10 Years of the Millennium Development Goals -TEDxChange Event

More than 150 of the world’s leading ‘thinkers and doers’ will gather in New York this month for an event to mark 10 years of the Millennium Development Goals.

The event, TEDxChange: The Future We Make, is co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and international Not for Profit, TED with satellite events around the world linking up with the main event in New York.

Satellite TEDxChange events will be held in 50 locations around the world, including an event in Brisbane. Local TEDx organisers will be hosting viewing parties and discussions coinciding with the live TEDxChange webcast. (Find out more about the Brisbane event here.)

After ten years of the Millennium Development Goals, the TEDxChange event poses the question – Where are we in the work to save and improve lives around the world? And what more needs to be done to ensure the health and well-being of future generations?

Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, says people live in a unique time in history, where technological advances and social innovations can help save millions of lives. She says TEDxCHange is a chance to share some of the incredible work being done.

The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development targets established by the United Nations. Accepted by world leaders in 2000 and set to be achieved by 2015, the goals seek to spur development by improving social and economic conditions in the world’s poorest countries. View the goals here.

Speakers at the TEDxChange event announced so far include:

• Melinda Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
• Graca Machel, President of the Foundation for Community Development. Machel is a renowned international advocate for women’s and children’s rights and has been a social and political activist for decades.
• Hans Rosling, Professor of International Health at Karolinska Foundation and co-founder of the Gapminder Foundation. Through his work at Gapminder, Rosling co-developed the breakthrough software Trendalyzer, which converts international statistics into moving, interactive graphics representing global development trands.
• Mechai Viravaidya, Founder and Chairman of the Population and Community Development Association (PDA).
• Bajah + The Dry Eye Crew. Originally from Sierra Leione, this hip-hop group are known for speaking out against political and social injustices.

TED is a Not for Profit organisation, committed to ‘ideas worth spreading’, through a global set of conferences which are available for viewing free online – known as TED Talks. So far over 700 talks are available, and TED Talks have been watched more than 290 million times. TEDx events are independently organised events, co-hosted by TED, with a similar focus on showcasing the world’s leading thinkers and sparking deep discussion.

There will also be a Flickr campaign, enabling those who are unable to attend the sessions to get involved.

To find out how to take part in TEDxChange, click here.