Global Citizen (organization)

The Global Poverty Project is an education and advocacy group working to increase the numbers and effectiveness of people taking action to end extreme poverty.

Combining world-class educational resources and strategic advocacy campaigns, The Project provides everyday people with the knowledge and tools they need to help create systemic change.

Hugh Evans presenting the Global Poverty Project

History

The Global Poverty Project was launched at the UN in 2008 by young Australian development advocates Hugh Evans and Simon Moss. Evans has worked closely with international development advocacy projects throughout the past decade; he was a key leader in the Australian Make Poverty History concert and he was Young Australian of the Year in 2004. Simon Moss and Hugh Evans previously worked together in the youth-orientated Oaktree Foundation.

The Global Poverty Project was launched in New York on September 2008 at the United Nations meeting on the Millennium Development Goals by Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and the Director of the UN Millennium Campaign Salil Shetty. The presentation 1.4 Billion Reasons was taken on a launch tour of Australia and New Zealand from July to September 2009. It is now being rolled out across the Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and United States.

Vision

In 2000, 192 United Nations members and approximately 23 international leaders set out eight international development goals to be achieved by 2015. They include targeting the eradication of poverty, achieving universal primary education, improving maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS. Although some progress has been made thanks to campaigns and organisations around the world, the Global Poverty Project is an attempt to "reinvigorate the international commitment to making significant progress within our lifetime".

You can preview the 1.4 Billion Reasons Presentation here.

Live Below the Line

Live Below the Line is an awareness and fundraising campaign that challenges people in developed countries to feed themselves with the equivalent of the extreme poverty line, to raise awareness of the challenges faced by those trapped in the cycle of extreme poverty.

The campaign was born in Melbourne, Australia in 2010, and challenged Australians to feed themselves with $2 a day for five days, to raise funds for crucial anti-poverty projects. In just its first year the campaign involved over 2,000 Australians and raised over half a million dollars. In 2011 the campaign has grown internationally, with the challenge taking place in Australia, the United Kingdom and United States in 2011, involving approximately 10,000 people and raising over a million dollars.

The End of Polio

In 2011 the Global Poverty Project launched the public awareness and advocacy campaign The End of Polio[1]. Working in support of the polio eradication efforts of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, they are calling on world leaders to close the funding gap currently constraining vaccination efforts.

Polio cases have been reduced by 99% over the past three decades, and the campaign seeks to secure funding and political support to complete the eradication program - eliminating the second human disease in history, and removing a threat to the future and livelihoods of children in developing communities.

On the 28th October 2011, to coincide with the first day of the Perth hosted Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, the Global Poverty Project will host The End of Polio Concert - an advocacy concert that will combine the pull of a music concert with the power of a community driven movement. The Concert will bring together R&B singer John Legend, Aussie hip-hop artists Bliss n Eso, The Getaway Plan, Hungary Kids of Hungary, Calling All Cars, Owl Eyes and Andy Bull. It seeks to propel the issue of polio eradication into the public spotlight, as world leaders gather in Perth.

Supporters

The Global Poverty Project is supported by an advisory panel whose members include Director of the Earth Institute Jeffrey Sachs and international health expert Hans Rosling.

Australian actor Hugh Jackman is also an advisor to the Project who has said of the organisation "this project is inspiring."

In Australia, the Board of Directors includes well-known businessman and philanthropist Simon McKeon (2011 Australian of the Year) who has been involved with the Project from its inception.

The project has also received extensive support from the media and international community.

External links

Global Poverty Project Homepage http://www.globalpovertyproject.com/index.php

Oaktree Foundation Homepage http://oaktreefoundation.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/global-poverty-project/

Hugh Evans http://www.hughevans.com.au/press?id=45

Millennium Goals http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Centennial College, Toronto Homepage http://www.centennialcollege.ca