Poverty eradication isn't just an idea - it's happening right now. We’ve made more progress in the last decade than during any other period in history, and the new global goals being decided upon in 2015 are set to help us continue. But it will take much more than words on paper to make the Global Goals a reality, and the Financing for Development Conference taking place this week is a huge opportunity to secure the cash needed. That’s why citizens in over 70 countries are taking to the streets this weekend with the support of Malala and Desmond Tutu – because we believe that there is a very real opportunity to FINANCE OUR FUTURE.
Long road travelled, and a tough one ahead
In the last generation we have made unbelievable progress, from reducing poverty, to cutting child deaths, and getting more children than ever before into school. But this has not happened by accident. It has happened because the world wrote a decent to-do list in the Millennium Development Goals and focused on it unrelentingly.
This is why the next global goals are so important. If we agree the right things then we will be able to ensure that progress continues and benefits everyone. But there is no denying that making the new global goals a reality will be a big and expensive job. That’s why next week leaders from around the world are gathering in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia for the Financing for Development Conference. This conference aims to do precisely what it says on the tin – find the cash to fund sustainable development as well as finding the solutions to the big structural problems that prevent it.
The money needed for people and planet is within our reach
‘Really?’ I hear you say. Surely it’ll take more money than grains of sand to fund a sustainable fairer future for people and planet?
Well no actually. At action/2015 – a campaign that brings together citizens in over 140 countries united by the belief that we can make huge progress for people and planet in 2015 - we feel finding that cash is a reality closer than you might think. And here’s how:
1. Every single government has a part to play. Governments can and must take responsibility for spending money on the right services that are available for everyone to benefit from. Think about the schools that need to be built and the hospitals that need staffing. We need governments to fund fairly and get basic services to all their citizens.
2. International finance systems need to be tightened up. Think about all the billionaires who currently don’t pay their fair share of tax because they’re hiding their money in tax havens. Tax injustice must be tackled to unlock cash desperately needed for basic services for the poorest people everywhere.
3. Leaders must keep their promises. Take the UN overseas aid commitment for instance – over 40 years ago the world’s richest countries signed up to invest 0.7% of gross national income in overseas aid, yet in 2015 the majority of countries still haven’t kept their promise to the world’s poorest people. Come ON guys – step up to the plate and FINANCE OUR FUTURE!
We know what we want - and we're going out to get it
To prove how strongly we believe this, on Saturday action/2015 campaigners are blasting out our FINANCE OUR FUTURE call by hitting the streets, meeting with Finance Ministers and taking over social media in over 70 countries from Kuwait to Kenya, the UK to Uganda, Cameroon to Costa Rica.
In India an estimated 2 million actions will be taken across 15 states. In Kenya thousands of citizens will hit the streets in Nairobi’s slum areas and in a rural health camp. Campaigners in Norway are sending a fake elephant to the airport with the Foreign Minister as they depart for Addis to call on them to ensure finance is not the elephant in the room in 2015.
Leaders everywhere will be left with no doubt that ambitious commitments are needed in order to meet the expectations of citizens everywhere.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg – you can follow the action as it happens by visiting us, following us and liking us.