In his historic keynote speech for the Make Poverty History campaign, Nelson Mandela said, “Alleviating poverty is not an act of charity. It is an Act of duty”.
As eight of the worlds most powerful politicians meet in Gleneagles today for the G8 Summit - an annual summit for leaders of the eight richest industrialized countries, the attention is focused on poverty reduction, especially in Africa. Civil society has mobilized around this issue in a worldwide campaign called the Global Call to Action Against Poverty. In the hope that we may all grasp the fundamentals of the CGAP, following is a brief synopsis of the campaign. www.whiteband.org
Global Call to Action Against Poverty: An overview of the Fundamentals
GCAP is an alliance of organizations, networks and national campaigns pressuring governments to eliminate poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/) in a way that is democratic, transparent and accountable to citizens. What we want Trade justice - Fair not free trade, Debt Cancellation, and a major increase in the quantity and quality of aid.
Trade Rules:
WTO, World Bank and IMF set the rules and policies controlling the way countries do business with one another. These rules and policies are supposed to make sure nations compete openly and fairly. However, these policies aren't decided democratically, but rather on the basis of who has the most economic clout, and are steered in favour of the wealthiest countries. Countries in the developing world lose out. And no matter how much these countries produce or how hard their people work, trade relationships benefit the rich world most. The result is extreme poverty for hundreds of millions of people.
Free trade means a country's economy is run without government intervention. It is a policy that rich country governments and international institutions are imposing on developing nations through: conditions and 'economic advice' given to poor countries in return for loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, agreements at the World Trade Organization, and
agreements between two or more countries.
A Study: Agriculture
In developing countries the agricultural sector has several functions: to anchor rural development, to help ensure food security, to provide resources for the livelihood and adequate incomes of a majority of people, and to achieve all this whilst ensuring a sound environmental base.
Globalization is now the main determining economic factor in Third World agriculture, the main channels being the Bretton Woods institutions and the WTO The agriculture component of IMF structural adjustment programmes usually included cutbacks in government expenditure on the agricultural and rural sector; privatization of state marketing institutions; liberalization towards private land ownership; liberalization of agriculture imports; removal or reduction of agricultural subsidies; the ‘freeing’ of food and other agricultural prices.
The economic environment for farms and farmers from developing countries has become dreadful and very dangerous as result of liberalization of agricultural imports and increased pressures after the setting up of WTO, and especially its agriculture agreement. Under the WTO agreement, developing countries must remove non-tariff controls on agricultural products and convert these to tariffs, then reduce the tariffs by 24% over 10 years. Small farms in many developing countries are unable to compete with the cheaper subsidized imports flooding local markets, and consequently their viability is threatened. As developing countries become less self-sufficient in food production in a situation where food imports may not be an option for many due to shortage of foreign exchange, the fear of greater food insecurity and dependence on food aid, intensifies.
What Should Be Done?
A Mention: HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS has become a disease of the young, the worst consequence of poverty, discrimination and ignorance.
According to the latest estimates, over 25 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. While a small minority of people with HIV in developed nations reap the life extending benefits of overpriced HIV medications, 90 percent of people with HIV in poor nations have absolutely no access to currently available ARV treatment. Expanded protection for intellectual property rights (TRIPS*) continue to enable many pharmaceutical companies to maintain high prices for patented pharmaceuticals, which in turn ensures that medication is not affordable to those who need it most. Affordable medication is not a panacea for the AIDS crisis, but will continue to be the foundation of any meaningful effort to save millions of lives.
*TRIPS Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. An agreement between WTO member countries, setting rules for international trade and protection of patent rights. Has an important effect on access to HIV-related medicines, especially antiretrovirals and other new drugs.
What Needs To Be Done?
Rich countries used trade rules to protect themselves as they developed - which is how they got where they are now. Half the world's population is living in poverty and the gap between rich and poor is widening. We consider it fair to use trade rules to end world poverty.
We need to challenge and change the rules that govern international trade so that they work for poor countries as well. Re-write them in favour of poor countries so they can have the freedom to help and support their vulnerable farmers, to build their own industries, to develop stronger economies, and one day, to compete as equals.
In Expansion:
1. Stop the EU's free-trade agreements with former colonies
The EU is currently negotiating a trade agreement with 77 former colonies. As part of this Agreement, poor countries will have to accept an Economic Partnership Agreement that opens their markets further and limits the help they can give farmers and industry.
2. An end to the IMF and World Bank setting poor countries' trade policies
The IMF and World Bank have enormous power over poor countries. They use conditions attached to loans to promote free trade.
3. Special treatment for poor countries at the WTO
This has already been agreed in principle at the WTO, but needs to be enforced.
4. Cut the massive export subsidies used in rich countries
Subsidies of rich countries must be reformed to meet the social and environmental needs of both rich and poor countries.
5. Debt cancellation and aid increases must not be used to
further impose free trade. Poor countries still need aid and further debt cancellation to help strengthen their economies. But this will be undermined if they are forced to accept free trade conditions, increasing their dependence on the rich world.
