No more broken promises?

A plain language guide to the Millennium Development Goals

A Hakikazi Catalyst Production

(Plain Language Author George Clark,
Cartoonist Ally Masoud (Kipanya))

Click on the cartoons for a larger view

Imagine a future where

• there is no poverty or hunger.
• all mothers are healthy, children do not die unnecessarily, and diseases like tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS are no more.
• all boys and girls finish primary school, and all men and women have equal opportunities.
• the environment has recovered from long years of exploitation and pollution and parents are proud to pass it on to their children.
• the global family of nations and institutions is united and at peace and people work in partnership with efficiency and compassion to remove injustice and suffering from the world.

Based on the UN Millennium Declaration
and the Millennium Development Goals
8 goals, 18 targets and 40+ indicators

The plain language guide to the MDGs was commissioned by UNDP's Central & Eastern Africa, Sub Regional Resource Facility (CEA-SURF) based in Ethiopea.

The Fourth Session of the CEB High-Level Committee on Programmes (Sept 2002), in outlining its core strategy, noted that "A Plain Language Guide on the MDGs is being developed. The objective is to reach wider constituencies with a view to mobilising global and national interest and action toward achieving the MDGs. This booklet will explain the genesis, objectives, principles and characteristics, expectations of the MDGs as well as basic requirements toward planning, financing, campaigning, reporting, monitoring, etc. Illustrations, quotations, definitions, and captions will be employed to target a wide audience and capture the interest of the reader." (ref : http://www.interaction.org/files.cgi/991_MDG_handout_at_HLCP.doc  )

The contract for producing the document was awarded to Hakikazi Catalyst, a Tanzanian CSO with a excellent track record in popularising policy.

The fourth draft was completed in August 2003 and is available as a pdf file from the E-library of the UNDP Albania website (ref: http://www.undp.org.al/?elib,517 ).