Results of MDGs Media Mashup: workshop for teens

During the forum, we held a workshop for teens, geared toward raising awareness of the Millennium Development Goals via fun activities like creating a 30-second TV spot, storyboarding an online game, and making a skit or a song.

The MDGs Media Mashup workshop activities were designed to bridge issues such as tolerance, freedom, stereotypes, media bias, violence, and solidarity. Some examples are as follows:

News Reporting
As consumers and potential producers of news, how do we approach international news with a critical eye? What makes us good readers of news? How can we inform ourselves of bias in the news media? Where can we search for alternative news sources? What constitutes ‘fair and balanced’ reporting? What can we do to improve the quality of news we receive?
Compare what was reported on Darfur and what really happened.
Here are the materials from this workshop:
Crisis and Conscience: News Media for a Developing World

Music and Media
Participants brainstormed to develop one of the following projects or a project of their own, tying music to MDGs:
1. An international network of young musicians that use music to bridge cultural divides, to educate and empower other artists, to bond our culture to a sense of universal responsibility and to raise money or support for important causes.
2. A website/partnership that allows participants worldwide to create, mix and remix an evolving song that expresses solidarity and universal responsibility.
To continue discussions started during the workshop, check out the MDG Music for Peace Project wiki.

Game Creation for MDGs
Students came up with a concept and storyboard for a game that raises awareness of one or all of the MDGs.

For full descriptions of each of the workshop activities, go to the MDG Media Mashup info page.

About 70 teens participated, and based on feedback from both students and teachers, the workshop created a platform for some stimulating discussion and good ideas.

We'd like to invite the workshop partipants to use this space to continue the discussion by posting comments, links and thoughts...

Dialogue Session 6: Shared Responsibility and Partnership (ECOSOC)

"Responsibility for managing worldwide economic and social development, as well as threats to international peace and security, must be shared among the nations of the world and should be exercised multilaterally. As the most universal and most representative organization in the world, the United nations must play the central role." (MDG 8)

Moderator: Mr. Pete Engardio, Senior News Editor, "Business Week"

For more information on this panel, please click here.

If you have a question that you would like the panel to address, please post it in the comments for this entry.

Tolerance and Dialogue Session (ECOSOC Chamber, 3:15-4:45 EST)

This session is being transmitted on both the web and in Second Life at Global Kids Island.

(Update: The SL grid is currently down :-( . . . please use the web link above to watch the webcast. As soon as SL is back up, we will be having the forum.)

"Human beings must respect one another, in all their diversity of belief, culture and language. Differences between societies should be neither feared nor repressed, but cherished as a precious asset of humanity. A culture of peace and dialogue among all civilizations should be actively promoted."

Host: Mr. Georg Kell, Executive Head, UN Global Compact Office

Moderator: Ms. Katherine Marshall, Senior Advisor, World Bank

For more information about the panel, click here.

If you have a question you would like presented to the panel, please post a comment on this entry below.

The Digital Divide

Its difficult to talk about 'uniting our common humanity and how these values may be expressed globally through the Millennium Development Goals, empowered by the new and rapidly developing information and communication technologies' without bringing up the digital divide. So often, the people most affected by the MDGs are the ones without the access to the technology and information. We must think strategically about access and not forget about 'the global south' We must find innovative ways that involve more people in the important conversations that are happening.

Its always been a struggle for me to balance cool technology that will deliver engaging information with information that is just plain accessible to the most amount of people worldwide. Here are some simple ideas that have proven effective:

1. Downloadables that can be distributed offline
2. Information centres that can be synched up to a central database
3. Using old technology in innovative ways - Check out 'The Lifelines India Project'- a telephone-based question and answer service that enables marginalised communities in India to share knowledge and receive timely advice.
4. Utilize leap-frog technology. The cell phone is rapidly becoming the most widespread way to access text information. In some places more people have access to cellphones than to the internet.

To read more on this see The Digital Divide Network.

Examples of ICTs promoting positive social change

Let me briefly address this question "In this digital age, what role do information and communication technologies play in respecting and promoting these values?" Embedded in this question is the assumption that ICTs do actually play a positive role in supporting these values, which is not always bourne out in the real world. I.e. ICTs can and have been used to support tyranny, censorship, surveillance, unsustainable growth, racism and intolerance. So the real question is how do we leverage the enormous potential for ICTs to bring out our "better angels"?

There are no easy answers. But here are some encouraging signposts along the way:

• Viruses that are Good for You: As digital cameras, audio and video production gets more widely available around the world, people are able to get compelling and important "viral" messages out to an audience of millions. Cool projects: WITNESS (online video human rights monitoring project), Fighthunger.org Video Contest, Stand Up Against Poverty Videos
  
• Blogs Give Voice: The explosion of blogs have given voice to millions of people around the world (Technorati currently tracks 57 million blogs for example). Blog aggregators and other social networking tools are helping to promote cultural exchanges, understanding and tolerance. Cool projects: Global Voices Online (international blog aggregator with emphasis on the developing world), Omidyar.net (online collaboration space for social change.)


• Games for Good: Computer games are a powerful medium for reaching young people around the world, from Bombay to Johannesburg. Cool projects: PeaceMaker (promoting peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians), Food Force (teaching how humanitarian action works), Global Kids (promoting international youth cooperation through virtual worlds.)

These projects indicate that there is a lot of positive energy and creativity out there waiting to tackle the global challenges of hunger, poverty and environmental degradation using the tools of new media. While no replacement for the "traditional" media of radio, television and print, these ICT tools have the virtue of being more widely available and accessible for citizens around the globe. The challenge for governments and the telecom and media industries is to create open environments where these more broad-based communications tools can be used by more people, rather than be the subject of regulation, restriction and censorship.

Thus, it falls to institutions like the United Nations to use its global convening authority to bring together innovators from civil society, the private sector, and governments to better coordinate and scale up these ICT-empowered efforts to make a real difference by 2015.

