Millennium Promise
Encyclopedia
Millennium Promise, or The Millennium Promise Alliance, Inc., is a non-profit organization
incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware, dedicated to ending extreme poverty within our lifetime. Its flagship initiative is the Millennium Villages Project, which highlights how integrated, community-led development, even in some of the poorest communities across rural sub-Saharan Africa, can lead to progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) and can provide communities with the basic tools and necessities to break out of poverty, on the path toward self-sustainable development. Millennium Promise oversees the Millennium Villages Project in collaboration with the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The project reflects Millennium Promise's focus on simultaneously addressing the inter-connected challenges of poverty - which include hunger and malnutrition, disease and lack of access to health care, poor education, and insufficient infrastructure, among others. The organization engages partners from the private and public sectors, national governments, and individuals in support of its work in the Millennium Villages and for a broader policy and advocacy agenda in support of the MDGs. As such, Millennium Promise recognizes the critical importance of partnerships in addressing the many dimensions of poverty. Among the Millennium Promise MDG Global Leaders are fashion icon Tommy Hilfiger, the founder of Diesel, Renzo Rosso
, and Senegalese musician and UNICEF ambassador Youssou Ndour.
A central goal of Millennium Promise, using the platform of the Millennium Villages Project, is to demonstrate the power of practical, low-cost and community-led approaches to poverty alleviation that can be replicated at scale by developing nations around the world. Through the Millennium Villages Project, Millennium Promise works in over 80 villages across ten different countries in sub-Saharan Africa — Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda. Each Millennium Village site is a cluster of a village or villages, of approximately 5,000 inhabitants per cluster.
Millennium Promise was co-founded by the renown international economist and Director of The Earth Institute
at Columbia University
, Professor Jeffrey Sachs
, and philanthropist and Wall Street leader Ray Chambers
in 2005. The organization is headquartered in New York, New York, with regional headquarters in Bamako, Mali and Nairobi, Kenya, and national affiliates in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Peter Neidecker is CEO of Millennium Promise. Prior to joining Millennium Promise, Mr. Neidecker served as the director of programs for the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation in London.
In September 2006, the financier and philanthropist George Soros
pledged $50 million to Millennium Promise to fund 33 Millennium Villages. This donation has received added attention as a departure from Soros' characteristic sponsorship of democracy building
and good governance
-focused programs.
Results published in May 2010 of three years of work from five of the Millennium Villages sites, in Harvests of Development in Rural Africa: The Millennium Villages after Three Years, reported an average three-fold increase in maize yields, a seven-fold increase in access to basic sanitation, and an over 50% reduction in malaria prevalence, among other factors. On May 30, 2010, United Nations Secretary General Ban-ki Moon visited the Millennium Village of Mwandama, Malawi, and he stated: “I congratulate the leadership of the village and the whole community – especially the women of Mwandama – for their hard work and their commitment to a better life for their children and for generations to come... . Today, I call on every country to look closely at this success. It is a case study in what is possible, even in the poorest places in the world.”
In addition to the Millennium Villages Project, Millennium Promise also supports independent projects and initiatives to address extreme poverty. Millennium Promise is a founding partner of the organization Malaria No More
. Launched in December 2006 at the White House Summit on Malaria, Malaria No More brings together corporations, foundations, faith-based groups, grassroots networks, and the public to support a comprehensive approach to control malaria. In 2010, Millennium Promise, in collaboration with the Earth Institute and Ericsson Mobile, founded a global education initiative called Connect To Learn, the focuses on bringing access to a 21st century education - including secondary school - to all children, and in particular girls.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware, dedicated to ending extreme poverty within our lifetime. Its flagship initiative is the Millennium Villages Project, which highlights how integrated, community-led development, even in some of the poorest communities across rural sub-Saharan Africa, can lead to progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals
Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...
