United Nations and International Volleyball Federation partner for change
The partnership was signed at the Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo on the sidelines of the FIVB Women's World Cup 2011 by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, Wilfried Lemke, and FIVB President, Jizhong Wei.
UN Millennium Development Goals
The eight UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which include eradicating poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and combating HIV/AIDS, form the thematic focus for the agreement. “The United Nations has long recognized the crucial role that sport federations can play in promoting sustainable development and peace-building,” Mr. Lemke declared.
“The 2015 deadline for achieving the MDGs is coming closer every day and through this partnership with FIVB, we will be able to reach out to many more and to use volleyball as a vehicle for delivering our messages and programmes,” he added.
End Poverty 2015
The first event where such measures are being implemented is the FIVB World Cup currently held in Japan. During both the Women’s tournament (4-18 November) and the Men’s tournament (20 November-4 December), the UN’s ‘End Poverty 2015’ campaign is being promoted.
FIVB Heroes
FIVB's brand new “FIVB Heroes” campaign will play a crucial role in the UN-FIVB partnership and in the global promotion of FIVB's social engagement," where a dozen or so of the world's best volleyball players are the faces of the partnership. FIVB Executive Vice-President André Meyer said, "Our first step for the new global partnership is to raise as much awareness as possible for the eight MDGs.
Collaboration
The positive power of the “FIVB Heroes'” popularity will attract attention and will focus the eyes of the volleyball community and young generation on the MDG and specific UN issues. "The cooperation will also be realized through the implementation of joint development and humanitarian projects, in collaboration with the national Volleyball federations in countries where FIVB tournaments will be staged, as well as with relevant UN organizations.
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