I can hardly believe that it’s already 2015! This year has stood as a milestone for so much of our work for children in recent years, so 2015 promises to be a mixture of sprinting to the finish in some areas and setting out a new course in others.
Today I’m in Washington for the exciting launch of action/2015, a worldwide movement made up of organizations, individuals and groups who believe that decisions made this year are critical for our future. The action/2015 coalition is focused specifically on meeting the Millennium Development Goals (set in 2000 for completion by the end of 2015) and determining what we must do in the next 15 years to reach our goal of ending preventable child deaths and extreme poverty by 2030.
Since 2000, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have had an enormous impact on the lives of children around the world. Perhaps most significantly, today more children than ever before are living to see their fifth birthday. In 2000, an estimated 9.9 million children around the world died before age 5. This number dropped to 6.3 million in 2013. The 3.6 million lives that have been saved during this timeframe is far more than a statistic – it is a staggering and heartening reminder of the power we have to better the lives of children, families and communities throughout the world.
While we have a lot to celebrate when we look at the progress made against the MDGs, we cannot afford to be complacent – far too many of the poorest and hardest-to-reach children are being left behind. We need to finish the job of ensuring every child can reach his or her potential, and action/2015 is a fitting forum to further this work.
At today’s action/2015 event in Washington, I was delighted to join a bright, energetic group of students – our future leaders – as they gathered together to meet with government leaders and share their dreams and ideas for how we can realize the MDGs by 2030. The students I met with impressed me with their thoughtful, smart ideas, and I was struck by their heartfelt belief that we can better our world if we work together. These students intuitively know that the investments world leaders make now will determine the progress we can achieve in the next 15 years. While individuals, donors, NGOs and the private sector can innovate, partner, advocate, support and ensure accountability, governments must lead the way in order to achieve the MDGs and meet the promise we made to children and families 15 years ago.
Ultimately, events like the action/2015 launch – and particularly the young people I met with today – bolster my belief that we really can realize our goal of transforming children’s lives and changing their future as well as ours. The New Year offers us all the opportunity once again to recommit to our core beliefs and highest aspirations, and I am glad to write that Save the Children remains fervently committed to helping all children. And action/2015 is one way we’re working for children. We’re committed to driving the completion of the MDGs and ensuring that the post-2015 agenda maintains the positive momentum we’ve achieved and spurs further progress. I hope you will join us in this work. You can learn more about action/2015 and the MDGs at www.savethechildren.org and www.action2015.org.