(MDGs) and can provide communities with the basic tools and necessities to break out of poverty, on the path toward self-sustainable development. Millennium Promise oversees the Millennium Villages Project in collaboration with the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The project reflects Millennium Promise's focus on simultaneously addressing the inter-connected challenges of poverty - which include hunger and malnutrition, disease and lack of access to health care, poor education, and insufficient infrastructure, among others. The organization engages partners from the private and public sectors, national governments, and individuals in support of its work in the Millennium Villages and for a broader policy and advocacy agenda in support of the MDGs. As such, Millennium Promise recognizes the critical importance of partnerships in addressing the many dimensions of poverty. Among the Millennium Promise MDG Global Leaders are fashion icon Tommy Hilfiger, the founder of Diesel, Renzo Rosso
Renzo Rosso
Renzo Rosso is an Italian fashion entrepreneur. Referred to as the "Jeans Genius" by Suzy Menkes, he is the founder and President of fashion brand Diesel...
, and Senegalese musician and UNICEF ambassador Youssou Ndour.
A central goal of Millennium Promise, using the platform of the Millennium Villages Project, is to demonstrate the power of practical, low-cost and community-led approaches to poverty alleviation that can be replicated at scale by developing nations around the world. Through the Millennium Villages Project, Millennium Promise works in over 80 villages across ten different countries in sub-Saharan Africa — Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda. Each Millennium Village site is a cluster of a village or villages, of approximately 5,000 inhabitants per cluster.
Millennium Promise was co-founded by the renown international economist and Director of The Earth Institute
The Earth Institute
The Earth Institute was established at Columbia University in 1995. The research institute's stated mission is to address complex issues facing the planet and its inhabitants, with particular focus on sustainable development and the needs of the world's poor...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Professor Jeffrey Sachs
Jeffrey Sachs
Jeffrey David Sachs is an American economist and Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. One of the youngest economics professors in the history of Harvard University, Sachs became known for his role as an adviser to Eastern European and developing country governments in the...
, and philanthropist and Wall Street leader Ray Chambers
Ray Chambers
Raymond G. Chambers currently serves as United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria. He was appointed to this position by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in February 2008...
in 2005. The organization is headquartered in New York, New York, with regional headquarters in Bamako, Mali and Nairobi, Kenya, and national affiliates in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Peter Neidecker is CEO of Millennium Promise. Prior to joining Millennium Promise, Mr. Neidecker served as the director of programs for the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation in London.
In September 2006, the financier and philanthropist George Soros
George Soros
George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...
pledged $50 million to Millennium Promise to fund 33 Millennium Villages. This donation has received added attention as a departure from Soros' characteristic sponsorship of democracy building
Democracy building
Democracy building is the process of building and strengthening democracy, in particular the consolidation of democratic institutions, including courts of law, police forces and constitutions....
and good governance
Good governance
Good governance is an indeterminate term used in development literature to describe how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources in order to guarantee the realization of human rights. Governance describes "the process of decision-making and the process by which...
-focused programs.
Results published in May 2010 of three years of work from five of the Millennium Villages sites, in Harvests of Development in Rural Africa: The Millennium Villages after Three Years, reported an average three-fold increase in maize yields, a seven-fold increase in access to basic sanitation, and an over 50% reduction in malaria prevalence, among other factors. On May 30, 2010, United Nations Secretary General Ban-ki Moon visited the Millennium Village of Mwandama, Malawi, and he stated: “I congratulate the leadership of the village and the whole community – especially the women of Mwandama – for their hard work and their commitment to a better life for their children and for generations to come... . Today, I call on every country to look closely at this success. It is a case study in what is possible, even in the poorest places in the world.”
In addition to the Millennium Villages Project, Millennium Promise also supports independent projects and initiatives to address extreme poverty. Millennium Promise is a founding partner of the organization Malaria No More
Malaria No More
Malaria No More is a nonprofit organization that aims to end death caused by malaria in Africa by 2015. Malaria No More is known for its participation in the Idol Gives Back charity specials.- History :...
. Launched in December 2006 at the White House Summit on Malaria, Malaria No More brings together corporations, foundations, faith-based groups, grassroots networks, and the public to support a comprehensive approach to control malaria. In 2010, Millennium Promise, in collaboration with the Earth Institute and Ericsson Mobile, founded a global education initiative called Connect To Learn, the focuses on bringing access to a 21st century education - including secondary school - to all children, and in particular girls.