Norwegian Crown Prince continues advocacy for poor

Crown Prince Haakon of Norway will continue his roll as the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), it has been announced.

The declaration came last Thursday, which means that Haakon’s tenure in the role will extend another two years from the eight years he has already served. As the Goodwill Ambassador, he will continue global efforts to speak up for poor, vulnerable and marginalised people.

UNDP Administrator, Helen Clark, said, “Crown Prince Haakon has offered his time generously to UNDP and advocating for development,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports. She added, “”He has seen UNDP at work in developing countries, and has ably projected messages about the most pressing needs of the world’s poorest, and how to support them to transform their lives.”

Since his first year in the role in 2003, the Crown Prince has taken part in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are ambitious international goals set to eradicate extreme levels of poverty before 2016. He has visited and participated in projects in Guatemala, Cambodia, Burundi, Botswana, Tanzania and Mongolia.

Crown Prince Haakon said upon the announcement, “I continue my efforts as Goodwill Ambassador because I strongly believe we all have an equal right to realise our potential as human beings. One day when our children ask us what our contribution has been to the world, I would like to answer that we were the generation that ended extreme poverty. With determination and hard work I believe it is possible, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.