Students Tackle Justice at Geneva College

Last Year I had the pleasure of spending spring break with students from Geneva College. Micah Challenge organized a trip for them to Washington DC to learn about activism, faith, justice, and how to take action. We visited Bread for the World, the ONE campaign, Food for the Hungry, Sojourners, and many other Micah Challenge Partners. We wrestled with big questions like "what does it mean to follow Jesus in a world with so much inequality?", "how do we take what we've learned home with us and take action against poverty?", "how do we as north american college students fight global poverty?". It was a challenging and blessed week together!

Just a few weeks ago students at Geneva college (some from the trip) organized a "justice week" focused on four of the eight MDGs--THEY TOOK ACTION!! Students wore armbands supporting the MDG they committed to pray for that week, and they also took actions daily to help meet that MDG. Read the Full Story! We are blessed and encouraged by their faithful action!

President Obama and the MDGs

By Amanda Jackson, Micah Challenge International

President Obama highlighted global poverty as a major issue when he addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations on September 23. He spoke of four areas of US foreign policy - the first was the limitation of nuclear weapons, the second was the pursuit of peace especially in the Middle East, the third was preservation of the planet and the fourth he described thus: the world must have “a global economy that advances opportunity for all people.” He noted the importance of ensuring that while the world is still recovering from economic crisis, it must “put an end to the greed and the excess and the abuse that led us into this disaster.”

Most importantly, Obama said, “far too many people in far too many places live through the daily crises that challenge our humanity.” He pledged that the US would “support the Millennium Development Goals, and approach next year's summit with a global plan to make them a reality. And we will set our sights on the eradication of extreme poverty in our time.”

As a network of Christians in over 40 nations around the globe Micah Challenge is working to increase awareness of poverty issues and the Millennium Development Goals as we believe the Goals represent a unique opportunity to halve absolute poverty and put in place partnerships for development that will ensure just outcomes for rich and poor nations alike. We urge national governments to spare no effort to achieve the Goals and fully support the United States in its fresh resolve to eradicate extreme poverty.

The action of the United States is vital. Already nine years have passed since the Millennium Development Goals were agreed but America’s level of aid to developing countries remains the lowest among OECD donor nations. The UN recommends that aid for the MDGs should be 0.7% of GNI for all donor nations. The United States gave $26 billion in 2008 (which is by far the largest amount) but as a % of GNI it is the lowest of all donor nations at around 0.19% GNI.

Quality of aid is also an issue: 70 percent of US aid is spent on US goods and services. And more than half is spent in middle income countries in the Middle East.

Since the eight Goals were agreed there has been encouraging progress in some areas and we celebrate that the mortality rate for under-5s has fallen below nine million per annum. Yet the statistics also show that we have much to strive for: maternal mortality remains shockingly high almost everywhere in poor nations and progress on sanitation, hunger and health delivery is patchy.

The threat of changing climate patterns coupled with the economic crisis means that more people at the bottom of the economic ladder will slip into absolute poverty. Without the full support of the world's largest economy, the United States, the success of the Goals is threatened. That is why it is so heartening to see that President Obama has acknowledged that the greed and excess that led to the current economic crisis should not be repeated and the poor should not be ignored in the rush to restore economic growth.

We pray that you will pass on our support for the President's announcement and we urge that the plans devised by the United States address not only the quantity and quality of aid, but also the structural issues that deny justice to poor nations - fair trade rules, an end to crippling debt burdens for poor nations and attention to good governance.

Micah Challenge and millions of citizens around the world will pay watchful attention to the plans and actions of the United States on global poverty. We are ready to encourage, pray and contribute to the achievement of the noble goal to halve absolute poverty by 2015.

Micah members join effort for US foreign aid reform

Wal-Mart and the AFL-CIO Agree: The U.S. Can (and Must) Do a Better Job Fighting Poverty, Disease, and Lack of Opportunity in the Developing World
by David Beckmann and Steve Radelet

In the face of big global challenges, President Obama has rightly called for a new, smarter U.S. foreign policy that focuses on bolstering our long-term security, building our alliances, and expanding global prosperity. A central element of his new approach is elevating U.S. support for global development and balancing it with defense and diplomacy, which in practice means strengthening U.S. foreign assistance and other programs that fight poverty, disease, and lack of opportunity in developing nations.

Today, a diverse group of nearly 150 individuals and organizations -- including Wal-Mart, the AFL-CIO, former Joint Chiefs Chairman John Shalikashvili, three former USAID Administrators, Bread for the World, the Center for Global Development, the Center for American Progress, and World Wildlife Fund US -- sent a letter to President Obama and Congress pledging full support for their efforts to elevate global development. The signatories also call for U.S. foreign assistance programs to be enhanced and modernized in order to make sure that, in today's economic climate and for years to come, our development dollars are used effectively and reach the people who need help most...

Read the full article

Australian Baptists Support Earth Hour 2009

Earth Hour 2009 is a great opportunity for Baptists all over Australia to demonstrate support for creation care and responsible energy consumption, national Baptist leaders said today.

This year the event, launched in Sydney in 2007, will be a truly global phenomenon with almost 1,700 cities and municipalities in more than 80 countries already committed to “vote Earth” as part of the world’s first global election between Earth and global warming.

