The new millennium and with its largest gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in September 2000,resulted in perhaps the most inspirational and hope-generating document the world has seen in recent history.

The series of quantified, time bound goals and targets that are set out to reduce poverty, disease and deprivation globally are complex, challenging and compelling.

Although the Millennium Declaration (MD) sought to "free our men, women and children from abject and de-humanizing conditions of extreme poverty"six years later, about 50 per cent of the global income is still in the hands of only 10 per cent of the population whilst only 5 per cent of that income is shared by 40 per cent of the world population.

Sri Lanka, one of the 191 nations that were signatories to the MD, pledged to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the 18 Millennium Development Targets (MDTs) in accordance with the 48 Indicators as set out in that Declaration.

In assessing progress five years after, the MDG Country Report- 2005 pointed out significant lapses in the national strategy of pursuing the MDGs. Mostly it underscored the need to "localize" the globally recognised MDGs and emphasised the need for active civil society participation through multi stakeholder partnerships and networking. More specifically the Country Report emphasized the urgency for overcoming disparities and reducing inequality, and proposed the following as key elements of the way forward.;

"Creating our future-building our nation", a publication of the Ministry of Finance and Planning in 2005, gives the percentage of poor households below the official poverty line (defined as, the total food and non food consumption expenditure of Rs 1423 per person per month) as being more than 30 per cent in three districts (Moneragala, Badulla, Ratnapura) and as being 5 per cent and 9 per cent in Colombo and Gampaha respectively.

In the nine districts in the North and East where accurate figures are hard to come by, only 8 per cent of the Gross National Income is accessible to the people of those areas. Needless to say the war-related complexities peculiar to that part of the country, add to the burden.

All these facts are symptomatic of the gaping disparities, (inter and intra-district) that are recorded in relation to maternal and child health care, nutrition, access to education, environmental protection or poverty. Collectively, these manifest how far we lag behind in achieving the MDGs and their Targets.

Similarly, although Sri Lanka may not be ravaged by the HIV/AIDS pandemic (like in the case of Africa where the scourge has left thousands of children orphaned and teacher-less), and even though Universal Primary Education (UPE) may seem like it’s just round the corner (unlike in the case of other countries in South Asia) those who are in touch with current situations will understand that realistically, we are nowhere near these targets.

At the same time, a welcome trend has emerged where civil society around the world has realized the gravity of the situation of unmet pledges and missed targets facing the global community, and is coming together around a shared agenda. Path breaking initiatives are sought and new alliances are being built globally to accelerate the pace of progress towards achieving the MDGs.

The fact that the MDGs represent "basic rights",( i.e. rights connected to reducing poverty, education, maternal and child health care and nutrition, protection from HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria and other diseases and the environment), and that they are not luxuries or charitable hand outs, doled out by the state, must be emphasised.

The MDGs are no doubt what Governments pledged to achieve for their people, but it must also remain clear that Governments and Governments alone can never achieve all what they have agreed to. For the MDGs to be a rallying cry, real partnerships ( as opposed to token associations decided in a top-down manner), must develop. These must be broad based and their ownership taken by the community themselves. It is only then that advocacy and awareness on the MDGs will extend sufficiently to reach the true grass roots.

A civil society led initiative, to broad base structures and systems, and to establish multi stake holder partnerships and networks to build community leadership to reach the MDGs, began about four months ago.

The activities planned in this novel approach include multi disciplinary involvement of a variety of stakeholders from Government and the non government/private sectors, with leadership taken by village level representatives.

This community based approach focuses on Projects developed and prioritised by the villagers themselves. The solutions proposed by them will be home grown with locally appropriate models that can be replicated and made sustainable. Academic inputs for garnering science/technology based cross disciplinary understanding to counter practical challenges in a village-based setting, are being made available to the communities concerned.

This model is currently being tried out in 15 villages (representing 14 districts) in the first phase of this initiative. At the first MDG focused National Conference scheduled for the 12th of September these Pilot Village models will be showcased at an MDG Market Place Exhibition at the BMICH. On this day, at six thematic workshops, multiple stakeholders (representing the academia, Government, corporate sector, NGO/CBO sectors) will discuss specific issues connected to this community led work program and suggest a road map for taking this initiative forward and to other parts of the country. The six themes* were identified based on the sectors representing the eight MDGs and they will form an over arching frame work for grass roots developmental models to be formulated. The financial and other resources needed to implement the plans of action thus prepared, will need to be found through matching donors/NGOs, and the corporate sector appropriately.

Two additional programmes will operate simultaneously, cutting across all thematic areas, woven into the programmes designed. They are, the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to reach the eight Goals and the inclusion and involvement of women in all areas of development with sufficient empowerment and leadership. History is replete with examples of the importance of using ICT in village level development globally together with Open and Distance Learning (ODL). Similarly, using women as leaders and as partners in community development work has also shown considerable success in several parts of the world.

This is an ambitious attempt to shift the paradigm, where projects will move from being Government /Donor driven, to community led and civil society driven. The final aim is to help the community to help themselves, to lift themselves out of the poverty trap. The interventions designed will be as a holistic package, targeting the priorities with potential for scaling up with gradual expansion and extension of the program.

A similar experiment located in ten African villages (about 5000 families in each) representing several countries (eg.Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia) began two years ago under the aegis of Columbia’s Earth Institute (EI) and it’s Director,Economist Prof Jeffery Sachs.

The Millennium Village Project, described as one of the most imaginative proposals floating on the ether of social change, draws several similarities with the present Programme in Sri Lanka. In both models the communities are pumped with resources ranging from expert scientific and other advice, technological support for agriculture, agri-based industry and infrastructure inputs. But the distinct difference is that in the African model, each village is funded ( US$50-$60 per head per year, for all families in all villages selected) for a period of five years during this research project and it is managed and monitored impeccably by the EI.

The end game of both programmes are similar, ie, to see if, against all odds the Millennium Development Goal Targets can be actually realised at village level if sufficient technical and other forms of support are forthcoming and if the pillars are put in the right place.With proven success the next step would be to upscale these initiatives in close collaboration with Government. Many excellent projects in the past never expanded with sufficient outreach across the socio-economic terrain to get rooted into the developmental process. Lack of initiative and ownership on the part of the community, perhaps contributed to this.

Planners of such activity must also take care that these projects don’t become a platform for political debate and academic parlour games, for intellectuals to analyze and for bureaucrats to ponder on. Mostly, the MDGs must get translated into a people’s program and it must cease to be the intellectual illusion that it has sadly become in many parts of the developed and developing world.

The National MDG Conference, the first of its kind in Srilanka scheduled for the 12th Sept 2006, will have six parallel thematic sessions on the following themes.

The Conference will have as its key note speakers Minar Pimple (UN Millennium Campaign, Asia), Ms Amina Ibrahim ( UN MDG Task Force on Gender, EFA Task Force, Nigeria),Ms Asha Kanwar (Commonwealth of Learning,Canada) and will be inaugurated by Sarath Amunugama (Minister of Public Adminstration).