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6 April 2006

AMAZING RACE AGAINST POVERTY TREASURE HUNT 


Readers of this bulletin formed three teams to participate in the "Amazing Race Against Poverty Treasure Hunt" in Melbourne last Sunday. Teams participated in an interactive, fun event involving the deciphering of cryptic clues that led them to visit sites around the inner city which highlighted the disparity of living conditions between the first world and the developing world.

The day concluded with speeches and entertainment in the city square and was intended to assist in maintaining the momentum generated by the international Make Poverty History campaign in 2005, a campaign which calls on world leaders to honour their commitments to the Millennium Development Goals, an eight-point plan for tackling global poverty.

The importance of the campaign for Australia was highlighted by the recent release of OECD figures which reported that despite its pledges to increase aid levels, Australia had slid further towards the bottom of he list of Western aid donor nations. A report published in the Melbourne ‘Age’ quoted figures that show that Australia last year gave away just 0.25 per cent of its national income in foreign aid, barely half the average of 0.47 per cent for donor countries. The OECD figures also show little sign of movement towards the Government's stated goal of doubling the aid budget by 2010.

For some current suggestions for maintaining support for the make Poverty History campaign visit the website of Micah Challenge


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