As this space doesn't have guest bloggers very frequently, you are probably wondering why they have given it to someone at the UN, an organization not normally associated with cutting-edge tech savvy. The reason is that we have partnered with Google and Cisco on an innovative resource called MDG Monitor. MDG stands for Millennium Development Goals, which are targets that the international community set to decrease extreme global poverty by 2015. Because we work with UN colleagues and partner governments in more than 130 countries across the globe, we needed to have this valuable information accessible from one easy place.
And that's where the MDG Monitor layer in Google Earth comes in. It enables people to virtually fly around the globe to chart our progress in the fight against poverty. And this information can be easily shared with anyone who needs it. At a glance, we can assess how the world is doing, redouble our efforts in areas that need work, and make more informed decisions about how to help those who need it most.
In the minute it will take to download this information, more than two children will have died from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. We can do better with your help! We have a huge task in front of us, but with partnerships like this, our goals get closer to becoming reality.
Launching the MDG Monitor, from left to right: Michael T. Jones, Chief
Technologist, Google Earth and Maps; Kemal Dervis, Administrator,
UNDP; United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon; Carlos Dominguez,
Senior Vice President of Worldwide Service Provider Opportunities,
Cisco. Photo by Katrin Park, UNDP
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