Saving the World. One Goal at a Time.

On Thursday, the Intergovernmental Organization for Renewable Energy honored former Brazilian Striker and current World Cup goal-scoring record holder Ronaldo for his work on securing Brazil’s natural energy reserves. Ronaldo, a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, is also set to be awarded by UNDP for his work with poverty-stricken children in Brazil and Latin America.
The Brazilian star’s recently announced a follow up to 2004’s ‘Match for Peace’ in Haiti only serves to further reinforce his international image. The friendly match will this time be held in Palestine, a region ravaged for decades by conflict and turmoil. Add to this the annual ‘Match for Poverty’ he and French star Zinedine Zidane have organized since 2002 and you have the beginnings of what could be a football-fueled development blitz.

UNDP, FIFA and the stars organize these matches to mobilize the public against poverty and promote the Millennium Development Goals, which collectively aim to halve global poverty by 2015. Ticket sales and proceeds from the previous matches have benefited anti-poverty projects ranging from support of female entrepreneurs to the construction of sports centers for street children and the disadvantaged. Funds have gone to support projects all over the world, from Brazil and Burkina Faso to Tajikistan, Uganda, and Vietnam.

French star Zinedine Zidane, not to be outdone by his Brazilian colleague, recently announced his own ‘Zidane and Friends’ football tour of Canada to raise money for UNICEF and UNDP. The Canadian leg of the Zidane Friendship Tour is a three-city event designed to give Canadian soccer fans the unique opportunity to watch world class football while helping those who need it most. With this kind of star power behind it, UNDP hopes to kick development goals around the world.

For more information, click on the “Match Against Poverty” or the “Zidane and Friends” tour.

Renewable energy for Rural Livelihoods.

On the edge of Rajasthan, marking the border between India and Pakistan, four villages have had their nights lit up by incandescent bulbs running on renewable solar energy. The villages have never been connected to a power grid. The lights they now have are part of the Government of India and United Nations Development Program project ‘Renewable Energy for Rural Livelihoods’ that trained and engaged village women as “Barefoot Solar Engineers” for generating renewable solar energy.

Four young women – one from each village – have assembled these lights from scratch and are paid to maintain and repair them. The Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC), a Tilonia-based NGO, which implemented the program in Barmer district of Rajasthan, runs a residential training program for women from selected villages at its campus in Rajasthan.

In the villages there are many still bemused that young women who until a few months ago were like any other – cleaning the yard, fetching water, helping with the cooking – are now called “engineers”. But, they would rather have lights irrespective of who is maintaining them. Each family with a light contributes to a village fund from which their woman “Barefoot Solar Engineer” is paid a salary ranging from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,350 a month. And the villages are full of young girls, who trail their barefoot engineer and watch as she maintains the wires and fuses.

Apart from Rajasthan, this project, was also implemented by UNDP in Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Sikkim.

For more information please click here..

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India's Caste System Falling Down? At least, Fiscally?

Finally the rights of the poor are being explored by the powerful. With urbanization increasing with growing GDP, the UNDP has issued the first ever India: Urban Poverty Report 2009 to address the issue. The report lays the foundation for a strategy against continuing rising poverty even with increasing GDP while showing poverty is independent of economic growth.


With 23.7 percent of the population living in urban slums, the poor must be at the center of analysis. Not only do the services for the poor need to be delivered to them now, they need to be delivered even when the influx of urbanization is at 50% projected for 2030 in the report. By achieving this, the MDG's (Millenium Development Goals), like cutting global poverty in half by 2015, are starting to come to life in a structural way.


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Stand-Up and break the Guinness Records!

Last year in the week of Oct. 17th more than 43 million people around the world Stood Up against poverty and broke the Guinness World Record for the largest stand up in a week. Today the movement to end extreme poverty is attempting to break that record and inspire 1% of the population (a massive 67 million!) to Stand Up and demand our world leaders to keep the promises and goals they set in 2000 and take action against poverty.

Given the challenges facing the international community such as halting and containing the effects of climate change, the rise in food prices, and the global economic crisis we must not forget about the world’s poor and how they are disproportionately affected by these issues. Not acting is no longer an option. We are half way to the finish line, and while tremendous achievements have been made, we (and our leaders) still have a long way to go.

So STAND UP and grasp the immense power YOU have to change the course of the world! STAND UP and give 5 minutes of your thoughts to positive ways in which we can tackle this problem! STAND UP! And don’t sit on it!
Across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania, the global movement in support of the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals continues to grow. Events ranging from concerts, dances, teach-ins, film screenings and prayer circles to raise awareness and urge people to take action. To find out how you can take part in the Stand Up Guinness Record- breaking attempt got to: www.standagainstpoverty.org