UNDP’s 11th Match Against Poverty to aid Yolanda recovery

MANILA, Philippines – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is launching the 11^th annual Match Against Poverty on March 4, 2014. All the funds raised will be donated to Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) recovery efforts in the Philippines, where much is still needed to help survivors rebuild what they lost. (READ: In numbers: 100 days after Yolanda)

The Match Against Poverty is a yearly initiative that was started in 2003 by UNDP goodwill ambassadors and football legends Zinédine Zidane and Ronaldo to raise funds and awareness in the fight against poverty in line with the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The MDGs seek to reduce world poverty by 2015 through 8 specified goals – eradicating hunger, providing universal primary education for all, promoting gender equality and women empowerment, reducing child mortality, stopping the spread of HIV/AIDs and other diseases, promoting environmental sustainability, improving maternal healthcare, and providing partnerships for development.

This year’s match will be held in the Stade De Suisse National Stadium in Bern, Switzerland. The team of Zidane and Ronaldo, composed of other internationally renown football players, will engage in a friendly match against the Bern professional football club, BSC Young Boys and Friends.

The funds garnered from the match are used to fund specific development projects identified by the UNDP. Last year’s match went to reintegrating marginalized youths in Brazil and Cape Verde, West Africa.

Previous matches were held in Proto Alegre, Basel, Madrid, Dusseldorf, Marseille, Málaga, Fez, Lisboa, Athens, and Hamburg.

The Match Against Poverty will be televised globally. It will air at 8:00pm Bern time, which is 3:00am Manila time. Watch the teaser video below in both English and Filipino. 

– Rappler.com

To support the UNDP’s recovery efforts in the Philippines you can visit their online donation portal.