Common-Sense Investments Can Lead to Eradicating Poverty

Are we in danger of not meeting the Millennium Development Goals deadline?  According to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the fight for global poverty appears to be headed in the wrong direction.  Our failure seems to resonate in the lack of focus in putting people at the center of our development policies and strategies concerning economic recovery.

The fears of job loss, inability to feed their families, and access to health care are concerns, but to overcome these and many other challenges faced globally, common-sense has to come in play. Investment needs to be in the source, the people.  Continuing to ignore the voices of the poor and the youths will only deter us from ultimately achieving our goals of eradicating poverty.

An expert in extreme poverty and human rights, Magdalena Sepulveda, urged States to immediately address the growing inequalities between the rich and the poor.  "These rising inequalities have diminished social cohesion and increased insecurity and exclusion through out the world." stated in her message.  Also noted was that the poorest and most excluded are taking the hardest hits with these financial crisises, while the richest continue to prosper.  "What is required are recovery measures that are equitable, accompanied by human rights safeguards and designed from the ground up, taking into consideration the specific needs of vulnerable populations."

"As we work to avoid a global financial meltdown, we must also work to avoid a global development meltdown."

-Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations

-Georisa Chang

SOURCE: UN News

Global Poverty Rate is Dropping

The global poverty rate is falling. An annual progress report shows that the Millennium Development Goals are on track to lower poverty rates despite the recent economic set backs.

The poverty rate is expected to fall by 15% by 2015. This is a significant achievement as it is well below the 23% target that was set.

And interestingly, it is not the developed countries that are making the difference. The world remains on track due to the momentum of growth in the developing world. In fact, the number of people in developing countries that live in extreme poverty (less than $1.25 a day) is estimated to fall below 900 million due to the growth of developing countries in the last decades.

East Asia has the record for the greatest reduction in poverty, especially China and India. In both countries the number of people living in poverty fell by 455 million between 1990 and 2005.

Despite these significant reductions in poverty, world hunger remains an issue, which is another target of the Millennium Development Goals. Access to food and high food prices has proved to be a problem for policy makers.

"We have success stories," stated Bank Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General, "but achieving all the MDGs will require extra effort." Progress is not universal and the benefits are not evenly shared.

According to Ban Ki-moon, achieving the MDGs will require equitable and inclusive economic growth that reaches everyone. "World leaders must show no only that they care, but that they have the courage and conviction to act."

-Gabrielle Gurian

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Malaria Report Shows Promising Advancement in Meeting International Goals.

On December 14, 2010 the WHO issued its World Malaria Report 2010. The report shows a significant decrease in malaria burdens, particularly in African countries. Between 2000 and 2009, eleven African nations have reduced confirmed malaria cases by more than 50%. These reductions resulted in 19 million fewer malaria cases in 2009 compared to 2005, and approximately 200,000 fewer deaths compared to 2000.

According to the report, the main reason for the reductions is increased funding, which reached its highest level in 2010. As a result, more people now have higher access to mosquito nets and preventative treatment.

Substantial improvement in effectively diagnosing and treating malaria has also been made. There has been an increase of diagnostic tests administered to detect suspected malaria cases. Eleven African countries are also now able to provide antimalarial treatment for 100% of malaria cases in the public sector.

However, international funding for malaria leveled-off at 1.8 billion between 2009 and 2010. Though funding will continue to be a challenge, the significant gains are promising, and it is critical that the international community ensure funding to meet malaria control targets, including the Millennium Goals by 2015.


-Martina Georgieva

SOURCE: The WHO

The Future We'll Make: TEDxChange Photo Campaign

The Gates Foundation and TED recently collaborated to create "The Future We'll Make: Flickr Photo Campaign." This photo campaign marks the 10th anniversary of the UN's Millennium Development Goals and is also an exciting way for people from all around the world to contribute their visions for a better future. The Borgen Project staff, such as our intern Corey Cox in the above picture, are getting involved - and so should you! Just click on this link and follow the few simple steps to get started.

-Clare Ortblad

IMAGE SOURCE: Flickr

MDG Report Card

The Overseas Development Institute recently created a "Millennium Development Goals Report Card: Measuring Progress Across Countries," which ranks the countries who have made significant progress on either the first, fourth or fifth goal. The rankings are in terms of absolute progress towards the targets, meaning that countries that have improved by the largest margins (from first measurement), regardless of initial conditions. To see the full size image of this Report Card map, click here.

-Clare O.

SOURCE: GOOD Magazine

African Rice to Fight Hunger

One of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. A specific target point of this goal is to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. How will this be achieved? – you might ask.

Well, one successful project has been the New Rice for Africa (NERICA). Rice production in sub-Saharan Africa could not keep up with rapid population growth by the mid-1990s. Therefore, a hybrid between the Asian and African rice was created to resolve this problem. NERICA is a high-yielding, drought resistant and protein-rich variety that has contributed to food security and improved nutrition in several countries on the continent. The Africa Rice Center (WARDA) and its partners are the ones responsible for inventing this remarkable type of rice. NERICA is hailed as “technology from Africa for Africa.”

- Clare O.

SOURCE: MDG Monitor

Back to School Campaign in Yemen Targets 500,000 Children

A recently implemented "Back to School" campaign in Yemen is working to make education a priority, sending 500,000 Yemeni children to school. The campaign is the result of collaboration between Yemen's Ministry of Education and various international development agencies, including UNICEF, Save the Children, and CHF International.

Currently in Yemen, over one quarter of school-aged children do not attend classes regularly. This is due to a number of factors, including armed conflicts between the Yemeni government and opposition groups. This has resulted in a number of internally displaced families within Yemen.

