Read the Secretary-General's report, "Keeping the Promise", which serves as the basis for Member States' deliberations on an action-oriented outcome document for the Summit. It identifies successes and gaps, and lays out an agenda for 2010-2015. "Our world possesses the knowledge and resources to achieve the MDGs," Mr. Ban says in the report. Falling short of the Goals "would be an unacceptable failure, moral and practical."

I feel very much at home here, and in tune with the purpose of your meeting.
I have been among the first women in several positions, which was not always easy, including certain minor inconveniences: when I became a Member of Parliament in the Netherlands in 1981, there was only one toilet – for the men – near the Plenary. When I became a member of the World Bank Board of Executive Directors in 1991, it was the same: One labeled “Gentlemen” in the antechamber of the Board Room – I had to walk a corridor to the “Women”…

For when the sounds of the ‘vuvuzela’ start blurring across four South African cities, MDG campaigners will also stand up to make a point in order to be heard.

A few days ago, the clock chimed a 100 days left before the global curtain is raised on the first-ever World Cup on African soil and for a continent where the poverty situation has almost adorned a lifestyle status, the soccer balls that will be kicked around in Johannesburg’s Soccer City and other stadiums during the World Cup in South Africa will not be far-off from this sad reality.

A group of experts discussed three major crises facing the world over the past year: Afghanistan, the Global Economy, and Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations Association Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference and 2010 Members’ Day.

In honor of International Women’s Day, Anita Sharma, North American Coordinator for the UN Millennium Campaign, spoke during the BBC program World News Today. Sharma indicated that achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for women (including, but not limited to, Goal 3: Gender Equality and Goal 5: Maternal Health) are the linchpin to achieving all of the MDGs. Although progress has been made, poverty still has a female face with women and children making up 70% of the world's poor.