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How the Millennium Development Goals could halve world poverty - Interview

How the Millennium Development Goals could halve world poverty - Interview – 6 Oct 2010

2010 is a critical year for the international community’s efforts to make poverty history. In 2000 world leaders from 189 countries agreed eight goals to halve global poverty by 2015. With five years to go until the deadline for the eradication of extreme poverty, this is the year that promises need to be turned into action.

Sean Mullan, Director of Evangelical Alliance Ireland, reflects on what our response as Christians should be.

Why are the MDGs important?

For the first time, entire governments are committed to the achievement of ending global poverty and also to measuring their performance. Achieving these goals is possible. In fact the UN Secretary General said recently that “falling short of the MDGs would be an unacceptable failure, (both) moral and practical”.

What is the Irish government doing?

Ireland signed up to the MDGs in 2000 and pledged to increase its overseas aid to reach the UN target of spending 0.7% of national income on overseas aid. However, since its original pledge in 2000, the Government has twice shifted the date for achieving this international commitment. As citizens with a Christian commitment we should urge the Irish government to keep to its promise.

What is Micah Sunday?

On Sunday 10th of October, churches all across Ireland will join churches worldwide to pray that governments keep their commitments to tackle poverty and to create a more just world. It’s called Micah Sunday because the Bible verse which inspired this campaign is Micah 6:8. Here the prophet states that the Lord has shown what He require of us – to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. This month I am meeting with Irish church leaders across all denominations to reaffirm our commitment to speak out on behalf of the poor.

How can I get involved?

Find out the Millennium Development Goals and how you can speak out by visiting www.tearfund.ie/advocacy

Pakistani flood-hit children get medical aid – 3 Sep 2010

Children in one of the poorest areas affected by the Pakistan floods are to receive free health services from a Tearfund partner.

Disruption to clean water supplies and sanitation has led to widespread outbreaks of illness, notably diarrhoea, gastroenteritis and skin conditions. To combat this, transition centres are to be set up in six villages in Punjab by staff from the Adult Basic Education Society (ABES).

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Helping the most vulnerable

These communities are based in the district of Mianwali which has high levels of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. The Indus river also flows through the area and the floods have caused considerable damage to homes, livelihoods, roads and bridges. The new transition centres will offer free check-ups, medicines, nutritional supplements, psycho-social support and ways of purifying water. Partner staff will work with district health officials on this project, identifying the worst cases of need. Where severely ill people are found, patients will be referred to the district hospital.

Health education will be another key part of ABES’ intervention, particularly teaching children who’ve seen their schools destroyed about cleanliness and hygiene. The disaster has left a traumatic imprint on the emotional health of youngsters and so ABES will be using play and learning activities to restore a sense of normality.

Support for mums

ABES staff are also looking to create Mother Support Groups which will help women as they restore their family life and livelihoods.

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Up to 20 million people have been affected by the floods, which started at the end of July and have swept from the north to south of the Pakistan, caused by exceptional monsoon rains. With generous support for our floods appeal, fellow Tearfund partner SSEWA-Pak has been providing food and other essential items to thousands of survivors in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa provinces. A team from SSEWA-Pak are working with Unicef to address the needs of children affected by the floods.

Click here to Donate now

  • €107 could pay for a food package for four families for 30 days
  • €53 could pay for a health & hygiene kit to protect 10 families from disease
  • €21 could pay for eating utensils for 4 families so they can cook for themselves
A billion people still go to bed hungry

A billion people still go to bed hungry – 1 Sep 2010

Tearfund’s Advocacy Director Paul Cook was in New York for the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Summit this week.

New York was swarming with international visitors this week, as the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called world leaders together to accelerate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The MDGs are a set of promises that the world made back in 2000, to halve global poverty and to bring an end to the injustices that lead to a child dying every six seconds due to hunger. There was widespread agreement that this is a global embarrassment and that we wanted to be the generation that would change the world – forever.

The promises are to:

1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2 Achieve universal primary education
3 Promote gender equality and empower women
4 Reduce child mortality rate
5 Improve maternal health
6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7 Ensure environmental sustainability
8 Develop a global partnership for development

Ten years on, it was time to take stock.

