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Column: Where does my money go
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A message from the Young Australian of the Year
 

Michael and Akram

On behalf of the Global Poverty Project, I would like to extend my most sincere heartfelt congratulations to Akram Azimi, a remarkable individual with a truly inspirational story, on his announcement as the 2013 Young Australian of the Year. Akram is no stranger to the Global Poverty Project family, having served as a presenter of our 1.4 Billion Reasons presentation and as an ambassador for The End of Polio campaign.

I have had the privilege of counting Akram as a dear friend ever since we first met at a student conference in Singapore several years ago, and our friendship has deepened over our time together with the Rotary Club of Crawley. Having had the pleasure of witnessing up close Akram's kind character, warm sentiment and colossal commitment to community service, this announcement comes as no surprise. Indeed, you would be hard pressed to find a more deserving and gracious awardee and I have no doubt whatsoever that his example will inspire many Australians to give much more of themselves in time, skills and money.

Yet on the day when his significant contribution to the nation is rightly being celebrated, one would have naturally excused Akram for taking a moment's break from community service to simply bask in glory. He's earned it after all. But that's not in line with Akram's character. Rather he was keen as ever to roll up his sleeves and get to work on one of many upcoming projects he will be helping us out on, and he wanted you - our loyal supporters - to be involved right from the get go. With that in mind we wish to share the below message from Akram.

 Congratulations once again Akram!

Michael Sheldrick - Campaign Manager, The End of Polio 

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I am living and healthy proof of how foreign aid can transform the life of a person in the developing world. However, you usually don't get the chance to meet them and see what a profound difference your tax dollars have made… until today.

I could thank the Prime Minister today as a healthy young person precisely because I was immunised against polio in war-torn Afghanistan by funds contributed to by Australian tax payers. Reflecting on this, I realise that Australians saved my life well before I set foot on Australian soil.

However, I did fail today to thank someone else: you.

Because if it weren’t for you and the other supporters of this campaign, the Prime Minister wouldn’t have made polio eradication a priority. You’re the reason the Australian Government committed $50 million to polio eradication. And you’re the reason that the PM stood alongside Bill Gates and Ban Ki-moon as a leader in the world of polio eradication at last year’s UNGA.

That’s why I’m so excited to be a part of this incredibly important campaign.

I was born in Afghanistan and spent part of my childhood in Pakistan. I know what it means to live in a polio-endemic country. I even remember receiving the vaccine.

I’ve also seen the research that shows what will happen if we fail – 200,000 children paralysed by this disease every year. On the other hand, success would truly make a statement that every child’s life is as valuable as our own.

So while I thanked the Prime Minister for everything she’s done so far today, I know the Government and our community can do more – together we can fight this through to the end.

I’m planning to make the most of my time as Young Australian of the Year by sharing the inspiring story of polio eradication far and wide. I’ll be doing all I can to make sure our collective voices are heard on this issue, and I’d love to share the platform with you. Join me as I tour the country giving presentations on polio.

And if you're interested in supporting or hosting me on my tour, click here.

Thanks once again for your involvement in this campaign and I hope to see your face in the crowd!

Akram Azimi – Young Australian of the Year
Posted by Michael Sheldrick and Akram Azimi in Global Health, Aid for column Where does my money go on Jan 25th, 04:46
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Security in Times of Austerity
 

On Wednesday 5th December, against a backdrop of prolonged austerity, Chancellor George Osborne MP presented the UK government’s Autumn Statement. The bleak economic outlook across the Eurozone heightened apprehension, with lower-than-expected growth figures and the battle to reduce public debts plaguing critics’ minds.

The statement did, however, provide positive news for International Development. The government reaffirmed its much-needed contribution to spend 0.7% of national income on overseas development assistance, adding pressure on other donor countries to meet this 40-year old UN commitment.  
  
It should be noted that the 0.7% target is not an arbitrary figure, but has been in use since the 1970s, and found in 2002 by the United Nations Millennium Project to be the level required from all rich nations to meet the Millennium Development Goals (or MDGs) by 2015. As such, the Autumn Statement marks the first time in history the UK will have met this 40-year old promise.
 
Meeting the 0.7% target will secure the UK’s foreign aid budget and crucially means that the Department for International Development (DfID) will have the resources to continue its important work in social advancement across the globe. This is extremely good news both globally and nationally for a number of reasons: 
 
Firstly, it fuels momentum towards the achievement of the MDGs by 2015- for example the charity Save the Children, in a recent report, indicated that UK development assistance has drastically helped to reduced child mortality, with the number of deaths of under-fives falling from 12 million in 1990 to 6.9 million in 2011. Our aid has also contributed to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, helping to save at least 4,000 lives every day, and has saved an estimated 7.7 million lives in 150 countries.
 
Secondly, improved funding for DfID is also of extreme importance in the fight to finally eradicate polio. In the last 20 years polio cases have been reduced by 99%, from 123 endemic countries to just 3. However, with an almost $1bn shortfall in funding for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (the public-private partnership which leads eradication efforts) without securing development assistance from donor countries, there is a serious risk that polio may continue to disproportionately affect the most vulnerable.   
 
In addition to these clear moral reasons to improve the livelihoods of the 1.3 billion people who live in extreme poverty, there are also strategic benefits from the increase in the UK’s overseas development commitment. By investing in developing structurally stronger, healthier and more productive economies abroad, we simultaneously improve the UK’s ability to engage with these nations in international trade.  
 
This is increasingly important given that the proportion of total exports fell to the EU, in the three months to May 2012 to 49.6%, whilst there was a growth of non-EU exports to 50.4%. Moreover, a recent Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) report predicted UK export growth over the next five years of 30% to Asia, over 40% to Latin America and at least 60% to Africa.
 
Aside from these intrinsic benefits, perhaps what this year’s Autumn Statement has most lucidly shown is that collective political action can yield tangible change. 
 
Despite the austerity we continue to face in the UK, it is a testament to the work of the Global Poverty Project and the commitment shown by our Ambassadors on the ‘Protecting 0.7’ campaign, as well as other organisations, that has resulted in the UK government committing to raise its overseas development contribution to 0.7%. 
 
Of course there is still much to be done. Whilst today we have honoured a 40-year old promise to those most vulnerable, tomorrow our work resumes- advocating, campaigning and working towards a vision for a global society without extreme suffering. 
 
Sameer Gulati is an intern at the Global Poverty Project.
Posted by GPP Intern Sameer Gulati in Corruption & Governance, Poverty, Aid for column Where does my money go on Dec 15th 2012, 03:03
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Fighting extreme poverty with your 401(k)
 

In the near future, my generation – the “Millennials” – will control a substantial portion of the wealth in the United States. In fact, Accenture has found that we are expected to receive more than $30 trillion from our Boomer parents in the next 30 to 40 years. The exciting news is that this wealth transfer could unleash a windfall of new money to address extreme poverty and increase opportunities for education, health and women’s empowerment worldwide.

But in order to make this a reality, we need to acknowledge a few important facts:

  1. To many of us, “asset,” “investment,” and “capital” all seem like strange words from a cryptic language we have never learned to speak, called “finance.”
  2. Regardless of how we might feel about the causes of the recent financial crisis, ending extreme poverty requires participation of the global financial system—not just aid, philanthropy or activism.
  3. As a generation, we vote, shop and choose means of transportation based on values like social justice and environmental sustainability. But when it comes to our personal finances, we are largely not engaging in these same values-based actions.

By failing to connect our financial decision-making to our personal values, we are missing out on a huge opportunity to address poverty and injustice. Until recently, this is something I hadn’t much considered. But spending my time working at the intersection of finance and poverty alleviation has me fired up about what this all really means—the potential for a paradigm shift in our global financial system.

And this shift is already underway. For example, in 2008 Goldman Sachs created the 10,000 Women initiative, a $100 million campaign to foster economic growth through women’s education. And this isn’t just a PR stunt—Goldman is implementing the program with the likes of Acumen Fund, CARE and the Global Health Corps. Or, consider a recent study by JP Morgan, which revealed that over the next decade alone, as much as $1 trillion worth of investor dollars could be available for projects aimed at improving access to housing, rural water delivery, maternal health, primary education and financial services (compare that to total aid funding in 2011  by the developed world, at $134 billion). 

So what do investment banks, pension funds and billions of investor dollars have to do with us—the passionate-yet-cash-strapped Millennial do-gooders? More than you would think.

For those around my age (24) fortunate enough to have stable jobs with benefits, you likely filled out some paperwork on your first day regarding your 401(k), without wondering exactly what your money was being invested in.

By nonchalantly filling out those forms, you might not have realized that you could be directly investing in the same companies you might have passionately protested against in college, deliberately chose not to support at the storefront, or read about in the news for terrible environmental practices and human rights violations.

Fortunately, today there are numerous ways to align our financial assets with our personal values—what has become known as “impact investing.” Now, maybe that language doesn’t resonate with you. Whenever someone mentions the word “investor,” even I can’t help but immediately think of Michael Douglas as Gordon Gecko or Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman. But if we are to ever truly change our financial system and take advantage of this enormous opportunity to use capital for social good, it is crucial that we make an effort to understand how this world works.

