Millennium Development Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

MDG 8 has at its core a spirit of global unity and shared responsibility to ensure a high quality of life for each of the world’s citizens. It aims to increase aid to developing countries while easing their debt burdens, improving health care systems, and increasing access to information and communications technology. Only five donor countries in northern Europe have reached the UN target for official aid, which is measured as a percent of the nation’s gross national income, but more progress is possible in the next several years.

Few vehicles illustrate the collaborative spirit required to reach MDG 8 by 2015 more so than the 2006 film Babel. The film follows the stories of multiple people— Richard and Susan, a troubled married couple from California who are on vacation trying to work out their issues together; a Moroccan man who herds sheep to put food on the table for his wife and two sons; a Japanese adolescent dealing with the recent death of her mother, her burgeoning sexuality, a hearing disability, and modern life in urban Tokyo; a caretaker working in the U.S. who travels home to Mexico to attend her son’s wedding but faces problems upon attempting to re-enter the States.

Each of these characters, and, by extension, the communities to which they belong, are all connected by a single, tragic incident— Susan is shot by a random bullet while riding her tour bus through the Moroccan desert. This incident is the common thread among these seemingly unrelated stories, and evinces a complex picture of the interconnectedness of us all.   Ultimately, through the dramatic tension of the movie, it is revealed that all of human is intimately connected and surprisingly similar.

In this sense, the spirit of MDG8 is embodied in the plot of Babel. Each action taken by a character in Babel has greater consequences for many more people than its original actor could ever have imagined. Similarly, aid and development assistance is not a unilateral force, nor does it only benefit its direct recipient: it affects entire communities, as well as the donor and his/her community.

Not everyone experiences our interconnectedness as global citizens as literally as Babel presents it. But every single person does share something in common with everyone else —their existence at this time on this planet, for one; and hopefully, a desire for transnational achievement of justice, liberty, empowerment, health, and quality of life.   As world leaders discuss issues of global significance, hopefully they too recognize our interconnectedness, and work to ensure that we all do our part to achieve a high quality of life for all citizens.

Millennium Development Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Stability

Thankfully, taking care of our earth, and trying to reverse damage already done to our land, air, and waterways is more popular than ever. The problem is that it needs to be. We live in a world with shrinking biodiversity, polluted water, and unclean air. Around the globe, many people live in unsanitary slums where healthy living is next to impossible. The United Nations has committed to doing its part toward a cleaner, more sustainable environment through the seventh Millennium Development Goal, which focuses on reversing the loss of environmental resources, increasing access to clean water, and improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.

Climate change is a tough force to reckon with, and though global efforts to reduce carbon emissions and eliminate sources of waste have led to some improvements, it’s doubted that the targets set out in Millennium Development Goal 8 will be reached by 2015. Today, almost 17,000 species of plants and animals are at risk of extinction, and countries the world over are experiencing the harshest seasonal temperatures—both hot and cold—in recorded history.  These temperature shifts affect the most fundamental aspects of life, including where we can live and what we can eat.

One film that demonstrates the need for sustainability and attention to climate change is 2005’s smash hit documentary “March of the Penguins.” Although the film was criticized by some who said it did not adequately address the threat of global warming, the entire film actually revolves around climate, and the Emperor Penguins’ vulnerability to any shift in weather. The filmmakers followed a colony of penguins on their annual trek to their mating ground. To reproduce successfully, the penguins must trek from the ocean to an incredibly remote—and dangerously cold—part of the South Pole. The cold is both a blessing and a curse: Only on extremely thick ice can female penguins safely lay eggs –otherwise, the eggs may fall through ice and freeze before the chicks can hatch. However, the same freezing temperatures that thicken the ice enough to provide relative safety for the eggs is also a threat—the male birds, who guard the eggs and keep them warm, must move constantly to keep their blood flowing and prevent their own death in such low temperatures. In severe storms, many of the male penguins die, abandoning their eggs to the cold.

As we know, it’s not only Emperor Penguins who have such a tenuous relationship with our climate—severe shifts in temperatures affect our access to water, our ability to grow crops, and threaten entire species that are vital in natural food chains. When resources grow scarce, impoverished people, minorities, women, and young people often suffer most. Without serious action toward a cleaner, more sustainable world, we will continue to have problems when it comes to the other Millennium Development Goals, including poverty and hunger, child health, gender equality, and maternal health.

