This fall, students around the world are preparing to go back to school. For these students, a high-quality education is the first step towards a prosperous future; yet, many children living in poverty lack access to even a basic education. That's why achieving universal primary education is a fundamental target of the Millennium Development Goals - eight globally-endorsed objectives addressing extreme poverty in its many forms.

 

            

 

As part of our mission to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, Millennium Promise is working with We, The World & Pass It Forward Movement to ensure access to primary education in impoverished communities throughout rural, sub-Saharan Africa. The Millennium Villages project is showing how this goal can be met through proven, practical investments in education. By constructing and refurbishing schools, training and recruiting teachers, implementing school meal programs and providing learning essentials (desks, chairs, books, computers and internet technology), school attendance and performance are on the rise in the Millennium Villages.

 

For example, by building new classrooms and recruiting more teachers in Tiby, Mali, enrollment in one school increased from approximately 70 students to over 300 since the beginning of the project. In a school in Dertu, Kenya, enrollment of girls more than doubled after the construction of a new female dormitory - helping also to achieve Millennium Development Goal 3, promote gender equality and empower women. Additionally, providing school meals to more than 70,000 children has helped to increase attendance while motivating children to stay in school.

 

                  

While we do this work in Africa, we're also doing our part in the U.S. to raise awareness of the Millennium Development Goals and the conditions of people living in extreme poverty. In May 2008, we launched School 2 School, a program that uses the internet to connect grade school students in Africa and the U.S. In its first phase, students in the Ruhiira, Uganda Millennium Village connected with counterparts at the Whitby School in Greenwich, Connecticut to share their unique life experiences. School 2 School provides an opportunity to educate youth living in vastly different parts of the world about the similarities shared by all, while facilitating personal connections that will lead to a new generation of globally-minded citizens.

 

                

 

As we move into another school year, we hope you'll help us in our educational efforts. On the Millennium Promise web site, you'll find resources for teachers, students, parents and anyone else interested in helping us spread the word about Millennium Promise and the Millennium Development Goals. Together, we can be the first generation to end extreme poverty, hunger and preventable disease.