United Nations Secretary-General Invites You to Be a Citizen Ambassador

 

The Department of Public Information has launched the 2010 edition of its “Citizen Ambassadors to the United Nations” campaign, which utilizes new media and social networking websites to engage global audiences on the work of the United Nations.

The contest — organized by the Department of Public Information in partnership with YouTube, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Foundation (UNF), French broadcaster TV5Monde and with support from Flip Video — will run from 23 June to 23 August 2010 on the United Nations Channel on YouTube (www.youtube.com/unitednations).

Promotion of the campaign through the official website, www.uncitizenambassadors.org, will be expanded with a Facebook page, Twitter updates, as well as online and on-air promotion to the Francophone world French-language channel TV5Monde.

The theme of the Citizen Ambassadors contest this year is the Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight internationally-agreed targets designed to bring concrete results by 2015 in the fields of poverty, hunger, disease, maternal and child deaths, education, gender equality and sustainability.

A video featuring United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been posted on the United Nations Channel on YouTube, calling citizens of the world to submit short video messages on the importance of the Millennium Development Goals in their lives.

As Secretary-General Ban indicated:  “The Millennium Development Goals are about improving the lives of everyday people around the globe; this campaign is about giving a voice to those who want to make a difference.”

Additional call-for-entry videos feature celebrities and public figures such as United Nations Messengers of Peace Stevie Wonder and Princess Haya; UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors Angelique Kidjo, Youssou N’Dour, Leo Messi and Jackie Chan; and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Maria Sharapova.

Six winners representing different regions of the world will be designated “Citizen Ambassadors to the United Nations” in late September 2010.

For further information, please contact Einat Temkin at temkin@un.org; tel.:  +1 917 367 5841; or visit the following:

United Nations YouTube Channel:  http://www.youtube.com/user/unitednations;

Official campaign website:  http://www.uncitizenambassadors.org;

On Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/CitizenAmbassadors;

On Twitter:  http://twitter.com/CitizenAmbs2UN.

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For information media • not an official record