Mountain View, California - (Website Hosting Directory) - November 5, 2007 - Google search engine company, along with The UN, and Cisco Systems, have developed an online resource to facilitate a decrease in global poverty, with the new MDG Monitor, designed to track goal progress.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the project, called MDG Monitor, and highlighted the urgent need to increase global cooperation. The site is available at www.mdgmonitor.org.
The Secretary-General explained, ''Achieving the Goals is a truly global task, requiring Governments, international organizations, private companies and civil society to work together. I thank Google and Cisco for helping us create the MDG Monitor -- an example of the kind of innovative partnerships we need.''
The Secretary-General was joined by UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervi, Cisco Senior Vice President Carlos Dominguez, and Google Chief Technologist for Google Earth and Maps, Michael T. Jones in launching the project, a groundbreaking innovation in charting development progress.
MDG Monitor tracks progress toward the MDGs in a number of categories in nearly every country in the world. The site presents the most current data from multiple sources in development bellwethers like public health, education and women’s empowerment. By laying out areas of progress and continuing challenge for the world to see, MDG Monitor aspires to keep the global community’s eye firmly fixed on the Millennium Goals, and to provide vital information for policy makers and development practitioners worldwide.
On one portion of the site, MDG Monitor allows a web surfer to use Google Earth to fly anywhere on the planet and explore from above, in three dimensions, the places where work is being done to realize the MDGs. With a few simple clicks, users can access country assessments and data collected by the UN worldwide. MDG Monitor enables more than 300 million Google Earth users to better understand the MDGs and what it will take to achieve them. This information will soon appear as a Global Awareness layer in Google Earth, and is currently available for download on the MDG Monitor website (www.mdgmonitor.org).
Michael T. Jones of Google noted, ''We at Google are honored to join the UNDP in making this valuable data more accessible to the public. It is our hope that the Millennium Development Goals and issues of human development will become more openly and frequently discussed, and we believe Google Earth and its users around the world can play an important role in making that happen.''
Cisco, whose approach to corporate citizenship includes applying its business and technological expertise to social issues, provided expert consultancy as well as technical and financial support for MDG Monitor's development. Many of Cisco's corporate social responsibility initiatives are aligned with the MDGs, such as achieving universal primary education through its Global Education Initiatives.
Carlos Dominguez, Senior Vice President of Cisco remarked, ''Cisco believes that the power of technology, along with human ingenuity in deploying it, can effectively address global socio-economic issues and lead to sustainable change. We also understand the critical importance of working in partnership with others to help make the Millennium Development Goals a reality. Cisco is proud to be a part of this worthy effort and firmly believes the MDG Monitor can effectively guide expertise and resources to those in need while highlighting the successes of others in reaching these important goals.''
Bontron and Co also chipped in, producing MDG Monitor's logo on a pro-bono basis.
The MDGs, agreed by world leaders from 189 countries in New York in 2000, call for quantified, time-bound progress in eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a global partnership for development. UNDP, in its designated role as MDG scorekeeper, initiated MDG Monitor as an innovative means of keeping track of progress and raising awareness at the same time.
Although almost eight years have passed since the MDGs were first introduced, today just short of one billion people live on less than one dollar a day, every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday, and in deeply impoverished nations less than half of the children are in primary school and fewer than 20 percent go to secondary school.
Mr. Dervis added, ''By making the world’s successes and challenges in human development just a mouse click away, MDG Monitor hopes to rally new resources and help build momentum for achieving a more equitable and sustainable world for all.''
UNDP is the UN's global network to help people meet their development needs and build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working as a trusted partner with Governments, civil society and the private sector to help them build their own solutions to global and national development challenges.
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate.
With the largest index of websites available on the World Wide Web and the industry's most advanced search technology, Google Inc. delivers the fastest and easiest way to find relevant information on the Internet. Google's technological innovations have earned the company numerous industry awards and citations, including two Webby Awards; two WIRED magazine Readers Raves Awards; Best Internet Innovation and Technical Excellence Award from PC Magazine; Best Search Engine on the Internet from Yahoo! Internet Life; Top Ten Best Cybertech from TIME magazine; and Editor's Pick from CNET. A growing number of companies worldwide, including Yahoo! and its international properties, Sony Corporation and its global affiliates, AOL/Netscape, and Cisco Systems, rely on Google to power search on their websites. A privately held company based in Mountain View, Calif., Google's investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers and Sequoia Capital.
For more information Google, please visit: www.google.com.
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