With just five years to go world leaders are gathering at the UN from 20 – 22 September to review progress and action towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals. In addition to news reporting from the Summit itself, from the countries most affected by poverty and hunger and from associated civil society actions like the Stand Up Against Poverty rallies, IPS is undertaking some specific initiatives.

Eight Goals through a Gender Lens is a special IPS TerraViva magazine produced with the support of UNIFEM and as part of the MDG3 Communicating for Change: Getting Voice, Visibility and Impact for Gender Equality IPS programme supported by the Dutch MDG3 Fund. As well as hard copy distribution in New York to delegates, the magazine will be widely circulated by email and through the MDG3 partners and other women’s NGOs who contributed to a special supplement in the magazine.

The IPS Columnist Service has commissioned a series of columns highlighting major issues and points of view. Sylvia Borren, the co-chair of the Global Call to Action against Poverty asks “We Can Eradicate Poverty – So Why Don’t We? “. Archbishop Njongo Ndungane, President and Founder of African Monitor, argues against relying on aid flows, which are positive but should be secondary to African efforts to invest in its own people and create stronger mechanisms to prevent illicit outflows of resources. Frederic Mousseau, Senior Fellow at the Oakland Institute, focuses on goal one and asks “Is the World Prepared for the next Food Crisis? “.

IPS has partnered with The Guardian newspapers new “guardian development network”, launched with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on the eve of the Summit. IPS writer Zoffeen Ibrahim’s article from Karachi “Floods in Pakistan bring out another crisis – maternal risks” is the first feature picked up as part of the news partnership.

Ongoing coverage of the MDGs is alway available at our website “To 2015 Progress in Achieving the Millennium Development Goals” and you can sign up here for the associated weekly email. For  updates around IPS’s work on goal 3, visit our site “Giving Voice to Gender Equality” and sign up for The Gender Wire weekly email.

For a summary of our work around the MDGs, read our new leaflet : Countdown to 2015: Headline News about the Millennium Development Goals