Virtual and Real Worlds, Together Toward Progress

I read The Millennium Development Goals Report and I feel that the eight goals are relevant, important and essential. My first reaction is that the best use of information technology is the rapid dissemination of the best approaches and practices. Access to information and studies, and the documentation of successes could bridge the fragmented distribution of the public health initiatives and the myriad of organizations.

If the Information Age refers to a time when the velocity of information trumps physical progress, the challenge is then to preserve the human element. While we can fund literacy programs, education programs, computers in classrooms, we must also get the children into the classrooms. We should seek to ameliorate the human condition.

What I am unclear about--and would certainly be curious to learn--is the context of the Information Age in achieving these goals. It is important for program managers to share ideas and progress, but can information channels alone help the poorest of the poor climb out of abject poverty without the physical, human presence?

The realization of today's leaders of the importance of fundamental health issues is triumphant. Together, virtual and real worlds are tasked to carry this progress forward. The prospect of the Information Age may close the digital divide, but it may also hold promise to close the global divide.

I would be honored to listen to and participate in the UN's Forum on the Millennium Development Goals.

Virtual Forum for Teens

During the panel sessions, there will be a simultaneous virtual forum for teens being held in the 3D online world of Teen Second Life. Young people aged 13-17 are invited to go to Global Kids Island in Teen Second Life, where virtual auditoriums will be hosting the event. Even if a teen has no experience in Second Life, they can download the program for free, customize their “avatar,” then fly over to Global Kids Island to join in the forum. The Second Life integration, courtesy of Global Kids and ZoomLab will feature the live webcast being broadcast inside the virtual forum and youth-oriented discussions.

Virtual forum and resources provided by Mr. Barry Joseph and Ms. Tabitha Tsai at Global Kids, Josephine Dorado at ZoomLab, Mr. Dan Winckler, Ms. Joyce Bettencourt, and Mr. Jeremy Wang.

Webcast and Interactive Chatrooms

The live broadcast on 29 November 2006 consisted of live web streams with interactive chatrooms. Though those pages were only active during the live broadcast, you can still view the archived web streams. Links to the archived web streams are below.
You must have either RealPlayer or QuickTime Player to view them. Please allow several minutes for the files to download.

You can view the detailed programme to reference session information.

Archived web streams:
Plenary session (RealPlayer)
Dialogue session 1:
Freedom and development (RealPlayer)
Dialogue session 2:
Respect for nature and sustainable development (QuickTime)
Respect for nature and sustainable development (RealPlayer)
Dialogue session 3:
Equality and opportunity - (RealPlayer)
Dialogue session 4:
Tolerance and dialogue (QuickTime)
Tolerance and dialogue (RealPlayer)
Dialogue session 5:
Solidarity and equity (RealPlayer)
Dialogue session 6:
Shared responsibility and partnership (QuickTime)

View images from the conference on our Flickr page
View a selection of video clips from the conference on our youtube page

For programme notes, please reference the following links:
Our Common Humanity Forum Programme
Our Common Humanity Forum Programme - detailed

Questions to ask ourselves

• Does humanity share common values?
• Do you see a link between the MDGs and our common values?
• How can we emphasize this link in implementing the MDGs?
• What can we do to make these values a heritage for all of humanity?
• Are these values being considered in how the international community promotes peace and development?
• Are the MDGs enough for development?
• In this digital age, what role do information and communication technologies play in respecting and promoting these values?
• How can we engage the international community / public in this campaign of promoting our common values?
• Are the MDGs a contract? If we do not accomplish these goals, how do we rate our success, capacity, and commitment?
• How would this reflect on the legitimacy and commitment of the United Nations, its member states, and other organs toward accomplishing these goals?
• What effect, if any, would this have on future initiatives aimed at development?
• How do we create a roadmap to action? What is the process to implement our dialogue?

Teen Workshop: MDGs Media Mashup

29 November, 1:15-2:45pm EST (location: Ex Press Bar, 3rd Floor)

We held a workshop for teens, geared toward raising awareness of the Millennium Development Goals via fun activities like creating a 30-second TV spot, storyboarding an online game, and making a skit or a song.

Facilitated by Luma Alsaleh, Marlon Barrios-Solano, Sandra Behar, Paul Cochran, Tina Gongsakdi, Debra Cole, Hugo Berkeley, Josephine Dorado, Medard Gabel, Idrissa Mamane Rabiou, Ben Robison, Bhaskar Sahrawat, Robert David Steele (Vivas), Naveena Swamy.

Those who participated in the workshop are invited to continue discussions by posting comments and links to the workshop results page.

The workshop was divided into the following activities:

Activity 1:
Tolerance and Media
Show pictures of men and women in printed ads, and let the student themselves explain how these pictures might promote hatred, stereotypes, , tolerance, equality/inequality of individuals.
Facilitated by Idrissa Mamane Rabiou and Bhaskar Sahrawat.
Key lesson/value: Tolerance and Media.

Activity 2:
News Reporting
As consumers and potential producers of news, how do we approach international news with a critical eye? What makes us good readers of news? How can we inform ourselves of bias in the news media? Where can we search for alternative news sources? What constitutes ‘fair and balanced’ reporting? What can we do to improve the quality of news we receive?
Compare what was reported on Darfur and what really happened.
Facilitated by Hugo Berkeley (Film/TV Producer, A Normal Life), Paul Cochran (Journalist, Lebanon), and Debra Cole (Attorney).
Key Lesson: Freedom and Media
Here are the materials from this workshop:
Crisis and Conscience: News Media for a Developing World

Activity 3:
Violence and Media
Ask students to list number of shows and ask them to categorize them in which they feel which ones promote violence and which don't. Compare the results of the students to the results that have been published by the Parents TV Council.
Facilitated by Luma Alsaleh and Sandra Behar.
Key Lesson: Violence and Media

Activity 4
Music and Media
Participants will brainstorm to develop one of the following projects or a project of their own, tying music to MDGs:
1. An international network of young musicians that use music to bridge cultural divides, to educate and empower other artists, to bond our culture to a sense of universal responsibility and to raise money or support for important causes.
2. A website/partnership that allows participants worldwide to create, mix and
remix an evolving song that expresses solidarity and universal responsibility.
Facilitated by composer/programmer/violinist/media artist, Ben Robison. Ben co-founded Musicians Alliance for Peace, which holds an annual global network of concerts for peace called the Music for Peace project.
Key Lesson: MDG awareness
To continue discussions started during the workshop, check out the MDG Music for Peace Project wiki.

