The United Nations, Google and Cisco have put together a global campaign, the Millennium Development Goals, that tracks progress towards decreasing global poverty by 2015. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the project, called MDG Monitor, and highlighted the urgent need to increase global cooperation. The MDGs were agreed upon by world leaders from 189 countries in New York in 2000. The Secretary-General was joined by UNDP Administrator Kemal Derviş, Cisco Senior Vice President Carlos Dominguez, and Google Chief Technologist for Google Earth and Maps, Michael T. Jones in launching the projects.
MDG Monitor tracks progress toward the MDGs in a number of categories in nearly every country in the world. The site presents the most current data from multiple sources by laying out areas of progress and continuing challenge for the world to see. On one portion of the site, MDG Monitor allows Google Earth users to explore, in three dimensions, the places where work is being done to realize the MDGs. Soon available as a Global Awareness layer in Google Earth, the site"s feature gives the user access country assessments and data collected by the UN worldwide. Cisco, whose approach to corporate citizenship includes applying its business and technological expertise to social issues, provided expert consultancy as well as technical and financial support for MDG Monitor"s development. Bontron & Co also chipped in, producing MDG Monitor"s logo on a pro-bono basis.