UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established in June 2010 an advocacy group of eminent persons to try to galvanize support worldwide towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by their target date of 2015.  

“We need to emerge from the September Millennium Development Goals summit with concrete national action plans for realizing the Goals. These advocates can help us get there,” Mr. Ban stressed. Each of the group’s members have been asked to focus their advocacy efforts on specific Goals.

The MDG Advocacy Group, composed of high-profile individuals supporting the Secretary-General in building political will and mobilizing global action for the MDGs, held its first meeting in Madrid, Spain, on 16 July. The Advocates who were present, who come from Chile, China, Denmark, France, South Korea, Nigeria, South Africa/Mozambique, Sweden and the United States, recorded brief video messages, as did UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Antonio Banderas. The videos are posted on the UN YouTube channel:

Here are some advocate videos from the members:

Jan Eliasson - Advocate for the Millennium Development Goals

Michelle Bachelet - Advocate for the Millennium Development Goals

Antonio Banderas - UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Millennium Development Goals

Akin Adesina - Advocate for the Millennium Development Goals