Activity 5
Movement & Media: Media_Movement_Score
Using improvisational movement games, students will explore and experience the power of collective intelligence and the emergent creative potential of collaborative processes and its relation with group and creativity. A Connected body awareness is the ground for a new understanding of information and communication technologies and any development goals.
Facilitated by Marlon Barrios-Solano. Marlon is a programmer, choreographer, dancer, video artist and teacher and works primarily in interactive art and performance.
Key Lesson: MDG awareness

Activity 6
Game Creation for MDGs
Ask students to come up with a concept and storyboard for a game that will raise awareness of one or all of the MDGs.
Facilitated by Tina Gongsakdi, Video Hub Producer; Medard Gabel, game designer for Design Science Lab; Robert David Steele (Vivas), founder and CEO of oss.net; and Naveena Swamy, game designer/co-founder RoboTech Center®.
Key Lesson: MDG awareness

Those who participated in the workshop are invited to continue discussions by posting comments and links to the workshop results page.

United Nations Millennium Development Goals

Goal 1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Global poverty rates are falling, led by Asia. But millions more people have sunk deep into poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, where the poor are getting poorer.

Progress has been made against hunger, but slow growth of agricultural output and expanding populations have led to setbacks in some regions. Since 1990, millions more people are chronically hungry in sub-Saharan Africa and in Southern Asia, where half the children under age 5 are malnourished.

Goal 2 Achieve universal primary education

Five developing regions are approaching universal enrolment. But in sub-Saharan Africa, fewer than two thirds of children are enrolled in primary school. Other regions, including Southern Asia and Oceania, also have a long way to go. In these regions and elsewhere, increased enrolment must be accompanied by efforts to ensure that all children remain in school and receive a high-quality education.

Goal 3 Promote gender equality and empower women

The gender gap is closing — albeit slowly — in primary school enrolment in the developing world. This is a first step towards easing long-standing inequalities between women and men. In almost all developing regions, women represent a smaller share of wage earners than men and are often relegated to insecure and poorly paid jobs. Though progress is being made, women still lack equal representation at the highest levels of government, holding only 16 per cent of parliamentary seats worldwide.

Goal 4 Reduce child mortality

Death rates in children under age 5 are dropping. But not fast enough. Eleven million children a year — 30,000 a day — die from preventable or treatable causes. Most of these lives could be saved by expanding existing programmes that promote simple, low-cost solutions.

Goal 5 Improve maternal health

More than half a million women die each year during pregnancy or childbirth. Twenty times that number suffer serious injury or disability. Some progress has been made in reducing maternal deaths in developing regions, but not in the countries where giving birth is most risky.

Goal 6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

AIDS has become the leading cause of premature death in sub-Saharan Africa and the fourth largest killer worldwide. In the European countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and parts of Asia, HIV is spreading at an alarming rate. Though new drug treatments prolong life, there is no cure for AIDS, and prevention efforts must be intensified in every region of the world if the target is to be reached.

Malaria and tuberculosis together kill nearly as many people each year as AIDS, and represent a severe drain on national economies. Ninety per cent of malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa, where prevention and treatment efforts are being scaled up. Tuberculosis is on the rise, partly as a result of HIV/AIDS, though a new international protocol to detect and treat the disease is showing promise.

Goal 7 Ensure environmental sustainability

Most countries have committed to the principles of sustainable development. But this has not resulted in sufficient progress to reverse the loss of the world’s environmental resources. Achieving the goal will require greater attention to the plight of the poor, whose day-to-day subsistence is often directly linked to the natural resources around them, and an unprecedented level of global cooperation. Action to prevent further deterioration of the ozone layer shows that progress is possible.

Access to safe drinking water has increased, but half the developing world still lack toilets or other forms of basic sanitation. Nearly 1 billion people live in urban slums because the growth of the urban population is outpacing improvements in housing and the availability of productive jobs.

Goal 8 Develop a global partnership for development

The United Nations Millennium Declaration represents a global social compact: developing countries will do more to ensure their own development, and developed countries will support them through aid, debt relief and better opportunities for trade. Progress in each of these areas has already begun to yield results. But developed countries have fallen short of targets they have set for themselves. To achieve the Millennium Development Goals, increased aid and debt relief must be accompanied by further opening of trade, accelerated transfer of technology and improved employment opportunities for the growing ranks of young people in the developing world.


Source: The Millennium Development Goals Report 2005 [1]

For more information on the MDGs, please visit: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
[1] http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/pdf/MDG%20Book.pdf

Issue Papers

Following are links to issue papers on the Millennium Development Goals:

Freedom and Development

Solidarity

Shared Responsibility and Partnership


*************************************************************************************
These views expressed in these papers do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development and its partners, the United Nations itself, any of its organs or agencies, nor of any other organizations or institutions mentioned or discussed. These papers are only meant to encourage debate and stimulate discussion on the theme and topics of the event.
*************************************************************************************

Issues Paper on Shared Responsibility

The Millennium Declaration lists several fundamental principles and values deemed to be essential to international relations in the 21st century. These include the need for shared responsibility amongst all nations of the world for the betterment of both North and South alike. In particular, it stresses that responsibility for managing worldwide economic and social development, as well as threats to international peace and security, must be shared among all nations of the world and should be exercised multilaterally. To that end, the United Nations, as the most universal and most representative organization in the world, needs to play a central role.

