In the year of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, many football players are combining their efforts in order to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals:

Ronaldo, Zidane face SLBenfica All Stars in Match Against Poverty

As Goodwill Ambassadors for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), football stars Ronaldo and Zinédine Zidane will play together with other renowned footballers for a friendly match against a SLBenfica All Stars team. For the first time, Ronaldo and Zidane will be on the same side in a match that will recall the urgency of working together to address global poverty.

“No one is a spectator in the struggle to end poverty,” said Ronaldo, who now plays for Corinthians in Brazil. “It is only through working together, on the same team, that we will achieve the Millennium Development Goals.”

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development targets that 192 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations agreed to achieve by the year 2015. They include reducing extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, and fighting disease epidemics such as HIV/AIDS.

Zinedine Zidane, who retired from active football in 2006 but who continues to play in the annual Match Against Poverty, echoes Ronaldo’s thoughts. “We must score the eight goals through commitment, willpower and teamwork. ” he said.

UNDP Administrator, Helen Clark, said this year’s Match takes on special importance as it comes five years before the MDG deadline. “The MDGs are enormously important targets, the achievement of which would mean a huge improvement to peoples’ lives,” she said. “Achieving them will require strong partnerships; enough dedicated resources; unwavering political leadership; and a long-term strategy to ensure that how we develop and grow is sustainable in every sense.”

Luis Filipe Vieira, chairman of the SLBenfica Football Club and President of Benfica Foundation, said “The Club is happy to be associated with UNDP for such an event; football is a great way to get people together for a good cause”. Half the proceeds from the Match will go to the SLBenfica Foundation, targeted at social development projects in Lusophone Africa. The remaining funds will be managed by UNDP to benefit development projects.

Proceeds from previous six matches have benefited anti-poverty initiatives ranging from support to female entrepreneurs to the construction of sports centres for street children and the disadvantaged. Funds have gone to support projects throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America.

UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Drogba fights poverty in a new advertisement

Didier Drogba, United Nations Development Programme  (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassador, is teaming up against poverty on a new UNDP advertisement to garner support for achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa. World-renowned photographer Rankin  photographed the football star for this series of UNDP pro bono advertisements. The advertisement is part of a campaign  that  revolves around the concept of "Teaming Up Against Poverty" to achieve the MDGs. It features celebrities from the worlds of sports, arts, fashion or business portrayed by top professional photographers.

Adopted by 189 countries in 2000, the MDGs are clear, time-bound targets for achieving measurable improvements in the lives of the world’s poorest people. They aim at eradicating poverty, putting children in primary school, promoting women’s rights, fighting killer diseases, and providing access to safe drinking water. UNDP coordinates global and national efforts to reach these Goals.

The series of advertisements are being produced through the generous donations of their time by renowned photographers and celebrities. Hundreds of newspapers and magazines across the globe have published the earlier series of anti-poverty advertisements and have started  publishing this new advertisement.

The new advertisement is linked to the celebration of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, in light of the fact that it is the first time that Africa is hosting one of the greatest international sporting events. Football star Didier Drogba seeks to make public opinion aware of the  potential that Africa has to reach the MDGs, without forgetting that several hundred millions of people still suffer from a dramatic humanitarian situation because of extreme poverty.

Despite the progress made, "we still have a long way to go. Half the people in sub-Saharan Africa are still living in extreme poverty,” declares the ad. “An African woman dies in childbirth every two minutes and more than 15percent of African children will not reach their 5th birthday.” Climate change also poses a particularly daunting challenge to many developing countries, especially the poorest. With the 2015 target date fast approaching, it is more important than ever to track the progress of the international community working together to fight poverty and achieve the MDGs.

Didier Drogba invites the general public to team up with him to participate in  the  efforts  needed to reach the MDGs . The London-based agency Leagas Delaney has created the campaign and has produced the new advertisement pro bono.

For more details go to: www.undp.org