To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger is the first goal of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
However, it's becoming increasing clear that many countries in the world today may not meet the target. In fact, the most difficult challenge facing many countries is the issue of reducing extreme poverty and hunger.
Some one billion people are said to go to bed hungry every day. This is serious, thus the need for more concerted efforts and commitments on the side of governments and development partners.
More than half way to the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs, major advances in the fight against poverty and hunger have begun to slow or even reverse, as a result of the global economic and food crises, a progress report by the United Nations has stated.
The assessment, launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in
While the sub-Saharan
Many individual countries around the region have recorded impressive gains on specific goals.
Nonetheless, we need to work very hard to reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day.
It's good to hear UNDP's Chief Helen Clark embarking on a four-country tour of
She hailed the progress registered on eradicating extreme poverty in
To us, this is a serious issue and, therefore, calls for more programmatic initiatives and strategies. To achieve these goals, more community participation is needed in the designing, planning and implementation of programmes and activities.
We also urge the industrialised nations to deliver their aid commitments to the poor nations to help them meet the MDG targets.
We, therefore, recommend that civil society organisations should contribute actively to designing policies, delivering services, and monitoring progress.
