UN General Assembly Addresses Access to Clean Water
Monday, August 2, 2010 - 16:29
The United Nations General Assembly has officially declared access to clean and safe drinking water as a basic human right. On July 28, 2010, the UN resolution passed with 122 votes with no votes opposing. Every year about 1.5 million children die of water and sanitation related illnesses. Surprisingly enough, although the human right to water is referenced in various international debates it has never been officially recognized until now.
Passing this resolution is a huge step in reducing child mortality, the fourth Millennium Development Goal. The resolution aims to improve the lives of almost 900 million people that do not have access to clean water. With the September summit on the UN Millennium Development Goals this resolution comes at a crucial time. The right to drinking water and sanitation is now a right recognized as vital to a full and healthy life. Good things are sure to follow because of the awareness this resolution will bring to improving access to clean water and sanitation.
National Day of Action!
Thursday, July 22, 2010 - 15:49
Yesterday was the National Day of Action. It was unbelievably successful! We had FORTY-THREE student body presidents of colleges and universities send out an e-mail, update their facebook statuses, and tweet…all about www.commitinseptember.com. We had FIFTY national non-profits and student organizations to do the same, not even including all of the smaller (but also awesome!) non-profits that ended up tweeting and facebooking about the cause purely off the momentum the other built on facebook and twitter. We also had SEVEN celebrities (!!!!!) tweet about the cause, and they got retweeted like crazy. 
We spent all day F R E A K I N G out, as the tweets, emails, and facebooks kept pouring in. In addition to all of that, we all got our friends and family members to tweet, facebook, and email all of their friends about the petition. I personally got over FIFTY of my friends to blow up facebook with the petition! One of my favorite quotes of the day was, “Kathryn. What in the WORLD is commitinseptember.com? Why is it ALL. OVER. MY. MINIFEED?!” Yep, the day of action was a success. Literally millions of people have at least seen something about the UN Millennium Development Goals, and that’s exactly what we wanted this campaign to do.
Here are just a handful of the Tweets posted!
Commit in September is about advocacy. It’s about getting the word out that there is a way to change the world and that long-term sustainable development is possible in our lifetime. I have never seen this many students, non-profits, and celebrities join together around one cause. EVER. So, here’s to a new day where everyone can rally around one really, really meaningful cause. And to the most successful day of action EVER!
A message from John Legend!
Friday, July 9, 2010 - 11:53
Man to Swim Across the World for the MDGs!
Friday, June 11, 2010 - 12:50
In the summer of 2010, Marcos Diaz will swim across the continents to raise the voices of the world and show that we are not that far apart after all. His purpose is to bring global attention to the Millennium Development Goals and urge people to act and demand that our leaders deliver their promises by 2015.
Find out more info about this incredible journey here!
Boston Students STAND UP Against Poverty
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - 14:40
The Millennium Campus Network is excited to share a new video about our campaign this past fall!
During the fall of 2009, the Millennium Campus Network (http://www.mcnpartners.org) coordinated a city-wide advocacy and awareness campaign on global poverty. The campaign was held with support from the United Nations Millennium Campaign (http://www.endpoverty2015.org).
Over four weeks, MCN members and collected over 250 hand-written letters and more than 1500 signed postcards to Senator John Kerry and members of the U.S. Senate urging comprehensive foreign aid reform (to make it poverty-centered, needs-based, and more accountable). The campaign concluded with a 700-person STAND UP against poverty event in October, joining more than 180 million people participating worldwide as part of STAND UP (http://www.standagainstpoverty.org).
Thanks to MCN members for their participation in the campaign! For more on the MCN, visit http://www.mcnpartners.org.
Learn More About the MDG Summit!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 - 11:55
To learn more about the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit this September, visit www.un-ngls.org/mdg2010. This site, put forth with help from our partners at the United Nations Millennium Campaign, is dedicated to educating and mobilizing the public around the Summit this September. The title of our campaign - "Commit in September" - is in fact based on Obama committing at this Summit in September. It's what this campaign is all about!
