On the occasion of the observance of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, on 17 October, and this year under the theme "Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Empowering the poorest of the poor" a new addition was made to the exhibits at the Vienna International Centre.
The Austrian NGO Jugend Eine Welt - Don Bosco Aktion Austria in cooperation with the Untied Nations Information Service displaid an almost life-size soccer Millennium Goalpost in the Vienna International Centre (VIC).
The eradication of extreme poverty and hunger is one of the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). The target is to halve the proportion of people living on less tha
n US$1 per day and of those suffering from hunger, by the year 2015. Currently, extreme poverty is still a daily reality for more than one billion people who subsist on less than US$1 per day, and for more than 800 million people who have too little to eat to meet their daily energy needs, according to the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals Report 2005.
The exhibit aims to raise awareness of the Millennium Development Goals among the 50,000 children and young people who visit the VIC every year. "By finding a creative approach through the wooden Millennium Goalpost, we hope to engage the attention of children and youth for the MDGs," said Erwin Hinterholzer, coordinator of the campaign "Austria Scores Millennium Goals". As an ambassador of the MDGs, promoting the Goals as part of play, Jugend Eine Welt is also selling Millennium Goal soccer balls, which are produced by fair trade. The proceeds from their sales go to international education projects.
* *** *
The Millennium Goalpost can be viewed as part of a guided tour of the VIC.
For information on guided tours contact:
UNIS Visitors Service
Telephone: +43 1 260 60 3328
E-mail:
tours@unvienna.org
For information on the campaign "Austria Scores Millennium Goals", contact:
Erwin
Hinterholzer
Jugend Eine Welt - Don Bosco Aktion Austria
Telephone: +43 1 87839-519
E-mail :
projektservice@jugendeinewelt.at
Homepage:
www.jugendeinewelt.at
