Kicking Off the 500-Day Rally for Education

The campaign for the last 500 days before reaching the end of the Millennium Development Goals starts on August 18. Join the campaign to raise awareness of the progress made, in particular on Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

August 15, 2014 by GPE Secretariat

8 minutes read

Tomorrow, we will kick off the 500 day countdown until the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) come to an end.There are 8 goals established by the United Nations and governments around the world in 2000 to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems. Join in from around the world and raise awareness of the progress made through the MDGs, particularly on goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education.

Here is a list of events we’ll be following on August 18 and we encourage you to join along:

8:30 am – 10:00 am EDT - MDG500 Kick Off

Who: United Nations Foundation
Where: Livestream
Description: To raise awareness on the progress on the MDGs, the UN Foundation is hosting a roundtable breakfast discussion that will kick of the day-long digital surge.

10:00 am – 11:00 am EDT - The Power of Educating a Girl

Focusing on MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Who: Girl Up, A World at School
Where: Google+ Hangout
Description: Not all girls have the chance to go to school. In fact, more than 60 million girls of primary and secondary school age are not in school. Equal treatment in education for girls is a human right and is a means of achieving progress in other areas of development. Join this Google+ Hangout for an in-depth look at girls’ education — the statistics, the progress that has been made, and the work we have left to do to ensure every girl’s right to go to school is realized.

11:00 AM EDT – 500 Days of Action for the Millennium Development Goals

An interactive conversation with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Malala Yousafzai

Who: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Malala Yousafzai, moderated by Amy Robach
Where: Watch the Live Webcast
Description: Join the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, and education advocate and co-founder of the Malala Fund, Malala Yousafzai, for an interactive conversation about the Millennium Development Goals. They will talk and take questions from young people about how we can all play our part to achieve the MDGs, from boosting education, eliminating poverty and hunger, and empowering women and girls to protecting the environment, improving maternal health and combating infectious diseases. The discussion will be moderated by Amy Robach, news anchor with ABC’s Good Morning America.

Keep up the momentum for #EducationCountdown

Organized by A World at School and many other partners including the Global Partnership for Education, the #EducationCountdown campaign brings together NGOs, civil society, teachers, youth, faith-based organizations and the business community in a global movement to marshal the political will and financing needed to achieve MDG 2 of universal education.

To achieve our goals over the next 500 days we need to tackle the barriers that keep children from school. This means providing education in war-torn areas, protecting girls from early marriage, making sure children are at school and not at work, ending discrimination against girls, and ensuring enough teachers are trained.

Every 100 days the #EducationCountdown will address these key barriers to learning for all children and deliver results against collective milestones and targets developed in consultation with key stakeholders throughout the campaign.

Day 500: Campaign Launch

SIGN UP for the Thunderclap to kick-off the campaign and say that we can count on you to help drive progress to get every child into school and learning by the end of 2015.

MAKE a Vine or Instagram video telling us why we can count on you to join the #EducationCountdown (be sure to include the hashtag!). Example from @Cee_Bah

Days 500 to 400 - August 2014
PROVIDE EDUCATION & SAFE SCHOOLS IN EMERGENCIES
THE COUNT: 28 million out-of-school children live in conflict areas

Take Action

SEND A LETTER to world leaders requesting support for the draft Lucens Guidelines to protect schools and education from attack. Action will be live August 18 at aworldatschool.org/educationcountdown
TWEET - On #WHD2014 join @aworldatschool and call for more #HumanitarianHeroes to ensure #SafeSchools http://bit.ly/Xb4Ldt #EducationCountdown Click to Tweet
NOMINATE a young leader for the 2014 Youth Courage Awards to be announced at the Special UN Youth Assembly in September here.

Days 400 to 300 - November 2014
STOP CHILD MARRIAGE
THE COUNT: 14 million girls under the age of 18 become brides each year and many are not in school