Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.Am has participated in a call-out video for the campaign, encouraging citizens from around the world to upload a video to the YouTube "in my name" channel, stating their name, their country and a specific ask of their government to end poverty. At the conclusion of the Campaign, a mash-up video of the most powerful submissions from around the world will be broadcast to world leaders at a General Assembly meeting, as a demonstration that global citizens are holding them to their commitment to create a better world.
“‘In My Name' enables individuals to send the powerful collective message that we can be the generation to end poverty," said Steve Grove, Head of News & Politics for YouTube. "Working with these great organizations, we can help ensure that the Millennium Development Goals receive the attention they deserve."
As the world enters the second half of the journey to meet the Millennium Development Goals, YouTube users, activists and those interested in being a part of the campaign to end global poverty will have an opportunity to make their voices heard around the world.
"This is a poverty emergency and there needs to be a massive shift in the way our leaders are tackling it. A child dies in a poor country every 3 seconds. There is absolutely no excuse for not delivering on the promises governments have made to end this tragedy,” said Alison Woodhead of Oxfam International. “Oxfam and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty are joining up with YouTube to make sure we give everyone in the world an easy way to use their power to demand action from their governments."
About Millennium Development Goals
In September 2000, building upon a decade of major United Nations conferences and summits, world leaders came together at United Nations Headquarters in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of time-bound targets - with a deadline of 2015 - that have become known as the Millennium Development Goals.
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions.