Get engaged: New resource helps make Millennium Development Goals real

October 8, 2007

"Making Poverty History," the new CWS resource on the Millennium Development Goals

Photo: CWS

A new resource by Church World Service puts the focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), a commitment by 189 countries to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty and substantially improve health and education in impoverished countries by 2015.

Making Poverty History: Hunger Education Activities that Work was produced by the Resource Development Department of CWS, working closely with the organization’s Education and Advocacy Program.

E&A director Rajyashri Waghray said the timing of the resource was critical for CWS engagement on the Millennium Development Goals at the United Nations, as the booklet marks the symbolic “halfway” point between the signing of the historic Millennium Declaration and the 2015 deadline for the achievement of the goals.

“We are seeking to engage and raise awareness of our grassroots constituency through this resource,” Waghray added.

Groups around the world held a variety of actions July 7 to mark the date and to take stock of where the world stands in meeting the MDGs.

“The picture is certainly mixed as we are not halfway to the targets,” said a report from a recent meeting on the MDGs and the roles of nongovernmental organizations and the U.S. “However, since 2000 there have been much greater rates of progress in many areas as compared to the previous decade, signaling that the MDGs are sparking a greater seriousness of effort to address extreme poverty.”

In July, NGOs fostered dialog on the MDGs at Impact 08, a campaign to engage 2008 Presidential candidates in issues of global development.

Making Poverty History is organized around the major themes of the MDGs: hunger and poverty, education, health, environment/water, and partners in development. Each section contains facts on an MDG theme, a story from the work of CWS around the world addressing the theme, and ways to engage people on that theme.

CWS Associate for Development Resources Tom Hampson said that the back pages provide prayer resources from around the world reflecting MDG themes. These include a prayer at the digging of a well from the Russian Orthodox tradition and one from a group of young people in Brazil. A litany on the MDGs comes from the Episcopal Office of Government Relations in the U.S.

The inside back cover also points to resources by the National Council of Churches, the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The booklet should prove useful for youth leaders, religious educators, mission leaders, and high school, Bread for the World, and ONE Campaign groups. The resource is available online from www.churchworldservice.org/hungerbooklet/index.html