Access to Safe Drinking Water Marks First MDG Achievement

Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

United Nations announced today that the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) has been met 5 years ahead of schedule.  The proportion of people without access to safe drinking water has now been cut in half since the end of 2010 (89% - 1% more than the goal set by world leaders), leaving only 11% of the world's population still stripped of their basic right of access to a safe water source.  UNICEF and WHO both deem this victory undeclared.  Millions of people from these poverty stricken nations are still in desperate need of access to water and basic sanitation, and are in great need of our attention.  Sure, this marks a special day in history, but the fight to eradicate global poverty is far from being over.  The water target is one of eight MDGs created to improve hundreds upon millions of lives living in extreme poverty.   

World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan states that "providing sustainable access to improved drinking water sources is one of the most important things we can do to reduce disease.  But this achievement today is only the beginning.  We must continue to ensure this access remains safe.  Otherwise our gains will be in vain." 

-Georisa Chang

SOURCE: The Washington Post

United Front to Help The Poor

Today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will address the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Republic of Korea.  A united front from the international community needs to happen if the Millennium Development Goals are to be reached.  The forum will be in process until Thursday to discuss the effectiveness of aid and how it is vital for those who are desperately in need.  The forum will focus on how aid will be delivered, how MGDs will be achieved, and measures to help reduce maternal mortality and severe poverty.  It is known that a worldwide economic crisis is underway, but by no means is it an excuse to hide behind it.  Now is the time to come together and live up to your commitments.  

-Georisa Chang

SOURCES: UN News Center

Labor Day Resolution: Stop Child Labor!

Child labor is one of the most important problems that the world is facing right now. Although the issue is not included in the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), its significance has made it the imaginary ninth goal. The prevalence of child labor in developing countries is shocking despite international rules and regulations. In 2008, it has been estimated that there were 215 million children working illegally in the eyes of international law, almost 14% of all the world’s children under 18. This percentage was 25% for Sub-Saharan Africa. Countries that have a particularly high incidence of child labor are Nigeria, Malawi, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.



Over the years the trend of child labor has shown a disappointing performance compared to other issues. This is due to the fact that child labor has always been an underestimated issue. The causes of child labor include poverty, migration and economic recession with poverty being the major cause. A number of countries in developing world are dependent on child labor for their economy. For example, the Uzbekistan government becomes an active agent in child labor by closing schools at harvest time. This institutionalized child abuse is evident despite international child labor laws outlined by International Labor Organization (ILO).



ILO has sponsored two key instruments of international law regarding child labor. First, the 1973 Minimum Age Convention 138 establishes the obligation for countries to work towards a minimum age of 15 for legal employment. Second, the 1999 Convention 182 for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor calls on governments to identify and quantify the incidence of such child labor, backed by national plans for its elimination.



Although ILO plans to achieve this goal by 2016, we cannot be too optimistic about the outcome given the current situation. Let’s hope for a better result and raise awareness among people regarding the issue of child labor in this Labor Day.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: ONE WORLD

Good Sanitation Can Save Thousands Of Lives

Most of the time people ignore the matter of proper sanitation as it is an unglamorous issue. I mean who wants to talk about sanitation if issues like hunger and health are around? But good hygiene can save thousands of lives by reducing the amount of deaths from diarrhea. Children under five around the world are the most vulnerable to poor hygiene and inadequate sanitation, two of the major causes of diarrhoea. According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the disease kills at least 1.2 million children under five each year, but with proper sanitation cases of diarrhoea in children under five can be reduced by a third.

In order to ensure the well-being of millions of people around the world, the United Nations launched the program “Sustainable sanitation: The Five-Year-Drive to 2015” yesterday as part of its goal of halving the proportion of the population without access to basic sanitation by 2015. The main message of the new drive is that sanitation is vital for health, brings dignity, equality and safety, represents a good economic investment and sustains clean environments.

