I was to have a training programme on MDGs and it's kind of unbelievable to find out what happened during my search for a venue. The programme was suppose to hold in a local government secretariat according to the plan but the whole thing changed because of election. Even after the election, they are still yet to put their ass together.
After much, i decided to use my church. I was told to write a letter to the pastor which i quickly did. The response i got after was that they don't know what it was all about and they will confirm and get back to me. They said all they know is that the General Overseer is supporting the campaign of HIV/AIDS. Hmmmm, if that be the case, then they shouldn't have any problem with MDGs itself because HIV/AIDS is part of the MDGs document.
Now we know we all have a lot of work to do. And all we have to do is to USE OUR VOICE. With OUR VOICE, the world we hear us.
What is Millennium Development Goals ( MDGs) all about?
More than a billion people world wide still survive on less than a dollar a day. Is anybody doing enough to end poverty? The answer is no. that's why it's up to us to remind of the commitment they made. What is the commitment if we may ask?
At the United Nations Millennium summit in 2000, 189 Heads of Government promised to end poverty by 2015. That is interesting. Are they doing that now? They signed the Millennium Declaration, promising to
free men, women and children from the dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty,
committing developed countries alike to eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Now they signed a document about seven years ago and one will want to ask, what's my one there? One thing we need to know is that No president, no leader, no king, no emperor will change our community for us. It's our world. Young people all over the world are making a difference, why can't we just join the train by making our community a better place to live. You might think achieving the Goals by 2015 is the responsibility of politicians, and that there is little you can do to help. Nothing could be further from the truth. To achieve the goals, the world needs everyone; young people, aids activists, religious leaders, environmentalists, unions, civil society organisations, women's rights activists-everyone concerned about our future-to work together and make sure the goals reality.
Let me take you through the eight Goals and then we take it one after the other day by day so that we can understand it better and easier.
The eight Millennium Development Goals are as follows;
- ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY AND HUNGER
- ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION
- PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN
- REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY
- IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH
- COMBAT HIV/AIDS,MALARIA AND OTHER DISEASES
- ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
- DEVELOP A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT
These are the eight goals. For the purpose of understanding and digesting properly what we've learnt, we will look at the eight Goals one by one, day after day. For now, let us look at the number one Goal.
ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY AND HUNGER: (Halve proportion of people living on less than $1 a day, and those suffering hunger)
Imagine you worked a full day to exhaustion, in unhealthy conditions, and still only earned $1. Could you feed yourself? What if you had a family? How could you pay for a home? Even today, there are over 238 million young people like you living on less than one dollar a day. Goal 1 is about lifting people out extreme poverty by providing them with a basic things they need to live a decent life: nutritious food, clothes, clean water, a home, and health care.
What needs to be done?
A lot! The world has taken a big steps to end world poverty, but we will still have a long way to go. Most of Asia and Northern Africa are on track, but there has been little or no progress in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. In Western Asia, poverty has actually increased! To reach Goal 1, government must increase funding to education and health, increase agricultural productivity with new techniques, improve infrastructure (such as power and water supplies, transportation, roads and schools), and promote human rights and sustainable development.
How are youth affected or involved?
Youth are often the hardest hit by poverty and that's why we need young people like you to really get moving. who better speak for youth than youth? Many youth groups are like already taking action. National youth councils and youth organisations like ours have begun working on poverty reduction strategies and youth driven anti-corruption projects, but more young people should be consulted in poverty reduction plans and getting involved. We must make our voices heard, because its our future we're fighting for!
I'll like to add also that in fighting hunger and poverty, we all need to be informed. Like Deolu Akinyemi said in his post, to end end poverty, one needs information. It's only a good information that can help us know where w are and what we need to do at a particular time. We all need to go in search of information. As youth we need to be more active in nation building instead of complaining and expecting what is no available. But with our voice and participation, the world we be a better place for all.
No comments:
Post a Comment