MDG’s Campus Challenge

The project  MDG’s Campus Challenge targets university students from 18 to 30, inviting them to get their communities, university colleagues, relatives, and friends involved in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Based on the ONE Campus Challenge Project (http://www.one.org/campus/), the project mobilizes participants to get active locally for change globally. Fifty teams with 3-5 members, totalling 250 participants across the country, responded to challenges from over 60 provided, getting points according to a ranking scale. The challenges included asking the president of the student association to wear a t-shirt with the MDGs, sending a letter to Parliament about development aid or to city council suggesting the use of fair trade products in the municipality, making a short video or emailing friends about MDGs, and much more. Team activities were enhanced by Facebook entries to show off achievements. The ten teams with the most points advanced to stage two, involving the creation of national advocacy campaigns with actions such as awareness-building, lobbying, creation of educational materials, street actions, production of audiovisual materials, mobilization activities, debates, social gatherings, petitions, exchanges etc. The 10 national campaign proposals are compiled in an online guide "10 Ideas For the MDGs". The team with the best MDG Campaign, selected by a jury and by the public, visited Guinea Bissau in August 2011, to discover the realities of a developing country, meet other young people, and collect testimonies, photographs and videos that enhance the MDG National Campaign, which will subsequently be implemented in Portugal.