Summit on the Millennium Development Goals
20-22 September 2010With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York on 20-22 September 2010 to accelerate progress towards the MDGs Visit the Summit website!
What's Going On?
Participate in the UN video contest on YouTube!
Use your voice and tell world leaders in a short video why the Millennium Development Goals are important to you, what your city or country is doing to achieve the Goals, or how the international community can better work together to achieve the MDGs. The winners will be invited to UN Headquarters in New York and named Citizen Ambassadors to the UN. Find out more about the contest and watch the call-for-entries videos!
Eminent personalities to help mobilize global action on the MDGs
To galvanize support for the Millennium Development Goals, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has established an MDG Advocacy Group of eminent personalities who have shown outstanding leadership in promoting the implementation of the Goals. The Group will support the Secretary-General in building political will and mobilizing global action to make the MDG Summit a turning point in the collective effort to achieve the Goals by the 2015 target date.
Millennium Development Goals Report 2010
"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," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in the foreword to the Millennium Development Goals Report 2010, issued on 23 June. But the report also cites big gains in cutting the rate of extreme poverty, getting children into primary schools, addressing AIDS, malaria and child health, and a good chance to reach the target for access to clean drinking water.
Press materials
Business leaders pledge to pursue more sustainable world economy
The largest-ever UN-business event -- the UN Global Compact leaders' summit -- concluded on 25 June in New York with a vow by the more than 1,200 corporate executives, government ministers and civil society representatives to strengthen their efforts to forge a more sustainable and inclusive world economy. The New York Declaration by Business, adopted at the end of the two-day meeting, also called for greater efforts by business to support the Millennium Development Goals.
UN Reports lay out how MDGs can be achieveds
Based on evidence from over 50 countries, an International Assessment by the UN Development Programme -- "What will it take to achieve the MDGs" -- lays out an eight-point action agenda to reduce global poverty and advance sustainable development. A publication by the UN Development Group presents almost 200 MDG Good Practices from 75 different countries demonstrating innovative ways of overcoming obstacles to accelerate progress on the MDGs. A synthesis of evidence from around the world -- The path to achieving the MDGs -- looks at lessons learned from 34 country reports. And initial findings from an ongoing review by the UN Millennium Campaign and the Overseas Development Institute -- the Millennium Development Goals Report Card "Learning from Progress" -- reveals that many of the poorest countries are making the most progress on the MDGs.
World Cup TV spot calls for kicking out poverty
To kick off the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Didier Drogba and Zinedine Zidane, Goodwill Ambassadors for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), make an urgent appeal against poverty in a TV spot produced by UNDP. “The World Cup brings people around the globe together to support their national teams; we need the same kind of passion to end poverty and hunger,” says Zidane, former French national team captain. “There can be no spectators in the fight against poverty. We all need to be on the pitch to improve the lives of millions of poor people in this world,” Chelsea striker and Cote d’Ivoire national team captain Drogba ads. Watch the spot!
Ban urges end to "scandal" of pregnancy-related deaths
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for concerted efforts to end what he described as the "scandal" of women dying in childbirth. "Some simple blood tests, consultation with a doctor and qualified help at the birth itself can make a huge difference," Mr. Ban said in an address to an international conference in Washington aimed at finding solutions to problems affecting women and girls worldwide. Learn more about the Secretary-General's Forum on Women and Children's Health here.
Music Stars Team Up to Score 8 Goals for Africa
Eight of Africa's best known musical talents are now lending their voices in support of the UN campaign for the Millennium Development Goals. "8 Goals for Africa" features Yvonne Chaka Chaka from South Africa, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Angelique Kidjo from Benin, Oliver Mtukudzi from Zimbabwe, Eric Wainaina from Kenya, Baba Maal from Senegal, and the Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa. World renowned jazz musicians Hugh Masekela and Jimmy Dludlu from South Africa are instrumentalists on the track produced by Arthur Baker from the U.S.
Watch the music video!
Press Release