Update on the campaign: We have started collecting signatures on college campuses across the country, and thanks to the leadership and motivation of the Campaign Ambassadors, have already seen great success. So far, we've also had two national conference calls that have boosted the energy and enthusiasm for this movement. The campaign is growing - it's time for you to be a part of it! Sign the petition, visit our Facebook page and Twitter account, and spread the word!
More updates to come - the campaign is on the move!
~Addie Thompson, Campaign Ambassador
Why the MDGs Matter to Me
Monday, April 12, 2010 - 14:48
The Millennium Development Goals seek to mitigate extreme poverty
throughout the world. These goals are important to me, because I feel
our generation is the one that can change the ones to come. If we
don’t strive now to provide primary education and necessary health
facilities to those children affected by poverty, we are only
contributing to a weaker, uneducated generation. The Millennium
Development Goals, will not only help relieve the consequences of
extreme poverty, but will also reduce the vast political instability
in many nations due to it. As a college student I work with Global
Poverty Initiative (GPI) to help educate my fellow classmates and
community members about the devastating effects of poverty. I work
with the GPI Action Team, which develops international projects for
students to participate in, with the goal of helping rural and
impoverished communities. I have seen first-hand the devastating
effects of extreme poverty, and the sight is quite unfortunate.
However, sitting -back and sympathizing with those affected will
contribute very little to the improvement of their condition. It is
critical to take action, and be proactive in this movement towards
eradicating poverty.
~Rajita Kumar, Campaign Ambassador
Partner Millennium Promise launches new website and new initiative with Madonna!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 - 09:09
Recently, our partner Millennium Promise launched their new website (check it out here) as well as a major new secondary education initiative - with Madonna as the spokesperson - called Connect To Learn. This incredible new parternership between The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Ericsson, and Millennium Promise promotes access to primary and secondary education for children around the world. In addition, this initiative endorses the use of the latest technologies, even in the most rural areas. Here is a bit more info from the site:
Connect To Learn is aimed at supporting access to primary and secondary education for every child in the world, with an emphasis on secondary schooling and the enhancement of the overall quality of education. This initiative will provide secondary school scholarships in the developing world, with a special focus on girls, and implement technology to connect classrooms around the world.
Currently many students in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are only receiving primary education, if that, leaving them unequipped to compete in the global marketplace. Connect To Learn will provide students with scholarships to study and experience with technology that will help them gain practical skills for the workplace.
Children everywhere deserve access to quality education. Learning must continue through adolescence to give youth the skills they need to transform their community. Education is an investment with rewards that transcends individual and political borders and uplifts the world as a whole.
Click here to sign their petition supporting the new Global Fund for Education!
Stay tuned for more exciting campaign news....
~Addie Thompson, Campaign Ambassador
Welcome to the Commit in September blog!
Monday, March 22, 2010 - 18:40
Welcome to the Commit in September blog! This is where students activists from all over the world will be able to share their voice and spread the word about the campaign and about what they are doing specifically to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. You’ll be hearing from our Campaign Ambassadors (college students driving this campaign forward!) as well as other students passionate about creating social change.
In addition, this will be a forum to keep the lines of communication open after the campaign itself has ended. This September, President Obama will speak in front of the largest gathering of world leaders to date at the United Nations Summit. If this campaign is a success and we are able to gather immense amounts of support and signatures on our petition, Obama will have read our petition by that point and be ready to respond to our “asks.” The period of time after students take in his speech (either by live webcast, video recording or transcript of the speech) will be a critical time of reflection, observation and discussion. Did Obama commit enough to the Goals? On what aspects of international foreign policy or aid would you have liked him to focus more? Are you satisfied overall with what he has promised the global community? Continuing conversation past the date of the conference will help to harness the energy and power gathered throughout this campaign and channel it towards making progress in the overall fight to end extreme poverty.
This campaign is only the beginning. The culminating events in September – both our Millennium Campus Conference and the UN Summit – are merely jumping-off points. We have five years left until the target year of 2015, but it is not too late. Unifying our effort as student leaders, we can spread the word and cause immense change on several levels. So let’s do it. Let’s join together. Welcome to Commit in September!
