IMO view: Supporting the MDG campaign

“These often unsung heroes understand … that poverty, disease and famine are just as deadly and destructive as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis. Individuals … are taking on these challenges in their communities, volunteering to make a difference. They remain the true champions of our work towards the Millennium Development Goals.”— Kofi Annan.

Media is said to be the most effective way to campaign on any action. Since technology has been developing rapidly, now “media” appears in many forms. We need to start an innovative campaign to work for one particular action, so that the message can reach its intended targets and we can meet our final goal.

The most recent form of media, which statistically has the fastest and widest scope globally, is online social networking. It has become increasingly common to organize campaigns via social networking forums like Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other similar sites.

Other electronic media like websites, newsletters, and bloggers’ networks can also be counted as some alternatives.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the UN’s main action plan at the moment, are in critical need of being promoted globally. As we are now counting down to 2015, there are three years left to achieve all the eight goals to change the world.

In light of this limited time frame, the UN has developed an agency specialized in dealing with the MDG campaign. Unlike other units, the United Nations Millennium Campaign does not work with governments.

Instead, the campaign identifies and collaborates with civil society actors, who demand that government leaders make good on their commitments to achieve the goals. It supports and inspires people from around the world to take action in support of the MDGs.

The UN Millennium Campaign is working to promote the eight MDGs with targets, which should be included in the planning of policies and programs. The impact of the goals on recipients needs to be sustainable rather than instantaneous and short term.

The campaign is also working on bringing the MDGs to the local level. In this way, programs will be easier to jump-start and the results will be easier to observe, document and replicate.

A real plan of action, just like the MDGs, should fulfill the five conditions known as SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound).

And all of us, as youth, should unite together with young people in every part of the world to trigger this global action and support global achievement in 2015.

Angga Dwi Martha
Jakarta