To help translate this common approach into effective national and international action, countries will need to lend increased focus to the objectives contained in the Millennium Development Goal #8 on Developing a Global Partnership for Development.

With regard to the target of developing further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system, while some progress has recently been achieved by developing countries in gaining greater access to markets, many goods that are important to their economies, such as clothing and farm products, are still heavily taxed. Greater political determination is needed to bring about a reduction in trade barriers so that developing countries may progress further towards this target.

Another critical objective is the need to deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt. Future debt payments for 29 heavily indebted countries have fallen by $59 billion dollars since 1998, bringing their debt service to less than 7% of export earnings. Yet, for many poor countries, even this reduced level is too high. Moreover, several countries that remain potentially eligible for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative are kept out of the running by conflict, poor governance and arrears in payment.

Greater cooperation must take place in addressing the special needs of the least developed countries, landlocked countries and small island developing states. Aid to developing countries has increased steadily to $106 billion since 1997. Debt relief has accounted for over half of this increase since 1997 and three quarters of it since 1995. However, this relief, while welcome, will not necessarily release more money for poverty reduction. Similarly, emergency and disaster relief, also a large part of the increase in aid, does not address long-term development needs. The 50 least developed countries now receive about one third of all aid flows, and donors have pledged to double aid flows to Africa, where most of these countries are located, by 2010. Only 5 countries-Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Luxemburg and the Netherlands have met the United Nations aid target of 0.7% of GNP, although 11 more European Union countries have pledged to do so by 2015.

Concerted worldwide action is sorely needed to develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth. Since 1995, the number of young people throughout the world has grown by 135 million. During the same period, the number of unemployed youth has risen from 72.8 to 85.7 million. Youth now represents half the world’s 192 million unemployed. Without sufficient employment opportunities, many young people grow discouraged and feel worthless. This presents an especially urgent challenge for developing countries, home to 85% of the world’s youth. The integration of youth into the labour market is critical for future growth and for arresting the intergenerational transmission of poverty.

Access to affordable essential pharmaceutical drugs, particularly for treating HIV, is critically important for developing countries. For this target to be achieved, countries must work closely with pharmaceutical companies to provide adequate access. Between 2001 and 2005, the number of people on antiretroviral therapy in low and middle-income countries increased fivefold, from 240,000 to 1.3 million. The scale-up was most dramatic in sub-Saharan Africa: from 100,000 at the end of 2003 to 810,000 just two years later. Unfortunately, the target set in 2003 of reaching at least half of those in need of therapy has been missed, and antiretroviral drugs reach only one in five globally.

Collective efforts must also be made to ensure that the benefits of new technologies, particularly ICTs, are made available to all. On an encouraging note, telecommunications growth has been particularly strong; the number of subscribers to fixed and mobile telephones rose from 530 million in 1990 to almost 3 billion (almost half the world’s population) in 2004. However, by the end of 2004, only a mere 14% of the world’s population was using the internet, with a huge digital divide still separating developed and developing countries. While over half of the population in developed regions had access to the internet, only 7% did in developing regions, with less than 1% in the 50 least developed countries.

As it can be seen, there is a need for a real cooperation between the developed and developing countries, and between the rich and the poor worldwide.

Issues Paper on Solidarity

The concept of solidarity gets to the heart of our common humanity. And has multiple manifestations, more indeed than are usually recognized. Perhaps the most visible is when people unite in the face of humanitarian disasters. In the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami, the overwhelming response of the international community showed just how much can be accomplished through global solidarity.

The UN Development Agenda, defined by the UN global conferences and summits since the 1990s, is itself firmly embedded in principles of solidarity.

The Agenda expresses the economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights of world citizens. Indeed, it has firm roots in the history of struggle by international civil society for human rights, social equity, gender equality, environmental protection, and, more recently, for the globalization of cultural diversity and of solidarity itself. The Agenda articulates shared principles and consensus on policy options to address common, interconnected problems. And it sets out agreed goals and targets—such as the eight Millennium Development Goals—to help advance and assess implementation.

The World Summit for Social Development made clear the links between the UN Development Agenda and the principles of solidarity, when it recognized that “development and social progress will require increased solidarity, expressed through appropriate multilateral programmes and strengthened international cooperation.” This is what the General Assembly has recognized by calling for an International Human Solidarity Day as a new force in the fight against poverty and under-development.

All types of international economic cooperation are not necessarily forms of solidarity. Many are mainly ways of managing interdependence, which is, for example, the driving concept behind the provision of global public goods, such as environmental sustainability or the regulation of international economic transactions.

Yet, many of the tools we have in hand for combating poverty—and for seeking to make globalization a positive force for all—are motivated by solidarity. Development aid is, in this regard, a practical manifestation of human solidarity, as it extends opportunity to the less fortunate around the world.

For many countries, official development assistance (ODA) is vital to achieving the MDGs and other development goals. We are still far from reaching the long-standing target of 0.7 percent of GDP for ODA, today met by only a few countries. Scaling-up development aid flows, strengthening aid effectiveness, and maximizing ODA’s impact on poverty reduction are all of critical importance.

New forms of solidarity are emerging on this front, which should complement and not replace existing ODA obligations. Some of the most promising are the initiatives on innovative sources of financing for development, including the international solidarity contribution on airplane tickets that some countries have already put in place.

External debt relief can help in liberating resources for poverty reduction, as with the decision to cancel the debt of 18 heavily indebted poor countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Debt burden, however, still weighs heavily on many developing countries. And we have an ethical obligation to ensure that debt relief funds are directed towards poverty reduction financing, such as for primary health care services, immunizations, education, and access to water.

Meaningful efforts against poverty will also require much more attention to developing genuinely integrated economic and social policies that aim at preventing economic crises and developing permanent social protection systems. To be effective, these systems must provide for universal coverage based on solidarity principles, and cover basic risks in an integrated way, particularly nutrition, health, ageing, and unemployment.

