New York, 25 September 2014—The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an end to the unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals while speaking to 300 global leaders gathered at a high level event convened by the MDG Advocacy Group.

“The Millennium Development Goals have been the greatest anti-poverty push in history,” Mr. Ban said. “New partnerships have been established. New actors have been engaged. Now we must finish the job.”

The lives of millions of people worldwide have improved due to concerted efforts – at the global, regional, national and local levels – to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The MDGs are eight broad goals with targets ranging from eradicating extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by 2015.

During the past two decades, the likelihood of a child dying before the age of five has been nearly cut in half, which means about 17,000 children have been saved every day. The maternal mortality ratio dropped by 45 per cent. Antiretroviral therapy for HIV-infected people has saved 6.6 million lives. An estimated 3.3 million deaths from malaria were averted due to a major expansion of simple preventions, such as bed nets, and treatments. Efforts to fight tuberculosis have saved an estimated 22 million lives.

With many MDG targets already met – including reducing poverty, increasing access to clean drinking water, improving the lives of slum dwellers, and achieving gender parity in primary school – many more targets are also within reach by the end of 2015.

Global leaders call for action
The MDG Advocates convened a high-level event to showcase the successes of the eight MDGs to deliver a healthier, equitable and more sustainable future, and launched the MDG Advocates’ Leaders Report, which was presented by MDG Advocate Graça Machel.

The report, entitled “Accelerating Action: Global Leaders on Challenges and Opportunities for MDG Achievement.” features a range of contributions from 37 world leaders, including by the Secretary-General, MDG Advocacy Group Co-Chairs and members, Heads of State and Government, UN leaders, experts and champions of the MDGs, such as girls education champion Malala Yousafzai.

Invest in education, health, sanitation and agriculture
“All of us, whether in government, business, or civil society, have to keep pushing, not just to December 2015, but beyond,” write Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway, and Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda. ”The MDG deadline, after all, is not the finish line of the race, and there will be neither medals nor rest.”

The unfinished business of the MDGs remains the focus of the MDG leaders who underlined the need to invest in education, adolescent girls and women’s empowerment, scaling up efforts to fight child and maternal mortality and investing agriculture as well as water and in sanitation to end open defecation.

One way to accelerate progress is to share innovations by learning from the experiences of others,” Prime Minister Solberg and President Kagame write. “We have to cultivate cross-sectorial efforts and broad partnerships in the year ahead so that we can accelerate synergies, including between education and health as well as gender equality. Our experience as leaders is that it is a common sense that often requires the most sustained advocacy.”

The gains derived from investing in the MDGs were underlined by experts, and MDG leaders such as Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser who stressed that “getting all children into basic education could boost economic growth by 2 per cent in low-income countries.”

Contributors to the report and MDG Advocates Jeffrey Sachs and Graça Machel write that, “African countries such as Malawi and Rwanda have shown how effective public-private investments in agriculture can multiply yields.”

“The UN’s Millennium Development Goals have allowed for unprecedented progress against some of our most pressing development challenges. Our efforts against malaria have helped to drive many of these advances,” said Executive Director of Roll Back Malaria, Dr. Fatoumata Nafo-Traore “Sustained commitment and collaboration is essential to ensure continued progress and stands to yield incredible dividends — the global economic benefits from sustained malaria-control efforts alone between 2013 and 2035 have been estimated at US $207 billion.”

Innovative data analytics
As part of the United Nations ongoing efforts to highlight the tremendous progress made on the MDGs, an initiative to map official UN data in partnership with Microsoft was initiated. This new visualization, which can be seen at www.mdgleaders.org, represents an innovative approach to communicating progress made toward poverty eradication and galvanizes momentum for the final 500 days for MDG realization.

By using Microsoft’s Power View to demonstrate data in an accessible and digestible format, the aim is to tell the story of the progress made toward eradicating global poverty, and inspire continued global efforts.

About the Secretary-General’s Advocacy Group
To galvanize support for the Millennium Development Goals, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in June 2010 established an Advocacy Group of eminent personalities who have shown outstanding leadership in promoting the implementation of the Goals — in such fields as education, food security, health, environment, and the empowerment of women. The Group supports the Secretary-General in building political will and mobilizing global action for the benefit of the poor and most vulnerable, aiming for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by the 2015 target date.

For more information, see www.mdgleaders.org

Media Contact:
UN Department of Public Information
Mr. Wynne Boelt boelt@un.org, +1 212 963 8264

In a goodwill message delivered at the annual Nigerian Integrity Film Awards (HOMEVIDA) in Lagos, Nigeria, the Regional Director (Africa) of the United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC), Mr Charles Abugre Akelyira, stated that the growth of the film industry in Nigeria and across Africa has been phenomenal and ought to become a veritable tool for the promotion of Pan-African values, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and socio-economic development of Africa.

Mr. Akelyira who was represented at the occasion by UNMC National Coordinator, Mr Hilary Ogbonna, emphasised that Africa is at a critical stage in achieving the MDGs with some of the goals still lagging behind, underscoring the need for strategic partnerships, communications and advocacy using multiple platforms including films. Mr Akelyira charged African film makers in the development of contents and values in films which will serve as advocacy tools to policy makers and other stakeholders to take actions necessary for the attainment of human development on the continent. In his words: “As we countdown to the deadline for achieving the MDGs and with the work on a post 2015 agenda in an advanced stage, Africa needs more initiatives like HOMEVIDA which will project African aspirations, messages and expectations from this once in a long time development process.”