Access to sanitation has been recognized by the UN as a human right, a basic service required to live a normal life. It can be noted that, some 2.6 billion people – or half the population in the developing world – still lack access to good sanitation. The drive will call for an end to open defecation, the most dangerous sanitation practice for public health which is being practiced by over 1.1 billion people worldwide.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: UN NEWS CENTRE

A Colorful Attempt To Make Poverty History

A group of local youth from the upper North Shore in Australia found a new way to raise awareness for the Millennium Development Goals to end poverty. They gathered at Wahroonga over the weekend to paint themselves up and pose for photos to craete a visual representation of each goal.

The Millennium Development Goals are eight goals that all United Nations members are committed to achieve by spending 0.7% of their gross national income on Official Development Assistance by 2015. These goals include halving poverty and hunger, assuring universal primary education, creating gender equality, decreasing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, and developing a global partnership for development.

As organiser Catharina Simmonds said, “We’re here to make the movement to end poverty louder,” after the event three members from this group participated in the Make Poverty History Action Lab that was held in the CBD, where over 100 youths around Australia came together to learn how to campaign at a local level.

For those who are still wondering what they are doing in the picture, they are spelling out the word "Humanity", which is the basic quality you have to have to make a change in the world for better.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: ADVOCATE

UNDP's International Centre for Private Sector in Development

A new UNDP center opened its doors last week in Istanbul, Turkey. This new facility is called UNDP's International Centre for Private Sector in Development, and according to UNDP administrator Helen Clark, it aims to engage the private sector in anti-poverty efforts and to be a source of expertise on building business models that promote home-grown enterprises and create employment in developing nations. The private sector has a main role in fostering economic growth and development, and institutions like this centre will be of great help, since they serve as knowledge depots and a way to link local, regional and global development actors.

“People in country after country are calling not only for new freedoms and an end to injustice, but also for the chance to earn a decent wage and improve their standard of living. To meet their aspirations, countries need dynamic and competitive businesses creating jobs and spurring innovation” claimed Clark during the opening event. By actions like this brand new centre, UNDP tries to involve the private sector in international development and commit it to advance towards the accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals.

- David Nebreda

SOURCE: UNDP

Maternal Deaths in Bangladesh 40% Down

Maternal deaths in Bangladesh have declined from 322 per 100,000 in 2001 to 194 in 2010, a 40 percent decline in 9 years, according to a joint survey from Bangladesh Government, USAID, AusAID and UNFPA. This decrease in maternal and birth-related mortality is the result of several combined factors and efforts: better care seeking, successful family planning programs, improved access to and quality of referral-care, a scale up of emergency obstetric care, and increasing education of girls and women. This is a significant progress in the accomplishment Millennium Development Goal 5 (50%reduction in maternal deaths), and the possibility to completely fulfill this goal by 2015. Bangladesh has already been awarded by UN for its advances in other MDGs, particularly in number 4 (reducing child mortality).

Family planning and maternal health have been two development-related priorities for the government of Bangladesh. Several other international agencies and organizations have worked in these fields for more than a decade, so these results could be obtained. USAID in particular has focused its efforts in Bangladesh in family planning, girls' education, disease prevention and childbirth attention. According to Amanda Glassman, Director of Global health Policy, "the results are also a good reminder that investments in family planning and girls’ education drive much of maternal health outcomes, and that USAID investment in social marketing of family planning and health seems to be paying off in improved health."

- David Nebreda

SOURCE: USAID

Borgen Project

Saving Lives At Birth

During the critical 48 hours after the childbirth, 150,000 women and 1.6 million newborns die. This means that every 2 minutes, a woman dies in childbirth. Infection, hemorrhage, hypertension disorders, obstructed labor or child asphyxia are some of the multiple complications faced during birth. This problem is much more severe in poor countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In fact, a Sub-Saharan woman is 136 times more likely to die during childbirth than those living in developed countries. This is so important that not only one but two of the Millennium Development Goals (4 and 5) are actually involved in its solution.

