The Millennium Development Goals or MDGs are mentioned regularly by ONE (and many other campaigning organizations) — but how well-known are they? Could you list all eight? And do you how many are likely to have been met by their target date of 2015?
The MDGs are a set of poverty-busting targets agreed by 189 nations in the year 2000. They cover hunger and extreme poverty, education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, environmental sustainability, and a commitment to global cooperation for development.
Mark Bowden, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator and UNDP resident representative for Somalia, says that ongoing support is necessary to help beat the famine in the Horn of Africa. This piece was originally published on UNDP’s blog.
Women await assistance at a feeding site in Mogadishu. Approximately 100,000 people are benefiting from cooked meals on a daily basis in Mogadishu. Source: WFP/David Orr
The arrival of the prolonged seasonal rains, coupled with a scaling up of humanitarian and early recovery operations in recent months, has improved the situation on the ground in southern Somalia, with three regions -– Bay, Bakool and Lower Shabelle — being downgraded from famine status to that of humanitarian emergency.
UNDP goodwill envoys Ronaldo and Zinédine Zidane raise funds to fight the first famine of the 21st century with a friendly game of soccer. Find out where you can watch the match here.
Americans call it “soccer,” but the rest of the world calls it “football.”
Whatever you call it, two of the game’s finest, Ronaldo and Zinédine Zidane, both UN Development Programme (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassadors, have mobilized friends to play in Hamburg, Germany, today with proceeds going to ease the food crisis in the Horn of Africa.
Today, President Obama gave his first address to the UN General Assembly today, focusing on the pursuit of peace in an imperfect world. His speech touched on the highlights of the year, including South Sudan’s independence, the Ivory Coast’s landmark election, the famine in the Horn of Africa and HIV/AIDS. Perhaps the most moving part of his speech is when he said, in plain English, “Peace is hard.” Read the full speech, watch it in the player above, or read some of our favorite excerpts here:
Ahead of an important UN Meeting next week on desertification, Luc Gnacadja, executive secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), explains why the issue is so important.
Imagine you’re holding a one minute sand timer. Turn it over, and let the sand flow.
Consider that, in the single minute it takes for the sand to fall, 23 hectares of land will be lost to drought and desertification. That’s approximately 20 football pitches, per minute.
Over the course of a year, that equates to 24 billion tons of fertile soil, the most significant, non-renewable natural resource we have. That’s 24 billion tons, per year.
We’re big proponents of holding countries to their promises, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight whoppers. Progress in the developing world is almost exclusively measured against the targets laid out in the MDGs, and with good reason — every single member of the United Nations (UN) committed to them. More than a decade after these commitments were made, how far have we come?
The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011 is the annual assessment said to be the most comprehensive measure of progress toward the MDGs. The report is compiled from the most up-to-date data by more than 25 UN and international agencies. This year’s report was launched last week by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who says there is reason to celebrate, as major successes have been made since the Millennium Development Goals were established in 2000. A closer look shows the noted but not dwelled-upon fact that progress has been uneven across countries and across sectors.
Right now, Human Rights Watch (HRW) — a leading organization that defends the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — is hosting their annual International Film Festival in New York City. Although their films span across all genres, they have one thing in common: they all tell the story of the global struggle for human, political and social rights.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
Imagine you’re holding a one minute sand timer. Turn it over, and let the sand flow. 
