The Partners

Incredibly, it would be difficult to list all the partners involved with implementing the Millennium Development Goals. The voluminous and intricate hub of organizations required to carry out the targets of the MDGs is like tracing a spider web all around the world. One shoot goes in one direction with shoots off the first. Likewise, each large organization has hundreds of smaller organizations and groups working beneath it. And then those smaller groups have individuals who carry out their mandates. So seeing the total picture would be monumental.

Further, the partners start with a large global group, then break into smaller groups by region, country, territory and community. The global group may be responsible for broad areas while the individual groups in communities will focus on one particular issue. To illustrate, and in order for the average individual to understand the extent of the partners' involvement, following are a few examples of partners associated with specific organizations.

United Nations Partners on MDGs

  • United Nations Development Programme
  • Millennium Campaign
  • UN Department of Economic & Social Affairs
  • World Bank
  • UN Children's Fund
  • UN Environment Programme
  • UN Population Fund
  • World Health Organization
  • International Monetary Fund
  • UN Human Settlements Programme
  • Food & Agriculture Organization
  • International Fund for Agricultural Development
  • International Labour Organization
  • International Telecommunications Union
  • Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS
  • UN Conference on Trade and Development
  • UN Development Group
  • UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
  • UN Refugee Agency
  • UN Development Fund for Women
  • Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
  • World Food Programme
  • Regional Commissions

One can see from the above list that not only organizations regarding food and human rights are involved, but also programs for decent work (labor), monetary policies, and environmental issues. Moving along the web, breaking Regional Commissions into its various components, one quickly realizes there are numerous organizations attached to this segment alone. Since the commissions include Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, and Western Asia, many smaller pieces must be present to carry out all the tasks.

Take for example, MDGs in Asia and the Pacific, UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) is one partner along with the ADP (Asian Development Bank), and the UNDP (United Nations Global Development Network). Then members from each of those groups came together to form the Asia Pacific MDG Community of Practice in which “the AP-MDG-CoP is an internet based network where MDG practitioners exchange knowledge to find partners, synergies, and solutions to reach the collective goal of achieving the MDGs”.

Another interesting example is The Hunger Project, “a United Nations accredited non-governmental organization, which has received recognition from top charity watchdog agencies, including a four-star rating from Charity Navigator”, relies on partners that focus on very small numbers of individuals in an effort to effect change. The Informal Education Program, created and administered by a young lady named Shilpi Akter in Bangladesh, services only fifty women and men but it teaches them to read. In addition to the adults, she has helped to send thirty children to school where it would otherwise not be possible as education is not viewed as important.

Concluding, one should now be able to understand how the shoots of the web reach out from the biggest global organizations to just one individual doing her part to improve the plight of so many of the world's impoverished. So basically the partners of the Millennium Development Goals are any and all persons, groups, or entities engaged in the pursuit of the stated targets set forth by the MDGs.

Written by Brenda and Tim from Starting a business in Africa. This is not an official site. More info about this site and what we're trying to do is right here.