I’m not saying you need to start reading the Financial Times, monitor the NASDAQ, or coiffe your hair and wear suspenders to work (unless that’s your thing). But what you can easily do is become a financial activist—meaning putting your money to work for social and environmental justice. Here are some beginner steps for getting started:

  • Find out if your employer provides the option to invest your 401(k) in “socially responsible” mutual funds, meaning your money will be supporting companies that have undergone a thorough assessment of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. This will ensure you won’t be supporting companies that could be exacerbating poverty and injustice.
  • Become an “impact investor”— take some of your income and invest it in poverty alleviation and other related opportunities, while earning a modest return. Some of you might already have a profile on Kiva.org, which is a good start. But there are many more opportunities to get involved in beyond microfinance, such as financing organizations providing clean cookstoves or affordable solar-powered lighting. And you can get started for as little as $20 through websites like MicroPlace.
  • If you’re still a student, find out what your university endowment is invested in, and see if there is an impact investing club or other group on campus that is working with the university to ensure its investments are sustainable and not causing harm.

In the wake of this global financial meltdown, millions of people have been pushed into poverty and joblessness, and many of the culprits have not been held accountable. So the outrage over financial-sector excess is not without merit. But the more we disengage from the financial world, and the more we paint this industry with a broad brush, the less likely we will be able to influence it for the better. We should all take advantage of this burgeoning opportunity to prove that “asset” does not have to be a dirty word.

(Daniel Skallman works for Calvert Foundation. His opinions are entirely his own.)
Posted by Daniel Skallman in Poverty, What Can I Do?, Aid for column Where does my money go on Aug 30th 2012, 04:28
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World Malaria Day - Sustain Gains, Save Lives
 
Today, the 25th of April, is World Malaria Day. It also happens to be the first ever World Immunization Week this week. Together, both events serve to raise awareness of major global health issues. But this year, more than any other, both events are calling for action to sustain the momentum of progress that has already been made. The theme for this year’s World Malaria Day is “Sustain Gains, Save Lives” – a clear call to strengthen financial and political commitment in times of increasing economic austerity and calls to slash aid budgets. 
 
The success of global efforts to vaccinate children against polio over the course of two decades has surpassed expectation, to the point where this debilitating disease is now on the verge of complete eradication. In today’s blog we will be asking: ‘how do we replicate the successes seen against polio and smallpox – the only human disease to ever be fully eradicated - with malaria?’ One answer lies in continued funding of vital treatment strategies, as well greater support for research and development.
 
In the last decade, malaria deaths across Africa have been cut by a third. In other countries where access to malaria control techniques has improved, malaria deaths have fallen by more than 20%. Through the work of the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, these malaria control strategies, such as distribution of mosquito nets and insect repellent, have made significant gains possible. The Global Fund is the largest international financing organization working towards the prevention and treatment of malaria. Since it was founded in 2002, it is thought to have saved an incredible 8 million lives. However, the organization has been hit by a funding crisis, which threatens to jeopardize the investment needed to bring an end to malaria.
 
In seeing mortality rates for malaria decline, public pressure to further reduce the impact of the disease has declined and resulted in complacency and neglect. However, we know that, now more than ever, sustained funding and public backing is required. In recent years, drug resistant forms of malaria have been emerging, posing a real threat to the fight against this disease. Drug resistance is almost unavoidable when treating diseases like this, but it emphasises the real need, not only for continuing support of the work of the Global Fund, but also for constant research and development to overcome resistant strains of the parasite. 
 
The research that has been directed towards malaria means that for the first time we are close to developing a life-saving vaccine to protect against the disease. This could enable us to eliminate malaria from many of the worst-affected countries and contain it further in others. The vaccine is currently in Phase III clinical trials, which means it is in the last stages of development and is close to being fully approved. It is thought that a vaccine may only be three years away from final approval. As demonstrated by the reduction in polio cases, immunization has proven to be the most successful and cost-effective preventative health strategy. According to the World Health Organization, vaccination programs alone avert 2 – 3 million deaths annually. However, advances like those needed to develop a malaria vaccine and overcome drug resistance can only be achieved with sufficient, long-term funding of medical research.
 
Through combining improved malaria control strategies, effective preventive treatment medicines and potential vaccines, the world may be on the path toward eventual malaria eradication. For this to be realised, however, key donor countries - such as the US, UK and Australia – need to continue their support of the life-saving work of the Global Fund, while also increasing their investment in medical research .  We can’t run the risk of becoming complacent. We mustn’t stop at smallpox and polio - we need to ensure that malaria meets the same fate – confined to the pages of history books, not claiming the lives of thousands across the world each year. 
 