This campaign is an important step for Yemen toward Millennium Development Goal 2, universal education for the world's children. “Education is one of the most critical contributions to peacebuilding,” said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Representative in Yemen. “Many children in Yemen have been deprived of education for too long because of the conflict, and we welcome the commitment from all sides to actively contribute to the success of this campaign.”

-Elizabeth Newton

SOURCE: UN News Centre, UNICEF Press Centre

Child Mortality: Statistics More Positive Than It Seems

With all the discussion about the Millennium Development Goals and The Global Fund Replenishment and the lack of progress, Hans Rosling breaks down the positive statistics and exposes a couple of flaws in our approach to assessing progress.

At a recent presentation, Rosling, a doctor and researcher, discussed child mortality. In this presentation he showed that progress has been made in decreasing child mortality. The MDG is a 4% reduction in child mortality per year. Many countries are meeting this goal!

However, many people have said that there is little to no progress in Africa, and the average statistics seem to confirm this. Rosling argues that this is completely false. First, he argues that it is necessary for people to stop considering Africa as one place. It is full of different countries with different child mortality reduction rates and thinking about it as just one place skews the statistics and hides the progress that has been made. Second, the way we compare the statistics to determine the percent reduction per year is also flawed. Instead of looking at a 19 year period, simply look at the difference between the 1990s and the 2000s. The average percent reduction in child mortality almost doubles in the 2000s! This still is not good enough though. As mentioned above, Africa is not one country. If one looks at the statistics from different countries within Africa, one can see that certain countries are decreasing child mortality rates incredibly quickly. These success stories are just hidden by flawed statistics and averages.

The point is that statistics don’t always show the real impact that is being made through the Millennium Development Goals and other development efforts. Sometimes we need to readjust the way we think about development and developing countries in order to see the big (more positive!) picture.

-Kelli Hanson

SOURCE: TED

U.N. Recognizes Water as a Universal Human Right; U.S. Senate Approves Water for the World Act

In a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday, officials affirmed that the right to water and sanitation is a universal human right that can be legally upheld. While access to water was confirmed as a human right in July of 2010, Thursday's meeting clarified the legal standards that accompany this important right.

This action by the Human Rights Council is significant because it makes the international right to clean water enforceable under law, as outlined in multiple international human rights treaties. "This landmark decision has the potential to change the lives of the billions of human beings who still lack access to water and sanitation," said Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN Independent Expert on human rights.

This progress toward Millennium Development Goal 7, which includes expanding worldwide access to clean drinking water and sanitation, is augmented by support from the United States: Last week, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Water for the World Act, which aims to provide 100,000,000 people with first-time access to drinking water. The bill has now moved to the House of Representatives for approval before it becomes a law. Contact your representatives to demand that they support this historic legislation!

-Elizabeth Newton

SOURCE: United Nations Human Rights, Change.org

Investing in Women

With this week’s U.N. Summit focusing on the Millennium Development Goals, it is important to note the progress that has already been made. Goal 3 of the agreement is to promote gender equality and empower women. A Goldman Sachs initiative is helping the world achieve this goal.

Two years after it was launched, Goldman Sachs continues its 10,000 Women Initiative. This initiative is a five-year investment offered to underserved women around the world to provide them with a business and management education. Operating through a network of academic and non-profit partners, Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women has already helped over 1,200 women and is well on its way to meeting the initiative’s goal.

-Kelli Hanson

Source: Goldman Sachs

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Recognized For Reductions in Child Mortality

Goal 4 of the Millennium Development Goals concerns child health, aiming for all countries to reduce child mortality by two thirds by 2015.

On Monday, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was presented with a UN award for her country's progress toward this important goal. In Bangladesh in 1991, 146 out of every thousand children died before they reached age five. Today, that number is just 54 per thousands births, making Bangladesh one of only nineteen countries that are on track to reach MDG 4.

In Bangladesh, this impressive progress is widely attributed to empowerment of women, which has been achieved through expanded schooling for girls, microcredit initiatives, and growth of women's civil society.

Reducing child mortality is closely related to the other MDG goals. Without a steady food supply, improvements in maternal health, and strong infrastructure, child mortality cannot be reduced. Today, the leading causes of child mortality are diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria, together responsible for over a third of all deaths in children worldwide.

-Elizabeth Newton

SOURCE: The Daily Star, Save the Children

Approaching United Nations Summit in NYC Highlights Global Poverty

From September 20-22, the United Nations headquarters in New York City will host the largest meeting of world leaders addressing worldwide poverty since 2000. In less than two weeks, leaders from all over the world will be meeting to track the progress of the Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight targets developed at the UN Millennium Summit a decade ago in 2000. The goal of this year's summit is to accelerate progress toward the MDGs, capping off a month of meetings and negotiations about global poverty, which have welcomed input from NGOs, civil society, and the private sector.

Since 2000, much progress has been made toward the Millennium Development Goals, but not enough. "It is clear that improvements in the lives of the poor have been unacceptably slow, and some hard-won gains are being eroded by the climate, food and economic crises," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in June.

As the summit approaches, the public must hold its leaders accountable for working toward these goals. With so many issues filling the political arena, it is vital that voters demand that international development be a top policy priority.

The weekend before the summit, millions of people from all over the world will be uniting in the event "Stand Up and Take Action" to bring attention to the MDGs. Interested in how you can get involved? Make a direct impact by contacting your congressional leaders and letting them know you support funding for international aid and development. Visit The Borgen Project's guide to making a congressional phone call and learn how easy it is to make your voice heard in the fight for a safer, healthier, and more just world.

-Elizabeth Newton

SOURCE: United Nations Millennium Development Goals