Millennium Development Goals (MDG) - Summer 2012

U.N. Millennium Development Goals. The UN renewed commitments to achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and to set out concrete plans and practical steps for action.

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Feeding America

Feeding America supplies and distributes meals across the U.S. Feed America uses this route planning software called Roadnet Transportation Suite to reduce the cost of meal deliveries. This software helps Feeding America find the shortest routes between the food donators and the food banks. In utilizing this software, Feeding America saves enough money to feed an additional 70 million people! Another way Feeding America uses technology to relieve world hunger is by providing volunteers with online tools to create their own Virtual Food Drive. By using their online tools, volunteers can create their own website to ask for food donations, set goals and help provide meals. Last year, Feeding America fed more than 37 million Americans with their 202 local food banks.

Stop Hunger Now

Stop Hunger Now uses search engines and the Internet to help stop hunger. Search engines such as GoodSearch.com and GoodShop.com donates half of its advertising revenue to Stop Hunger Now if you use its search engine. Simply by using the search engine and shopping at these two websites, you can make donations to Stop Hunger Now without actually giving money. In 2011, Stop Hunger Now distributed 21.3 million meal packages.

YouGiveGoods

YouGiveGoods is a website that makes donating food easy and green for local communities. It is a website that allows volunteers to set up food drives online where donators can buy food online. This way, the online system rids the hassle of collection boxes. YouGiveGoods also helps you advertise by providing volunteers social networking tools and emailing systems. Other than food, the website allows you to choose other charities and donation items such as clothes as well. Many local organizations have used this website, such as Mendham High School and Chatham High School in New Jersey. Collectively, these two schools raised $10,320 worth of food.

Kiva Kiva is an organization that allows the average individual to lend small amounts of money to people around the world. Most of these borrowers are living in poverty in developing countries, and need the money to fund small entrepreneurial enterprises such as farms and livestock. The result of these loans is the improvement of the local economy in these developing nations, which contributes to the long-term goal of strengthening the infrastructure of developing nations in order to eliminate poverty. If the local economy is strengthened, the result is more economic opportunities for the individuals faced with poverty.

Project Bread Project Bread is an organization that focuses specifically on eliminating hunger in Massachusetts. Although it is a relatively small scale operation, it has some unique technological aspects. One of the notable ones is their use of the telephone and voice technology, which they utilize in their "FoodSource Hotline." With this, they record the stories of hungry individuals and use them to increase public awareness of the issue of hunger. This and their other projects are key in both increasing awareness and providing aid to those who are affected by hunger. In particular, their efforts are instrumental in attracting attention to the pressing issue presented by poverty.

Hunger Site The Hunger Site is a website that helps to fight hunger and poverty in a variety of developing countries. Some of the technological aspects include signing a virtual petition and sending e-cards. Virtual petitions are important in effecting political or national action, as they show a large interest/support base for the various causes related to hunger and poverty. E cards can be sent to others, such as friends, in order to inform others of the necessity of aiding the elimination of hunger and poverty. This organization's actions are helping to alleviate hunger crises and provide resources to those in poverty. The impact of this site is increased awareness about hunger and poverty, as well as donations to help feed hungry individuals. They offer both free and paid options to donate to the cause of feeding the hungry.

endPoverty.org endPoverty.org is a community website where you can help eradicate hunger and poverty whilst sitting on your chair, staring at a computer screen. The site offers various options to show support such as making donations (one time or monthly), suggesting ideas, and spreading the word about endPoverty.org. The user can even choose where to donate money, ranging from Egypt and South Africa to Mexico and India. With the various options being offered to an average computer user, this will raise a huge impact on poverty and hunger in terms of ending it. Also, the mere fact that technology is put into play here (in this case, the computer and the internet) makes the whole process much easier.

The Hunger Project The Hunger Project is a fantastic website if you are interested in learning about hunger and poverty around the world. The site provides reports, speeches, publications, videos, and facts relating to hunger and poverty, giving an insight to the user on what they and THP are all about. Computers users can likewise donate money and when they visit the front page of the site, a chart on the right side shows what the money is spent on. With the help of technology, THP utilize it with one goal in mind: change.

Trickle Up Trickle Up provides information about poverty and hunger such as the understanding of them and the "Trickle Up" solutions on how to put an end to them. The site caught my eye the most because of the sections listed under "Understanding Poverty." This is so because the categories mentions how they offer spark grants to sustain livelihood and how they target poverty to women, indigenous people, and people who have any kind of disability. Technology comes into play mostly due to the "word of mouth" atmosphere I am receiving from Trickle Up. It is definitely a site that thousands of people, computer users or not, need to know about in order to make a change and stand up against hunger and poverty.

2. Achieve universal primary education

Child Aid is a non-profit organization that promotes literacy in Latin America. They believe that eucation is the most effective long-term solution to poverty. They offer reading programs to communities in Guatemale, provide teacher training, and offer scholarships to students living in poverty.