To face this terrible issue, a new initiative has born. A partnership between the World Bank, USAID, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada and the Government of Norway called "Saving Lives at Birth" will fight maternal and birth complications from a new perspective. To do so, they will rely on modern technologies, science and innovative approaches to prevention and treatment. The project will focus on three working areas: technologies to detect, prevent and treat maternal and newborn problems; service delivery of high quality care, including transportation of sick newborns or mothers, training, recruiting and retaining skilled or alternative personnel; and empowering and engaging pregnant women and families in prevention or health habits, including the search for care during childbirth.

If successful, this project will save thousands of lives by providing cheap and effective healthcare material for mothers and newborns, and also a better informed and engaged population. Media and information technologies have a core role in this program, since the role of individuals and societies is considered the base of the changes wanted.

- David Nebreda

SOURCE: Saving Lives at Birth official website

Happy International Women's Day!

Today, march 11^th 2011, is the International Women’s Day. Not just that. It is the 100^th International Women’s Day. To celebrate this special occasion, there will be more than 1,700 events celebrated in more than 100 countries around the World. The first Women's Day was held in Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Germany, and looked forward making a stand for women's rights, such as education, vote, or equality with men.

International Women's Day is celebrated in the whole world, and it is a national holiday in 24 countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar, Moldova, Montenegro,, Mongolia, Nepal, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia. Special events are being held for the 3rd Millennium Development Goal: Gender Equality and Women Empowerment.

Congratulations to all the women in the World!

- David Nebreda

SOURCE: International Women's Day Official Site

World Bank To Double Its Aid To Africa To Achieve MDGs

The World Bank has committed to fund development projects to help Africa meet and sustain Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) beyond 2015. Speaking in a meeting to celebrate Africa Capacity Building Foundation's 20th anniversary in Kigali, Rwanda on Wednesday, the Managing Director of the World Bank said that the World Bank would double its annual aid to Africa to help the continent meet the MDGs. The Bank said that its funding would target the key sectors of agriculture, health and education.

The Bank also said that the continent's economy is expected to grow some 6% this year, and it is important to maintain the progress in capacity development with particular focus on youth and women programs. The meeting was also attended by heads of State and development institutions in Africa.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: STANDARD MOBILE

Victory For GCAP: Kenya Passes MDGs Bill

Kenyan parliament recently passed a motion unanimously which requires the government to provide a regular report on implementation of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This is seen as a major victory for GCAP Kenya who campaigned for an accelerated progress in achieving the MDGs by 2015. GCAP is the world's largest civil society movement that calls for an end to poverty and inequality. According to the bill, the government will now be required to publish a report on the performance and implementation of the MDGs within six months and at regular intervals.

The government is welcoming the new bill as they believe that it is time they keep their commitment to the Kenyan people by achieving MDGs by 2015. Most of the members of the parliament feel that it is the lack of implementation, not the lack of ideas that is keeping Kenya from moving forward. With the passage of this bill, the Kenyans are now hopeful that they will be able to achieve the goals set by the world leaders before the approaching deadline.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: WHITEBAND

Tanzania Promises To Tackle Infant And Maternal Mortality

The Tanzanian Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Haji Mponda has vowed to reduce infant and maternal mortality in order to achieve Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The minister promised to reduce infant and maternal deaths by improving the health sector. It can be noted that Tanzania is still lagging behind other East African nations in terms of achieving the MDGs. According to UNICEF, the under-one infant mortality rate declined to 67 per 1000 live births in 2008 from 97 per 1000 live births in 1990. But the rate is still high compared to other nations.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: FIGO

Apps For Development

Public voting has just been opened on the World Bank's Apps for Development Competition. With this competition, for the first time the World Bank opened its catalogue of development data to the general public and developer communities so that they can use the data and create tools, games, apps or analysis to solve the global issues. All the submissions were required to use the World Bank data, and work for Millennium Development Goals including global poverty, education, health, gender equality and environmental sustainability. The competition received 107 submissions from 36 countries after it started in October, 2010, and the submissions included SMS services and children's game for the iPhone as well as educational and statistical modelling tools. Although the final winners will be determined by a panel of experts, people can still vote on the Popular Choice category.