 

 
Posted by Huma Malik in Aid for column Where does my money go on Apr 25th 2012, 02:00
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Goat Gifts 101
 

A guest blog from Julie Cowdroy: an ambassador for the Global Poverty Project and Opportunity International Australia. This article was first published on ABC 's The Drum on the 21st of December 2010 - you can read the Drum article, here.

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Pictures of goats are popular at this time of year. Cards and e-cards featuring a photograph of a goat usually wearing sunglasses are in circulation representing the fact that somewhere, someone has received a goat, and someone else has received a picture of a goat.

The charity gifts trend is alive and well in Australia and many are jumping on board to purchase goats as well as a plethora of other gifts, spending anywhere from $5 to $10,000. One can choose to buy pencils, poo, piglets, or a taxi service in the Philippines for the world’s poorest people.

TEAR created the first charity gifts catalogue in 1994 while Oxfam launched its first Unwrapped campaign seven years ago, and many poverty driven NGOs have hightailed it to follow in their, er, hoovesteps. An environment of goodwill is a great way to stimulate some Christmas cha-ching for overseas development programs - in 2008, Oxfam alone raised $6 million, even at the height of the GFC - but it’s also what we as consumers want.

According to a 2005 report issued by the Australia Institute, 73 per cent of Australians would be happy to receive a charity gift, although, of course we would answer that way.

Still, a marketing manager of one organisation that only jumped on board the charity gifts bandwagon this year said that they decided to run a Christmas campaign because many of their donors were asking for it. Why? People are sick of buying crap at Christmas. They want something more ‘meaningful’.

Yet how meaningful are goats? There is nothing worse then getting something you don’t need – a universal truth that also applies to those who live below subsistence.

One of the first lessons that purchasers of such gifts learn is that it is not always clearly articulated that paying for a goat does not actually mean that a kid named Billy is bought and shipped off overseas. Often the money is collected and spent on projects and programs according to where an organisation decides the ‘most need’ is.

The method of delivery varies from group to group. For instance, every gift available for purchase at ChildFund Australia has been researched and the number of, say, piglets available for ‘sale’ is the number of piglets required for a particular community. You buy a piglet, a piglet shall be given. World Vision and Oxfam have broader categories. Buy a chicken and they’ll put the money towards their livelihood programs. Buy a bicycle ambulance or a hip-hop microphone and the money will go towards their education programs. Yes, one of the items you can buy is a hip-hop microphone. World to the Vision.

TEAR have a colour-coded system - red for education, green for agricultural and farming gifts, blue for health and so on. By placing gifts within categories as TEAR, World Vision, Oxfam and others do, the donor can see how their gift is a part of a broader development strategy.

Edward Fox, who was Oxfam's Fundraising and Marketing Director until 2007, and is now the CEO of Opportunity International UK says, “When done well, the charity gifts proposition can improve the public’s understanding of the charity and increase the supporters’ affection for the cause. They can be fun and they are a light-hearted way to explain (unwrap) what the charity does.”

The desire to understand more about international development is evident in the many requests to organisations for donors to track specific gifts and get a photo of the actual gift being given. It seems to get on one’s goat not knowing who gets one’s goat. Some are bursting to know if someone will be bursting with gratitude to see the goat that they gave. NGOs do not generally offer this service.

However, a group called Charity:water has an aspect to their campaign called Proving It. Once a donor funds a project, local partners submit reports back to the group about the execution of the project. Charity:water then give donors photos as well as coordinates to plug into Google Maps so one can see the project they funded. A commemorative plaque is uploaded that recognises the donor and community who worked together to make the project possible.

People enjoy this. They want to feel connected to the receiver of the gift. However, it is a very fine line between wanting to know where one’s donation ends up and reinforcing the message that donors are the “Whites in Shining Armour”.

Goats at Christmas time provide the perfect opportunity to reflect on how we approach international aid and development. Archie Law, CEO of ActionAid says, “For the world’s billion hungry people who are marginalised and excluded from basic services, the daily struggle continues long after Christmas. When you buy that goat this Christmas maybe you can spend a moment thinking about what you can do in 2011 to contribute to the long-term changes needed to affect meaningful change in the lives of the most excluded.”

There are great projects and programs that poverty-driven NGOs are executing and donors should ensure they are savvy and do their homework to make sure the groups they channel money into have sustainable development strategies. True partnership with the worlds marginalised involves an understanding on our part of the role goats play in global development. And that shouldn’t get on anyone’s goat.

 
Posted by Julie Cowdroy - Guest blogger in Fairtrade & Ethical Purchasing for column Where does my money go on Dec 21st 2010, 04:18
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