New
York, 1 November -- The United Nations,
Google and Cisco today unveiled a pioneering online site that tracks progress
towards decreasing global poverty by 2015, a global campaign known as the
Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
launched the project, called MDG Monitor, and highlighted the urgent
need to increase global cooperation. The
site is available at www.mdgmonitor.org.
"Achieving the Goals is a truly
global task, requiring Governments, international organizations, private companies
and civil society to work together," said the Secretary-General. "I thank Google and Cisco for helping us
create the MDG Monitor -- an example of the kind of innovative partnerships we
need."
The Secretary-General was joined by
UNDP Administrator Kemal Derviş, Cisco Senior Vice President Carlos Dominguez,
and Google Chief Technologist for Google Earth and Maps, Michael T. Jones in
launching the project, a groundbreaking innovation in charting development
progress.
MDG Monitor tracks progress toward the MDGs in a number of categories
in nearly every country in the world.
The site presents the most current data from multiple sources in
development bellwethers like public health, education and women's empowerment.
By laying out areas of progress and continuing challenge for the world to see, MDG Monitor aspires to keep the global
community's eye firmly fixed on the Millennium Goals, and to provide vital
information for policy makers and development practitioners worldwide.
On one portion of the site, MDG Monitor allows a Web surfer to use
Google Earth to fly anywhere on the planet and explore from above, in three
dimensions, the places where work is being done to realize the MDGs. With a few simple clicks, users can access
country assessments and data collected by the UN worldwide. MDG
Monitor enables more than 300 million Google Earth users to better
understand the MDGs and what it will take to achieve them. This information
will soon appear as a Global Awareness layer in Google Earth, and is currently
available for download on the MDG Monitor
website (www.mdgmonitor.org).
"We
at Google are honored to join the UNDP in making this valuable data more
accessible to the public," said Michael T. Jones of Google. "It is our hope
that the Millennium Development Goals and issues of human development will
become more openly and frequently discussed, and we believe Google Earth and
its users around the world can play an important role in making that happen."
Cisco,
whose approach to corporate citizenship includes applying its business and
technological expertise to social issues, provided expert consultancy as well
as technical and financial support for MDG
Monitor's development. Many of
Cisco's corporate social responsibility initiatives are aligned with the MDGs,
such as achieving universal primary education through its Global Education
Initiatives.
"Cisco is proud to be a part of this
worthy effort and firmly believes the MDG
Monitor can effectively guide expertise and resources to those in need
while highlighting the successes of others in reaching these important goals,"
said Carlos Dominguez, Senior Vice President of Cisco.
The MDGs, agreed by world leaders
from 189 countries in New York in 2000, call for quantified, time-bound
progress in eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary
education; promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women; reducing
child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and
other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a global
partnership for development. UNDP, in its designated role as MDG scorekeeper,
initiated MDG Monitor as an
innovative means of keeping track of progress and raising awareness at the same
time.
01.11.07
