Millennium Development Goals

Give yourself a pat on the back if you know about the Millennium Development Goals.  Not only did I not know about them until recently, but I can't even spell "millennium."  

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that all 192 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015.  Selfishly, the MDG's make me feel that, no matter how small my contribution is, my efforts to help the international community are part of achieving these goals.  Secondly, as massive as the problems are, it inspires me to know that there is an agreed upon framework with which the international community is working.

Below is a list of the eight goals from the United Nation's MDG website.  Click on the goal to see the specific targets associated with  each goal:

• Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
• Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
• Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
• Goal 5: Improve maternal health
• Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
• Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

 HOW QUICKLY ARE COUNTRIES PROGRESSING TOWARD THE MDG'S?

This wonderful interactive, How Quickly Are We Moving Toward the MDG's?, shows you the progress by each country on each goal.  Use the icons on the lefthand side to pick a goal and then you can select a region.

The Center for Global Development shows dramatic achievements have been made by Honduras, Vietnam, Laos, Ethiopia, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Nepal, Cambodia, and Ghana. These countries' performances suggest that they may achieve most of the highly ambitious MDGs. Moreover, Africa accounts for many star performers. Interestingly, poor countries perform nearly on par with middle-income countries. And not surprisingly, the list of laggards largely consists of countries devastated by conflict, such as Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Guinea-Bissau. Most countries fall somewhere in-between, demonstrating solid progress on some indicators and little on others.

^{You can also see more on the progress of the MDG's at the United Nations MDG} website.
 

IMPORTANCE OF GOAL #8 - DEVELOP A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT

Goal 8 is important to all of the MDG's because it focuses on the role of developed countries in meeting the goals for the undeveloped countries.  As stated by the  University of Iowa Center for International Finance and Development, to accelerate progress towards the MDGs in 2005, the top eights industrialized countries, the G-8,  met and reached an agreement to cancel $40–55 billion debt owed by impoverished countries. This allowed impoverished countries to re-channel the resources saved from the forgiven debt to social programs for improving health and education and for alleviating poverty.




DEBATE SURROUNDING THE MDG's

Of course nothing is perfect, the MDG's included.  Click here and scroll down for a debate on the MDG's.  As Obama said last night in the State of the Union address, "Let me be the first to say anything can be improved." Personally, I am inspired by these goals and find them a huge step in the right direction regardless of what their drawbacks might be.  It is much better to have these goals than to have nothing because we are frozen in a debate of searching for a perfection that does not exist.


CALL TO ACTION:

1)  Have faith that your efforts make a difference and keep doing what you can, no matter how big or small

2)  Use the Giving Gifts Page of this blog for ideas on how to give gifts with a purpose to friends.

3) Contact our local international aid non-profit, Direct Relief International, and ask them how you can help. Immediately, you can scroll down to the "Tidbits" post of this blog to learn about supporting DRI Youth's current flower fundraiser and how to get your child involved in future projects.

4) Stay informed and involved.  Sign-up for updates or follow on facebook the End Poverty 2015 Millennium Campaign

MY GOAL:
1) I am following the end End Poverty 2012 campaign on Facebook

2) This year, I plan to buy only gifts that have a cause related to them for my girlfriends.  This month I bought my first KIVA gift card for a friend's birthday.  I have wanted to do this for years and never did.  I also purchased stone hearts made by Haitian artists for a get well gift for another friend from 12 Small Things

3) I am getting more involved with helping DRI Women and DRI Youth.