The Eight Millennium Development Goals cont.

Step one: Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.

A 15 year old dog is doing great! Many children in sub-Saharan Africa do not survive to be 15.

While extreme poverty is inconceivable for many parts of the world, reports of the United Nations show that it is the grotesque reality for more that 1 billion people, relying on less that $1 a day to meet their daily needs. In the same time, thoughts about “extreme poverty” are far, far away from the daily concerns of Liza Mobini, 29. The former cheer leader has her cell phone loading pictures of Gigi, her dog, dressed as a princess for Halloween and as an angel for Christmas. And while Gigi spends a “yappy hour” at a boutique, lack of food seriously threatens children’s physical and mental development in many corners of the world.

In this reality of growing socio-economic issues, many people in San Francisco have invented a way to escape boredom and feel useful in the same time by arranging massages for their dogs, worth $75 an hour and taking the cute furry creatures to acupuncturists. Liza confesses something about her favorite Gigi: “Honestly, she has a better wardrobe than I do”. Ambassadors of the goodwill associations confess in their reports that more than a quarter of children under age of 5 in developing countries are malnutritioned.

Recently, communities have discussed a particular point of Darwin’s theory – it appears that, in our reality, survival is not granted to the fittest, but, moreover, to the richest. The tendency is that rich people and countries are becoming even richer while “the very poor are getting pooper.” The latter is part of The United Nations’ report of 2005. Reports of the World Bank for 2005 show that 59 countries have low-income economies and 54 more have low-middle-income economies. 55 countries are said to have high-income economies. The important thing to point out is that 48 countries from sub-Saharan Africa and 8 from South Asia are not among the low-income economies, but are placed in a different category that stands for extreme poverty and total lack of functioning economy. Keeping the statistics in mind might prevent you from getting angry next time you see that your favorite CD or DVD has a huge scratch upon it. We are reminded every day that we need to spare our minds of negativism and that being angry adds a few wrinkles on the skin. And while people are preoccupied with such concerns, we are blinded for the more global picture. The paradox is that in a modern world of Globalization and concern for others, self-help books that teach us how to become our own best friend are best-sellers.

Humanity is waking up to unite and work for achieving a better future for all of us. In the year 2000 the organization of the United Nations came up with “The eight Millennium Developmental Goals” to guide us in out actions in the near future. This blueprint has been agreed to by the world’s leading developmental institutions and all countries. The target date of this Brave Project is the year 2015.

The eight Millennium Development Goals are:

1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

2. To achieve universal primary education.

3. To promote gender equality and to empower women.

4. To reduce child mortality.

5. To improve maternal health.

6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

7. To ensure environmental sustainability.

8. To develop a global partnership for development.

Kofi Annan, the Secretary-general of the United Nation, prompted people that “we must start now. And we must more than double global development assistance over the next few years. Nothing less will help us achieve the Goals.” Nine years have passed since the goals have been clearly formulated. However, does it happen that we ask ourselves “How much did we achieve?” and “Where will we be in 2015?” The 2005 report of the United Nations states that poverty is falling and progress has been made against hunger. Also, efforts have been made to make sure that children in sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia and Oceania are receiving “a high-quality education”. The report reads “the gender gap is closing” and “death rates in children under age 5 are dropping”. Yet another thing we have to be extremely proud of is that “some progress has been made in reducing maternal deaths in developing countries, but not in the countries where giving birth is most risky.” As to Goal 6 in the plan for development, it is stated that yet “there is no cure for AIDS, and prevention efforts must be intensified in every region of the world if the target is to be reached.” In ensuring environmental sustainability we did not have huge success, as “most countries have committed to the principles of sustainable development. But this has not resulted in sufficient progress to reverse the loss of the world’s environmental resources. Achieving the goal will require greater attention”. The mere fact that there is “The United Nations Millennium Declaration” is enough to show we have already developed some global partnership that we can feel proud of. Nine years have passed, and all we have are vague statements that have only one message – we need not lose all hope yet, someone, out there, is working on those issues; someone out there probably cares, so that humanity may eventually face 2015 with pride – we have achieved the Millennium Development Goals.

After all, we have six more years until the onset of the target-date and, we all know, anything may happen in six years. Setting highly challenging goals for oneself is, undoubtedly, motivating, but when the subject of consideration is millions of people all over the world we need to be a little more realistic, rather than romantically-ambitious. Are our good intentions just another paradox in our times?

Let us track our progress…