Fair Share and Micah Challenge

The year was 1999, maybe 2000, and politicians were falling over themselves to do something historic for The Millenium®. Thus it was that some of the world's most powerful nations committed themselves to some positive, some would say downright socialist, goals - the Millenium Development Goals - and some mighty fine goals they were too:

* Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
* Achieve Universal Primary Education
* Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
* Reduce Child Mortality
* Improve Maternal Health
* Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
* Ensure Environmental Sustainability
* Develop a Global Partnership for Development.

Enter 11/9, the War on Abstraction© and any number of other reasons for politicians to do what politicians do best and leave the Millenium Goals looking like a poorly planned superdome or a half-finished giant ferris wheel that no one wants to ride. But that was not to be - indeed no, my friends!

Enter a bunch of evangelical christians, the World Evangelical Alliance. This coalition have mobilised an advocacy and lobbying network called the Micah Challenge Network who plan to harass and annoy just about anyone who'll listen until governments come through with the goods.

In Australia we have just about every NGO under the sun, under the umbrella of the Australian Council For International Development (ACFID), working and lobbying and advocating to ensure that Australia contributes its fair share towards reaching these goals. Indeed, Fair Share is the name of their campaign whose pledge you can sign on the World Vision Australia site.

So what are you waiting for? Sign the Micah Challenge and/or the Fair Share pledge and tell anyone who'll listen to do the same!

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