At Tearfund, we believe in tackling the structural causes of poverty as well as dealing with its effects, which is why we spend a lot of time talking to world leaders and speaking up for justice with and for the world’s poorest people.

This week, we were in New York to do just that.

We met with Government ministers from around the world, and took part in debates about the best way to end hunger, address violence against women and bring hope to people living with HIV.

Everyone agreed that we want to build a better world for our children, but it was disappointing that we didn’t see a more clear description as to how we’re going to do that.

Lots of progress has been made over the last ten years, and we should certainly celebrate that. There are people who are alive today who wouldn’t be if it hadn’t been for the investment in foreign aid and the prioritisation of the issues highlighted through the MDGs.

But, by now, we should really be seeing a very clear plan for the remaining five years that sets out exactly how we’re going to achieve fully the MDGs.

We went to New York hoping that we would come away with such a plan, but we didn’t get it.

We’re pleased with the Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, and it would have been great if we had seen the same level of unity and clarity for the other MDGs too.

And we’re especially pleased that Minister Michael Martin recommitted the Irish government to investing 0.7% of GDP in foreign aid. Let’s pray that Ireland keeps it’s promise and doesn’t cut the Overseas Aid funds again in December’s budget.

It’s also encouraging that we’re seeing more recognition of the role and value of the church in being change-makers in their own communities.

But it’s not enough, and we will continue to lobby Governments to make sure they continue to prioritise the needs of the poorest people in the world. And at the same time, we will continue to support churches to be the change they want to see in their own communities, and to respond to disasters and emergencies around the world.

Let’s continue to pray for people who are living in poverty, that they will know we have not forgotten them and that they will find hope.

Let’s pray too for our leaders, and that we will find ways to work together through global partnerships to tackle material and spiritual poverty.

Make your voice heard – Micah Sunday 10.10.10

On Sunday 10th of October, churches all across Ireland will join churches worldwide to pray that governments keep their commitments to tackle poverty and to create a more just world. It’s called Micah Sunday because the Bible verse which inspired this campaign is Micah 6: “the Lord has shown what He require of us – to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God”.

Encourage your church to partake in Micah Sunday on 10th of October. Download prayer resources, background information and advocacy material here.

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Pakistan flood aid gets to families in remote areas

Pakistan flood aid gets to families in remote areas – 27 Aug 2010

This week food, plastic sheets for shelter, hygiene kits and cooking utensils were among the items distributed to another 500 families in the Kashmore district of Sindh.

It’s nearly a month since the monsoon rains brought devastation to Pakistan, affecting around 20 million people and claiming the lives of 1,600 others.

Lost everything

As the flood waters have moved from the north to the south, Sindh province has increasingly been deluged. Ashraf Mall, Tearfund’s Country Representative for Pakistan, said, ‘There’s been no let-up in the flooding situation. More and more areas are being flooded.’

So far Tearfund partner SSEWA-Pak has provided aid to more than 8,000 families in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province and is currently working in Sindh to help people who in many cases have lost everything.

In the village of Saiful-Mirani in upper Sindh, a man called Gulab told how his house was virtually destroyed and his family only just managed to escape injury: ‘I have nothing left at all,’ he said, adding that they had received no outside help.

Solomon Khurrum from SSEWA-Pak, speaking from what looked like a vast lake, said, ‘There used to be a nice village here where people cultivated their lands but now there’s nothing left; no medical help has been provided to the people who are affected and no food either.’

Illness spreading

One elderly villager said, ‘Our crops were destroyed by the floods. We have nothing, we have lost the wheat which we had – what will our children eat now? This is the third day our children are hungry, we don’t have anything to eat or drink.’ Waterborne illnesses are adding to the suffering. Diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, rashes and other skin complaints are increasingly evident as the flooding affects access to clean water and disrupts sanitation. A team from SSEWA-Pak are working with Unicef to address the needs of children affected by the floods.

Click here to Donate now

  • €107 could pay for a food package for four families for 30 days
  • €53 could pay for a health & hygiene kit to protect 10 families from disease
  • €21 could pay for eating utensils for 4 families so they can cook for themselves
Survivors tell of flood’s nightmare

Survivors tell of flood’s nightmare – 12 Aug 2010

Survivors of the Pakistan flooding disaster have been telling Tearfund of their terror as rising waters destroyed their homes and forced them to flee for their lives.

