Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Food for Thought...

Race for Tomorrow

By: Felix Dodds, Stakeholder Forum

Over the last year an interesting project has started to develop a platform which links music, TV, and charities to work on the UN Millennium Development Goals. Race for Tomorrow aims to increase awareness around the UN MDGs, raise money for UN MDG projects, inspire people to take action in their owns lives to be part of the solution and to bring people together to act as one in putting pressure on governments to realise their commitments. Oh, and I nearly forgot, to entertain, amuse and be fun.

Race for Tomorrow works on a number of platforms at the same time; In the run up to 2010 it will be working in a number of countries on a series of reality TV programmes. These will be built around a set of challenges for teams of celebrities linked with charities, and where possible to the MDGs themselves. During these weeks they will be supported by musical events with well know bands around under the theme of sounds of our times. Supporting this will be radio and TV programmes that will mix music and interviews on the MDGs. This will also be supported by an interactive web site, www.racefortomorrow.com.

Race for Tomorrow aims to build a movement linking all these areas of popular culture together and so enable a loud voice that will put pressure on the politicians to deliver on their promises. This is critical when in the past year we have actually seen a drop off in ODA by 1% and are way off reaching some of the key MDGs.

During this year’s CSD, Race for Tomorrow will be producing eight radio programmes on the MDGs to be broadcast in preparation for the MDG+8 Summit in September. We will be interviewing Ministers, UN Officials and stakeholders, to see where we are and what needs to be done.

The Race was launched in January with a concert by sixties icon Donovan at the Cutting Rooms in New York, which will be seen on TV later in the year. In March the Race supported the opening of the Slavery Exhibition in the UN by providing music through Joseph Arthur, an artist from the Peter Gabriel stable. Joseph has been involved with River Blue in Northern Uganda who has been helping displaced children and former child soldiers from the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army). This projects and others will be part of those that the Race will look to support over the coming years.

Quoting Bobby Kennedy, “We face the danger of futility; the belief there is nothing one man or woman can do against the enormous array of the worlds ills - against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence against the destruction of our environment.

Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single person….”

Let us take that away as our challenge today, each of us striving to make our contribution to a more sustainable, fairer and equitable planet. Join the race – the race for tomorrow.