Save the Children is another oganization that promotes children's rights and provides support children in developing countries. They offer many programs including Healing and Education Through the Arts (HEART), Literacy Boost, and Numeracy Boost. Healing and Education through the Arts (HEART) is a program that helps kids heal emotionally and learn critical skills through artistic expression. Literacy Boost and Numeracy Boost are community reading and math programs that sponsors camps, trains teachers, organizes workshops to parents, and provides supplies to developing countries. In addition, Save the Children has a campaign called Rewrite the Future which focuses on educating children who are unable to go to school because of conflict or war. So far, more than 1.4 million children have access to schools and more than 10 million children benefited from this program.

The Right to Education program focuses on the legal challenges to the rights of education. Currently, they are working on developing indicators dealing with the right to education and resources on protecting the right to education and on the analysis of constitutional provisions.

Kigamboni Community Centre (KCC) is a local non-profit organization in Kigamboni, Tanzania that provides education and recreational programs for disadvantaged children. Notably, they offer primary education to even those who have fallen out of the system as well as contribute extra tuition to those in primary schools.

Nepal Evaluation and Assessment Team (NEAT) is a community-based organization that is "making efforts to achieve Millennium Development Goals by 2015" through producing studies. Impressively, seven of their ten most recent ones focused on education within Nepal.

Sikshana is a non-profit organization that strives "to evolve a sustainable and replicable model for an effective and decentralised public school system" for primary education. "Today, Sikshana is involved in 285 schools (including all primary schools in Kanakpura taluk of Karnataka) in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and touches the lives of over 30,000 children."

UNICEF- http://www.unicef.org/ UNICEF is an organization that helps countries give a proper education to children. Their goal is to ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling. Many girls are uneducated so they are also trying to educate more girls.

Right to Education Act- http://www.indg.in/primary-education/policiesandschemes/right-to-education-bill/ The Right to Education Act focuses on legal challenges for promoting the right to education.

Oxfam Education-http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/aboutus/ Oxfam education works with people in the UK and offers lesson plans to teachers and try to teach children to understand global issues.

http://www.goodsearch.com/

when you search, shop or dine through goodsearch.com, half of the referral bonus earned by the site is to your favorite cause. it has a sub site called goodshop.com

http://www.thehungersite.com/

The hungersite is part of 'GreatGood' network. The staple food funded by clicks at The Hunger Site is paid for by site sponsors and distributed to those in need by Mercy Corps, Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest), and Millennium Promise. 100% of sponsor advertising fees goes to our charitable partners. Funds are split between these organizations and go to the aid of hungry people in over 74 countries, including those in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and North America.

4. Reduce child mortality

Unicef
Unicef has laid out plans to address the main causes of child mortality. Deaths from diseases such as diarrhea, malaria, and lack of clean water. Unicef has been doing this for a long time but now has decided to increase their efforts. It is establishing an all encompassing plan that focuses on creating an infrastructure in all the areas of concern.

World Health Organization
The Who is partnering up with the U.N to develop and roll out their plan of the U.N. Similar to Unicef, the WHO plan focuses on infrastructure development and has laid out plans to develop the funding. This is extremely important because its easy to say what you want to do, but without funding its just talk. The plan also develops plans to strengthen the hospitals in affected areas and establish clinics in areas without them.

MDG Health Alliance
The MDG Health Alliance is another organization the is partnering with the U.N. they are comprised of leaders from private, public, and non profit sectors. This partnership works in conjunction to address all of the MDG's. Their main focus is on developing an increase in health care professionals that care for these communities.

http://www.rotary.org/en/mediaandnews/news/pages/conv08_childmortality.aspx

Doctor Francisco Songane works with the World Health Organization and discusses with representatives of other countries about how to reduce the number of deaths that are easily preventable.

http://www.worldbank.org/mdgs/child_mortality.html Another plan for dealing with child mortality such as ways to reduce it, what the plan and strategy from this point of view and some of the results of the plan. Gives different diagram representations for different accomplishments in the world.

http://ctb.ku.edu/en/dothework/tk7_example_kenya.aspx Discusses ways to intervene in Kenya's issue of childhood mortality. It discusses the exact issues in Kenya, what needs to be done and how that will be accomplished in Kenya specifically. It is a small part of the overall world plan to reduce childhood mortality.

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

http://www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/diseases/en/index.html Very informative site on the progress of combating many diseases such as Tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/aids. Lots of numbers to really allow most people to have a better understanding.

http://www.one.org/c/international/issue/1117/ This site gives a very real description on the fight against disease and how its focused on the sub-saharan region."Approximately 11,700 people die every day from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Almost two-thirds of these people are living in sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 90% of malaria deaths, two-thirds of all people living with HIV, and nearly one-third of all TB cases. The human impact of these three diseases is undeniable, but their social and economic impacts are also severe and measurable. In sub-Saharan Africa especially, AIDS threatens to wipe out an entire generation during its most productive years." I never really realized how devastating these diseases can be to people that had no idea.

http://kidshealth.org/teen/infections/stds/std_hiv.html Very good "tutorial" on HIV/Aids. Anyone with questions should start here.

