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The first time I saw the statistic that 1.4 billion people around the world live on less than $1.25 a day I didn’t believe that it could be true. It is hard for anyone who hasn’t lived in extreme poverty to ascertain what it might be like to survive on only two small bowls of rice and vegetables each day.
.jpg) To help residents of Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom to develop a greater understanding of extreme poverty the Global Poverty Project operates the Live Below the Line campaign. Last week from the 7th-11th of May almost 3,000 people in the United Kingdom lived on £1 a day for 5 days, for all food and drink. While doing the challenge participants fundraised for one of 21 partner charities. The campaign was a great success and an excellent opportunity for many people to experience a taste of life in extreme poverty.
We should not underestimate the signifance of the campaign, as it seems that a lack of connection with extreme poverty diminishes interest in government contributions to international development. The National Priorities Project explains that in the United States many citizens feel that cutting the federal aid budget would help loosen the pressure of the financial crisis. American aid as a percentage of GNI is 0.21%, or around $56 billion in Obama’s 2013 budget request. This may sound like a lot of money but in the context of the projected $901 billion deficit for 2013, the figure is quite small.
The media regularly reminds us of the crisis in Somalia as they send the message that aid hinders development. Gerbert van der Aa explains that 66% of aid is harmful or has no positive benefit. While aid is not sustainable or desirable in the long term it can help kick start growth and pave the way for infrastructural developments. Leading economist Jeffery Sachs explains that aid has been instrumental in fostering much of the recent growth in developing countries. To promote growth in the developing world it is imperative that our government’s commitment to aid not be diminished.
That is why the Global Poverty Project led the Protect Point Seven campaign. Global Poverty Ambassadors, many of whom had previously participated in the Live Below the Line campaign, wrote to their MPs to elicit support for maintaining the UK government’s commitment to giving 0.7% of total GNI as development aid. Over 350 pictures and hundreds of letters were sent and several participants had the opportunity to personally thank Shadow Secretary of State for International Development Ivan Lewis MP and Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell MP. When the budget was announced, the Global Poverty Project was delighted to see that the current government has maintained their commitment to 0.7%.
Participating in the Live Below the Line campaign has transformed people’s impressions about the value of development aid and the role that the UK government must play in ending extreme poverty. Changing the way that people approach aid has extensive implications for the capacity of the UK government to address the structural problems that allow poverty to persist. For more information about the Live Below the Line campaign please visit www.livebelowtheline.com. You can still join the campaign and fundraise till the end of June.
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.jpg) It's Friday night in Australia, and this year’s official Live Below the Line week is coming to an end.
But the challenge isn’t over.
Because our challenge is to build the movement for change.
And when building a movement, advocates are crucial.
This week Live Below the Line participants caught a glimpse of the complexities of the issue of extreme poverty: we saw how a lack of money, resources and choice can intersect to constrain your everyday life.
For the thousands taking the challenge this week has been tough. Yet we haven’t even come close to experiencing the real challenges of extreme poverty. And we never will; because we can never truly understand what it means to face systemic issues like limited access to health care, poor sanitation infrastructure, corruption and unfair trade. These issues, and more, all play a key role in perpetuating poverty and inequality.
They’re complex... but they’re not unchangeable.
In the last three decades the world has halved extreme poverty. Together, we are making progress.
Thanks to the support of Live Below the Line donors, the Global Poverty Project Australia will be able to invest in expanding crucial education and campaign work in three key areas that contribute to ending extreme poverty: preventing disease, supporting fair trade, and increasing transparency.
We know that investment in these areas can change lives. We also know that the conversations and advocacy of our supporters can multiply our impact in these areas. Not only now, but next week, next month and next year.
As we continue to campaign for the end of extreme poverty, your involvement as an advocate will be invaluable. Please continue taking action, and encourage those around you to also stand up for change.
This Tuesday’s announcement - that our major political parties are breaking their promise on foreign aid - demonstrates just how important our work as advocates is.
Thanks to everyone who took part. Not only the team who have made the campaign possible, but to the people who took this campaign into their schools, workplaces, family homes and universities; and stood up for change. Your efforts are helping build the movement for change.
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If you’re one of the more than 7,000 Australians currently Living Below the Line, you're probably starting to feel the effects of living on $2 worth of food and drink a day. I know I’m feeling tired, hungry, and if we’re being honest - a little bit grumpy as well.
But imagine if you had to add sick to this list as well.
When you survive on the equivalent of $2 a day; you can't afford for things to go wrong.
And yet something as simple as a mosquito bite can change your life.
For the 1.4 billion people living below the extreme poverty line (that's with the equivalent of $2AUD a day to cover all their daily needs, not just food); illness is a very real and constant threat.
Below the line, illness can be disastrous.
For starters, medical care is not always readily available. To access treatment you may need to find (and pay for) transport to a hospital. Often this means getting to the next major city - which can be several hundred kilometres away. The time you spend getting to the hospital then means you’re kept away from your work - and that don’t have the opportunity to earn your income for that day. Once you find medical care; that doesn’t mean its free... or even cheap. And you may be faced with a choice between eating, and buying medication. Even worse, if the person that illness strikes is the family breadwinner, the illness may leave them unable to work.
Unfortunately, limited access to basic health care and vaccinations means that people in extreme poverty are vulnerable to a myriad of illnesses - including many that young Australians have been lucky enough to be able to forget.
Let's take polio as an example.
Most young Australians will think of polio as only a vaccination. But for the poorest of the poor this is a disease that still causes paralysis and death in young children. Due to global collaboration over the past three decades, polio is now only endemic in three countries worldwide. But it continues to affect marginalised children: those in minority groups, mobile populations, remote villages or, conversely, in dense urban slums.
