Five Years To Go
Increasing European and global awareness about Millennium Development Goals in sub-Saharan Africa
Context and Issue:
According to data published in a special Eurobarometer Survey in June 2007, only 18 per cent of European Union citizens had actually heard of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Almost a quarter of them said they had heard of the European Consensus although most were only familiar with the concept and not its content. Despite most Europeans' lack of awareness of either the MDGs or the European Consensus on Development, the survey shows that there is broad support across the EU for development assistance to help poorer countries and most EU citizens see sub-Saharan Africa as being in great need of assistance. There is strong public support for a poverty-focused, Africa-based development policy which dovetails well with the EU’s Development Consensus. Sub-Saharan Africa is still lagging behind on the achievement of many MDGs. As the 2008 Millennium Development Goals report published by the United Nations shows, little progress has been made on the first of the MDGs, that is, reducing extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Most countries are also failing to make sufficient progress on key goals like reducing child and maternal mortality. Five Years To Go aims to build on the EU citizens’ support of more aid for Africa and shows how achieving progress on all the MDG goals is a pre-requisite for reducing poverty, hunger and under-development in Africa.
Project's activities:
Striving to inspire greater engagement and support for more progress on the Millennium Development Goals in sub-Saharan Africa, the Five Years To Go project will produce, co-produce and distribute an integrated package of compelling programmes on the MDGs, which target a wide range of viewers, Internet users or educators across Europe -- simultaneously strengthening the commitment of European broadcasters and producers to creating and airing programmes on the MDGs and linking them up with sub-Saharan broadcasters and producers. By promoting and marketing the programmes to European educators, NGOs and CSOs (community service organisations) involved in educational initiatives, and by exploiting the possibilities of new social networking media, Five Years To Go will stimulate the widest possible debate about our increasingly inter-connected world. It will encourage more discussions and engagement across the targeted countries, and highlight the imperative of reaching the MDGs to enable development and economic growth.
Participants and Beneficiaries:
Every partner plays a key role in the development of Five Years To Go. Along with Internews Europe programmes for MTV, the Five Years To Go project organised a final workshop for producers and broadcasters in Paris. Also, the One World Broadcasting Trust coordinated the launch broadcasters' conference in Brussels and organised the two One World Media Awards for outstanding coverage of the MDGs. TVE handled the production and delivery of four 'Africa Calling' documentaries for Channel 4 and five 'Life' documentaries for BBC World in the United Kingdom. LokaalMondiaal is responsible for the production of the 'Road to 2010' documentaries and for designing and publishing the project website. Five Years To Go got in touch with producers and broadcasters from European and African television channels first in order to debate on how to engage audiences in their individual countries. The programmes will reach mainstream television audiences (via BBC World News and other European broadcast platforms), youth audiences (among others, via MTV Europe) and Internet and social networking users across Europe.
Outcomes:
A broadcasters and producers' conference was held in Brussels in March 2010 to launch the project and debate, plan and collaborate on the programmes that are to be broadcasted across Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. The following ongoing initiatives were discussed: 'Africa Calling' broadcast quality vignettes, transmitted at prime time on youth-oriented channels such as Channel 4 in the UK; 'Life' or 'Earth Report' documentaries for broadcast on BBC World News in Europe, and on national and regional European and African TV Channels; 'Road To 2010' documentaries on African stories about the 2010 World Cup; 'Element' features about young people working on the MDGs. Along with these programmes, the Five Years To Go project will be highlighted by the two One World Media Awards for outstanding coverage of MDG issues, and a dedicated multi-media website.
"The economic slowdown will diminish the incomes of the poor; the food crisis will raise the number of hungry people in the world and push millions more into poverty; climate change will have a disproportionate impact on the poor. The need to address these concerns, pressing as they are, must not be allowed to detract for our long-term efforts to achieve the MDGs."
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon
