Along the way to UN Global Summit
In 2004 UNDP selected me to participate as a female delegate from Tanzania to the Pan African youth leadership summit in Dakar. Even though I was a youth activist, this was my first exposure to understanding MDGs.

Dakar was an introduction to what MDGs are and the role youth can play, it was an introduction to a group of youth who share the passion to develop Africa, it was also the beginning of our determination to fulfill our responsibilities in the achievement of MDGs in our countries.

One day in my society, culture and health lecture class back at the university after the youth summit meeting, my lecturer asked about MDGs, I raised my hand so fast, and only then did I realize I was the one among few with my hand up in a sociology third year class of approximately 200 students. It was a shock to the lecturer and to me; students in the class didn’t know well what MDGs were. It is then that I realized how much there needed to be done, for only with concerted efforts would we achieve the MDGs but the efforts can only be made once people and communities learn about the eight goals. My immediate thoughts went to the role I had to play in sensitizing fellow youth activists and students.

Dakar was motivating and our expectations were fever high when we returned home that we thought we could do anything but it was not that easy. Key drivers of MDGs needed to be informed and engaged, we also needed to establish contact with organizations that were already doing work on the ground. The road got thinner as we realized the enormity of the task. We had to start small and think strategically, with the help of UN agencies and the municipal council we organized our first youth MDGs awareness program and concert in Dar es Salaam.

The program centered on transformation of our efforts to generate impact on achieving MDGs. We had to find activities that will make MDGs attractive and relevant to young people, so we included sports and art programs, which generates immediate awareness on MDGs and that resonated with young people’s ideals and interests.

My journey with MDGs’ got me involved with more programs. I traveled to districts as a youth and MDGs educator in the Citizen Global Platform (CGP) as MDGs educator and secretary of the Human security theme group, representing my organization the Youth of United Nations association in Opinion gathering program throughout 15 regions in Tanzania. I also got engaged in the great lakes project and Sexual reproductive health project among the less informed areas. Throughout these projects I kept in touch with the young leaders that I met in Dakar and Morocco. We shared ideas and exchanged strategies that worked in our countries, like when I worked with the young activists from West Africa in the Ecossoc realization of youth participation consultations. By that time I had graduated from University and employed by a cellular company, the programs that I was involved in enabled me to direct my work in the corporate world to foster addressing national challenges and support communities in achieving MDG through the Corporate Social Responsibility portfolio that I managed.

In May this year, journalists from USA and Europe visited Tanzania to learn about the impact of Malaria. Unfortunately Tanzania is once of the country’s worst hit by this deadly disease. I was part of the team that visited projects across Tanzania showcasing some of successes as well as challenges that communities face. I realized how we as youth activists have neglected Malaria in our programs while it is the biggest killer of expecting mothers who are predominantly young, in a country where 54 percent of young girls have a child before they are 20.

The UN GLOBAL summit delegates know about MDGs and are working in various aspects to ensure they fulfill their role. I carry one more concern, which is the importance of giving priority to the fight against malaria alongside the MDGs work they are doing.