Millennium Development Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Other Diseases

Millennium Development Goal 6 has two objectives: achieve universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment by 2010 for those who need it, and halt the spread of HIV by 2015. Globally, about 3% of people between the ages of 15 and 49 are living with HIV/AIDS. However, in Southern Africa, 24% of people are living with HIV/AIDS . The good news is that according to a report released by UNAIDS last week, in African countries with the largest epidemics—Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe—there has been a 25% drop in new infections. Similarly, access to treatment has increased in regions hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, with 5.2 million people worldwide on HIV treatment – but we have not yet attained universal access.

In sheer numbers, not percent of population, more people are living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa than in any other nation. The South African government launched a large scale HIV counseling and testing campaign this year, which is a step forward. However, HIV/AIDS continues to take a toll, particularly on women, who remain vulnerable to HIV because of discrimination, sexual coercion, and violence.

The 2004 film Yesterday features the struggle of a rural South African woman named Yesterday, who after developing a chronic cough, visits a clinic and finds out she is HIV positive.

Yesterday must walk several hours to reach the closest clinic, which is only open on Tuesdays.  On her first two attempts, she is sent home because there are too many people already waiting. The only doctor who works at the clinic clearly means well and is concerned about Yesterday – at one point in the film, we see tears in her eyes when Yesterday mentions her young daughter – but her practices are somewhat questionable. The doctor tests Yesterday for HIV without explaining what’s happening, and tosses aside the informed consent form when Yesterday says she cannot read or write. However, once diagnosed, Yesterday has access to medication, despite the impoverished state she is living in. Yesterday’s trying experience with the clinic is certainly an experience that rings true for many people around the world as they attempt to access services, particular sexual and reproductive health services

The film also explores how gender inequality makes women vulnerable to HIV infection, and how it contributes to the stigma and blame that positive women often face.  There is no question that Yesterday’s husband John, a mine worker who migrates to the city of Johannesburg for several months at a time, is the person who gave her HIV. When she travels to the city to confront him, he gets furious and beats her. But later when John returns home, too sick to stand, Yesterday dutifully takes care of him and even builds him a remote hut once the stigma and harassment in their tiny village becomes too much to bear.

Yesterday illustrates the complexities of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in an emotionally compelling way, and shows us the complex and very human issues that are tied to the goals of improving statistics for access to medication and reducing infection.

Millennium Development Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health

Of the eight Millennium Development Goals, many experts agree that progress on MDG5—reducing maternal mortality by 75 percent—is perhaps the most dismal.  While UN agencies last week announced a 34% decline in deaths during pregnancy and childbirth, more than 350,000 women still die senselessly due to preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.  And for each woman who dies, thousands more suffer debilitating injuries.

The 2007 film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days brings to life a story that is rarely highlighted in the call to action for maternal health: the 70,000 deaths and injuries caused each year by unsafe abortion.  Set in Romania when abortion was illegal, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days tells the story of two university students, friends Otilia and Gabita who arrange an abortion for Gabita.

The audience accompanies them on this intense and emotional journey, made even more powerful by the cramped sets and lingering camera shots.  The viewer is with the women when they locate an unqualified provider to do the procedure, a man who demands sex from Otilia and Gabita before performing the abortion in a hotel room; when they desperately scrounge to find the money to pay him; and as they endure the painful physical and emotional side effects of undergoing an illegal and unsafe abortion.   Nowhere is the point made more clear than in the film’s opening and closing images: The beginning shot of two goldfish swimming in a bowl and the last frame of the two women behind the tall glass windows of a restaurant highlight both the vulnerability and isolation of Otilia and Gabita’s position.

Millennium Development Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality

In this week’s Time magazine, Nilanjana Bhowmick introduces us to 17-year-old Sharda, from India. After giving birth to a premature son in February, Sharda and the baby were relegated to a makeshift room where the child received none of the special care necessary for premature infants. When the boy died two months later, Sharda knew she would be expected to conceive again as soon as possible—regardless of whether or not that was safe for her to do.

The world is not turning a blind eye to Sharda or the millions of families worldwide who have experienced the sadness of losing a child.  In fact, the fourth Millennium Development Goal, which focuses on reducing child mortality, has gotten more public attention—and has seen more progress—than most of the other MDGs. The goal of reducing the under-5 mortality rate by two-thirds has not yet been achieved, but we’re getting closer: as of 2007, the rate had decreased by one-third in developing countries. But to provide all children with a chance at full health, world leaders will have to address the myriad of interrelated issues that lead to early mortality, child illness, and suffering. Beyond the devastating threats of measles, malaria, or diarrhea—millions of children around the globe are also faced with abject poverty and hunger, barred from educational opportunities, and face other challenges that threaten their health and well-being.

