Lil’ MDGs began, as so many nonprofit organizations do, with one person wanting to make a difference. In this case, that person hadn’t yet entered his teens. Early on Dylan Mahalingam knew he wanted to direct his energy toward alleviating human suffering in all parts of the world - an objective he shared with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) established by the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000. Despite his young age, Dylan resolved to put his passion for these global issues into action.

Dylan began working with children in other parts of the world on a variety of issues including combating HIV/AIDS, improving access to education, eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, promoting tolerance, advancing human rights, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality, encouraging diversity, supporting a just economic system, and ensuring environment sustainability.  

During the course of his activities, Dylan realized that many children were unaware of the MDGs. He knew that these children were eager to learn more not only about the MDGs, but also about how they could help. Dylan then decided that his focus should be on mobilizing children around the world to get involved; he realized that his voice alone can only do so much, but if he could inspire other children to take action, their combined voices could have a vastly greater impact. In 2004, when Dylan was just nine years old, he set out to form Lil' MDGs to help achieve his goal.

In this age of the Internet, Dylan knew that geographical distances matter less and less. With this in mind he collaborated with his cousins who live in different states in the USA but share the same passion for global issues, and founded Lil' MDGs. By wielding the power of the Internet to tear down barriers of geography and skepticism toward young people, and through their sheer determination and passion, these social entrepreneurs have made their voices heard. Through Lil’ MGDs, they are resolved to make other youths’ voices heard as well. In 2007, Jayme's Fund for Social Justice decided to collaborate with Lil' MDGs and support its initiatives. Lil' MDGs is excited about this new and remarkable partnership and is happy to announce that all contributions and donations to Lil' MDGs will be tax-deductible and managed by Jayme's Fund.

Thank you for reading the story of Lil' MDGs. Please explore this site more to learn even more about this rapidly growing organization and its global network of members, partners and projects.