Malaria

http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/faqs.html

This site has a large collection on malaria and the developing of methods to better stop this disease from spreading and being acquired. The site also holds information about how a person can both prevent and treat malaria using anti-malarial drugs. The CDC site on malaria also has information on how the mosquito is major in the spread of malaria.

Aids

http://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/just-diagnosed-with-hiv-aids/treatment-options/first-steps-to-treatment/

This government run site, is major in assisting to support those that have Aids and the loved ones that want to give and receive support between each other. The site also informs on the stages of treatment and a step by step process to help those with Aids. Also, a person that want to help fund the research can find information on how to donate or sponsor Aids fundraising and awareness events.

Other Diseases

http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/index

This site begins by laying out options a person with cancer has for treatment. Also, by making a strong effort to raise funds and awareness they are able to research new ways to fight cancer effectively. By experimenting to find what medicines and medical procedures work the best to prevent cancer from forming, both slow-down and stop it from spreading, and completely remove it altogether.

7. Ensure environmental sustainability

U.S. Green Building Council http://www.usgbc.org/

The U.S. Green Building Council is an organization that encourages the building of cost and energy efficient buildings. This organization offers LEED certification, which helps to build sustainable buildings and helps to educate the public on the importance of green building. Sustainability is the key to our future because it helps to conserve and preserve our environment for future generations instead of destroying it with some of the construction methods we use now. This group is not only environmentally friendly but also promotes economic opportunity while saving the environment.

Clean Air Coucil http://www.cleanair.org/about_us

The Clean Air Council is an organization that protects our right to breathe clean air. This organization not only educates the public but they also ensure that environmental laws are being followed. The technology boom has increased our dependency on fossil fuels and the burning of fossil fuels is destroying our atmosphere and ruining our air. It is important that we have organizations fight for our right to clean air.

Clean Air-Cool Planet http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/about/index.php

Global warming is a big problem for the future of our earth and this organization is dedicated to raising awareness and finding solutions. They work with educational institutions, communities, and business to educate the public and to get people involved in reducing their carbon footprint. Everyone needs to do his or her part to make the change and stop global warming for future generations.

http://www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/diseases/en/index.html Very informative site on the progress of combating many diseases such as Tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/aids. Lots of numbers to really allow most people to have a better understanding.

http://www.one.org/c/international/issue/1117/ This site gives a very real description on the fight against disease and how its focused on the sub-saharan region."Approximately 11,700 people die every day from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Almost two-thirds of these people are living in sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 90% of malaria deaths, two-thirds of all people living with HIV, and nearly one-third of all TB cases. The human impact of these three diseases is undeniable, but their social and economic impacts are also severe and measurable. In sub-Saharan Africa especially, AIDS threatens to wipe out an entire generation during its most productive years." I never really realized how devastating these diseases can be to people that had no idea.

http://kidshealth.org/teen/infections/stds/std_hiv.html Very good "tutorial" on HIV/Aids. Anyone with questions should start here.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001646/ Very good information about Malaria such as symptoms, prevention and risk factors.

http://www.drinking-water.org/flash/en/water.html?_1_00_00

The Global Health and Education Foundation helps inform people about the goals of Millennium Development Goals. It explains how water can become contaminated and offers technological solutions to decontaminate the water. It discusses distribution systems for water treatment plants to the people, which is an important step.

http://www.csdw.org/csdw/index.shtml

P&G provides water purification packets that can turn unclean water to clean drinkable water. The use of biotechnology here allows for this company to help solve the problem of undrinkable water in rural areas. Further technological advancements can make the water purification packets more effective and cheaper in the future.

http://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.354.aspx.pdf

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment explores the use of biotechnolgy to decrease biodiversity loss in rural areas of the world. Technology advancements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide cleaner waste management systems can lead to a better biodiverse environment.

http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/index.html

Animal populations are disappearing at alarming rate, protecting animal species also contributes to a thriving, healthy planet for people’s health and well-being, and preserve the forest that slow climate change and filter water to ocean that provide more and 1/6 of the world’s food.

World Wildlife Fund protects wildlife. WWF’s vision is to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature. Their mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth.

http://www.epa.gov/espp/

America harbors a remarkable array of plant and animal species, ranging from majestic mammals like bison and grizzly bears to tiny desert wildflowers. Unfortunately, many of our species have not performed well over the past few decades suffering from habitat loss and the spread of invasive species.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducts ecological risk assessments to determine the ecological effects or toxicity of a pesticide and its breakdown products to various terrestrial and aquatic animals and plants and the chemical fate and transport of a pesticide in soil, air, and water resources.

http://www.conservation.org/where/oceans/Pages/overview.aspx

Climate change is one of the greatest environmental issues, and we need to act quickly and take advantage of existing solution to prevent irreversible damage to our planet. Natural ecosystems provide significant opportunities to cut emissions dramatically and to preserve the adaptive potential of our biosphere.

Conservation International engages with governments on local, regional, and national around the world to deal with high priority areas of concern with a common goal: to preserve natural resources for the benefit of all life on Earth.