Who said it's only politicians who get to choose? There are millions of tiny springboards out there for changing this world. The Millennium Development Goals are effectively a guide for upholding and maintaining humanitarianism. Surely, it would be downright foolish of us to allow our politicians to misrepresent us. What would you ask these middlemen and women? What are young people’s feelings on tackling poverty? And how on earth do we go about taking a stance? I spoke with some lovely young people to ask them how they get their spring on…

Annette, 20

"I heard about the MDG pre summit meeting through Voluntary Service Overseas. I work with them as a Global Exchange Volunteer. I've been to Ethiopia to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS, and teach English. Given the chance to question Nick Clegg today, I would have asked him why he advocates developing G.D.P, whilst we exponentially increase our own. It's environmentally unsustainable. Although I heard about the MDGs only recently, I don't feel I've learnt anything new here. We really need to broaden our horizons outside of the U.K. The best way for young people to help eliminate poverty is to educate kids at school-level, - it’s when our opinions are formed. We can easily nip ignorance in the bud."

Ben, 19

"I've been out to Malawi to lecture on sanitation at health centres. I heard about this event through V.S.O, the organisation I work for. Attending the meeting today, I really think we need to push the idea of International Aid and the MDGs forward, otherwise we won't see change. It's going to take a mixture of ages to do achieve this. A good way to involve young people in poverty awareness is to be inventive- I funded my trip to Malawi through a fancy-dress pub crawl- great fun!"

Mwaba, 17
 
"I heard about this event from working with World Vision; they're doing a campaign at the moment called "Child Health Now."  The campaign focuses on helping children out in poor countries who have malaria and other illness and diseases.  I didn't actually know there were 8 millennium development goals, I've only recently found out about them. It's good to see that they realise disease especially in children is one of the main priorities to tackle.  What surprised me the most was the statistic that every 4/5 seconds a child dies from malaria, that really did shock me, and something needs to be done about it.  I think overall the MDGs are realistic in what they aim to achieve but the time frame isn't realistic at all."
 
Nicole, 17
 
"I think the MDGs are too ambitious, especially with only 5 years left.  I think they have to take into factors like the recession and global disasters like Haiti that set countries back.  These kinds of things aren't really considered, which I think will really affect the MDGs, especially because they are on increase with the Pakistan Floods as well.  They also need to be more publicised, I hadn't heard of them until today so they should really look into targeting schools to try and raise awareness as young people are the future.  In the speech, I felt that Nick Clegg was insinuating that Britain itself was the one making all the progress, when I thought that the MDGs were a worldwide effort?"
 
Belle, 20
 
"In the meeting I really liked the video showing all the success stories of the MDGs so far, however, it’s clear there’s still a long way to go.  Child morality, disease and poor sanitation aren’t tolerated here, so they shouldn't be over there!  A way of raising awareness would be to target students, or to use the media and clubs to educate them in a way that's fun but still gets the issue across.  There could be fun events like a "Party for Poverty" as people would be more willing to give money if they knew it was for a good cause. Word of mouth is still probably the most powerful way of spreading ideas, and that's what we're doing for the Child Health Now campaign, which we’re ambassadors of.  I'd love to see young people have a say in international development in government amongst Nick Clegg and Andrew Mitchell. I also think gaining the support of celebrities and big name companies will affect young people the most when it comes to global issues."

Tim, 21

"I was sent to the MDG summit on behalf of Powerful Information (a British charity working to empower communities in low-income countries to tackle the root causes of poverty and injustice and safeguard the environment), and that's how I knew about the event. I am disappointed that the MDGs do not focus on disability, and I wish that the coalition government (not just Nick Clegg) would clarify how they intend to include the needs of disabled people in their approach to achieving the MDGs at the upcoming summit. As a way of tackling poverty I would urge young people to give more support and get involved with local, grassroots organisations. Smaller organisations are underrated, when actually they can have a greater impact and be more effective than the larger ones!"

Words and photos: Sian Gregory and Jade O' Hanlon