Within today’s rapid globalization process, rising inequalities within and among countries, and unsustainable forms of economic development, we must also devote more attention and creativity to supporting the role of economic solidarity. Indeed, the reproduction of old and the creation of new forms of economic solidarity, in this era of globalization and the profit motive, is a clear manifestation of the idea, expressed by major thinkers such as Austrian anthropologist Karl Polanyi, which some would still see as a paradox: that is, that the market economy can only prosper when subordinated to broader social objectives, which themselves must be firmly embedded in principles of solidarity.

Solidarity has a long-standing economic dimension, evident in activities that have evolved as a means for societies and groups to address social, economic, or environmental challenges that are not or are inadequately met by government or by the market.

An old, yet still quite prevalent, example is the “self-help” we see, particularly among the poorest and most marginalized persons in society. These have evolved, in turn, from older manifestations of solidarity, such as those that we still see today in indigenous communities or indeed the extended family. These sorts of activities can, in fact, embrace and engage large sectors of a population, including farmers, women and household members, young people, trade union members, and the unemployed who may be marginalized by the workings of market mechanisms.

We also see the economic dimension of solidarity in what we have come to call “social enterprise”: the work of an expanding array of organizations such as cooperatives, mutual societies, voluntary and civil society organisations, foundations, and associations.

Cooperatives, which emerged as early as the 19th century, are today prominent in the areas of agricultural production, crafts, retailing, banking, and microfinance. Mutual societies are predominantly active in the insurance and mortgage sectors, while associations and foundations figure strongly in the provision of health and welfare services, sports and recreation, culture, environmental regeneration, and humanitarian assistance. The so-called “care economy” that has emerged to confront some social dimensions of our changing societies, particularly ageing, has some similarities with these older concepts. There are also a growing number of businesses that employ staff who are marginalized, such as those with mental health and drug problems and the homeless.

Many of these enterprises are run like businesses to produce goods and services for the market economy, but they manage their operations and redirect their surplus in pursuit of social, environmental, and community goals. And they tend to give particular importance to citizen empowerment and social change through responsible citizenship, with control over what they and their members produce, consume, save, invest, and exchange.

Economic solidarity is also demonstrated by the ideals of not free but “fair trade”, where profit maximization is not the sole end. Rather, the emerging world of “fair trade” emphasizes greater equity in international transactions, where farmers are given a better income, international environmental and labour standards are met, and child labour is shunned.

In this technological age, we are even seeing the growth of an open source software movement as a vehicle for bridging the digital divide and an emerging model for cooperative copyright and intellectual copyright arrangements. And we are also seeing a global movement aimed at guaranteeing firm respect for traditional knowledge and folklore within the rules of intellectual property protection.

Economic solidarity holds great promise in specific development areas. Urban migrants, by tapping their traditional rural networks, can play a role in promoting urban development, in a time when rural-to-urban migration continues unabated. Overseas migrant workers, especially with the weight of remittances, can become active players in development through forms of economic solidarity. Indigenous peoples, with their traditional values of communal solidarity and mutual help and traditional skills, can increasingly reach niche markets globally, but more importantly, best serve their communities.

All of this points to the need for global initiatives and national policies that will strengthen the economic, social, and humanitarian dimensions of solidarity.

*Based on the Statement by Mr. José Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs at the Launch of International Human Solidarity Day
New York, 10 November 2006

Issues Paper on Freedom and Development

Heads of State and Government at the Millennium Summit recognized the value of freedom, along with other fundamental values and principles, as essential to maintaining international relations in the twenty-first century. They also ascribed an important relationship between freedom and development, noting how the value of freedom could be translated to concrete action through the attainment of key objectives enshrined in the Millennium Declaration, including the Millennium Development Goals.

The Millennium Declaration embraced a broader understanding of freedom, defining it not only in the context of “violence, oppression or injustice”, but also as being the right of men and women “to live their lives and raise their children in dignity, free from hunger…” In doing so, the Millennium Declaration defined freedom, not only from a political perspective, but also from a development and socio-economic one. Although the relationship between freedom and development has been examined and studied by development practitioners for a long time, the acknowledgement of this relationship in the Declaration reflects the international community’s affirmation of the role of development in preserving and promoting true freedom for people around the world.

During the Summit, governments vowed to “spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject of dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected”. But enormous challenges lie ahead in breaking the shackles of poverty and underdevelopment.

We live in a world where more than a billion still live on less than a dollar day and suffer under extreme poverty and hunger. In sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, millions of people are chronically hungry; half of children under 5 are malnourished. The spread of diseases also continue to destroy the lives of millions of people worldwide. HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases kill millions of people each year and, in sub-Saharan Africa, AIDS has now become the leading cause of premature death. In the developing world, many people are subjected to poor living conditions, with millions not even having access to safe drinking water. It is estimated that half the developing world even lack toilets or other forms of basic sanitation.

The Millennium Declaration provides us with the blueprint for action in eradicating poverty and freeing people from dehumanizing conditions of underdevelopment. Governments at the Millennium Summit resolved to create an environment both at the national and international levels that would be conducive to the elimination of poverty and advancing development. They also recognized that developing countries, in particular, small-island developing States and landlocked developing countries, should be supported in mobilizing the needed resources to finance their growth and development. Furthermore, governments have set upon themselves the Millennium Development Goals, which are quantifiable targets that need to be achieved by 2015 in the areas of poverty eradication, universal primary education, child mortality, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, among others.

Governments also recognized that respect for the value of freedom would be incomplete if we fail to strengthen the rule of law and recognize the fundamental human rights and freedoms of our citizens. To achieve this, concerted effort to promote democracy and participatory governance, both at the national and international levels, are needed.

United Nations Millennium Declaration

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly

55/2. United Nations Millennium Declaration

The General Assembly
Adopts the following Declaration:

United Nations Millennium Declaration

I. Values and principles

1. We, heads of State and Government, have gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 6 to 8 September 2000, at the dawn of a new millennium, to reaffirm our faith in the Organization and its Charter as indispensable foundations of a more peaceful, prosperous and just world.

