Reporting from the Millennium Goals Conference

This is Borgen Project member Caroline Schley reporting from the UN Conference on the Millennium Development Goals at the NYC United Nations headquarters in midtown Manhattan. This week has been a busy one in New York, with events and conferences being held in every available meeting space within a five block radius of the United Nations headquarters. Dignitaries and Heads of State from all over the world have been in town to discuss their country's roles in meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Billboards advertising the bullet points of the eight Millennium Development goals line the eastern blocks of 42 Street and each day various national pride parades have been held in midtown.

Amid all this activity the meetings convening find sanctity and provide an rare and cherished opportunity for networking, discussion and brainstorming. The speakers I have seen have represented every imaginable level of involvement and commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. I saw a young mother from the Brooklyn Young Mothers Collective speak about the dangers of poverty promoting the AIDS virus in New York City. The Deputy Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea spoke about the severe poverty in his country as a cause for environmental degradation. One theme was a common thread through all the events: Within the eight Millennium Development Goals the reduction and eradication of severe poverty is an important first step in achieving progress on all fronts of development.

Simple Solutions to Ending Poverty - The Hippo

Hurray for the Hippo! For 1 in 6 people on the planet, access to water requires hard work: hours of walking, waiting in line and heavy lifting. The Hippo Water Roller is a tool designed to transport water more easily and efficiently. It carries 24-gallons of water (5 times the amount possible using traditional methods). A full Hippo contains 200lbs (90 kg) of water, but because the weight is on the ground, it only feels like 22lbs (10kg). Learn more about the Hippo at www.hipporoller.org.

Bono Discusses Cost of Ending Poverty

New York Times - "Leaders Must Address Poverty"

Summary of New York Times Editorial: In 2005, 1.5 billion people lived in extreme poverty and 27% of children under 5 years of age in developing nations were underweight according to a study by the World Bank. The Millennium Goals, aimed at alleviating such circumstances and accepted by developing nations almost a decade ago, are looking less achievable with the current global economic state. Good intentions have fallen short of action with most of the participating nations not reaching the aggregate amount of aid desired by a long shot; the U.S. being the lowest on the list and Scandinavia the only countries to reach their set goals. Many expect this pattern of aid to be the trend for at least the near future when considering the woeful current state of the global economy.
Read the New York Times article.

Political Priorities by the Numbers

$700 billion: Proposed government bailout for financial crisis.
$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.

View of The Borgen Project from India

Uttar Pradish, India - Though India today is one of the fastest developing economies in the world, 41.6% of its population, lives below the new international poverty line of $1.25 per day. Since Independence in 1947 a number of steps have been taken to alleviate poverty by Indian Government but India still depends a lot on Foreign Aid from the U.S. and other developed economies.

With increase in the Indo-U.S. relations and the U.S. being India’s largest trading partner, the U.S. plays an important role in the alleviation of poverty. In June 2007 World Bank approved a $600 million loan for India to help it revamp thousands of ailing rural cooperative banks and fight village poverty through cheap loans as about 87 percent of marginal Indian farmers and 70 percent of small farmers have no access to credit from a formal financial institution.

With the World Bank, headquartered in Washington D.C. the loans sanctioned depend a lot on what Congress and the White House decide, hence gaining the attention of Senators, Congressmen and other Politicians towards global poverty is key to get the same. The Borgen Project is all about it and with its continuous attempts to draw the attention of U.S politicians towards poverty in India, it can play a very important role in getting funds, loans, donations sanctioned to Indian Organizations and Government which can help in eradicating poverty to much extent by providing employment, cheap loans to farmers and poor, free education to unprivileged and accomplishing other basic necessities .

The Borgen Project's continuous efforts towards bringing attention to poverty can cause miraculous decrease in the number of people living below poverty line.

Submitted by Rajan Vaish