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The Goals (MDGs) It is interesting that from the day I stopped I started becoming busy with all the things that I 'had' to get done. And I had to get them done now. No time to walk or cycle, better use a car. Things to juggle, traffic irritation, the familiar story. For all the things that were hard about the month, there were somethings that were so much better. The day was less cluttered. The day was about getting what was needed to survive. Although that level of poverty is unacceptable, there are lessons I can take into my lifestyle. It is perhaps possible for me to step back - to intentionally downsize - and make more space to allow others to step up. Not only does downsizing now look possible, it looks positive. Less is more in areas other than sermons and decorating. Sadly, busyness seems to be a badge of honour in our culture. When someone says 'hows it going,' we are inclined to shake our heads and mournfully declare that we are 'just so busy'. The tone and head hang suggests it is a problem, but inside we are quietly happy that now they know how important we are because of how busy we are. It just won't happen without me... SO... Since this blog is no longer being read, and because there are far more astute social critiques than myself filling up forests of books and brazillions or gigabytes of internet space writing about this stuff, I will save myself the ride down to the internet (I don't have it at home anymore - MY GOD BUT HOW DO YOU SURVIVE) and stop blogging. Actually the site still had a hit or two last week but I suspect that was my mum, so maybe I will just call you on the phone? Millennium Development Goals At the Millennium Summit in September 2000, the largest gathering of world leaders in history adopted the UN Millennium Declaration. The gathered world leaders committed their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty. A set of goals were developed called the Millennium Development Goals, and the target date of 2015 was set. The Goals (MDGs)  | Reduce by half the number of people living on less than one dollar a day
|  | 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
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2008 marks the half way point towards our target. It is good to know progress has been made. However; there is still a long way to go, and progress has not been uniform. Some areas have seen huge improvement, other areas have lost ground. Sub Saharan Africa is at the center of the crisis. It is the hope of this project that by raising awareness of the MDGs we can continue to hold ourselves and our governments accountable to the commitment that we made.
For More information United Nations Millennium Development Goals
Millenium Development Goals Progress Tracker New Zealand Point Seven Campaign End Poverty 2015 - Join the Campaign
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