Millennium Cities Initiative

The Millennium Cities Initiative is an effort undertaken by The Earth Institute at Columbia University. The Initiative cooperates with the VCC and the the MDG Support Team in the Poverty Group of the UNDP. It operates with the strong support of the Governments of Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal, as well as the municipal governments of Mekelle, Ethiopia; Kumasi, Ghana; Kisumu, Kenya; Blantyre, Malawi; Bamako and Segou, Mali; Akure, Nigeria and Louga, Senegal. The Initiative also works with UN-HABITAT, the UN Environment Programme, Agenda 21, and UNIDO. At Columbia University, the MCI is supported by the School of International and Public Affairs and the Mailman School of Public Health. It is led by Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs. Its Co-Directors are Dr. Susan M. Blaustein and Dr. Karl P. Sauvant.

The MCI is a set of activities initiated by the Millennium Project, which was commissioned by the former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to recommend operational strategies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals agreed upon by the world leaders at the 2000 UN Summit. It is presently being implemented by the MDG Support Team in the Poverty Group of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The Millennium Villages Project is working in ten sub-Saharan countries at the community level, to advise them on implementing an integrated set of rural interventions aimed at helping sub-subsistence farming communities to achieve the MDGs

For further information: http://www.vcc.columbia.edu/news/ and http://www.earth.columbia.edu/mci/