2. We recognize that, in addition to our separate responsibilities to our individual societies, we have a collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level. As leaders we have a duty therefore to all the world’s people, especially the most vulnerable and, in particular, the children of the world, to whom the future belongs.

3. We reaffirm our commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, which have proved timeless and universal. Indeed, their relevance and capacity to inspire have increased, as nations and peoples have become increasingly interconnected and interdependent.

4. We are determined to establish a just and lasting peace all over the world in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter. We rededicate ourselves to support all efforts to uphold the sovereign equality of all States, respect for their territorial integrity and political independence, resolution of disputes by peaceful means and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, the right to self-determination of peoples which remain under colonial domination and foreign occupation, non-interference in the internal affairs of States, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for the equal rights of all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion and international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character.

5. We believe that the central challenge we face today is to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all the world’s people. For while globalization offers great opportunities, at present its benefits are very unevenly shared, while its costs are unevenly distributed. We recognize that developing countries and countries with economies in transition face special difficulties in responding to this central challenge. Thus, only through broad and sustained efforts to create a shared future, based upon our common humanity in all its diversity, can globalization be made fully inclusive and equitable. These efforts must include policies and measures, at the global level, which correspond to the needs of developing countries and economies in transition and are formulated and implemented with their effective participation.
6. We consider certain fundamental values to be essential to international relations in the twenty-first century. These include:

• Freedom. Men and women have the right to live their lives and raise their children in dignity, free from hunger and from the fear of violence, oppression or injustice. Democratic and participatory governance based on the will of the people best assures these rights.
• Equality. No individual and no nation must be denied the opportunity to benefit from development. The equal rights and opportunities of women and men must be assured.
• Solidarity. Global challenges must be managed in a way that distributes the costs and burdens fairly in accordance with basic principles of equity and social justice. Those who suffer or who benefit least deserve help from those who benefit most.
• Tolerance. Human beings must respect one other, in all their diversity of belief, culture and language. Differences within and between societies should be neither feared nor repressed, but cherished as a precious asset of humanity. A culture of peace and dialogue among all civilizations should be actively promoted.
• Respect for nature. Prudence must be shown in the management of all living species and natural resources, in accordance with the precepts of sustainable development. Only in this way can the immeasurable riches provided to us by nature be preserved and passed on to our descendants. The current unsustainable patterns of production and consumption must be changed in the interest of our future welfare and that of our descendants.
• Shared responsibility. Responsibility for managing worldwide economic and social development, as well as threats to international peace and security, must be shared among the nations of the world and should be exercised multilaterally. As the most universal and most representative organization in the world, the United Nations must play the central role.

7. In order to translate these shared values into actions, we have identified key objectives to which we assign special significance.

II. Peace, security and disarmament

8. We will spare no effort to free our peoples from the scourge of war, whether within or between States, which has claimed more than 5 million lives in the past decade. We will also seek to eliminate the dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction.

9. We resolve therefore:

• To strengthen respect for the rule of law in international as in national affairs and, in particular, to ensure compliance by Member States with the decisions of the International Court of Justice, in compliance with the Charter of the United Nations, in cases to which they are parties.
• To make the United Nations more effective in maintaining peace and security by giving it the resources and tools it needs for conflict prevention, peaceful resolution of disputes, peacekeeping, post-conflict peace-building and reconstruction. In this context, we take note of the report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations and request the General Assembly to consider its recommendations expeditiously.
• To strengthen cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations, in accordance with the provisions of Chapter VIII of the Charter.
• To ensure the implementation, by States Parties, of treaties in areas such as arms control and disarmament and of international humanitarian law and human rights law, and call upon all States to consider signing and ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
• To take concerted action against international terrorism, and to accede as soon as possible to all the relevant international conventions.
• To redouble our efforts to implement our commitment to counter the world drug problem.
• To intensify our efforts to fight transnational crime in all its dimensions, including trafficking as well as smuggling in human beings and money laundering.
• To minimize the adverse effects of United Nations economic sanctions on innocent populations, to subject such sanctions regimes to regular reviews and to eliminate the adverse effects of sanctions on third parties.
• To strive for the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, and to keep all options open for achieving this aim, including the possibility of convening an international conference to identify ways of eliminating nuclear dangers.
• To take concerted action to end illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons, especially by making arms transfers more transparent and supporting regional disarmament measures, taking account of all the recommendations of the forthcoming United Nations Conference on Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons.
• To call on all States to consider acceding to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, as well as the amended mines protocol to the Convention on conventional weapons.
10. We urge Member States to observe the Olympic Truce, individually and collectively, now and in the future, and to support the International Olympic Committee in its efforts to promote peace and human understanding through sport and the Olympic Ideal.

III. Development and poverty eradication

11. We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected. We are committed to making the right to development a reality for everyone and to freeing the entire human race from want.

12. We resolve therefore to create an environment – at the national and global levels alike – which is conducive to development and to the elimination of poverty.

13. Success in meeting these objectives depends, inter alia, on good governance within each country. It also depends on good governance at the international level and on transparency in the financial, monetary and trading systems. We are committed to an open, equitable, rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading and financial system.

14. We are concerned about the obstacles developing countries face in mobilizing the resources needed to finance their sustained development. We will therefore make every effort to ensure the success of the High-level International and Intergovernmental Event on Financing for Development, to be held in 2001.

15. We also undertake to address the special needs of the least developed countries. In this context, we welcome the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries to be held in May 2001 and will endeavour to ensure its success. We call on the industrialized countries:

• To adopt, preferably by the time of that Conference, a policy of duty- and quota-free access for essentially all exports from the least developed countries;
• To implement the enhanced programme of debt relief for the heavily indebted poor countries without further delay and to agree to cancel all official bilateral debts of those countries in return for their making demonstrable commitments to poverty reduction; and
• To grant more generous development assistance, especially to countries that are genuinely making an effort to apply their resources to poverty reduction.