Once an extremely poor child gets polio, their entire future changes. Their ability to work and to access education is limited; even their chances of getting married decreases dramatically. Instead of being able to help their family work their way out of extreme poverty, their disability can lead them to be seen as a financial burden in families that are often already overburdened: deepening their cycle of poverty.
This is why the Global Poverty Project campaigns on preventable disease - we believe that no child should suffer or die from a disease we can easily and cheaply prevent. Eradicating polio, for example, would mean that more children would grow up to lead full and productive lives. And that's one effective way to reduce extreme poverty. |
Posted by Lauren O'Connor in Poverty for column GPP - Australia on May 10th, 03:00 |
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Today was the State Opening of Parliament and the Queen’s speech, the day the Government (who write the content of the speech for the Queen) outlines it’s legislative priorities and plans for the next session of parliament. The last parliamentary session from 2010 until just a few weeks ago was one of the longest ever, so speculation in the past few weeks has been rife about what might be included and what would be left out. Whilst the headlines from the speech will be about Lords Reform and the Economy, for those of us interested in international efforts to help support the worlds poorest it was the Government’s surprise reaffirmation of their support for the 0.7% target which was truly surprising.
We have been campaigning and blogging on the importance of the 0.7% target for some time, and thanks to you, our supporters and campaigners not only were we able to give a personal thanks to the most important politicians in UK international development, but we helped persuade the government to become the first government in UK history to achieve our 40 year old international pledge to spend 0.7% of GNI on aid.
However, in the past few weeks there have been a number of papers reporting that the Government would be distancing themselves at this Queen’s speech from their promise to put 0.7% into law. Along with an article in yesterday’s Times that said that the ring fencing of international development assistance would soon be removed, few of us passionate about the UK’s lifesaving aid had much hope for today’s statement.
Whilst today the Government did stop short of a commitment to legislate on the issue, the fact that the Government did mention of 0.7% in the Queen’s speech at all gives us a further opportunity to continue to hold the Government to account and to push for them to keep their promise and put 0.7 in law. The fact it was mentioned at all today is a testament to the hard work of you, our supporters and campaigners who have repeatedly shared with your communities your passion about helping the world’s poorest, and have made sure that our elected officials can’t forget the promises they have made.
As Elisha London, our UK country director has said:
“We fully welcome the Government’s surprise reaffirming of their commitment to the 0.7% aid target in today’s Queen’s speech. Given the Government’s clear promises to enshrine this target in law and the cross party support this enjoys, we look forward to seeing the legislation imminently in this session of Parliament.”
As we have talked about before, we know that when spent well aid can achieve amazing results; for example over the last 25 years, polio cases have been reduced by 99%. With countries such as Australia and Canada cutting their development assistance budgets and breaking their international promises, if we are to reach that final 1% and finally end the debilitating disease of polio, then the UK’s must keep it’s promises on 0.7%.
It is remarkable that this government will for the first time in UK history spend 0.7% of GNI on international development. However, to remove the issue entirely from short term domestic political interests we must use today’s mention in the Queen’s speech to push on and ensure the Government keeps it’s promises to the world’s poorest and puts 0.7 into law.
*image taken from BBC News website |
Posted by Sam Bacon in Aid for column GPP - United Kingdom on May 9th, 16:04 |
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It’s been a challenging week. 
For all those living below the line with me, there’s probably one word you’ve heard a little more often than others: ‘ Why?’. ‘Why are you eating that?’, ‘Why that amount?’, ‘Why don’t you just eat free food?’...
‘Why? ’It’s an important question - and it gets to the heart of what this week is about; of why we do this.
Why? Because 1.4 billion people in our world live below the extreme poverty line every day.
Our challenge this week only scratches the surface of the challenges faced by our neighbours who live with an equivalent amount to cover not only their food, but transport, clothing and rent as well... and often in a context where they can’t access basics like running water, schools or free health care.
Our challenge reminds us of how important it is to continue standing up for change. We've halved extreme poverty in the last three decades; together we can see an end to this injustice in a generation.
This week’s Federal Government announcement - that they will break their promise on foreign aid - serves as a stark reminder of the importance of public education and engagement with the issue of extreme poverty.
When you live below the extreme poverty line; you can’t afford for anything to go wrong.
Something as simple as illness can be life-changing - and can pull you, and your family, deeper into a cycle of poverty. That’s why it’s so important to invest in change.
Funds raised for the Global Poverty Project during Live Below the Line are helping us continue crucial work we’re doing to remove barriers that keep people in extreme poverty. They will help us expand our work addressing issues like preventable disease; lack of transparency, and unfair trade; and expand our work to inspire and inform through our presentation 1.4 Billion Reasons. (If you'd like to donate, you can do so here).
Just as importantly, your efforts this week can start conversations: in your kitchen, with your friends, in your community. And we know that conversations are powerful. When extreme poverty remains an abstract idea - something far away that your friends or family don’t understand, its easy to disconnect. You can make this issue tangible - and provide an easy way to connect people to the issue... you can inspire action.
To realise an end to the injustice of extreme poverty; we need social and political will. We need a movement.
You are part of this movement. Right now, you’re one of 10,000 Live Below the Line champions around the globe. In Australia, the UK and the US, our conversations, facebook posts, blog and photos are all connecting people to the injustice our generation is faced with, and an opportunity to support change.
A famous man once said to those standing against the injustice of Apartheid:
“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
Right now, you are sending out ripples of hope. |
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