Armed violence and remnants of conflict devastate lives. It is no coincidence that the world’s 10 poorest countries are either in a state of conflict or emerging from one.
By releasing land, increasing safe access to vital resources – water, education, trade and health services – in many of these countries, MAG’s work actively contributes to the chances of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, particularly the first: eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 50 per cent in 2015.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimated that in 2010 a total of 925 million people were undernourished.
Landmines, explosive ordnance and malfunctioning, badly stored and abandoned weapons all deny communities access to land, water and infrastructure, keeping people in poverty.
They also hamper the work of governments, and relief and development agencies, preventing access to life-saving resources and undermining development.
Photo [Sean Sutton/MAG]: Mr Air and his wife Mai harvesting their second rice crop of 2009 in Lao PDR. A MAG team cleared the area the previous year, removing more than 300 cluster bombs. Triangle, one of MAG’s development partners in the country, then built an irrigation channel to bring water from the river to the rice fields in the dry season.
See also:
Development Impact: an article from MAG's Annual Review 2008-2009
VIDEO: Cambodia NGO partnership and development impact: this video from MAG's partner in Cambodia, CARE, shows how the two organisations work in tandem in Palin – one of the poorest provinces in the country.
www.un.org/millenniumgoals
Back to top
