The W8 on a health and education mission
One of the campaigners Kadiatou Baby Maiga from Mali; Image credit: Oxfam/Sven Torfinn
In today’s blog Global Digital Campaigner from Oxfam, Ian Sullivan writes on a group of eight campaigners seeking to ensure the G8 deliver on their promises.
8 inspirational campaigners from around the world are coming together to call for health and education for all
The W8, a group of 8 prominent health and education campaigners from all 4 corners of the globe, are on a mission. They want to use their experiences from working, organising and campaigning in their own countries, to tell leaders of G8 that now is the time to deliver on the promises that they made at the turn of the century – the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It’s time to make sure that mothers and babies can see a doctor when they need to and children get the chance of an education.
The W8 members are truly inspirational women. For instance, Kadiatou Baby Maiga is the president of the Malian coalition ‘Education for All’. She was one of only two girls in her high school class of 80. Now she works to make sure that other girls have the same opportunities as she’s had.
You’ll get to know them all much better over the course of their trip as they blog, tweet and make short videos bringing the voice of their communities to the attention of world leaders and the general public. More specifically, the W8 are visiting Canada (ahead of the G8/G20) and key European Union (EU) countries.
These countries can play a crucial role in helping to get the health and education MDGs back on track. As things stand these promises won’t be kept and that means millions of people will be locked in poverty – mothers will die needlessly in childbirth and millions of children will never learn to read and write. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. With the right will from the G8, these promises to the world’s poorest people can be kept.
I’ll leave the final word with W8 member, Sandhya Venkateswaran, “Something as basic as giving birth to a child is incredibly risky for a large proportion of women, and although there has been a lot of talk about improving maternal health, many women just don’t know whether they will survive childbirth.”
Tell the G8 that you want them to end this scandal and keep their MDG promises.