A campaign of the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour 2009 aims to reach more than one billion people, asking communities, business and governments to switch off the lights at 8.30pm on March 28th, for one hour.

“It’s a small step for individuals, but by acting together we can be part of the largest climate event in history, and at the same time spread the word that we care deeply about God’s world,” Baptist Union of Australia National Director Brian Winslade said.

The Baptist Union of Australia and the Baptist Union of Victoria had made climate change declarations, and last year the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) passed a unanimous resolution on climate change at its annual meetings in Prague.

The BWA statement confessed that we have often denied or ignored our interdependence with creation and abrogated our stewardship of creation; recognised our failure as Baptists to engage with these issues in an adequate and timely manner; and called upon Baptist leaders to strongly support and encourage government, corporate and community initiatives to address the causes of human-induced climate change.

The statement also urged church support of renewable energy technologies; caps on “greenhouse gas” emissions; carbon trading; greater use of “green” architecture, town planning and transport; and encouragement to conserve, reuse and recycle goods.

“Australian Baptists have led the global Baptist community on cutting edge issues before,” Baptist ethicist and public theologian Rod Benson said. “We worked hard to launch the Micah Challenge which now enjoys enormous favour around the world, and we introduced the climate change resolution at the BWA meetings in 2008. But there is much more for us to do as we boldly follow Jesus in prophetic leadership and biblical social responsibility. Earth Hour 2009 deserves your support and involvement.”

You and your church or small group can be part of Earth Hour 2009. Wherever you are at 8.30 pm on Saturday 28 March, turn off the lights for one hour. You will be reducing your carbon footprint, and participating in an awesome global event on unprecedented scale. And, as a Christian, you’ll be making a statement in favour of more responsible energy consumption and government policy.

For more information on Earth Hour 2009, go to www.earthhour.org

Read article at Christian Today

International Women's Day: Women and the MDGs

UN MILLENNIUM CAMPAIGN CAUTIONS THAT MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS WILL NOT BE MET UNLESS AND UNTIL WOMEN’S RIGHTS, EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT ARE ACHIEVED

On International Women’s Day, Campaign calls on governments to take immediate action to curb maternal mortality and ensure girls and women have access to education, meaningful employment and political participation

March 6, 2009 –"I have been campaigning on the issue of maternal mortality for quite some time now. But last week, it hit me directly: My sister, Asmau, age 33, died in Nigeria, two hours after delivering her second child, a boy who she never held. Asmau was not an illiterate woman. She was a senior science teacher, and her husband is a college principal."

This experience of Dr. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, Deputy Director of the UN Millennium Campaign, sums up the sheer desperation and outrage experienced by many families who lose their loved ones needlessly during childbirth.

As International Women’s Day – March 8, 2009 -- approaches, the United Nations Millennium Campaign is issuing initial findings of a status report which indicates that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will not be realized unless and until women’s empowerment, rights and development are achieved. The report -- which reviewed the status of the MDGs in 17 African countries with a focus on gender equality, women’s empowerment and maternal health and will be released next month – finds that societies in which women’s equality is paramount are more likely to achieve the MDGs by 2015. Addressing inequalities based on gender greatly reduces poverty and increases levels of well-being for the entire population.

While the report focuses on Africa, the issues of equality for women, maternal health and education are pressing in many Asian countries as well. India, for example, has the highest number of maternal deaths in the world.
“Maternal mortality is one of the most blatant and unconscionable human rights violations of our time,” said Salil Shetty, Director of the UN Millennium Campaign. “In today’s world, more than 500,000 women still die annually in pregnancy and childbirth. The vast majority of these deaths are preventable. On International Women’s Day, we are calling on all governments in developing countries to take immediate and drastic action to reduce maternal mortality and to ensure that girls and women have access to education at all levels, are gainfully employed, and enjoy full political rights as both voters and decision makers.”

“Our governments must take the bull by the horns and develop concrete action plans aimed at drastically reducing the numbers of women dying during childbirth,” said Monica Omollo, a women’s rights campaigner based in Kenya. “Our leaders must realize that that by allowing women to die needlessly while giving life they are grossly violating their human rights."
The UN Millennium Campaign is therefore calling on governments in developing countries to increase political commitment to achieving the MDGs and:
•Provide a constitutional framework, including policy and legal provisions, which protects women’s economic, social and cultural rights.
•Reduce maternal mortality through national action plans that prioritize safe pregnancy and delivery as fundamental human rights.
•Ensure special attention to marginalized groups in health policies and programs.
•Guarantee the meaningful participation of women and local communities in the design, development, implementation and monitoring of initiatives to combat maternal deaths.
•Rapidly increase access to skilled birth attendants and health workers for emergency obstetric care and comprehensive reproductive health services.
•Promote access to education and reproductive health services.
•Foster the direct involvement of local communities in their health systems.
•Develop monitoring and accountability mechanisms to improve existing initiatives to combat maternal mortality, including health audits.

The Campaign is also calling on governments of developed countries to meet their commitments to provide 0.7% of their national incomes as foreign aid for the realization of the MDGs – financing that is essential to prevent the loss of more mothers during childbirth.