On 20-22 September, world leaders will convene in New York for the UN MDG Review Summit to agree on the road map for the next five years. The MDG Review Summit will focus on accelerating progress towards the achievement of the MDGs by 2015 through a comprehensive review of successes, best practices and lessons learned, obstacles and gaps, challenges and opportunities, leading to concrete strategies for action. When world leaders gather at the UN for the MDGs Review Summit in September, the voices of their citizens will follow them, telling them, loudly and clearly:
"We will no longer stay seated or silent in the face of poverty
and the broken promises to end it!"
As in previous years, citizens across the globe will participate in 'Stand Up, Take Action' this year to tell their leaders loudly and clearly to keep their promises to end poverty.
In order to impact the outcome of the Summit and influence policy makers and the media, this year the UN millennium Campaign has decided to organize a special edition of 'Stand Up' and has brought forward the mobilization dates to the weekend prior to the MDG Review Summit in September.
Due to the unique nature of 'Stand Up' 2010, the UN Millennium Campaign will not be counting participants thus this global mobilization will not be communicated to Guinness World Records as in previous years. Nevertheless, we encourage you to share with us any photos or videos recorded during your event so that we can ensure that 'Stand Up' 2010 has a high political impact on the outcome of the Summit.
One day of unified action: Stand Up, Take Action. Make Noise for the MDGs!
We are encouraging people to take part in a synchronized global action which is scheduled for Saturday 18 September and which aims to grab public, political and media attention.
Citizens are asked to participate by making a noise, which could also be related to their particular area or scope of work (e.g. ideas include banging spoons on metal plates as a way of illustrating hunger; church groups and temples ringing their bells at the same time; local musicians playing their instruments; football fans blowing their trumpets at football matches; an online action allowing people to generate a noise through an online or mobile phone application).
Videos of supporters making the noises will be collected across the world and compiled into a video clip which will be used to show leaders that citizens really do care and are still asking them to keep their promises to end poverty.
The global message for 'Stand Up' - 'Make Noise for the MDGs' - has been modified in Europe to ' Make your heart beat for the MDGs', which incorporates both an emotional component (i.e. people care about the MDGs) and a pragmatic component (i.e. let's speed up the efforts to realize the MDGs).
Printed visuals of the heartbeat concept are ready for you to download at www.endpoverty2015.org/en/eu-standup.
The visuals can be used as either posters or flyers and we encourage you to display them throughout your country.
A video is available for you and your partners to embed on your websites (there is also a highresolution broadcast version). Both printed material and video convey the following message:
