Nobel laureate, boxer join UN fight to achieve development goals in Kenya

A Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, a female boxing champion and artists from the world of music were recruited today in the United Nations fight to halve hunger and poverty, slash infant and maternal mortality and achieve the other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Kenya.

Professor Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, boxing champion Conjestina Achieng, and artists such as Eric Wanaina and Gidi Gidi Maji Maji, joined with the UN in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, to launch a series of public service announcements (PSAs) promoting the eight MDGs, which also include improving health and protecting the environment, all by 2015.

“A major push is needed if we are to achieve the required objectives by 2015,” Acting UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya Heimo Laakkonen said, noting that while most regions were showing good progress toward most of the goals, results are much less encouraging in sub-Saharan Africa.

The campaign, led by the UN Information Centre (UNIC) and developed and produced in Nairobi with the cooperation of sister UN agencies, is built around eight one-minute PSAs highlighting the role of the world body in assisting Kenya achieve its MDG objectives, including preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

All the national television and radio stations, private and public, with a potential audience of 30 million, have agreed on a pro-bono basis to run the PSAs in English and Kiswahili, in the weeks leading up to the 2005 World Summit at UN Headquarters in New York on 14-16 September, when a record number of Heads of State will debate essential UN reforms and review progress towards the MDGs.

A major focus of the PSAs is the importance of partnerships for achieving the MDGs, including the participation of the private sector. “Sustainable development and poverty reduction cannot occur without the active participation of the private sector,” Nairobi UNIC Director Falt said.

In Kenya, significant progress has been achieved on MDG 2, to achieve universal primary education. Headway is also being made on health, with no recent deaths from measles and a reduction in HIV infection being seen in many areas of the country. On the other hand, poverty remains a significant obstacle to achieving the country’s development goals.