23 August 2007

At the turn of the new millennium, 189 nations agreed that they had the resources and political will to halve poverty and hunger, reduce disease, create greater survival prospects for mothers and their infants, provide children with better education and women with equal opportunities, create a healthier environment and a world in which developed and developing countries worked in partnership for development.  The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have a deadline for achievement by 2015.  At halftime, the world is less than half way there.  

Working together with the Youth Association for Population and Development in Egypt, UNV volunteers sailed the Nile to empower the people of Egypt to reach the MDGs through volunteer efforts.  The campaign was a joint initiative between United Nations organizations and civil society, national and local government, private sector, media and communities.

A handful of UNV volunteers mobilized hundreds of local volunteers to manage the logistics of this massive advocacy campaign.  Eight feluccas sailed down the Nile, each bearing an 18-metre sail imprinted with one of eight localized MDG icons designed by Egyptian artists.  The Nile caravan started in Aswan on 26 October, stopped in Luxor, Qena, Sohag, Assiut, Minya and Beni Suef, and reached Cairo on 8 December in time for UN Volunteer Day.  A local committee was formed in each town, which organized activities around one MDG, including forum discussions, theatre performances and concerts.  Local volunteer reporters produced video reports on the respective MDG theme.

Sailing the Nile provided a platform for young people and communities to learn about the MDGs and invited them to make their voices heard.  Volunteer Mohamed Hanafi said, “The role of volunteers was essential to the sustained success of this campaign -- by giving them an understanding of the issues relating to the goals they were inspired to raise awareness among their people, thus they were the link back to their communities.”