This program is a part of the World Bank's Open Data initiative which attempts to connect the available resources with a talented pool of professionals so that experts can come up with innovative strategies to solve global issues. You can also vote for your preferred apps at the competition website,

http://appsfordevelopment.challengepost.com/

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: MASHABLE

Great News For Global Poverty Reduction

It is believed that the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG), reduction of global poverty rate by half by the year 2015 has already been achieved three years ago! Laurence Chandy and Geoffrey Gertz, in the new Brookings Institution report "Poverty in Numbers: The Changing State of Global Poverty from 2005 to 2015", came up with this great news. The data that 1.37 billion people around the world are poor including India's share of 456 million and China's share of 208 million was produced in 2005 by the World Bank. Since then a lot has changed. Despite the global recession the economies of the developing world have expanded 50% in real terms. Countries that collectively hold two-thirds of the world's poor in 2005 are now experiencing phenomenal economic growth.

Chandy and Gertz estimated that between 2005 and 2010, almost half a billion people escaped extreme poverty around the world, and total number of world's poor people fell from 1.37 billion to 878 million. As this target was achieved by 2008, seven years before the target year, the writers are predicting a new target by using forecasts of per capita consumption growth, reduction of global poverty to less than 600 million.

Among the world regions, Asia is showing the greatest success so far. It is expected that by 2015, Asia's share of global poverty will reduce to one-third from two-thirds. On the other hand, Africa's share will go up by nearly 60%. But this is not the end. It is estimated that Africa's poverty rate in 2008 dropped below 50% for the first time in history and by 2015 it will drop below 40%.

This study shows us real hope that eradication of global poverty is no longer a dream. The researchers suggest that we should celebrate this success and take it as an incentive to design more appropriate policies to eradicate global poverty.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST

Spain's National Goalkeeper Launches Comic Book About Millenium Development Goals

Today, at the United Nations in Geneva, the goalkeeper for Spain’s national team and Real Madrid, Iker Casillas, introduced the new comic book, “Score the Goals: Teaming Up to Achieve The Millennium Development Goals.” The event followed Casillas’ recent appointment to Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Program.

As quoted on the United Nations website,"I am very honoured to be part of this comic book,” Casillas declared. “It is a fantastic fun way to raise awareness and to educate children around the world about the Millennium Development Goals, and about important life values such as tolerance, respect and team spirit. As it says in the comic book, together we can make it happen!”

The comic book features 10 soccer Goodwill Ambassadors. Among them are Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Raúl Ronaldo, and Michael Ballack. The plot centers around the players getting shipwrecked on their way to playing a charity soccer match; and on their journey towards being rescued they tackle the eight Millennium Development Goals.

The comic book is targeted at 8-12 year olds, and is a fun and innovative way to familiarize children with what can be done to help others in poverty-stricken nations. It also invites them to take action through several activities provided in the adjoining educational guide.

The year 2015 is the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals, and the involvement of athletes adds great value to the UN, as they often serve as role models, and hence have increased leverage in raising awareness about important issues.

The first batch of 10,000 has already been printed at the UN office in Geneva on recycled paper using vegetable ink.

-Martina Georgieva

SOURCE: UN.org

Angola Plans To Reduce Maternal And Infant Mortality Rate By 2012

Carlos Alberto Masseca, the health deputy minister of Angola said that his government intends to reduce maternal and infant mortality rate by 50% next year. While addressing on "expansion of health services", in the National Forum on the Eradication of Poverty, the deputy minister said that the Angolan government is committed to achieve these goals by building new hospitals and improving existing central and local health services. The event was promoted by the Civil Office of the Presidency of Republic, and attended by members of parliament, government officials, governors and administrators.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: ANGOP HEALTH

