THIS IS SOMETHING! United Nations Use Second Life to Fight Poverty

Hi Macphisto.

My Boss is the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) which operates under the authority of the General Assembly. Here is an org chart where you can follow the arrows to the UNDP:

http://www.un.org/aboutun/chart.html

So the UNDP is a UN organization, much like the well-known UNICEF and the WHO (World Health Organization.)


On the subject, I just came back from Times Square where they where holding the Stand Up rally. The place was PACKED! This event was the first time in history where the Times Square ball was used for something OTHER than New Years Eve!

One cool aside, a photo of Aimee Weber (along with others "Standing Up" in Second Life) appeared briefly on the gigantic television screens for NASDAQ, Panasonic, and Reuters. YAY!!!

OK guys, I've expended a lot of time and energy trying to straighten out the legitimacy, the organizational structure, and where Aimee Weber Studio and the Stand Up project fits in. Next time I will ask them for holographic identification badges or something, but right now I hope my forum efforts are not in vain. Please please please, go out, grab a wrist band and STAND UP, and get as many people as possible to join you. These numbers are important. You have until 3am SLT tonight!!

Thank you Aimee.
And thanks for taking this on. I am sure after all the stand up you are gonna be ready for some sit down from all the work.

May the effort from this foster a attitude of help and hope for this cause.

Hm.

I understand the UN's desire to publicise their causes, but things like paying people to stand up in Second Life, I have to say. Makes me wonder who is ultimately paying the bill for all this. I hope the UN publishes accounts somewhere that I could inspect.

And if I as a British tax payer am paying for this, I think maybe the department responsible at the UN should be shut down. I think given the scope of some of the problems in the world, the millions starving, wars and conflict, child labour, injustice, lack of basic rights such as freedom of speech, this is wholly unessential.

I think someone from the UN should come here to clarify exactly what the point of this exercise is and why it is a good use of whoever's money.

I want to thank Aimee for bringing this campaign to Second Life. Chances are I would have never heard of this outside of SL. Prior to stumbling across the display on Naughty Island I had no knowledge of the 2000 Millenium Summit. As soon as I learned of this effort through the in-world campaign I immediately googled it and read everything that I possibly could about it.

Yes, maybe clicking a virtual jelly bracelet doesn't serve the immediate needs of peoples in the developing world. But I guarantee it brought about an awareness of the issue.

In a world in which geographic borders are becoming more and more blurred, issues once exclusively associated with the "third world" are knocking at our own doors. The problem of one is the problem of all. Each of the 8 areas of focus for the Millenium Development Goals are also apparent in the first world - poverty and hunger, improved education, gender equality and the empowerment of women, child mortality, maternal health, infectious diseases, environmental sustainability, and global partnerships for development.

A year ago who would have thought that Louisiana would be reduced to rubble?

I wish more content creators would develop conscious content such as this (as well as having the insight to effectively implement it *cough*).

Having spent the greater part of last year living and working in a developing country and as a result of the efforts of SL's Stand Up Against Poverty campaign I know that this is something I want to be involved in. Sometimes things just click on a pesonal level.

Mr. Hanks, firstly i'm not speaking on behalf of anyone from the UN here or any UN agency either, i DO NOT have any authorization to speak on behalf of any agency on this subject and i'm not doing so either, i'm just giving you a few pointers as to what you may be seeking out:

1) Write Amil Hussain (amil.husain[at]undp.org) at the UNDP and ask him for clarification

2) UNDP as with all other agencies that fall under the UN are required to forward details of all their funding projects and expenses to the FTS (Financial Tracking System) which is housed and managed by the OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) in Geneva:
http://ocha.unog.ch/fts/index.aspx

3) Alternatively you could send your concerns and questions to fts[at]reliefweb.int or directly to NY's OCHA Office - Oliver Lacey-Hall who is the Manager of Field Information Support Section Advocacy and Information Management Branch (lacey-hall[at]un.org) OR to Kaoruko Seki (seki[at]un.org) who's with the Policy Development and Studies Branch.

Usually an email to FTS would be relayed to the relevant OCHA office where the project's point of location was initiated at, in this case it was at UNDP/UNOPS, NY. Mention that you're interested in funding details and expenses of the Stand Up Against Poverty campaign project in second life.

4) In South Asia, the UNDP is looking for a Project Advisor to manage and their "Promoting Pro-Poor Trade - (a pdf file)" project in Bangladesh, where they're responsible for the analysis of the impact of trade on human development, the mainstreaming of trade into poverty reduction policies and trade capacity building in collaboration with the public and private sectors.

Some of the functions the Project Advisor's role would include are to prepare, implement and monitor a detailed annual work plan and budget along with coordinating donor dialogue activities to ensure cooperation with projects under development by them and to facilitate, and supervise the work of consultants plus TORs and contracts. The role would help one to get an insight of how it works and what goes on along the lines of project transparency, accountability and sustainability.

If you're still interested in helping the millions who are starving, then by all means possible, please feel free to take initiative and apply for this role here.

TURKEY is The most powerful country.