October is one of my favourite times of year. As the sun begins to disappear in the UK and the leaves start turning orange I pack my bags and head to South Africa. This year, however I boarded the flight to Jo’burg leaving behind an unusually hot...

After months of fevered anticipation, the World Cup officially kicks off this afternoon.The UNICEF UK blog is using this opportunity to shine a light on countries around the world by examining the progress they’re making on the Millenuim Development Goals (MDGs), eight goals – including eradicating extreme poverty, ensuring environmental sustainability and achieving universal primary education – which 189 countries signed up to in 2000, pledging to achieve by 2015. We're looking at one match and one MDG per blog. Up first, opening game South Africa vs. Mexico.

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Getting excited about the World Cup yet? Or at least very, very sick of the sound of those vuvuzela horns that seem a lot more fun to play than listen to? Well today things heat up with two titans of the game taking to the pitch: Honduras vs. Chile. Okay, so they might not be the heavy-weights of the competition but it looks to be an exciting match none-the-less. But match scores aren’t the only interesting indicators tracked in recent years. Both Chile and Honduras have signed up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and as such have set concrete aims to improve standards of living for their citizens by 2015. We look at at how well these two countries are scoring off the pitch with their progress on MDG1: To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

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UNICEF’s Naveen Qayyum reports from Bhelo, Pakistan, six months after the floods that affected over 20 million people in the country. A group of hopeful young people has contributed to the rehabilitation efforts in Pakistan, taking to the streets and working with local and international organisations to raise funds and improve the plight of flood victims.

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After taking almost an hour to break down an impressively stubborn North Korea, Brazil will be hoping to cut loose against the more attack minded Ivory Coast on Sunday in Port Elizabeth. The Ivorians face a tougher challenge than their opener against...

Despite being a somewhat fickle football fan, I won’t deny that since 11 June I have been caught exclaiming with some fervour “lazy defence”, or “sloppy footwork”, at footballers I’ve previously never even heard of...