MDG advocacy campaign during the FIFA World Cup 2010
Pretoria, March 15 2010. In the wake of the global financial crisis we are today facing a development emergency and it is now more important than ever that the Millennium Development Goals remain a priority and that action continues, towards achieving them.
With the eyes of the world trained on the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa, the tournaments become critical opportunities to renew commitment to the MDGs. Towards this end, the United Nations System in South Africa has been developing an awareness campaign on the MDGs, to reach multiple stakeholders and to urge them to engage more robustly on the issues of the Millennium Development Goals in Africa.
As part of this campaign, the UN is working on production and dissemination of a song about the MDGs. The idea is to work with eight or more renowned African artists (one for each MDG), from across the continent, along with a number of other celebrated African artists and musicians who would together record a song on the 8 MDGs. This song would be recorded as a music video, which would be screened through the World Cup, across all the Fan Parks and Public Viewing areas. The public interest and excitement around such a song, which would be disseminated widely across Fan Parks, Public Viewing Areas and media, would stimulate discourse and discussion on the MDGs – keeping them centre stage of development issues.
Along with the song, there will also be a series of public appearances by the artists, promoting the MDGs. A Citizen’s Report on the campaign is also being planned which will showcase the public’s engagement with the campaign and the social consciousness generated on the MDGs among the citizenry.
A second initiative that is part of this MDG advocacy campaign at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa is the “Sports for Peace” Gala, promoting peace and development in Africa, particularly Education. The purpose of the Gala is to bring together a number of celebrities – from cinema, sports and politics to advocate for the setting up of a Global Fund for Education, to enable the 75 million children who are still out of school to enroll. The UN Secretary General is expected to attend the event.
The idea is to involve high-level political leaders from South Africa and the world, including the UN SG and other global leaders and global sports and film celebrities, in a public event to champion the idea of a Global Fund on Education.
The MDG advocacy campaign, comprising the above initiatives, is expected to bring together UN agencies, Civil Society, the Government of South Africa, Development Partners, the Private Sector and the people of South Africa, Africa and the world.
