Partnerships

GLOBAL MEDIA COMPACT WITH THE UNITED NATIONS

The purposes of the United Nations are: to maintain international peace and security; to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples; to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General Cheick Sidi Diarra (left) with MediaGlobal Executive Director Nosh Nalavala at the United Nations Secretariat in New York (Photo: Fred Kirungi, UN)

On 25 October 2006 the United Nations Office for the Least Developed Countries and MediaGlobal launched the Global Media Compact at the United Nations. The key functions of the Office of the High Representative in regard to Least Developed Countries is to assist the Secretary-General in ensuring the full mobilization and coordination of all parts of the United Nations system, with a view to facilitating the coordinated implementation of and coherence in the follow-up and monitoring of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries at the country, regional and global levels; and, to undertake appropriate advocacy work in favor of the least developed countries, in partnership with the relevant parts of the United Nations as well as with the civil society, media, academia and foundations.

GLOBAL MEDIA COMPACT WITH THE UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

UNDP is the United Nations’ global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. On the ground in 166 countries, UNDP works with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. World leaders have pledged to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including the overarching goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015. UNDP’s network links and coordinates global and national efforts to reach these Goals.

UNDP Director for the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation Yiping Zhou addresses Ambassadors at the launch of the Global Media Compact.

MediaGlobal signed in November 2006 the Global Media Compact with Mr. Yiping Zhou, UNDP Director of the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation (SU/SSC). The Unit was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1978. Hosted in UNDP, their primary mandate is to promote, coordinate and support South-South and triangular cooperation on a global and United Nations system-wide basis. The Special Unit operates by building and strengthening broad-based partnerships with a range of organizations, including the International Organization for Migration, UNCTAD, UNESCO, the World Bank, NGOs, the private sector, civil society and a wide variety of international development agencies.

PARTICIPANTS AT THE LAUNCH OF THE GLOBAL MEDIA COMPACT AT THE UNITED NATIONS

The Global Media Compact, a joint initiative between MediaGlobal and the United Nations, was launched in October 2006 at the United Nations Secretariat in New York. The Compact represents an effort to increase awareness and understanding of the difficulties that face the world’s least developed countries.
The Compact has been devised by MediaGlobal and launched with the United Nations Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States. It is designed to encourage media companies to increase coverage of development issues such as poverty, disease and hunger in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), as well as dealing with these subjects in an enlightened and thoughtful way.

THE FOLLOWING COUNTRIES PARTICIPATED IN THE LAUNCH OF THE GLOBAL MEDIA COMPACT AT THE UNITED NATIONS:

GLOBAL MEDIA COMPACT WITH THE REPUBLIC OF THE GAMBIA

On 2 November 2006, the Republic of The Gambia signed the Global Media Compact with MediaGlobal. In Africa today, for a large percentage of the population, achievement of the Millennium Development Goals has yet to become a reality. The Gambia has made substantial progress in many goals and targets, despite problems and setbacks in others. The Gambia has made progress at the national level in confronting environmental and development challenges and achieving a fair degree of sustainability, yet there are continuing and lingering challenges that call for an increase in efforts. The Gambia has made, in the last decade, tremendous strides in translating political commitments into action particularly in combating poverty in order to secure prosperity for its citizens. The Gambia spends over forty percent of its annual domestic revenue on servicing its debt. Since 2000, The Gambia has been enjoying interim debt relief up to the year 2004, but has not yet reached HIPC completion point in order to benefit from Paris Club Debt Relief. Increased international donor support will enhance The Gambia’s ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.