Chuka Umunna
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The UN Millennium Development Goals, which will come to an end in 2015, have certainly given us a lot to celebrate. Yet extreme poverty is as much a threat to children today as before. We need to ask ourselves some hard questions as to why this is.
Audiences the world over are captivated by images of violence. Rolling news runs round-the-clock footage of troops and tanks fighting harsh battles in some of the world's most inhospitable places. This deserves our attention and thank goodness these pictures stir the public and their political leaders to tackle pressing security issues.
As someone born and brought up outside the UK but now living here, one of the things I most admire about the British people is that they hold in their hearts the struggle against global poverty. The 'Enough Food for Everyone IF' campaign has united in one voice all the major NGOs and faith groups in the UK.
Involving children in the discussions that affect them truly changes the outcomes. Ensuring that those discussions are focused on the most poor and the most vulnerable will guarantee that this week's meeting has the lasting effects on children's lives that those gathered must surely want.
As the government acknowledges, the reality of effective aid is far more complicated. We need to empower people in the communities we work to campaign for better health services; for better education; and for laws to protect children from early marriage and harmful labour.
Recent analysis from Save the Children and World Vision shows that in the Sahel region currently one million children are at risk of starvation because their families can't access affordable nutritious food, having sold off their assets, their cattle and tools, to cope with the lingering drought.
We've seen the troubling issue of violence against children accused of witchcraft back in the headlines this week, as the UK Government launches an action plan to tackle it.
