Fourteen years ago, world leaders and policy makers gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York for the Millennium Summit to discuss what role the international body would play in the new century. They adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration, which included the following eight Millennium Development Goals:
- To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- To achieve universal primary education
- To promote gender equality and empowering women
- To reduce child mortality rates
- To improve maternal health
- To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
- To ensure environmental sustainability
- To develop a global partnership for development
Most of the tech gadgets and social media we use today didn’t even exist fourteen years ago. Technology has revolutionized the way the world communicates today, and it has certainly made an impact in international development.
As the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals approaches, Global Wire Associates will spend 2014 highlighting the role technology has played in supporting the goals and the development framework in general through a series of reports called “The Millennium Development Goals Tech Roadmap.” From giving e-readers to students, to subsistence farmers texting banking information on their mobiles, to using podcasts to bring more awareness to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, technology has certainly made an impact.
However, there have also been many bumps along the way which have drawn much criticism in a variety of areas. The Millennium Development Goals Tech Roadmap will help us and others better understand benchmarks and areas where there is still a need for improvement coming into the deadline, as well as looking beyond 2015.
Stay tuned for upcoming articles, special projects and webinars on these issues throughout the year!
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