The Millennium Development Goals In Action: Part I
Eradicate Extreme Poverty & Hunger
We hear much about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) but just exactly what are they and what are some real life examples?
Our eight part series, The MDGs in Action, looks at real life examples of each goal and the people working to achieve them.
MDG Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty & Hunger
A Programme In Action: United Nations World Food Programme
Your Action: Sign a petition, play an online game, answer six quick questions!
Your Action: Sign a petition, play an online game, answer six quick questions!
What is MDG 1?
From Africa and Asia to Latin America and the Near East, there are 925 million people in the world who do not get enough food to lead a normal, active life.
MDG 1 is: Eradicate extreme poverty & hunger
MDG in Action: United Nations World Food Programme
Photo: WFP/David Gross
The World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.
In emergencies, we get food to where it is needed, saving the lives of victims of war, civil conflict and natural disasters. After the cause of an emergency has passed, we use food to help communities rebuild their shattered lives.
WFP is part of the United Nations system and is voluntarily funded.
Born in 1962, WFP pursues a vision of the world in which every man, woman and child has access at all times to the food needed for an active and healthy life. We work towards that vision with our sister UN agencies in Rome -- the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) -- as well as other government, UN and NGO partners.
In 2010 we aim to reach more than 90 million people with food assistance in more than 70 countries. Around 10,000 people work for the organization, most of them in remote areas, directly serving the hungry poor.
WFP's five objectives:
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- Save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies
- Prepare for emergencies
- Restore and rebuild lives after emergencies
- Reduce chronic hunger and undernutrition everywhere
- Strengthen the capacity of countries to reduce hunger
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Are We On track With MDG 1?
You can download a PDF of the UN WFP Hunger Map. The map provides invaluable information that helps school teachers and children learn more about the biggest single risk to global health.
Though success was somewhat delayed by both immediate and longer lasting effects of the Global Financial Crisis, prior to the downturn, the depth of poverty had diminished in almost every region and it appears that the world is still on track to meet the poverty reduction target.
But while optimism is an important feature in facilitating dialogue and action to help achieve alleight of the Millennium Development Goals, the bleak realities must be acknowledged in order to establish where resources and attention are most urgently needed.
Threats to progress
A report detailing the progress of the MDGs in 2009 stated:
‘The declining trend in the rate of undernourishment in developing countries since 1990-1992 was reversed in 2008, largely due to escalating food prices. The proportion of people who are undernourished dropped from about 20 per cent in the early 1990s to about 16 per cent in the middle of the following decade. But provisional estimates indicate that it rose by a percentage point in 2008. Rapidly rising food prices caused the proportion of people going hungry in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania to increase in 2008. When China is excluded, the prevalence of hunger also rose in Eastern Asia. In most of the other regions, the effect was to arrest the downward trend.’
What is needed more critically then ever is a commitment to action for the next five years – in 2015 when the MDGs are supposed to be fulfilled – and indeed beyond, with a focus on all economies, including those of the very poorest nations. There is a dire need to achieve a full, production and legitimate workforce for all, particularly one that encourages woman into stable employment.
A global community The eight MDGs are inherently intertwined, and with small successes in each division will come slow but long lasting success that will contribute to the stability and security of a now truly global community.
In a recent report, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, in the lead-up to the UN Summit in New York (September), was quoted saying:
‘Billions of people are looking to the international community to realize the great vision embodied in the Millennium Declaration. Let us keep that promise.’
It is this commitment and vision that, despite some failure, will lead to the ultimate realization of MDGs in coming years.
Article written by Isabelle Tolhurst
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