Millenium Development Goal Video Contest

While not being quite certain precisely what these types of things achieve beyond giving people a voice - I am however 100% behind the Millennium Development Goals.

You can read more about the MDG's through these links:

http://www.unicef.org/mdg/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

http://www.undp.org/mdg/basics.shtml

UN invites ‘Citizen Ambassadors’ to film anti-poverty goals in action


23 June 2010 – The United Nations launched today a video contest inviting people from around the world, particularly youth, to tell leaders what the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) mean to them by uploading short films on the UN YouTube channel.

“Use your voice as a global citizen to tell world leaders in a short video what you think needs to be done to make this world a better and safer place,” the contest website reads, featuring messages from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassadors Angelique Kidjo and Youssou N’Dour.

Additional videos featuring UN Messengers of Peace Stevie Wonder and Princess Haya of Jordan, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors Lionel Messi and Jackie Chan, and UN Development Programme (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassador Maria Sharapova, will be posted throughout the contest.

Starting today and until 23 August, people will be able to upload short videos answering questions such as “What is your community, city or country doing to achieve the Millennium Development Goals?” or “How can the international community better work together to achieve the Millennium Development Goals?”

The six winners will be announced during the high-level MDG summit in New York hosted by the Secretary-General on 23 September, and will meet with him on UN Day 2010 on 24 October.

The campaign – organized by the Department of Public Information (DPI) in partnership with YouTube, UNDP, the UN Foundation (UNF), French broadcaster TV5Monde and with support from Flip Video – is part of a UN initiative to utilize the Internet and social media “to engage a new generation of world citizens in the importance of international diplomacy.”

In a related development, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched today the annual MDG assessment report. It showed that while countries continue to make advances despite the global economic downturn, the rate of improvement remains too slow and countries must step up their efforts if the MDGs are to be achieved by their target date of 2015.

The MDGs will be discussed at the G-20 meeting in Toronto, Canada, this weekend, and at a special high-level summit at the UN Headquarters in New York.

SOURCE: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35122&Cr=mdg&Cr1=



http://www.youtube.com/user/unitednations


FROM THE UNITED NATIONS YOUTUBE CHANNEL:

UN Secretary-General invites you to be a Citizen Ambassador
United Nations, New York, 23 June 2010:

Video Contest: Tell the World Leaders what YOU think about the Millennium Development Goals.

Contest Rules:

Only entries submitted via the YouTube platform will be eligible for consideration. To sign up for an account on YouTube, please visit http://www.youtube.com/create_account.

Video entries should be two (2) minutes in duration or less.

The contestant must be at least eighteen (18) years of age to enter the contest.

Video submissions should be original and unpublished work by the contestant.

The submitted video must address at least one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) listed in the United Nations Millennium Declaration. For more information about the MDGs, please visit http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals.

The submitted video should address one of the following challenges:

1. "Why are the Millennium Development Goals important to you and your family?"
2. "What is your community, city or country doing to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals?"
3. "How can the international community better work together to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals?"

Submitted videos must be recorded in English or French, or in any other language but with English or French subtitles.

Please see http://www.youtube.com/t/captions_about for simple instructions on how to create closed captioned subtitles for YouTube videos.

The nationality and age of the contestant must be clearly indicated in the YouTube user profile to be eligible for consideration.

Video submissions may not contain any offensive or inappropriate content, according to United Nations principles and practices, and must comply with YouTube's general terms and conditions.

Current or former staff members, interns or retirees of the United Nations Organization, its Agencies, Funds or Programmes and any family and/or house-hold members of these staff members are not eligible for consideration in the contest.

Submissions will end on 23 August 2010 at 11:59 p.m. New York time. Any entry submitted after this time will not be accepted. Any video modified after the end of the contest will not be eligible.

The results will be announced in late September 2010 on the official Citizen Ambassadors website, on http://www.uncitizenambassadors.org and on the UN Channel on YouTube.

Please visit: http://www.uncitizenambassadors.org for more information on the Terms and Conditions, including the Selection Process.