Gospel music group, Daughters of Glorious Jesus and Millennium Promise Alliance (MPA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of working towards the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

At an event to unveil the musicians as well as actor Bill Asamoah as ambassadors, Chief Nat Ebo Nsarko, Country Director of Millennium Promise Alliance said the move will help advance sustainable development in communities in Ghana using innovative solutions and scalable systems aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including the end of extreme poverty.

“As you are all aware, the global goals is targeting 2030 which means it’s futuristic in character and which also means we need to get the young people actively engaged. And in getting the young people actively engaged, we need to mobilise these young people. And to mobilise these young people, we need to use things that will attract and appeal to the young people… For that reason, we can’t bypass our celebrities who command respect…” he said.

“We’ve witnessed a lot of rhetoric, we’ve mentioned the SDGs in speeches, we get our politicians to talk about it but we’re left with who to take the action. This has been hanging for years and we’re still counting…. So Millennium Promise Alliance in collaboration with Daughters of Glorious Jesus will ensure we go down to the grassroots and engage all the people to understand and appreciate the SDGs,” he added.

Chief Nat further noted that MPA will “bring on board people who do painting, choreography and things that appeal to the young people and even the old to send home the actual content of the SDGs.”

On their part, Daughter of Glorious Jesus expressed gratitude and assured all of their commitment to duty.

“We always want to do something aside ministration of songs. We thank God that the Millennium Promise Alliance is coming out with this wonderful project. On behalf of my sisters, we are so happy to be part of this. We are ever ready to go wherever and engage the people,” Cynthia, leader of the group said.

President of the Ashanti Regional branch of the Ghana Actors’ Guild, Bill Asamoah also made known his readiness to serve.

He, among other things, mentioned that he would involve his colleagues to help the realization of the dream.

“I’m here on behalf of all actors in Ghana. It’s something we don’t even have to be told to do. The SDGs are for the good of Ghana. We as actors are supposed to drive it home to the people as part of our core social responsibility. It’s an honour I’ve been given this opportunity to serve Ghana. I accept it wholeheartedly,” he said.

In September 2015, United Nations member states adopted the most ambitious agenda in history: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 17 SDGs present a new universal agenda that promotes economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, including gender equality and empowerment of women and girls. These ambitious goals seek to end global poverty and transform the world we live in by 2030.

Seizing on the opportunity of a new global agreement on the SDGs, Millennium Promise strives to continue to be a “go-to” organization for action-oriented efforts for the SDGs, continuing with their successes in incubating high-impact, low-cost initiatives, advising on policies and strategies, mobilizing multi-stakeholder networks and raising awareness of the Goals.