Borgen Project

Independent Report To Assess MDG Targets

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has decided to commission its first-ever independent report to track and assess national initiatives and progress towards achieving MDG goals, set a decade ago. With five years left until 2015 target, ECOWAS along with an international team of experts from Global South Group (GSG) started their member-states assessment with Ghana. The commission will meet government officials and various policy-decision makers to determine their success in poverty-reduction, education, gender equality, health, and environmental stability, and assess their gains using most recent data. Over a 5-month period, the commission will visit all 15 member states of ECOWAS. Their report will directly contribute to strengthen the regional integration process and track the success of the African states in attaining MDG goals.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: MTN GHANA FOUNDATION

Giving the Poor a Voice & a Conference

In response to the UN MDG Summit in New York, the idea for a conference featuring the world's actual poor (and not just word leaders and celebrities) was born from a Twitter discussion about the lack of grassroots voices at the Summit.

This idea became the "Villages in Action" conference, which was held on November 27 in western Uganda. Almost 600 villagers gathered to have a conversation about the state of development in their region, and whether or not that development was in line with achieving any of the Millennium Development Goals. The conference was broadcast globally and with the help of the internet the rest of the world could engage directly with the grassroots people.

As the co-founder of Project Diaspora describes it, this conference was less about the numbers, charts and power-point slides, but more about the local community working together and celebrating everyday life. "It was about making sure everyone knew that their efforts contributed to a whole. This was about showing the power of ubuntu – "I am because you are"."

-Clare O.

SOURCE: The Guardian

A Gap in Pledged Vs Received Aid

If one measures international aid simply in the amount of aid pledged, then nations are doing a remarkable job. It seems the Obama administration or USAID announces major pledges to fight disease and poverty monthly, if not more. Last year, world leaders agreed to a $20 billion agricultural fund to assist the poorest of farmers. In September, the same leaders re-affirmed their commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. And reports are already coming out abut the various deals reached in regards to developmental aid during the on-going G-20 conference. Yet at the same time we hear that the MDG has hit major challenges, and in some cases barely any progress has been made at all. President Obama campaigned on a promise of renewed vows to the developing world, but has hit road blocks as well.

So what's the problem? Why is there a disconnect between the amount of aid promised and the amount of aid received. I think there are three major reasons.

The first amounts to peer pressure. Nations want to look respectable and to be perceived as charitable by other nations, and so many nations commit to causes that they cannot feasibly support. The second, explained in a New York Times article by Helen Cooper, is the tendency for nations to double dip their accomplishments. USAID may produce an article touting their recent program spending millions of dollars to combat a major disease without acknowledging that those funds came from its already accepted budget and is not a new addition. Or worse, nations remove money pledged to an old campaign and move it into the new fund, which draws attention to the new fund while leaving the old one empty.

The final, and most important, reason of the "aid gap" is the simple fact that no matter how well-intended political leaders are, (at least in the case of the American President), they still have to respond and answer to those who hold the purse-strings: Congress. Congress has the power to control the budget and as such holds the final answer to whether or not the programs promised will actually be delivered. USAID, for example, receives billions of dollars less than it requests every year, as Congress looks for ways to balance the budget.

Too often, we applaud our nations for making pledges to developing nations without ensuring that the money actually ends up in the hands of those who need it the most. That is why The Borgen Project believes that contacting your Congressional leaders is essential. They are the ones that make the decisions involving the budget, and your phone calls communicate to them that international poverty reduction is important to you.

So make a call today. And sign this petition letting your Representative know that they should make water access for all a priority.

-Corey Cox

SOURCE: New York Times

Development and Recovery Go Together

Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, urged the leaders of the most powerful economies to not forget the importance of development during his speech at the G-20 summit today. Ban Ki-moon asserted during this period of economic uncertainty, recovery and development must go hand in hand, and that forgetting the importance of focusing on development will only impede the gradual process of recovery.

He called attention to the promise renewed in September of UN member nations fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and reminded them that development aid must be accelerated in order to meet those goals. Moreover, he declared that regardless of our financial status as nations, all nations are in this recovery together and must work in harmony to provide a better world.

-Corey Cox

SOURCE: UN News Centre