their capacity to take ownership of their own futures. It is an opportunity to be a part of a global movement to change not only their own lives, but also the lives of millions of others across the world.

South Africa has taken a pivotal step in the sporting arena as the first African nation to host the FIFA world cup and in the same way, ordinary South Africans should take steps to become instrumental in moving this campaign forward.

Africans are not bystanders to their own fate, they are absolutely fundamental in the shaping of their own futures as well as ours. As leader of the UN Development Group Helen Clark states, “There can be no spectators in the fight against poverty.”

Tell us what you think of the video – and of the Millennium Development Goals.

 
Posted by Jessica Wild - GPP Intern in Poverty for column Millennium Development Goals on Jun 6th 2010, 03:01
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About the Millennium Development Goals
 

This video from some of our advisors - Jeff Sachs, Sakiko Fukuda Parr and Salil Shetty - gives an introduction to the Millennium Development Goals.

The world came together in the year 2000 and agreed upon these eight goals.

They provide a clear, practical and target led framework for what needs to be done to reduce poverty.

These goals give everyone – poor people themselves, charities, poor countries' governments, our government, business and people like us – a common framework for action, enabling us to be really focused on doing things that will make a difference in assisting the world’s poor to reduce poverty.

The goals don't end poverty by themselves, and they're certainly not exhaustive in covering all the issues. But, they're a huge step forward, and you'll be hearing lots about them in the lead-up to the September Review Summit.

We're running a series of articles in the coming months about each of the Millennium Development Goals. Tell us which goal you'd like us to focus on by voting in our poll here.

If you want to learn more in the meantime, check out the UN Millennium Campaign's website. Or if you would like to read more of our take on the MDGs, click here.

Posted by Simon Moss - GPP General Manager (Policy and Content Development) in Poverty for column Millennium Development Goals on Jun 2nd 2010, 05:22
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Poll: Which poverty goal needs most attention?
 
In September the world’s leaders, including ours, will gather in New York to assess progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Since these eight goals were agreed in the year 2000 as a clear, practical and target led framework to reduce poverty, we've seen some great results:
But, we've, also seen that there's so far still to go:

Between now and the September Review Summit, we're running a series of blogs, videos and actions around the Millennium Development Goals, focusing on how they're being achieved, where we're failing, and what each of us can do about it.

You can learn more by checking out this video we've posted on the goals, or by visiting the UN Millennium Campaign's website.

To help us do that, we want you to tell us which of the goals you think needs most attention by voting in our poll on the right.

You can also share this page to Facebook, Twitter, or Email.

And, be sure to tell us why you picked your goal by making a comment below.

 
Posted by Simon Moss - GPP General Manager (Policy and Content Development) in Poverty for column Millennium Development Goals on Jun 2nd 2010, 04:39
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