16. We are also determined to deal comprehensively and effectively with the debt problems of low- and middle-income developing countries, through various national and international measures designed to make their debt sustainable in the long term.

17. We also resolve to address the special needs of small island developing States, by implementing the Barbados Programme of Action and the outcome of the twenty-second special session of the General Assembly rapidly and in full. We urge the international community to ensure that, in the development of a vulnerability index, the special needs of small island developing States are taken into account.

18. We recognize the special needs and problems of the landlocked developing countries, and urge both bilateral and multilateral donors to increase financial and technical assistance to this group of countries to meet their special development needs and to help them overcome the impediments of geography by improving their transit transport systems.

19. We resolve further:

• To halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world’s people whose income is less than one dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and, by the same date, to halve the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water.
• To ensure that, by the same date, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling and that girls and boys will have equal access to all levels of education.
• By the same date, to have reduced maternal mortality by three quarters, and under-five child mortality by two thirds, of their current rates.
• To have, by then, halted, and begun to reverse, the spread of HIV/AIDS, the scourge of malaria and other major diseases that afflict humanity.
• To provide special assistance to children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
• By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers as proposed in the "Cities Without Slums" initiative.
20. We also resolve:
• To promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable.
• To develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work.
• To encourage the pharmaceutical industry to make essential drugs more widely available and affordable by all who need them in developing countries.
• To develop strong partnerships with the private sector and with civil society organizations in pursuit of development and poverty eradication.
• To ensure that the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication technologies, in conformity with recommendations contained in the ECOSOC 2000 Ministerial Declaration, are available to all.

IV. Protecting our common environment

21. We must spare no effort to free all of humanity, and above all our children and grandchildren, from the threat of living on a planet irredeemably spoilt by human activities, and whose resources would no longer be sufficient for their needs.

22. We reaffirm our support for the principles of sustainable development, including those set out in Agenda 21, agreed upon at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.

23. We resolve therefore to adopt in all our environmental actions a new ethic of conservation and stewardship and, as first steps, we resolve:

• To make every effort to ensure the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol, preferably by the tenth anniversary of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 2002, and to embark on the required reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases.
• To intensify our collective efforts for the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.
• To press for the full implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa.
• To stop the unsustainable exploitation of water resources by developing water management strategies at the regional, national and local levels, which promote both equitable access and adequate supplies.
• To intensify cooperation to reduce the number and effects of natural and man-made disasters.
• To ensure free access to information on the human genome sequence.
V. Human rights, democracy and good governance

24. We will spare no effort to promote democracy and strengthen the rule of law, as well as respect for all internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development.

25. We resolve therefore:

• To respect fully and uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• To strive for the full protection and promotion in all our countries of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights for all.
• To strengthen the capacity of all our countries to implement the principles and practices of democracy and respect for human rights, including minority rights.
• To combat all forms of violence against women and to implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
• To take measures to ensure respect for and protection of the human rights of migrants, migrant workers and their families, to eliminate the increasing acts of racism and xenophobia in many societies and to promote greater harmony and tolerance in all societies.
• To work collectively for more inclusive political processes, allowing genuine participation by all citizens in all our countries.
• To ensure the freedom of the media to perform their essential role and the right of the public to have access to information.

VI. Protecting the vulnerable

26. We will spare no effort to ensure that children and all civilian populations that suffer disproportionately the consequences of natural disasters, genocide, armed conflicts and other humanitarian emergencies are given every assistance and protection so that they can resume normal life as soon as possible.

We resolve therefore:
• To expand and strengthen the protection of civilians in complex emergencies, in conformity with international humanitarian law.
• To strengthen international cooperation, including burden sharing in, and the coordination of humanitarian assistance to, countries hosting refugees and to help all refugees and displaced persons to return voluntarily to their homes, in safety and dignity and to be smoothly reintegrated into their societies.
• To encourage the ratification and full implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its optional protocols on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

VII. Meeting the special needs of Africa

27. We will support the consolidation of democracy in Africa and assist Africans in their struggle for lasting peace, poverty eradication and sustainable development, thereby bringing Africa into the mainstream of the world economy.

28. We resolve therefore:
• To give full support to the political and institutional structures of emerging democracies in Africa.
• To encourage and sustain regional and subregional mechanisms for preventing conflict and promoting political stability, and to ensure a reliable flow of resources for peacekeeping operations on the continent.
• To take special measures to address the challenges of poverty eradication and sustainable development in Africa, including debt cancellation, improved market access, enhanced Official Development Assistance and increased flows of Foreign Direct Investment, as well as transfers of technology.
• To help Africa build up its capacity to tackle the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other infectious diseases.

VIII. Strengthening the United Nations

29. We will spare no effort to make the United Nations a more effective instrument for pursuing all of these priorities: the fight for development for all the peoples of the world, the fight against poverty, ignorance and disease; the fight against injustice; the fight against violence, terror and crime; and the fight against the degradation and destruction of our common home.

30. We resolve therefore:
• To reaffirm the central position of the General Assembly as the chief deliberative, policy-making and representative organ of the United Nations, and to enable it to play that role effectively.
• To intensify our efforts to achieve a comprehensive reform of the Security Council in all its aspects.
• To strengthen further the Economic and Social Council, building on its recent achievements, to help it fulfil the role ascribed to it in the Charter.
• To strengthen the International Court of Justice, in order to ensure justice and the rule of law in international affairs.
• To encourage regular consultations and coordination among the principal organs of the United Nations in pursuit of their functions.
• To ensure that the Organization is provided on a timely and predictable basis with the resources it needs to carry out its mandates.
• To urge the Secretariat to make the best use of those resources, in accordance with clear rules and procedures agreed by the General Assembly, in the interests of all Member States, by adopting the best management practices and technologies available and by concentrating on those tasks that reflect the agreed priorities of Member States.
• To promote adherence to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel.
• To ensure greater policy coherence and better cooperation between the United Nations, its agencies, the Bretton Woods Institutions and the World Trade Organization, as well as other multilateral bodies, with a view to achieving a fully coordinated approach to the problems of peace and development.
• To strengthen further cooperation between the United Nations and national parliaments through their world organization, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, in various fields, including peace and security, economic and social development, international law and human rights and democracy and gender issues.
• To give greater opportunities to the private sector, non-governmental organizations and civil society, in general, to contribute to the realization of the Organization’s goals and programmes.

