The Global GoalsBy Shelly Orr

"Eradicating extreme poverty continues to be one of the main challenges of our time, and is a major concern of the international community. Ending this scourge will require the combined efforts of all, governments, civil society organizations and the private sector, in the context of a stronger and more effective global partnership for development. The Millennium Development Goals set timebound targets, by which progress in reducing income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter and exclusion — while promoting gender equality, health, education and environmental sustainability — can be measured. They also embody basic human rights — the rights of each person on the planet to health, education, shelter and security. The Goals are ambitious but feasible and, together with the comprehensive United Nations (UN) development agenda, set the course for the world’s efforts to alleviate extreme poverty by 2015. "

United Nations Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon

What is The Global Goals: For

Sustainable Development?

What is My 2002 UN Global Goal?

Why does it resonate for you?My goal of achieving universal

primary education resonates with me because I know what it is like to feel

uneducated. When I was in 6th grade, I had a reading level of a 2nd grader, and

I wanted to quit school every day because I felt stupid and the other

children made fun of me. This negative attitude followed me

throughout middle school until I caught up in reading in the 7th and 8th

grade.

How can your interest be applied locally?

My goal of achieving universal primary education can be applied

locally by becoming a foster parent, volunteering in the foster care

program, donating to public schools, and volunteering in low-income

public schools. These government funded programs are the primary

reason how some children receive an education, and these programs are in

desperate need of help and volunteers.

Where can you make the greatest contribution?

I feel like I could make the greatest contribution by becoming a foster

parent and donating to public schools. Children in the foster care system

come from bad situations where they were in constant danger. Many of the

children entering the foster care system enter it with only the clothes

on their backs. School is the last thing on a child’s mind when they are trying

to survive.

Is there a feature of social media that can be uniquely applied to this goal?

I feel like Facebook would be a useful tool in spreading the Global Goals and

my goal in achieving primary education for all children locally.

Most everyone has access to Facebook and with the right publicity a local community goal can quickly

become a state goal.