THIS IS LINKED THE 23 JUIN 2011 BLOG " THE NEW FACE OF COLONIZATION"

Our Work

Classroom

CyberSmart Africa's "21st Century Learning Initiative" operates in 3 Senegalese elementary schools and 6 middle schools. We are piloting an innovative, practical model for 21st century learning that has the potential for enormous scale, reaching vast numbers of schools with today's knowledge, information, and learner-centered teaching practices.

We flip the traditional model for school technology use in developing nations, integrating a specially adapted interactive whiteboard that moves quickly between classrooms - over rocks and sand. It can operate with a portable battery that's recharged with a single solar panel.

Instead of focusing on computer skills, we focus on classroom learning - reading, math, science, geography, and history. We also flip the economic model. With less technology-related costs and requirements, we simplify implementation. More time and money can be spent on teacher capacity building.

To learn more, watch our videos.

Digital Storytelling activities are used to earn the confidence of teachers, parents, and community leaders, introducing them to the excitement and potential of 21st century learning. Read more and see our digital storytelling gallery.

Millennium Promise

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Millennium Promise, or The Millennium Promise Alliance, Inc., is a non-profit organization incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware, dedicated to ending extreme poverty within our lifetime. Its flagship initiative is the Millennium Villages Project, which highlights how integrated, community-led development, even in some of the poorest communities across rural sub-Saharan Africa, can lead to progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and can provide communities with the basic tools and necessities to break out of poverty, on the path toward self-sustainable development. Millennium Promise oversees the Millennium Villages Project in collaboration with the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The project reflects Millennium Promise's focus on simultaneously addressing the inter-connected challenges of poverty - which include hunger and malnutrition, disease and lack of access to health care, poor education, and insufficient infrastructure, among others. The organization engages partners from the private and public sectors, national governments, and individuals in support of its work in the Millennium Villages and for a broader policy and advocacy agenda in support of the MDGs. As such, Millennium Promise recognizes the critical importance of partnerships in addressing the many dimensions of poverty. Among the Millennium Promise MDG Global Leaders are fashion icon Tommy Hilfiger,^[1] founder of Diesel Renzo Rosso,^[2] and Senegalese musician and UNICEF ambassador Youssou Ndour.

A central goal of Millennium Promise, using the platform of the Millennium Villages Project, is to demonstrate the power of practical, low-cost and community-led approaches to poverty alleviation that can be replicated at scale by developing nations around the world. Through the Millennium Villages Project, Millennium Promise works in over 80 villages across ten different countries in sub-Saharan Africa — Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda. Each Millennium Village site is a cluster of a village or villages, of approximately 5,000 inhabitants per cluster.

Millennium Promise was co-founded by the renown international economist and Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, and philanthropist and Wall Street leader Ray Chambers in 2005. The organization is headquartered in New York, New York, with regional headquarters in Bamako, Mali and Nairobi, Kenya, and national affiliates in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Dr. John W. McArthur is the CEO and Executive Director of Millennium Promise. Dr. McArthur was the Deputy Director of the UN Millennium Project and is a Research Associate at Columbia University.

In September 2006, the financier and philanthropist George Soros pledged $50 million to Millennium Promise to fund 33 Millennium Villages. This donation has received added attention as a departure from Soros' characteristic sponsorship of democracy building and good governance-focused programs.^[3]

Results published in May 2010 of three years of work from five of the Millennium Villages sites, in Harvests of Development in Rural Africa: The Millennium Villages after Three Years,^[4] reported an average three-fold increase in maize yields, a seven-fold increase in access to basic sanitation, and an over 50% reduction in malaria prevalence, among other factors. On May 30, 2010, United Nations Secretary General Ban-ki Moon visited the Millennium Village of Mwandama, Malawi, and he stated: “I congratulate the leadership of the village and the whole community – especially the women of Mwandama – for their hard work and their commitment to a better life for their children and for generations to come... . Today, I call on every country to look closely at this success. It is a case study in what is possible, even in the poorest places in the world.”^[5]

In addition to the Millennium Villages Project, Millennium Promise also supports independent projects and initiatives to address extreme poverty. Millennium Promise is a founding partner of the organization Malaria No More. Launched in December 2006 at the White House Summit on Malaria, Malaria No More brings together corporations, foundations, faith-based groups, grassroots networks, and the public to support a comprehensive approach to control malaria. In 2010, Millennium Promise, in collaboration with the Earth Institute and Ericsson Mobile, founded a global education initiative called Connect To Learn, the focuses on bringing access to a 21st century education - including secondary school - to all children, and in particular girls.

he Earth Institute brings together the people and tools needed to address some of the world's most difficult problems, from climate change and environmental degradation, to poverty, disease and the sustainable use of resources.

Facing the Global Challenge

Much of humankind is vulnerable to natural disasters, extreme poverty, infectious disease and a host of other challenges. One in six people on the planet subsist on less than $1 a day. The world's population is expected to increase to nine billion by 2050. Human activity is straining the planet's resources, threatening the health of our environment and ability to thrive.

By blending scientific research, education and practical solutions, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, is working to help the world pave a path toward sustainability.

The Institute, under the direction of Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, comprises more than 30 research centers and some 850 scientists, postdoctoral fellows, staff and students. Working across many disciplines, we study and create solutions for problems in public health, poverty, energy, ecosystems, climate, natural hazards and urbanization.

At our largest research unit, the renowned Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, some of the world's leading scientists study geology, oceans, freshwater systems, climate and atmosphere. Our scientists map the ocean floor and measure the movements of ice sheets; they bore into ancient trees and pull cores of mud from the sea bottom to uncover secrets of past climate; they chart the flow of ocean and the swirl of atmosphere around the planet. Millimeter by millimeter, they measure the movements of the earth's crust as it thrusts up from far below or dives down into subduction zones. This fundamental knowledge about the dynamics of the earth is key to addressing our biggest challenges.

Earth Institute experts work hand-in-hand with academia, corporations, government agencies, nonprofits and individuals. They advise national governments and the United Nations on issues related to sustainable development and the Millennium Development Goals. They areeducating the next generation of leaders in basic sciences and sustainable development.

We focus on the protection of earth's environment and the spread of social and economic opportunities for all people. We believe that dealing with issues such as extreme poverty must involve tackling issues such as environmental degradation, and lack of access to health care and education. Our work reflects the fundamental belief that the world possesses the tools needed to effectively mitigate climate change, poverty and other critical issues.