31. We request the General Assembly to review on a regular basis the progress made in implementing the provisions of this Declaration, and ask the Secretary-General to issue periodic reports for consideration by the General Assembly and as a basis for further action.

32. We solemnly reaffirm, on this historic occasion, that the United Nations is the indispensable common house of the entire human family, through which we will seek to realize our universal aspirations for peace, cooperation and development. We therefore pledge our unstinting support for these common objectives and our determination to achieve them.

8th plenary meeting
8 September 2000

Website: http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm

For more information on the Millennium Summit, please visit: http://www.un.org/millennium/

Shared Responsibility and Partnership

“Responsibility for managing worldwide economic and social development, as well as threats to international peace and security, must be shared among the nations of the world and should be exercised multilaterally. As the most universal and most representative organization in the world, the United Nations must play the central role”*. (MDG 8)

• How can humanity express Shared Responsibility and Partnership through the Millennium Development Goals?
• If we agree that we share the value of Shared Responsibly and Partnership, in what ways could this help us to achieve the MDGs?

1. Is Shared Responsibility and Partnership a shared value?
2. If so, can Shared Responsibility and Partnership be expressed through one or more of the MDGs?
3. If we live the value of Shared Responsibility and Partnership, could we accomplish these MDGs?
4. If so, what are the obstacles to achieving this?
5. What can we do to overcome these obstacles?

Solidarity and Equity

“Global challenges must be managed in a way that distributes the costs and burdens fairly in accordance with basic principles of equity and social justice. Those who suffer or who benefit least deserve help from those who benefit most”.* (MDG 8)

• How can humanity express Solidarity and Equity through the Millennium Development Goals?
• If we agree that we share the value of Solidarity and Equity, in what ways could this help us to achieve the MDGs?

1. Is Solidarity and Equity a shared value?
2. If so, can Solidarity and Equity be expressed through one or more of the MDGs?
3. If we live the value of Solidarity and Equity, could we accomplish these MDGs?
4. If so, what are the obstacles to achieving this?
5. What can we do to overcome these obstacles?

Tolerance and Dialogue

“Human beings must respect one other, in all their diversity of belief, culture and language. Differences within and between societies should be neither feared nor repressed, but cherished as a previous asset of humanity. A culture of peace and dialogue among all civilizations should be actively promoted. Disposition and closeness”.* Education (MDG 1-8)

• How can humanity express Tolerance and Dialogue through the Millennium Development Goals?
• If we agree that we share the value of Tolerance and Dialogue, in what ways could this help us to achieve the MDGs?

1. Is Tolerance and Dialogue a shared value?
2. If so, can Tolerance and Dialogue be expressed through one or more of the MDGs?
3. If we live the value of Tolerance and Dialogue, could we accomplish these MDGs?
4. If so, what are the obstacles to achieving this?
5. What can we do to overcome these obstacles?

Equality and Opportunity

“No individual and no nation must be denied the opportunity to benefit from development. The equal rights and opportunities of women and men must be assured”.* Promote gender equality and empower women. A global partnership for development (MDG 1-8).

• How can humanity express Equality and Opportunity through the Millennium Development Goals?
• If we agree that we share the value of Equality and Opportunity, in what ways could this help us to achieve the MDGs?

1. Is Equality and Opportunity a shared value?
2. If so, can Equality and Opportunity be expressed through one or more of the MDGs?
3. If we live the value of Equality and Opportunity, could we accomplish these MDGs?
4. If so, what are the obstacles to achieving this?
5. What can we do to overcome these obstacles?

Respect for Nature and Sustainable Development

“Prudence must be shown in the management of all living species and natural resources, in accordance with the precepts of sustainable development. Only in this way can the immeasurable riches provided to us by nature be preserved and passed on to our descendants. The current unsustainable patterns of production and consumption must be changed in the interest of our future welfare and that of our descendants”.* Environment, sustainable development, human settlements (MDG 7)
*Millennium Declaration Res 55/2 para 1

• How can humanity express Respect for Nature and Sustainable Development through the Millennium Development Goals?
• If we agree that we share the value of Respect for Nature and Sustainable Development, in what ways could this help us to achieve the MDGs?

1. Is Respect for Nature and Sustainable Development a shared value?
2. If so, can Respect for Nature and Sustainable Development be expressed through one or more of the MDGs?
3. If we live the value of Respect for Nature and Sustainable Development, could we accomplish these MDGs?
4. If so, what are the obstacles to achieving this?
5. What can we do to overcome these obstacles?

Freedom and Development

“Men and women have the right to live their lives and raise their children in dignity, free from hunger and from the fear of violence, oppression or injustice. Democratic and participatory governance based on the will of the people best assures these rights”*. Freedom for peace and development freedom from poverty (MDG 1), freedom from hunger (MDG 1), freedom from diseases. (MDG 4, 5, 6), freedom to be educated (MDG 2)
*Millennium Declaration Res 55/2 para 1

• How can humanity express Freedom and Development through the Millennium Development Goals?
• If we agree that we share the value of Freedom and Development, in what ways could this help us to achieve the MDGs?

1. Is Freedom and Development a shared value?
2. If so, can Freedom and Development be expressed through one or more of the MDGs?
3. If we live the value of Freedom and Development, could we accomplish these MDGs?
4. If so, what are the obstacles to achieving this?
5. What can we do to overcome these obstacles?

Welcome to the blog for the Forum on Our Common Humanity in the Information Age!