"If everyone who wants to see an end to poverty, hunger and suffering speaks out, then the noise will be deafening. Politicians will have to listen." Desmond Tutu

CONTENTS

MONTHOFMOBILISATION

What is it?

GETINVOLVED

How New Zealanders can get involved

WHOAREWE?

Who is MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY New Zealand?

WHATWE’VEACHIEVED

What MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY has achieved worldwide.

NEWZEALAND

Where the Zealand government stands on key policies of MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY.

KEYQUOTES

What celebrities and world leaders have to say about poverty, and what role the world should play to help eradicate it.

KEYSTATISTICS

Statistics on poverty, HIV/AIDS, trade and aid.

Last year Kiwis joined millions of people around the globe united in the largest movement against poverty the world has ever seen.

Over the past year, the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign has helped move poverty and its issues onto the global political and social agenda. Since the campaign began an additional $50 billion annually was pledged to poor countries, 290 million people were freed for the first time of debt slavery, over 3 million people in Tanzania were fed, a national free health service was created in Zambia and 98% of children in Uganda went to school with free meals for the first time. These and many more changes happened because people like you used their voices and demanded an end to extreme poverty.

While change has started, this is only the beginning. Millions of people still live in extreme poverty in our world.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Poverty is not inevitable. It’s possible to MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY if we rise up and show our governments that we want them to make political changes that can mean the difference between life and death for millions of people.

You can use your voice to make change. MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Aotearoa is taking part in the global Month of Mobilisation (September 16-October 17), culminating in the International Day for the Eradication of World Poverty (White Band Day - October 17).

The Month of Mobilisation will be a global time of action, where millions of people will come together to mobilise the public. Here in New Zealand we want to:

Significantly increase the number of MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY supporters

To significantly increase the number of signatures we have on our rolling petition

To significantly increase the number of online supporters

To significantly increase the number of people wearing white bands

Mobilise the New Zealand public to show the government that New Zealanders do care about eradicating poverty

Activate government policy change

KEYMESSAGE

Millions of people still live in extreme poverty in our world.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Poverty is not inevitable. It’s possible to MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY if we rise up and show our governments that we want them to make political changes that can mean the difference between life and death for millions of people.

During this month we need to show our Government that New Zealanders care. All we need is for you to speak up. To add your voice to the thousands of New Zealanders who support our campaign, text ‘click’ to 8466, or go to www.makepovertyhistory.org.nz. We are not asking for a donation – we want your voice, not your money. It will only take you two minutes. In that time forty children die from extreme poverty. It doesn’t have to be this way.

If you’ve already shown your support, thank you. However, we still need your help. Make sure that you take action during the Month of Mobilisation. Look out for emails, check the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY website for events, and encourage your friends, family, colleagues and peers to add their voices too. Only together can we really MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY.

Kylie and many other internationally famous people have joined together to make poverty history.

Bob Geldof

Colin Firth

Kate Moss.

How Can New Zealanders Getinvolved?

Add your voice to our campaign

Text ‘click’ to 8466

Go to http://www.makepovertyhistory.org.nz and sign up

Download a petition and get your friends, family, colleagues, peers to sign it

Wear a white band

Listen out for MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY events

Messages of support will be given to Helen Clark at the end of the Month of Mobilisation.

KEYMESSAGE

Millions of people still live in extreme poverty in our world.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Poverty is not inevitable. It’s possible to MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY if we rise up and show our governments that we want them to make political changes that can mean the difference between life and death for millions of people.

During this month we need to show our Government that New Zealanders care. All we need is for you to speak up. To add your voice to the thousands of New Zealanders who support our campaign, text ‘click’ to 8466, or go to http://www.makepovertyhistory.org.nz. We are not asking for a donation – we want your voice, not your money. It will only take you two minutes. In that time forty children die from extreme poverty. It doesn’t have to be this way.

If you’ve already shown your support, thank you. However, we still need your help. Make sure that you take action during the Month of Mobilisation. Look out for emails, check the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY website for events, and encourage your friends, family, colleagues and peers to add their voices too. Only together can we really MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY.

Whoarewe?

A coalition of over 60 organisations from across New Zealand, joined together by the belief that we can MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY.

Last year thousands of New Zealanders joined with millions around the world to take part in the Global Call to Action against Poverty, the largest movement against poverty that the world has ever seen. Our voices were heard, and key governments and organisations have started to place poverty at the top of their political agendas. We have seen that when voices unite and make themselves heard, people will stand up and listen.

In 2006, this struggle continues. While small steps have been made, poverty still exists. Developing countries are still making crippling debt repayments. Rich countries are still promoting unfair trade and not meeting their promises on aid.

Every day 30,000 children die as a result of extreme poverty.

That’s one child every 3 seconds.

We now have the resources and knowledge to end this shocking situation.

Our government can make political decisions that will help deliver justice to the world's poorest people. They will only do so if we continue to keep up the pressure, and our commitment to that must extend through until we have won our fight.

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Aotearoa New Zealand is calling for:

Drop the Debt

More and Better Aid

Trade Justice

End Child Poverty in New Zealand

As Bono stated: “What will our generation be remembered for? The internet, yes, the war against terror, yes . . . wouldn’t it be great if we were also remembered for being the ones who set about Making Poverty History!”

What we’ve achieved

There is little doubt that the political decisions taken during the year would not have been taken without the passionate commitment of international campaigners. If governments follow through on their promises without imposing harmful conditions, millions of lives that would have been lost could now be saved.

31 million people from 84 national coalitions around the world united in the Global Call to Action against Poverty.

Over 50,000 white bands were worn by New Zealanders

20,000 action cards have been signed in New Zealand

18 developing countries have qualified to have their debt cancelled (however they are still subject to unfair conditions) 20 further countries could also become eligible

$50 billion in more aid has been promised by 2010 (including an increase by the New Zealand government). Even though it falls well short of what is needed, if this promise is kept millions of lives will be saved

290 million people were freed for the first time of debt slavery

Over 3 million people in Tanzania were fed

A free national health service was created in Zambia

98% of children in Uganda went to school with free meals for the first time

DEBT

The G8’s debt deal, which has still to be finally agreed by the IMF and World Bank, should be worth up to $1billion per year for the 18 countries that qualify (around 20 more could also become eligible). This compares to the minimum of $10 billion debt cancellation per year needed to help developing countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

The deal covers NZ$70 billion of debts owed by poor countries to the World Band, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Band. The 18 initial countries, 14 of them in Africa, qualify because they have already been through the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief scheme. Other countries are expected to quality when they meet the economic and political requirements.

MORE AND BETTER AID

The 2005 G8 summit signalled an extra $48 billion a year by 2010, which included between $15 and $20 billion of new commitments. If this promise is kept and delivered without imposing economic conditions, millions of lives could be saved. This will be a lasting legacy of 2005. However, the aid pledges made this year are not on the scale needed to make poverty history. The rate of progress towards the long overdue target of 0.7% is still far too slow.

On the call to ensure better quality and more effective aid some limited progress was made. G8 countries recognised that developing countries have the right to decide their own economic policies, although they failed to translate this into concrete changes in the conditions attached to aid. Donors agreed to be monitored on targets to ensure that aid is better aligned to needs and priorities, more focused on poverty reduction, is more coordinated and reduces the reporting burden.

Furthermore, Africa has been identified as a priority for Europe. The European Commission has called for the formulation of a European response to the continent’s problems encompassing issues such as the quality and quantity of aid, elements of good governance, infrastructure, etc.

TRADE

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong (13-18 December) could have been a turning point in making poverty history. Rich countries had the capability to correct some of the gross imbalances in world trade, but the potential for justice for the world’s poorest people was squandered.

CHILD POVERTY

The New Zealand government continues to have no set timetable to help end Child Poverty in New Zealand.

NEWZEALAND

Where does our country stand on these important issues?

DEBT

New Zealand is not a direct creditor of any of the most impoverished countries, having cancelled any debts we were owed. However, we are not doing enough to use our voice within international financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to ensure that 100% of the debt of the most impoverished countries is cancelled, without harmful conditions.

TRADE JUSTICE

The New Zealand government is an aggressive free trader, choosing to side with the EU and US in pushing the developing nations to open up their economies at an early stage of their development. We want the NZ government to change their policy to give primacy to development needs in WTO negotiations, bilateral trade deals and regional trade agreements (mainly with the Pacific island nations, particularly the Melanesian countries that have social indicators similar to sub-Saharan Africa).

MORE AND BETTER AID

New Zealand’s overseas aid budget currently stands at 0.26% of Gross National Income (GNI). This year’s budget was announced and our government again failed to address our calls for more aid. The budget simply reiterated Finance Minister Michael Cullen’s announcement last year that the government would commit to reach 0.28% of GNI by 2008. During the election, the Labour Party said that they would increase the level to 0.35%. As the budget stands this promise will not be achieved. We are just one of two countries who do not have a plan in place to reach our promised target of 0.7% by 2015 and we remain near the bottom of the OECD in the amount we contribute to aid compared to national income and well under the OECD average of 0.42 percent. At our current rate we will not reach 0.7% until 2050

Together with calling for a plan to be put in place to increase the level of aid, we are calling for better aid. This is less relevant in NZ where the policies of the government aid agency, NZAID, are relatively progressive. We are calling for the reduction of excessive military expenditure worldwide and for the redirection of those funds to social spending that meets human needs.

ENDING CHILD POVERTY IN NZ

There is a large gap between the rich and poor. In a country as wealthy as this, there is no excuse or failing to provide all children with the basic necessities of life – a warm, dry place to live, a healthy diet, medical care and adequate schooling. Yet around one child in five does not have secure access to these things.

Even though most New Zealanders consider that we need to help those in our own backyard before helping others, there is persistent poverty in New Zealand. We are calling on the government to establish a systematic plan and timetable to end child poverty in New Zealand.

KEYQUOTES

BONO (British Labour Party Conference, 2005)

“We are the first generation that can look extreme and stupid poverty in the eye, look across the water to Africa and elsewhere and say this and mean it: we have the cash, we have the drugs, we have the science - but do we have the will? Do we have the will to make poverty history? Some say we can’t afford to. I say we can’t afford not to.”

“This is a real moment coming up, this could be real history, this could be something that your children, your children’s children, that our whole generation, will be remembered for at the beginning of the 21st century. Putting right a relationship that has been so very wrong for so very long.”

“People are dying over there, needlessly dying, at a ridiculous rate and for the stupidest of reasons: money. They are dying because they don’t have a dollar a day to pay for the drugs that could save their lives.”

“What will our generation be remembered for? The internet, yes, the war against terror, yes . . . wouldn’t it be great if we were also remembered for being the ones who set about Making Poverty History!” Bono (British Labour Party Conference, 2005)

“6,500 Africans dying a day of treatable, preventable diseases - dying for want of medicines you and I can get at our local chemist - that’s not a cause, that’s an emergency.”

“I’ve described the deaths of 6,500 Africans a day from a preventable treatable disease like aids: I watched people queuing up to die, three in a bed in Malawi. That’s Africa’s crisis. But the fact that we are not treating it like an emergency – and the fact that it’s not everyday on the news – well that’s our crisis.”

"Eight million people die every year for the price of going out with your friends to the movies and buying an ice cream. Literally for about $30 a head per year, you could save 8 million lives. Isn't that extraordinary? Preventable disease - not calamity, not famine, nothing like that. Preventable disease - just for the lack of medicines. That is cheap, that is a bargain."

“There’s no way we can look at Africa – a continent bursting into flames – and if we’re honest conclude that it would ever be allowed to happen anywhere else.”

“Trade – our badge of shame. We in the rich countries shuffle the poorest into a backroom, tie their hands and feet with our conditionalities and then use our subsidies to deliver the final blow…”

"When the story of these times gets written, we want it to say that we did all we could, and it was more than anyone could have imagined."

NELSON MANDELA (Speech to Trafalgar Square crowd, 2005)

Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Make Poverty History. Make History in 2005.

Recognise that the world is hungry for action, not words!

Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom. In this new century, millions of people in the world’s poorest countries remain imprisoned, enslaved, and in chains. They are trapped in the prison of poverty. It is time to set them free.

(Nelson Mandela’s speech to Trafalgar Square crowd, 2005)

Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that generation. Let your greatness blossom.

Of course the task will not be easy. But not to do this would be a crime against humanity, against which I ask all humanity to rise up. Make Poverty History…Make History. Then we can all stand with our heads held high.

NEWZEALAND

BLINDSPOTT

"When we were invited to join the Make Poverty History campaign we felt not only privileged but obligated to give up our time and involve our name in such a great & important movement. To think that in the time it would take someone to listen to any one of our songs 60 children will die from diseases which are easily curable is deeply disturbing. We're blessed to live in a country with a welfare system for the needy, billions of others worldwide aren't born into such luck. This isn't just a problem on the other side of the world - this is happening in our own back yard, The Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Kiribati and Samoa among others in the South Pacific have alarming & sobering percentages of people living below the basic needs poverty line. Remember, this is not the fault of the people living in these places - Being born into poverty is unfortunately not a choice you get to make.

YULIA TOWNSEND

There can be no greater cause than the eradication of human poverty. Having witnessed it myself in Russia I am determined to do my best to help in any way I can

DAVE DOBBYN

“I was very happy to be involved in MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY. Poverty is suffering whichever way you look at it and we are all responsible for each other, ultimately. I'm deeply moved by this campaign and its radical objectives. Changing people’s perceptions like this can change a lot of lives. It's noble to want to change debt into thriving economy and it will happen if enough people are educated as to the magnitude of the need. War and debt are two things that keep a country poor. Surely we can at least clear the debt. God bless MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY.”

KATE HAWKESBY

“I believe each and every person's life is precious. Poverty is responsible for so many unnecessary deaths. Why should they die when we have so much? Every death from poverty is one death too many.”

TRELISE COOPER

“Let history begin again - by making poverty history. Let’s join together in commitment to end global injustices such as poverty, AIDS, malnutrition and conflict. Let’s make this a reality in our lifetime.”

PAUL HENRY

“The extreme of poverty in New Zealand pales into insignificance when compared with other countries.”

JANE YEE

"For New Zealanders the problems in Africa can seem far away and hard to relate to, but the fact remains that every three seconds another child dies. With the Make Poverty History campaign, we have the opportunity to join a global force that has the potential to reach world leaders and change the international rules that are perpetuating the poverty cycle.”

SHANE CORTESE

“Like a lot of people, I watched Live 8 – then heard nothing. This is our chance to spread the word about this worthwhile cause. While we’re trying to help out, it’s important to remember that prevention is the best cure. We need to stop people from falling into the poverty that kills a child every three seconds.”

FRANCIS HOOPER and DENISE L’ESTRANGE CORBET for WORLD

“We support the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign because Third World poverty is nothing like you will ever experience. Denise has been to Tanzania, and witnessed first-hand the unbelievable poverty some people exist in. There is no way out. Nowhere to go. Poverty is so mind blowingly rampant in so many parts of the world.

It is about survival, and how tenuous the thread is between life and death. Poverty has no prejudice. It does not care if you are young, old, black, white, gay, straight, male or female. Lets help put a stop to it NOW!"

CLARKE GAYFORD

“Can you imagine the worldwide outcry and instant response if 30,000 barrels of oil was unnecessarily lost everyday? Sadly that figure is not for oil; it is for children unnecessarily dying of poverty, and yet we as a society remain strangely silent. Statistics and distance have a way of separating us from reality. Forget the numbers, forget the location, close your eyes and think of the nine little souls taken from us in the time you took to read this. We can do

something to help.”

ELECTRIC CONFECTIONAIRES

“Coming from such a sheltered and easy lifestyle, we can never know how lucky we are because we will always have options. So to be involved with something like this campaign is, in a way, such a small thing to do considering the lives we lead. To contribute to such a cause is really about contributing to the world’s people. We feel it would be a strange thing not to help.”

GREER ROBSON

“Having recently become a mother, hearing that a child dies every three seconds from preventable causes is heartbreaking. I can’t think of anything more worthwhile than doing something about that.”

JOE COTTON

“I asked to be involved with this cause because I believe the biggest crime is people doing nothing. We all need to start asking the right questions. It’s not just celebrities who need to stand up.”

JOEL DEFRIES

“It’s an amazingly good cause and I think the world needs to recognise that we need to do something about it.”

OTHERS

ADRIAN LOVETT (Speech to Trafalgar Square crowd, 2005)

This coalition is serious and this campaign is going to win. But first we need to be clear about the challenge to overcome. Five years ago world leaders committed to halving poverty by the year 2015. Five years on, they’re failing on that promise. And they will continue to fail unless they fundamentally change their ways. And they won’t change unless we tell them to. Starting today.

This can be the story of a great generation of leaders and people that recognise their responsibility, seized their own power and transformed the world. Or it can be a story in which that generation looked at the face of poverty and injustice - looked it in the eye - and looked away. Walked away. AND walked away this time WITHOUT the excuse that we didn’t know what was going on. A story of historic breakthrough or a story of criminal neglect.

MINNIE DRIVER

Poverty is the single biggest killer in the world today, and the fact that is the most preventable is bizarre, insane.”

JOHN POLANYI

We have a chance to address this injustice in a definite way. We must seize it, for the sake of generations to come.

(Nobel Laureate 1986, Make Poverty History Canada 2005)

RICHARD CURTIS

Don’t forget the rest of the world.

(Article in Sunday Times, 2005)

DAVE BROADFOOD

There is no such thing as an innocent bystander.

(Comedian, Make Poverty History Canada 2005)

KEYSTATISTICS

POVERTY

30,000 people die every single day because they live in extreme poverty.

Over 10 million children under five years of age die every year. What they die of is poverty.

45 million children will die before 2015 if we do not act.

About 600 million children worldwide are growing up in absolute poverty.

97 million children will still be out of school in 2015 if we do not act.

Nearly one billion children will be growing up with impaired mental development by 2020.

17 million people die every year from disease which we know how to cure.

In the last 30 years, the number of people starving to death in Africa has doubled. That’s starving to death in the 21st century.

One third of deaths – some 18 million people a year or 50,000 per day – are due to poverty-related causes. That’s 270 million people since 1990, the majority women and children, roughly equal to the population of the US.

Over 1 billion people live on less than $1 a day with nearly half the world’s population (2.8 billion) living on less than $2 a day.

The three richest people in the world control more wealth than all 600 million people living in the world's poorest countries.

Women work two-thirds of the world's working hours, produce half of the world's food, and yet earn only 10% of the world's income and own less than 1% of the world's property.

More than half a million women die in pregnancy and childbirth every year – that’s one death every minute.

115 million children remain out of school whilst one in four adults in the developing world –872 million people– is illiterate.

Universal primary education would cost $10 billion a year - that's half what Americans spend on ice cream.

TRADE

The United Nations estimates that unfair trade rules deny poor countries $700 billion every year. Less than 0.01% of this could save the sight of 30 million people.

World trade robs poor countries of £1.3 billion a day – 14 times what they get in aid.

Whilst world trade has increased 10 times since 1970 and more food is produced per person than ever before, the number of people going hungry in Africa has doubled.

The average cow in the EU receives more than $2 a day in subsidies, whilst half the world’s populations are struggling to survive on less than this.

AID

In 2002/3 the UK spent just 0.3% of national income on aid. If the UK met the 0.7% target by 2008, an extra 1.5 million people could beat poverty that year.

To achieve 0.7%, the UK needs to increase its aid budget by £3 billion. It sounds huge, but it is possible - the UK government found £5.5 billion to fund the ‘war on terror’.

DEBT

For every £1 in grant aid to developing countries, more than £13 comes back in debt repayments.

Every year Sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region of the world, spends $14.5 billion repaying debts to the world's rich countries and international institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Spread over ten years the cost to the UK taxpayer of cancelling £1.3bn debt is £171m a year or £2.85 per UK citizen per year – the price of a pint.

Last year, Zambia handed over US$377m in debt repayments. Of this, $247 million will go straight back to the IMF. This means that in 2004, the Zambian government paid the IMF alone $25 million more than it is spending on education.

HIV-AIDS

In 2004, nearly 40 million people globally were estimated to be living with HIV. The AIDS epidemic claimed more than 3 million lives and close to 5 million people acquired the HIV in 2004.

Nearly 40 million people are living with HIV and AIDS worldwide. Of those, 2.2 million are children under 15. There were 4.9 million new cases in 2004, which amounts to a staggering 13,700 per day.

Over 3 million people died from AIDS in 2004. 2.3 million of those were in sub-Saharan Africa. That amounts to 8,493 people dying from AIDS every day and 6 people dying every minute.

Currently more than 11 million children in Africa have lost at least one parent to HIV/AIDS; that number is expected to reach 20 million by 2010.

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