He commended HOMEVIDA as an “excellent initiative which if supported can serve as a veritable tool to mobilise Africans and their leaders to pay attention to current and emerging development challenges on the continent.” He further stated that Africa “needs greater commitments such as the ones shown by PPDC from both State and non-state actors on the continent and in the diaspora.”

The UNMC Regional Director promised that the organisation and its partners in Africa and beyond are committed to supporting the use of “the medium of films to project best development practices and values of good governance, peace, human security and other enablers of development.” He stressed that “films, more than any other art have the capacity to promote values and mobilise people of different faiths, tribes and tongues for common goals and objectives.”

Also speaking at the occasion, the founder of HOMEVIDA Awards, Mr Chibuzo Ekwekwuo commended the United Nations Millennium Campaign for supporting the awards and making available the goodwill of the UN across Africa to support film makers in producing movies that will enhance human development and contribute to the acceleration of the MDGs. HOMEVIDA, an initiative of the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) is in its fourth year. Since inception, it has become a rallying point for film practitioners and the entertainment industry in Nigeria interested in promoting good and accountable governance through their works.

It will be recalled that in April this year, UNMC signed a cooperative agreement with PPDC and endowed prizes for the best script and feature films that projects the themes of human development and the MDGs. For the 2013 maiden awards in the human development and MDGs category, Mr. Ebuka Njoku won the prize for the best script with ‘Bola’s Dirge’, while the best feature film in the same category was clinched by ‘Victims of the Society’ produced by Elvis Chuks.

The success of this initiative has spurred UNMC, PPDC and other partners to initiate a Pan-African Film project which will be bringing film makers, government institutions, private sector, civil society and development partners together to promote African values, project African voices and messages to the rest of the world to advance human development on the continent.

In the outcome document adopted at a Special Event on the MDGs, hosted by the President of the UN General Assembly, countries lauded the remarkable progress made so far towards achieving the eight Goals, which have provided a “common vision” for meeting the needs of the world’s poorest.

Member States also expressed concern at the unevenness and gaps in MDG achievement in the face of immense challenges, and agreed to take the purposeful and coordinated action required to accelerate progress.

Speaking at the opening of the event, President of the General Assembly John Ashe said that “we must do everything possible to accelerate action and get the job done by 2015. Urgently implementing the global partnership for development is not only a moral obligation but will also put us at the best possible starting point for agreeing what comes next.”

In the document, countries agreed to hold a high-levelSummitin September 2015 to adopt a new set of Goals that will balance the three elements of sustainable development – providing economic transformation and opportunity to lift people out of poverty, advancing social justice and protecting the environment.

The Goals – which will build on the foundation laid by the MDGs and also respond to new challenges – will be applicable to all countries while taking into account national circumstances.

The deliberations of Governments took into account the views expressed by people across the globe through a series of worldwide consultations that reached more than a million citizens, in an effort unprecedented for the UN.

At today’s event, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented to countries his report “A Life of Dignity for All”, outlining his vision for bold action to achieve the MDGs and for a new and responsive sustainable development framework that meets the needs of both people and planet.

The Secretary-General said that the post-2015 framework “must be bold in ambition yet simple in design, supported by a new partnership for development”.

“It needs to be rights-based, with particular emphasis on women, young people and marginalized groups. And it must protect the planet’s resources, emphasize sustainable consumption and production and support action to address climate change, “ he continued.

The Special Event comes as the UN, Governments, civil society, the private sector and philanthropists push to achieve more MDG targets in the final stretch to 2015.

A high-level event, MDG Success: Accelerating Action and Partnering for Impact, hosted by the Secretary-General on 23 September, showcased the power of new types of partnerships to change the development landscape and mobilize finance, expertise and knowledge to further the MDGs.

“Substantial additional commitments from Governments, the World Bank, private business and philanthropy brought the total new investment in boosting MDG achievement to $2.5 billion,” the Secretary-General told Member States today.

The MDGs – which range from halving extreme poverty rates to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education – have been the most effective anti-poverty push in history. The lives of millions of people have been improved and targets have already been met on reducing poverty, increasing access to safe water, improving the lives of slum dwellers and achieving gender parity in primary education.

Despite huge gains, progress towards the eight MDGs has been uneven, not only among regions and countries, but also between population groups within countries, with accelerated action needed in many areas.

]]> https://www.endpoverty2015.org/en/2013/09/26/world-leaders-renew-commitment-to-anti-poverty-targets-agree-to-adopt-new-development-goals-at-2015-summit/feed/ 0 https://www.endpoverty2015.org/en/2012/10/06/5000-families-in-kenya-protect-their-crops/ https://www.endpoverty2015.org/en/2012/10/06/5000-families-in-kenya-protect-their-crops/#comments Sat, 06 Oct 2012 19:35:23 +0000 zach http://endpoverty2015.org/?p=729 Continue reading →]]> FAO, taking advantage of the rainy season, has helped build more reservoirs for vulnerable farmers rural Kenya to conserve water and to irrigate their crops. Support to agriculture and rural development is essential to ensure food security. From 1990 to 2009 the poverty rate has fallen from 46 to 27%, halving those living with only $ 1 a day, but still more than 1 billion people go hungry in the world.

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