Rwanda

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Rwanda UNDP Staff and primary school children vows to end poverty. 17 October 2007 - Hundreds of pupils and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) staff met in Bugesera, Eastern province, to stand up against poverty and stand for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The event coincided with the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP), celebrated annually on 17 October. As part of the activities to mark the day, the UNDP engaged the youngest, who are the future of the country, to stand up against poverty and to support the MDGs. The UNDP Country Director, Mr. Anthony Kwaku Ohemeng Boamah stressed the need to involve the youth in all development initiatives as the Millennium Development Goals cannot be met if the youth is not involved. The UN participants to the event and pupils of Mayange Primary School stood up and joined hands in a bid to join the rest of the world in “standing up and speaking out against poverty”. By standing up for the MDGs, they expressed their support for the MDG campaign to end poverty. As part of fighting poverty, they planted trees in that drought hit region. The children promised to protect the environment by taking care of the planted trees and taking the message to their homes and their neighborhoods. One hundred and fifty trees were planted during the exercise. Addressing pupils, Ohemeng-Boamah challenged them to take education as a key in breaking the ‘viscous cycle of poverty'. He emphasized the need for tree planting as a link between poverty eradication and environmental conservation. “Children should understand the key factors in poverty eradication, which involves managing climatic change, he said. Rwanda as well as many developing countries depends on agriculture and the planting of trees helps to conserve the soil, which will in turn boost economic productivity of the land to help in poverty reduction.

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