Danny Boyle addressed these complexities in his 2008 film “Slumdog Millionaire.” The story is a fantasy in every respect, following Jamal and Latika, two young children from the slums of Mumbai, as they dodge potentially fatal pitfall after pitfall—and emerge victorious. Without parents to protect them, the children have to find shelter and nourishment where they can, and are eventually forced into a life of begging by a gang that mutilates children to increase their “earning power.”   On the verge of their teen years, Jamal and Latika do escape the clutches of the gang, but Latika is almost immediately raped by an older boy, and Jamal must still struggle for basic survival.  Before you get to the end of the film—which is exaggeratedly happy—it seems as if Boyle had set out to illustrate the myriad of hurdles a many children face before reaching adulthood, and how absolutely fantastical and unrealistic it is to expect real boys and girls to beat the odds in the ways Jamal and Latika eventually do.

For all the awards and acclaim “Slumdog” received, the film had plenty of critics enraged over Boyle’s portrayal of life in Mumbai, saying the violence and destitution did not reflect the current state of the country.  Still, in 2009 the Daily Mail reported 44,000 children were falling into the hands of similar gangs each year, poverty remains rampant despite  India’s burgeoning economy, and there is ample evidence that many young girls are raped or forced into early and forced marriage in India and around the globe. Without reliable housing and food, health services, and education, including education that fosters gender equality and self-esteem, the young people will remain vulnerable.

It’s my hope that as world leaders meet to discuss the MDGs this week, they consider the interrelated nature of the goals they have set for themselves. While it’s true that a child’s health outcomes are often improved by immunizations and bed nets, their wellbeing cannot be assured until we tackle start fighting all of the myriad, diverse, and seemingly unrelated threats they face.

Millennium Development Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

MDG 3 seeks to eliminate gender disparity in all levels of education by 2015. By 2007, 54% of countries had achieved equality in enrollment in primary schools, and of the 93 countries studied, 82 had increased or maintained equality. Progress is generally regarded as steady, but the results are mixed, and more work needs to be done to ensure the active participation of girls at all levels of education.

Persepolis, which had its theatrical release in 2007 and nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, captures the complexities of the struggle for gender equality -and the enforcers of inequality- quite beautifully. The film is co-written and co-directed by Marjane Satrapi, an Iranian woman whose graphic novels of the same name are the basis of the story and artwork in the film. Persepolis is a middle class coming-of-age story – but a very interesting one because Marjane is 10 years old when the Iranian Revolution happens.

A lot of the stories we hear about girls being denied access to education focus on the restrictions placed on girls in families in which their brother’s education takes precedence, or in which the parents don’t believe in education for girls. But, raised as an only child of progressive parents, Marjane’s situation is different.

Educated mom? Check. Dad who believes that women and girls are important and should be on an equal playing field with men and boys? Check. Firecracker grandma who encourages her granddaughter? Check. But these elements aren’t quite enough to grant her the full privileges of intellectual and social freedom, because the Iranian Revolution takes the country down the road of conservatism. Education is suddenly sex-segregated, and girls’ personal expression in terms of dress and speech is severely limited.

As Persepolis shows, eliminating gender disparities in education needs to have buy-in on several levels: girls’ families need to see the value of education and support it, and institutions and governments need to uphold policies that prioritize the education of girls. Furthermore, it needs to be financially viable for families to send their girls to school; once in school, girls must be treated with equality and respect by their teachers and male classmates.

This week’s MDG Summit offers a perfect opportunity to work to make sure that support for gender equality is fostered at each of the levels necessary to truly eliminate gender disparities and ensure full equality for women and girls.

Millennium Development Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

In general, progress against the second MDG,which seeks to ensure that all children will be able to access and complete a full course of primary schooling, has been promising; more than half of the countries analyzed had enrolment ratios of 90%, and only 10 countries had an enrolment ratio below 75%.

But there is still more work to be done in achieving this crucial goal. Perhaps the greatest challenge in achieving MDG2 is convincing government officials, country delegates, and civil society members alike that education matters, not only for the improved development of our nations, but for the empowerment and fulfillment of the people that make up its communities.

