Featured Articles Mangos to Metaphors--and Beyond Service for Peace volunteers helped create  a new model for achieving the UN  Millennium Development Goals when they invested their sweat equity, sweet spirit, and vision for capacity building in two elementary schools in the Dominican Republic. Lending a Hand to Nairobi's Slum Dwellers Young Ambassadors for Peace join national sports stars and media personalities to serve residents in Nairobi's Korogocho slum.

The recent and ongoing global financial crisis, interfaith and intertribal conflicts, poverty, disease, and environmental challenges threaten peace and development everywhere.  At the same time, several of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are within reach if only people everywhere, at every level of society and from every sector, would take action.

In August 2008 the UN published a report on the progress made thus far toward achieving the MDGs. The Millennium Development Goals Report 2008 states that overall, key successes have been made in some areas, but additional effort is required in others.  “The overarching goal of reducing absolute poverty by half is within reach for the world as a whole”, and in all but two regions, primary school enrollment is at or above 90%. 

Tremendous strides have been made with respect to reducing measles deaths, and malaria prevention has increased dramatically.  Despite some successes, however, it is unlikely that targets will be reached in a number of areas including reduction of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.  Furthermore, climate change threatens to undo past development gains and is increasing vulnerability, especially among the poor.

Civil society and NGOs are critical to achieving the MDGs, and as the UN Secretary General has stated, “Volunteerism represents a vast and largely untapped resource that developing country. Governments are only beginning to recognize as a tremendous asset” which can help them achieve the MDGs.

Our Goals: to ensure that 175 million of the world's pooerest families, especially women, are receiving credit for self-employment and other financial and business services. to help 100 million familieis rise above the US $1 per day threshold by 2015.

"Poverty is an artificial creation. It does not belong to the human civilization." —Nobel laureate Muhammed Yunus   Visit the Yunus Centre, dedicated to promoting Dr. Yunus' vision of a poverty-free world, advanced through the promotion of microcredit, social business, and youth engagement.