Guardian News and Media today launched a new website focusing on global development in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Last month the Guardian recruited an editor and community co-ordinator for the new site – which is joint funded by GNM and the Gates foundation.
In a press release today GNM said: ‘The site will provide a new space for discussion and interaction on the biggest challenges affecting the lives of billions of people across the developing world, including poverty, hunger, infant mortality, adaptation to climate change and economic development.”
One aim of the site is to ‘hold governments, institutions and NGOs accountable for the implementation of the United Nations millennium development goals”.
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The site includes a ‘data store’section and ‘blogosphere’section comprising a feed from 20 of the leading bloggers in this subject area.
It also features writing from Guardian journalists such as Madeleine Bunting, Sarah Boseley and Larry Elliott on development issues.
GNM editor Alan Rusbridger said: ‘All too often the mainstream press ignores long-term development stories.
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‘However, it is essential to have a place where some of the biggest questions facing humanity are analysed and debated, and through which we can monitor the effectiveness of the billions of pounds of aid that flows annually into the developing world.
‘The creation of this website is a natural step for the Guardian, which has always been internationalist in its outlook and passionate about social justice.”
The new site has an advisory panel made up of 20 development experts from around the world – including Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen and American economist and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Jeff Sachs.
The Millennium Development Goals were adopted by all 192 United Nations member states in the year 2000 with a target date of 2015.
Guardian Development summarises them as the following:
- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Achieve universal primary education
- Promote gender equality and empower women
- Reduce child mortality
- Improve maternal health
- Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
- Ensure environmental sustainability
- Develop a Global Partnership for Development
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