For the past six weeks I have been travelling in the western, eastern and southern parts of Africa. The mission (as these trips are grandiosely described in United Nations' vocabulary) has been to assess situations on the ground regarding the implementation and achievement of the Millennium Development goals (MDGS) in the various countries.

This is the mid-year in the 15-year terminal date set for the achievement of the goals. The other and more immediate reason for the travels is to see what preparations are being made by various partners of the UN millennium Campaign for this year's Guinness Challenge to beat the record set last year for standing up against poverty.

The UN Millennium Campaign's Global Director, Salil Shetty, led the missions. It involved meeting with various UN country teams, Government officials, National Coalitions for the Global Call Against Poverty (GCAP) / MDG campaigners and local and international NGOs, among others. We have been either together or individually in Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi.