By LEONIE KOLMAR
University of Canberra students have been given 1.4 billion reasons as to why they should become actively involved in reducing extreme poverty worldwide.
Simon Moss, co-founder of The Global Poverty Project addressed UC students today (5 Aug 09) in an effort to actively involve youth in Oaktree’s 2009 Stand up for Change campaign.
“We don’t have all of the answers but what we can hopefully do is provide enough ideas and stimulus material so people can say, ‘ All right, now I see how I can do something about it,’ ‘Now I see what my remaining questions are and where I can go from here’,” he said.
Youth foundation Oaktree, an affiliation of The Global Poverty Project, has planned more than 30 presentations nationwide, aimed at introducing the global issues that surround the 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty today, before six weeks of urgent action begin.
From 16 September to 18 October, Oaktree will be lobbying for the government to commit 0.7% GDP to foreign aid by 2015 to meet the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
Oaktree’s campaign will start locally, aiming to get youth and the wider community excited about eradicating extreme poverty.
UC Oaktree representative Ian Fenton played a major part in bringing the campaign to the UC.
“I knew it was very ANU centric and I wanted to get it going at UC,” he said . “I met the right people at the right time and I heard about what the foundation does and I really believe in what their goals are.”
During the following six weeks Oaktree is seeking 500 video petitions, hosting fundraising walks and meeting MPs to invite people to take a stand against global poverty.
“I don’t think many NGOs have started here [UC] much in the past and got going,” Fenton said. “So what I am hoping is that this initial response, which has been fantastic, is going to keep on going and UC students will be willing to get this foundation locked in to UC.” The presentation aims to answer the most frequently asked questions about global extreme poverty and show people how they can become part of a solution.
Moss has hosted 21 presentations to date and has been literally overwhelmed by the positive feedback.
“We’ve had a lot more people coming to a lot more events and asking for a lot more than we actually anticipated, which has been sensational. . . ,” he said. “More than 5000 people have seen the presentation and more than 2000 of those actually make a commitment to say, ‘Yep, I actually want to be a part of doing something to end extreme poverty’ . . . which really demonstrates that people do care about these issues when given the chance.”
Oaktree together with The Global Poverty Project will be delivering the presentation at various Canberra venues including the Belconnen Baptist Church, The National Film and Sound Archive and to all Aus Aid staff.
For more information or to get involved, visit www.theoaktree.org or www.theglobalpovertyproject.com
