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Australia, July 8, 2009 – Last night, a campaign urging global action on poverty was launched Melbourne. With over 1.4 billion people worldwide living on less than US$1 per day, the internal awarness campaign is expected to be taken on a world tour in a variety of languages. This project hopes to inspire governments commit to financial aid and the global audience in general to make a difference.

In 2000, the world’s nations agreed to eight millennium development goals designed to halve poverty by 2015. There has been some progress made resulting in the rise of countries like India and China. However, areas like Sub-Saharan Africa continues to live in poverty.

Young Australian of the Year Hugh Evans and Australian actor Hugh Jackman are both involved in the project. Dubbed the Global Poverty Project, the campaign is about giving people the right information. Hugh Evans says this project is inspired by Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” that helped millions of people understand the global impacts of climate change.

“There are different myths and rumours around Australia about how much we can do to end extreme poverty. People say: ‘There’s too much corruption, we can’t do it’ and “charity should start at home’. All these things people say, but no one has come together and said ‘Ok, what does it actually mean for us to end extreme poverty’ ” says Evans.

The project’s advisory team includes US economist Jeffrey Sachs, UN officials and Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith. After its Australian launch, the campaign will be taken to Europe, South Africa, the US and Canada.

Source:
radioaustralia.net.au