About the lecture
Since 2000 there have been a series of challenges and obstacles which have made the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals more difficult. Some of these could have been foreseen, but others were impossible to predict. For example the increasing impact of climate change, the global financial crisis and multiple large scale humanitarian emergencies.
Despite this we have made significant progress towards fulfilling children’s rights and ensuring safe and secure futures for children. The chance of a mother dying in childbirth is now much lower globally than before 2000, and there are more children in primary school than ever before. However, growing inequities mean that the poorest and most vulnerable children are missing out; at current rates of progress the Goals will not be achieved for all children by 2015. There is much left to do and we running out of time to adopt new and accelerated strategies, but it can still be done.
About the speaker
David Bull joined the United Nations Children’s Fund as Executive Director of the UK Committee in September 1999. Since then UNICEF UK has more than trebled its income and the charity has positioned itself as an advocate for the world’s children through a series of campaigns focusing on maternal health, poverty, conflict, exploitation and HIV/AIDS. Recent initiatives include the children’s parallel G8 summit, the Rights Respecting School Award programme and advocacy for Child Wellbeing in the UK.
Since joining UNICEF UK, Mr Bull has visited UNICEF development and emergency programmes in Sudan (Darfur), Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, India (including Gujarat earthquake), Iran, Sri Lanka (Tsunami emergency), Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Bosnia, Laos, Cambodia, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Jordan and the Philippines. He is currently Vice-Chair of the Standing Group of UNICEF National Committees.
Mr Bull was previously Director of Amnesty International’s UK Section (1990-1999). From 1987-1990 he was General Secretary of the World University Service (UK) and prior to that he was Executive Director of the Environment Liaison Centre in Kenya (1984-87) and Public Affairs Officer at Oxfam (1979-1984). He was a founder of the Pesticides Action Network (PAN) and he is the author of ‘A Growing Problem: Pesticides and Third World Poor’ (1982) and ‘Kampuchea: the Poverty of Diplomacy’. He has been a Trustee of PAN UK and of the Refugee Council, and is an observer member of the FTSE4Good Policy Committee. He has a degree in Economics from the University of Sussex and an MSc in Development Studies and an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Bath.