Vast swathes of the country from the north to the south are under water after heavy monsoon rains, which have affected 14 million people and claimed the lives of 1,600 others.

Younas John, 48, was asleep when the deluge struck his village in north west Pakistan. He said, ‘It was midnight and I heard voices outside. I went out and everyone was running to save their lives. I took my family to higher ground.’

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Saved

‘Thank God my family is saved but now we have no shelter or food. The water level rose to ten feet and our homes were completely destroyed. We’ve lost all our belongings, including clothes, utensils, everything.’

Staff from Tearfund partner SSEWA-Pak are assisting Younas’ family, who as well as needing food and other essentials have been left traumatised by the flooding. Our partner has supplied 1,100 families in the north west with food, plastic sheeting for shelter, stoves, plates, cups, pots, soap, towels, tooth paste and antiseptics.

Staff are also responding to similar needs further south in Sindh province which has been affected by the flood waters moving downstream. The water is passing through Sukhar in Sindh and a barrage there is, like many dams, feeling the stain so the area’s canal system has been opened up to reduce pressure on it.

Strain

Ashraf Mall, Tearfund’s Country Representative for Pakistan, said, ‘The whole of the upper Sindh and some parts of the lower Sindh are now under water.’

The country’s army moved some people living near the swollen river Indus to higher ground but the district of Kashmore in Sindh has been inundated after an embankment was breached.

In some parts, water levels rose 12 feet. Umer Hazrat, an agricultural labourer, is among those affected. He lost his home, his fields and his cattle, but with his family managed to save some domestic utensils. ‘My wife hardly had time to save anything because the water level was rising so fast. I’ve lost everything but I am thankful to God that my family is alive,’ he said.

Huge misery

Home, for now, for Umer is on the side of a road, its raised position offering the only dry piece of land in the area. SSEWA-Pak is providing him and his family with emergency aid.

Solomon Khurrum, from SSEWA-Pak, appealed for more help via Tearfund’s Pakistan floods appeal: ‘I urge you (Tearfund supporters) to come forward and contribute to the aid effort and to help people who are suffering such huge misery,’ he said.

Please give what you can today

But we must act quickly. Tens of thousands of people are injured and homeless. And floods are an ideal breeding ground for water-borne diseases such as cholera. Donate now

  • €107 could pay for a food package for four families for 30 days
  • €53 could pay for a health & hygiene kit to protect 10 families from disease
  • €21 could pay for eating utensils for 4 families so they can cook for themselves

Download a powerpoint prayer presentation here to share with others and to help pray effectively.

Enormous floods devastates Pakistan – Tearfund responds

Enormous floods devastates Pakistan – Tearfund responds – 4 Aug 2010

Tearfund’s local partner organisations in Pakistan were in a position to immediately assist those affected by monsoon flooding. Heavy rains in northern Pakistan have caused floods which have killed at least 1,600 people and affected 12 million people, leaving hundreds of thousands injured and homeless. Tearfund’s partner SSEWA-PAK have started to distribute food and essential non-food items to families most urgently affected by the floods.

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A state of emergency has been declared by the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (KPK) after days of rain caused widespread devastation, in some places sweeping entire villages away. The flood is now passing through Punjab and moving towards the Sind region, where people have already been asked to evacuate.

Roads, bridges, crops and livestock have been destroyed as rivers have burst their banks and inundated vast areas, with Balochistan in the south west and Punjab also affected.

Ashraf Mall, Tearfund’s Country Representative for Pakistan, said:
‘It’s one of the biggest floods in the history of Pakistan. People need food immediately as they have lost their homes and possessions.

‘But it is not proving easy to respond to this emergency. Bridges and roads have been destroyed and the disruption of transport and communication links is making assessments difficult, with many survivors effectively cut off from outside help.’

Tearfund have released emergency funds to support local partners to support people affected by the flooding, and particularly to minimise the impact of floods on the areas of southern Punjab and Sind when the water reaches there. Donate now to support those in need in Pakistan. Download
a powerpoint prayer presentation here to share with others and to help pray effectively.

All photos: Ashraf Mall/Tearfund

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