MUMBAI: Nick has joined forces with the United Nations (UN) for the Millennium Development campaign, which is titled 'Nick 2015.'
Actor and Miss Universe 2000, Lara Dutta will be lending her voice to the campaign. She will be instrumental in highlighting key global issues that need to be addressed in order to make this world a better place by 2015 when many of the kids of today will become adults.
In 2002, Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, launched the Millennium project where 189 heads of state around the globe promised that they would make the world a better place for all kids and their families by the year 2015 by reaching certain Development Goals.
Later this year, world leaders will gather again to review the progress made on these projects. Media plays a crucial role in disseminating relevant information to get their audiences involved in the Millennium Campaign. Leading broadcasters like MTV Italy, Nickelodeon, BBC, TV5 and Television Espanola have all responded to the UN’s appeal and have pledged their commitment to support the Millennium Campaign.
On behalf of Nick in India, Dutta will lend her voice to a child-friendly campaign to go on-air towards the end of June and address issues like poverty, education, equality, disease, environment and child mortality.
The series calls upon the world’s six billion people to join their voices and remind governments to keep their promise to end poverty. The Nick-UN Millennium Campaign partnership will help children know about social issues and encourage them to get involved and get their government to keep their promise for a better tomorrow. Kids can do this by petitioning online on www.nick2015.com. Their petitions and those of kids across the globe will be presented to World Leaders by the UN Millennium Campaign in September this year.
Addressing a press gathering, MTV Networks Asia vice president (channel development, creative and content) Natasha Malhotra, who has been integrating this campaign said, "We've always believed that what's good for kids is good for Nick. So it only stands to reason that pro-social activities are high on our agenda, be it our Say Yes and Let’s Just Play campaigns or, more recently, helping kids come to terms with the Tsunami disaster. It's important for us to get kids to understand larger social issues which will probably affect them more than any other demographic."
Speaking about her involvement with the campaign, Dutta said, "My association with the UN goes back to the Miss Universe pageant and I welcome this opportunity to renew the association. This campaign gives me an opportunity to voice my opinion and help kids understand the global issues of poverty, education, equality and environment because in 2015 they will be the adults of the world and some of them will be world leaders. Together we can all make a huge difference to the lives of millions."
Nick 2015 will be broadcast on 23 Nickelodeon channels across Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Supported by the UN Millennium Campaign, the campaign is a series of eight 30-second original animation shorts public and a dedicated website.
Each spot explains how a Millennium Development Goal affects kids and what they can do to have a voice in their future.
