During the Stand Up

On 18 September, the UN office (UNO) in Belarus in cooperation with the National Ski Centre “Silichy” organized “Stand Up and Take Action” campaign within the context of the Festival of Japanese kites.

“I urge all of you to join the “Stand Up” campaign in Belarus expressing solidarity with people around the globe. Let the balloons we are launching now into this blue sky symbolize our drive for progress and achieving the MDGs,” said Antonius Broek, UN Resident Coordinator in Belarus during the event opening.

Over 200 participants of the Festival and “Stand Up” campaign simultaneously launched into the sky balloons with the slogan of the campaign, thus expressing their attitude towards the Millennium Development Goals.

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On 18 September more than 150 young students from different universities in Baku joined millions of people around the world in expressing their solidarity for ending poverty and its root causes by 2015. They participated at the rally jointly organized by the United Nations office (UNO) Baku, as a part of the global Stand Up and Take Action, Make Noise for the MDGs campaign in Azerbaijan.

The rally started with young people gathering in front of the UN House in Baku. The participants wearing red campaign T-shirts were welcomed by Araz Yusubov, UNO Public Information Associate, who made a short speech, touching upon the history of the campaign, MDGs and UN’s activities in Azerbaijan. “It is very symbolic that in the Year of Youth recently launched by the UN, young people of Azerbaijan actively join the global support for MDGs” he added, while mentioning the importance of the campaign.

The crowd walked up to one of the highest places of Baku, chosen symbolically to make the campaign visible and heard all over the capital city. After reading the pledge more than 150 young people stood up to signal their support for the MDGs, called everybody to take action for achieving them, and as this year’s theme suggested made noise by ringing their cell phones.

 

After the “Stand Up” action several groups of students continued the rally with distribution of MDGs leaflets in five different parts of the city.

“I am very delighted to be part of the global campaign, to be able to raise my voice for ending poverty in the world” said third year student Aynur Hasanzade. Her friend, Jabir Mammadov, who also was one of the rally participants said: “This initiative should not stop here; we should spread this idea among all our friends”.

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During the Stand Up

Over 3,000 people stood up against poverty at the “Stand Up Take Action” campaign event held in the capital city of Bujumbura, Burundi on 17 October 2010. The participants made the pledge in one voice displaying their commitment to the eradication of extreme poverty and its root causes and demanded their leaders to act now.

The event, co-organized the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Bujumbura with the Ministry of Planning and Communal Development, the National University of Burundi and UNDP was held in the context of a basketball friendly match which opposed the National University and the Tanganyika Lake University (a private University in Bujumbura) students’ teams. Also in the mid term of the game, UNIC Bujumbura arranged the interpretation of the “8 goals for Africa” song performed by four local eminent musicians.

The UNIC National Information Officer was the Master of the ceremony. She made the welcome remarks and introduced all the steps of the event. The Minister of Planning and Communal Development who led the ministerial delegation made a speech on behalf of the government in which he emphasized on the Stand Up global Campaign and the progress of Burundi in the achievement of the MDGs. At the end of his speech, he invited the attendance to stand up for two minutes and say “No to Poverty”. The UN System was represented at the ceremony by the UNDP Country Director.

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Ms. Sandrine Salerno, Mayor of the City of Geneva, kicks the ball

On 17 September, a team of diplomats faced a team of high-school students on a football field in Geneva to mark International Day of Peace, the start of the International Year of Youth and the “Stand Up Against Poverty” campaign.

During the match, organized by the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP), a team composed of diplomats from Permanent Missions in Geneva and staff members of United Nations agencies in Geneva valiantly tried to fend off repeated attacks by local high-school students. The final score was 8 to 1 in favour or the younger team.

Before the match, Mr. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, UNOG Director-General, Ms. Sandrine Salerno, Mayor of the City of Geneva and Ms. Cecile Molinier, Director of the UNDP European Office at Geneva had addressed the teams, urging them to score at least eight goals, one for each of the Millennium Development Goals. The final result, with a total of nine goals scored, thus exceeded expectations.

The United Nations aimed, through this initiative, to reach out to the Geneva public, particularly young people, and encourage them to engage in action in the fields of peace and development. Ms. Molinier stressed that each individual, regardless of his age and background could make a difference in the fields of peace and development, and that committing to collective action was even more effective.

After the match, the players were presented with commemorative medals.

The match was played with special balls donated by UNOSDP. Made of 24 % of recycled rubber materials, these balls were specially designed to withstand the harsh surface conditions of a refugee camp.