"1 GOAL: EDUCATION FOR ALL"

About a decade ago about 168 world governments assembled at the Millennium Summit in New York under the auspices of the United Nations and adopted what they called the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The United Nations Millennium Declaration gave birth to eight international development targets called the Millennium Developments Goals (MDGs) which were adopted to improve social and economic conditions in the poorest countries in the world. The eight MDGs are 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, 2. Achieve universal primary education, 3. Promote gender equality and empower women, 4. Reduce child mortality, 5. Improve maternal health, 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, 7. Ensure environmental sustainability, and 8. Develop a global partnership for development. All 192 United Nations member states and about 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve these targets by the year 2015.

Perhaps I should list the sub-goals or targets which are a series of measurable indicators for each of the eight MDGs but that will be too much work for this particular piece. I crave your indulgence to read on these MDGs. Anyways, so what’s the point of this blog? I’ll come to that in due time. But before then let me get this out of the way. Indeed, I am of the belief that the commitment by the United Nations member states to address social and economics problems that has plagued the world is a laudable one but honestly going by the ‘progress indicators’ it’s highly improbable that these targets will be met by the said date. 2015 is just 5 years away and from the look of things most countries (esp. Sub Saharan and South American countries) are way ‘off target’. Need I also recall that the world is still recovering from the recession (or R-word) which has weakened the financial commitment of donor countries to help the poorest nations to achieve some, if not all, of these targets? Putting two and two together, you’ll realize that achieving these MDGs still remains a mirage.

In my opinion if we concentrate on the ‘Achieve universal primary education’ target the rest of the other targets will be accomplished ‘in the sweet by and by’. There’s no denying that education is the key to solving most of the problems in our society. If the deprived citizens of this world get the quality education that they need, they can improve their ‘standard of living’ and that obviously will produce a ‘ripple effect’ in other areas of their lives. Simply put ‘Education is the key’. That sounds so much like a tired cliché but bear in mind that a cliché becomes a cliché in the first place because there’s a universally accepted truth in it. Your ability to even read this blog is as a result of education, isn’t it? Most of us are living testimonies to the power of education to transform lives. Education beats poverty.


Sadly about 72 million children across the world are still not in school. If this trend continues then many of these children will face a long battle against poverty and diseases. These 72million children are being denied a fair shot at becoming the future nurses, lawyers, engineers, scientist or whichever professionals they might want to be. Our world leaders have promised to ensure that all boys and girls complete primary schooling by 2015 and also all girls have the opportunity for education at all levels by 2015.

'Education for All' is the international commitment that world leaders have signed up to - to provide quality public education to all children and adults by 2015. “The commitment includes prioritising those who are currently missing out on an education, getting them into school, and making sure when they're in school they get the chance to learn, with qualified teachers. The goals include giving adults who missed out on school, the chance to learn to read and write. The ‘Education for All’ goal is part of the Millennium Development goals that world leaders have signed up to”

The world leaders promised to donate more money and also put policies in place to make this ‘Education for All’ dream a reality. It’s been a decade since that agreement and it’s just 5 years to the ‘deadline’ but progress towards the realization of this dream is still slow. Whiles we can sit back and complain about everything, we can also lend our support to push the ‘Education for All’ campaign. 1GOAL is a new campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to ensure that every child worldwide has the opportunity to go to school and learn. 1GOAL is collecting names and support from the public, footballers and celebrities to make a united plea to all governments to meet their target on 'Education for All'.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is no doubt the biggest ‘festival’ in the universe (including the aliens on the other planet) and if a campaign is linked to the world cup then it will definitely get the necessary publicity it needs. “1GOAL is a campaign seizing the power of football to ensure that education for all is a lasting impact of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Raising our voices all over the world we believe that, together, we can make education a reality for the millions of boys and girls who remain out of school”

Now to the main reason for this piece. Having heard my ‘sermon’ , all I ask of you is to log on to www.join1goal.com and sign up to be a member of the 1 Goal family. The team includes people like Aaron Mokoena, Nwankwo Kanu, Zinedine Zidane, Michael Essien, Rio Ferdinand, David James, Javier Zanetti, Sir Bobby Charlton and other non-football personalities like Arch-Bishop Desmond Tutu, Kelly Rowland, Jessica Alba, Hillary Clinton, Clive Owen etc. 1GOAL is supported by the football loving world and FIFA. If you are a true football fan or more importantly a citizen of the world, please don’t ignore this plea. You don’t have to donate any money (if that’s your worry), just sign up and join 1GOAL supporters and ambassadors all working to achieve the shared vision of education for all. By joining the 1GOAL team, you can strengthen the campaign’s voice and enhance its chances of success and what’s more, you’ll be touching the lives of millions of children around the world.

It’s pretty simple. The address is www.join1goal.com. Sign up and spread the word.

Thanks.