STOPPoverty! to participate in side-events to United Nations summit on MDGs

STOPoverty! in collaboration with ĊAMYouths will also organise a local campaign to push locally for the achievement of the MDGs.

The Maltese MDG campaign will start on 10 September 2010 by gathering around 150 young persons to empower them to become more active global citizens.

The ultimate aim of this capacity building exercise is “to create a pool of young and motivated persons who are willing to take on more responsibility towards the achievement of the MDGs by being pro-active in their communities to secure support for the MDGs,” Skop, the federation of NGDOs, explained.

STOPoverty will run a political campaign throughout the months of September and October, to increase media coverage for issues related to development and the MDGs, "as well as bring the issue on the agenda of our political and community leaders as well as other stakeholders”.

“The simple fact is that 189 world leaders made a historic promise at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 when they signed onto the Millennium Declaration and agreed to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015,” Skop explained. “So now it’s time for the citizens and civil society to hold their leaders to account for these commitments."

In fact events/actions/campaigns by UN agencies, non-governmental organizations such as the GCAP, Permanent Missions, the private sector and other partners were expected to be held in and around the UN in New York before and during the Summit to push for the achievement of the MDGs.

With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York on 20 to 22 September 2010 to accelerate progress towards all the MDGs by 2015, taking into account the progress made towards the internationally agreed development goals.

Coming amid mixed progress and new crises that threaten the global effort to halve extreme poverty, “the summit will be a crucially important opportunity to redouble our efforts to meet the Goals,” Ki-moon said, referring to the targets adopted at the UN Millennium Summit of 2000 aimed at slashing poverty, hunger, disease, maternal and child deaths and other ills by a 2015 deadline.

The MDG review summit was “a key moment for civil society across the world to take action and call for a robust action plan to deliver the MDGs,” Skop explained.