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	Millennium Villages project in Africa by The Earth Institute / United Nations   October 2011   The Millennium Villages project is a United Nations-backed initiative to help African communities accelerate efforts to advance social development and improve living standards for currently half a million people in a number of villages.   The project utilizes science-based expertise to advance progress to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).   The project is now moving into its second phase focusing on business development opoortunities to help poor rural communities progress towards self-sufficiency when the project ends in 2015.   UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recalled visiting Mwandama village in Malawi in May 2010 with Jeffrey Sachs, the Director of the Millennium Villages project and his Senior Adviser on MDGs.   “I saw first-hand how an integrated, holistic approach to development can help entire communities lift themselves from extreme poverty,” he said. “The MDGs are interlinked – a comprehensive fight against poverty, hunger and disease.   “Success in one brings success in others. We do not need to pick or choose among objectives. On the contrary, the UN is progressively investing in areas with broad multiplier effects. The challenge – especially in this time of financial austerity – is to build on this momentum.”   Mr. Ban echoed those remarks in an op-ed column published in The Daily News in Egypt today. “Touring the Mwandama village, I saw the potential of modern technologies – smart phones and mobile broadband, improved seed varieties, the latest in drip irrigation, modern diagnostic tests for malaria, and low-cost solar-energy grids – to advance human well-being in ways that simply were not feasible even a few years ago,” he wrote.   According to a scientific review of the project, successes achieved in the first phase between 2006 and 2009 across 11 Millennium Villages include the following:   Malaria rates fell by 72 per cent over the first three years; Households with access to improved drinking water more than tripled; Across six sites, average maize yields doubled, and in some sites quadrupled; Rates of chronic malnutrition dropped by one-third among children under two; Students benefiting from school meal programmes increased to 75 per cent.   “It is the purpose of my foundation’s continuing support to help scale up the experience in the model villages in the first phase and to link small agriculture with business structures that will provide sustainable incomes for entire regions, not just for model villages,” said Mr. George Soros, from Open Societies Foundations, a major funding partner. “This will be the main focus of the next phase.”   Mr. Sachs said the project had made “tremendous breakthroughs” in achieving the MDGs in places that seemed “absolutely hopeless.”   “The essence of the projects has been to work with the local communities, typically clusters of villages of 30,000 to 50,000 people, using cutting edge, low-cost technologies in a highly effective way and making sure that the communities benefit from the synergies by simultaneously investing in agriculture, health, education, infrastructure and business development.”   “With the significant improvements already achieved in health, education, agriculture, gender equality, and incomes, plus the continued progress that we can expect in the second phase of the project, the Millennium Villages are on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015,” said Mr. Sachs.   In phase two, the project will focus on raising incomes through business development and linking farmers to larger markets to ensure continued growth and greater economic stability.   The project will also work to ensure sustainability by gradually withdrawing financial support from the project as governments scale up investments; and to document and replicate project interventions.   July 2010   Before joining the Millennium Village programme in 2005, more than 90 per cent of Ruhiira’s population in Uganda survived on subsistence agriculture and more than half of its children under the age of five were chronically malnourished or stunted.   In the past five years, nearly all of Ruhiira’s 6,000 farmers have diversified their plots to boost their incomes. The scheme has also helped to attract buyers, both local and regional, so that they can get higher prices for their maize.   During a recent visit Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), hailed Ruhiira for “the transformation and revolution of hope in this community.” She was speaking to a Woman’s Association, which sells beans and maize to the agency.   Ms. Sheeran said the “beans of hope” grown in Ruhiira area are helping to feed hungry children in Karamoja, a drought-stricken region in northeast Uganda. She pledged to buy twice the amount of food from the community next year.   The Women’s Association, has already sold 250 metric tons of beans and maize to the agency’s Purchase for Progress (P4P) initiative, which seeks to give small farmers better access to markets.   The Millennium Villages programme is working to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)– in 13 areas of 10 African countries within five years through community-led development.   “What you are doing is known all over the world,” Jeffrey Sachs, who heads the Millennium Villages Project, said as he toured Ruhiira with Ms. Sheeran. “People are inspired by the progress Ruhiira is making. When 2015 comes, you will have shown the world how this community achieved all the Millennium Development Goals.” Visit the related web page
