MDGs in Focus Conference
 

In March 2005, as part of the MDGs in Focus project, the One World Broadcasting Trust worked with TVE to organise a Broadcasters' Conference in Cologne, Germany. Hosted by WDR Mediagroup, the conference brought together 18 broadcasters from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Also in attendance were Hilde Johnson, the Norwegian Minister for International Development, and senior representatives from the UN and international NGOs.

An online information platform of media initiatives on the MDGs was set up and productions made available to the broadcasters' group at this site.

One of the success stories triggered by the conference was the broadcast of the BBC Panorama programme 'Dead Mums Don't Cry' which explored maternal mortality. The programme tells the story of one woman's struggle, obstetrician Dr Grace Kodindo (pictured), to stop mothers in her central African country Chad from dying during childbirth. Cutting material mortality by three quarters by 2015 is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals to which 189 countries signed up in 2000.

The broadcasts in the UK, Germany and on BBC World triggered a huge response from viewers, resulting in a group of British doctors and nurses launching a website to help Grace, and a German doctor offering to send a regular supply of essential medicines to Chad. The UN subsequently invited Grace to New York for the launch of the 2005 Human Development Report which highlighted progress on the MDGs.

You can find out more at the website Hope for Grace Kodindo.

As part of the 'MDGs in Focus' project, TVE also produced 5 half-hour programmes for its 'Life' series. Broadcast on BBC World in September 2005, these explored the obstacles still preventing achievement of the MDGs - from the 'brain drain' of African health professionals going to work in UK and European hospitals to the campaign against government corruption in Kenya.

The Trust was also involved in the commissioning of six 5-minute 'features' on the MDGs as part of a new series, 'Element', aimed at young people from Europe and the developing world.

In addition, for the first time in 2006 an MDGs Award for outstanding TV coverage that explores the challenges set by the Millennium Development Goals was included as part of the One World Media Awards.