Few stories illustrate the vital importance of education to empowerment than the film Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.

Precious follows the story of one young woman—Claireece Precious Jones, played movingly by Gabourey Sidibe—who has already endured unimaginable hardships in her life by the time she’s 16 years old. She has one child and is pregnant with another—both presumably conceived while she was being raped by her stepfather—when most of the film’s action takes place. While there are numerous themes at play here (Precious is abused by her mother, raped by her father, poor, overweight, and HIV-positive), education emerges as a key theme to her survival and empowerment.

As in the novel, much of the film is in first-person narration, and the audience experiences Precious’ pain, joy, struggle, and growth in her own evolving words. This presents some difficulty, as in the beginning of the film, Precious is all but illiterate. It’s no coincidence that the film opens with Claireece daydreaming in math class- it’s a symbol of her state of mind. But once Precious begins attending the alternative school, Each One, Teach One, and studying under Ms. Blue Rain, who gives the class a journal and tells them to write anything they’re feeling, her life begins to turn around in meaningful and groundbreaking ways.

In this sense, even in the most extreme and dire of circumstances, it is education which proves to be Precious’ most “precious” asset. It serves as a thread of hope throughout the film, empowering her to find her voice and some degree of peace and distance from those around her who mistreat, abuse, and ignore her. While the film doesn’t have a conclusive ending, it does make it clear that Precious won’t remain in her abusive household, and that she will continue to journal and study under Ms. Rain, two huge steps forward for a character whose life has been characterized by pain, abuse, and lack of agency.

Not everyone faces circumstances as dire and extreme as those that Precious does. But every single person does share something in common with this unlikely heroine—the ability to find empowerment and voice through education. As world leaders gather this week at the UN, hopefully they too will recognize the crucial—and precious—role that education can play in helping children the world over find their own voices.

Millennium Development Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

In Saturday’s New York Times, Neil MacFarquhar wrote about the difficulty in measuring global progress on the Millennium Development Goals. As MacFarquhar rightly points out, while there’s no question about our collective commitment to eradicating hunger and poverty (which, MacFarquhar writes would be like “opposing mother’s milk”) there is no cookie-cutter approach to creating effective programs and policies that work in every country or every context: to date, only one in five countries has reduced by half the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day.

Eliminating poverty requires an understanding of the complex and interconnected factors that perpetuate it, an understanding that shines through in Cary Fukunaga’s visually stunning debut film Sin Nombre, which had its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Sin Nombre follows the story of two young people—Sayra from Honduras and Willy of Mexico—who meet during a long and dangerous ride on the top of a train headed through the Mexican countryside to the United States. Despite being unable to know what their futures hold, the main characters and many others take a leap of faith, taking the chance what lies ahead is a better than the extreme poverty they are leaving behind. Throughout the journey, they experience violence, sexual assault, cold and hunger, and a breathtaking range of emotions: fear and hope at what awaits them in the United States, and sadness and longing for who they’ve left behind.

While this film is not the first to tell the story of the many who risk everything for the promise of a better life across an international border, Sin Nombre’s focus on youth is less common—both in film and prominent policy fora including the United Nations.

While Fukunaga does not make any political arguments in regards to immigration in Sin Nombre, he does take the position that everyone be treated with some measure of humanity. As world leaders gather this week at the UN, hopefully they too will recognize the needs and rights of young people living in countries where education, employment and opportunity are not available for many.

This week, the largest gathering of world leaders in at least a decade will come together at the United Nations headquarters in New York.  The topic will not be military conflicts or emergency relief efforts, but rather, what governments can do to better the lives of everyday people throughout the world.

With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the men and women who lead our nations to increase their efforts toward the commitments they agreed to in 2000.  As the world watches to see what will be said and done about the Goals, we at Akimbo will be hosting our first ever online film series, focused on the eight Millennium Development Goals which strive for improvements in:

• poverty and hunger;
• universal education;
• gender equality;
• child health;
• maternal health;
• HIV/AIDS;
• environmental sustainability;
• and global partnerships

The idea is this: We’ll pair up popular movies with the Goals they address, discussing the film’s strengths or weaknesses on that given topic. Films to be discussed include “Persepolis,” “March of the Penguins,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” and more. The daily multi-media posts will make you think differently about films you already know and love, and perhaps make you add a few new titles to your must-see list ! You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll crave buttery popcorn—and you just might learn a thing or two.