	Economic policies have social implications by United Nations News   October 2011   “Successful policies are those that do not overlook the fact that economic policies have social implications,” says Sha Zukang, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Secretary-General of next year’s UN Conference on Socials Development (Rio+20) to be held in Brazil.   He urged countries to pursue economic policies that take social considerations into account to ensure that the poor, youth, persons with disability and the elderly do not continue to bear the brunt of fiscal austerity measures and unemployment in the uncertain global economy.   “Successful policies are those that promote economic and social development together with human rights protection, more and better jobs, social cohesion and less inequality,” Mr. Sha said.   He stressed that the world must design ways of integrating social and economic policies to ensure “people-centred recovery and long-term” sustainable development.   He highlighted three approaches that he said can facilitate the achievement of inclusive and sustainable development.   “First, in the current economic climate, it is important to maintain our commitment to poverty eradication and social justice.   We must retain and strengthen social objectives, not to diminish them,” he said, noting that countries must safeguard growth-enhancing social expenditures even at they strive to bring fiscal deficits under control.   “Second, experience has shown that job creation is paramount. As policy responses to the current crises are developed, jobs are needed for inclusive recovery and poverty reduction.   “Third, the establishment and expansion of social protection floor is also imperative. Such a floor protects people from extreme poverty and deprivation. And it functions as an automatic stabilizer by supporting aggregate demand during economic downturns,” said Mr. Sha.   He said the Rio+20 conference will be an opportunity to integrate social concerns with the economic and environmental pillars of sustainable development.   “We know that a green economy must support poverty eradication. We must develop a green economy that creates jobs for the poor and sustainable livelihoods”.   “From Poverty to Sustainability: Putting People at the Centre of Inclusive Development,” the theme for this years International Day for the Eradication of Poverty reflects the core challenges that remain in the wake of the global financial and economic crisis, says Daniela Bas, Director of the Social Policy and Development Division, of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.   Global unemployment remains at record highs; food insecurity is affecting millions of people; and progress toward poverty eradication has slowed.   2010 estimates suggest that because of the crisis some 84 million more people fell into or were trapped in extreme poverty than would have otherwise occurred. While Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia were among the most affected regions, poverty also grew in industrialized countries.   Vulnerable and marginalized social groups, including persons with disabilities, older persons, indigenous people, and people living in rural areas, continue to bear a disproportionate burden of poverty.   While indigenous people are some 5 per cent of the world"s population, they make up 15 per cent of the world"s poor. In developing countries, some 70 per cent of the poor live in rural areas.   The 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, can provide us a landmark opportunity to work towards overcoming these staggering inequalities.   We can launch the world on one pathway to people-centred, fair and more equitable sustainable development, and make the theme of today’s commemoration a reality.   To accomplish this, Rio+20 must reinforce the importance of poverty eradication, social inclusion, and human rights as the core objectives of sustainable development.   Strategies for moving the new agenda forward must also properly integrate the three pillars of sustainable development – social development, economic development and environmental protection.   The transition to a green economy stands out as the way forward to sustainability, and we need to ensure that this new economy does not perpetuate the problems of the past. We need to ensure that all people have access to decent employment opportunities and adequate social protection.   We must find solutions for providing everyone with food and nutrition, safe drinking water and access to sanitation. We also need to ensure access to quality education and healthcare for all people.   Taken together, these actions form a proven safety net protecting people from extreme poverty and deprivation.   Ultimately, we need solutions that empower today’s poor to escape the trap of poverty and that enable a future that avoids it.   For our future to be sustainable, it must be inclusive. We all need to be a part of the solution. All stakeholders, and particularly people living in poverty, must have the opportunity to participate fully in the decisions that will affect them. Their voices must be heard, loud and clear, in the Rio+20 process. Visit the related web page
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