For more information on the practical steps:
Our actions or of lack of them, have strong bearing on the very existence of our communities. We have the power and an obligation to speak up for the voiceless, to ensure better futures for all members of the human family. We cannot, and must not, stand aside and let nations be ravaged by conflict; poverty; disease. The answer is in our hands, so never doubt that a handful of passionate and determined young people can change the world; we are doing it already!
Have a Great Day!
![[Flag of Kenya]](http://flagspot.net/images/k/ke.gif)
Achim Chiaji: Kenya At Action Aid international in Nairobi and coordinating the Global Call to Action against Poverty nationally in Kenya. He did all his schooling in the village and the first time he ever traveled to Nairobi was to attend university, aged nineteen. Supported by local group to complete a post-graduate diploma in public finance monitoring. Specialising in budget tracking to monitor the way the government spends its budget. Achim said: “I am looking forward to coming to Edinburgh because the G8 has made Africa the priority for this year. Many of us are saying – have they ever seen Africa, do they know Africa, have they ever spoken to Africa, so our presence is symbolic. We don’t want Africans to be merely seen on TV screens but we will be there to make our demands in
person”.
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TONY WAFULA <twaf78@yahoo.com> wrote:
In total agreement with you.But are we really poor? Our pockets might be empty but i suppose (could be wrong) we are not that intellectually poor. Ideas abound but still we have to turn to the West to make them a reality. Its called the culture of dependence.Or is it the power of the buck?I think we need to start at this point. Killing this culture.It starts at our institutions of learning with the right education.But not when we are taking ages to revise our educational curriculums to reflect the needs of our country.Pss... speaking of information, Walu and i will be on radio Waumini 88.5fm tomorrow morning from 10.30am taking a look at the draft ICT policy and its importance especially to mwananchi .Its our contribution to disseminating information about the same.Lizette Kraft <lkraft@idrc.or.ke> wrote:If I might add, Education is the key for all and only then will we have the valuable knowledge to know, why we need to have a good environment, infrastructure etc. Why it is important to protect what we have for the future of our children and the next generations to come. Then we can be self sufficient and keep out of debt and use our resources intelligently. The need to assist our children to have access to higher levels of education is so necessary. It seems that only the very few get this privilege!!! So the monies can be spent on giving more higher learning opportunities to our children to gain the necessary skills to then take over and lead the country to higher levels. The focus seems to be only at primary and secondary stage and then...................... no monies and the majority end up lost. Of course ICT is now the door to this!!!!! (Just a thought)
Lizette
At / À 10:56 AM 7/3/2005, Maureen Wangati wrote / a écrit:
Yes, money is good especially if it's put to good use like training and skill impartation, job creation, providing business opportunities and creating a secure and conducive environment for business. I believe teach a man or woman to fish, and that will impact positively on poverty reduction and subsequently, hunger, disease, child mortality among other problems. Of course all this and each person's serious renewed commitment to the war against corruption will help our African countries get out of the debt situation more quickly and get back our looted billions!Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
- ----- Original Message -----
- From: Brian Longwe
- To: Kenya ICT Policy - kictanet
- Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2005 11:14 PM
- Subject: Re: [Kictanet] Today is White Band Day. Make Poverty History!
- Maybe if the white band cost about 1,000/= and the money was put directly into a fund towards a poverty alleviation strategy. But personally I don't see how the wearing band will help.... at least not here in Kenya
- Brian
- On 2 Jul 2005, at 11:34, Maureen Wangati wrote:
- Sorry but I have to ask a question here, good intentions I guess, but how exactly does wearing a white or whatever colour band impact on poverty? Can we get more practical here?? Can we all agree to do something tangible to alleviate poverty in our own way or as a group....like increase access to ICTs for rural and urban poor in Africa?
- ----- Original Message -----
- From: constance georgina
- To: Kenya ICT Policy - kictanet
- Sent: Friday, July 01, 2005 6:15 PM
- Subject: [Kictanet] Today is White Band Day. Make Poverty History!
- Every single day, 30,000 children are dying as a result of extreme poverty.
- “2005 is a year of great opportunity and we can really do something to change the world and make it a better place. The time has come to stop talking and start taking some action. 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” Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
- Next week the G8 Summit will take place in Gleneagles Scotland. Promises have been made to put poverty at the top of the agenda. This is our opportunity to make sure our voices are heard by the world leaders who have the power to cancel debt, deliver more and better aid, and change unfair trade rules and practices.
- Along with millions of others around the world, I am wearing a white band to remind them of what they must do and waiting to see if they deliver.
- Now is the time. Please do not squander this moment. Join Us!
- The Global Call to Action Against Poverty is a worldwide alliance committed to forcing world leaders to live up to their promises, and to make a breakthrough on poverty in 2005. A simple white band is the symbol of the campaign, by wearing one you are part of a unique worldwide effort in 2005 to end extreme poverty-you’re saying that its time to stop the deaths of more than 200,000 people every single week from preventable diseases. www.whiteband.org, www.makepovertyhistory.org
- Kindest Regards
- Connie
- Constance Georgina Khaendi Walyaro
- Citron Wood
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- XVI International AIDS Conference
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