Micah Challenge Australia Blog

 

The Micah Challenge blog is a space for discussion and debate about the issues of global poverty, faith, advocacy and justice and the Millennium Development Goals. This blog aims to provoke thought and challenge you to learn more about the issues discussed. We welcome your comments.

Micah Challenge is a global campaign of Christians speaking out against poverty and injustice. Click here to visit the Micah Challenge website.

  • Anti-Poverty Week 2014

    Posted by Salome

    15 October, 2014

    This week is International Anti-Poverty Week, and it is traditionally a time for community groups, churches, non-for profits and advocacy groups to recommit their efforts to help the poor. This week is a time for reflection on the incredible achievements of the last year, in fighting against poverty, as well as a time of reflection on the challenges we continue to face and how best to overcome them. As Christians, we use anti-poverty week as a time of thanksgiving for how God has worked through us to bring His kingdom values of caring for our global neighbours to fruition, and how he continues to strengthen us in our efforts to bring the world to holistic wholeness. We also use it as a time to recongise that there is still work to be done, and to refresh ourselves in God’s mandate to take care of the least among us. So for Anti-Poverty Week 2014, let’s take some time to look at one achievement for each of the MDG’s, and give thanks to the Lord for all the lives that have been saved through our global effort. Let us also pray for the fruit of… read more

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  • Happy World Toilet Day 2012!

    Posted by Ben

    19 November, 2012

    It's not one of the best-known or most widely-celebrated of international days. It doesn't have a major celebrity spokesperson or designer accessory to promote it. But World Toilet Day is, arguably, one of the most important days on the calendar. Your loo, and the sanitation infrastructure you are perched on top of every time you do your daily business, is probably doing more to keep you healthy than any other medical advance made in the last 200 years. But in the world today, 2.5 billion people still don't have access to adequate sanitation and around 1.1 billion still practise open defecation, with health consequences that aren't difficult to imagine. Diarrheoal diseases cause around 2 million deaths each year, and almost all of those are the result of low-quality water supply, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Locally and globally, though, there is good news. Grassroots, or bottom-up (pun intended), campaigns to bring toilets to every community are having startling success in many places. In Nepal, for example thousands of communities… read more

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  • Progress

    Posted by Laura

    21 August, 2012

    Seeing progress is a fantastic thing. Whether it is the clock in an exam ticking ever closer to the start of holidays, or finally seeing your hard work pay off, as you get better at a sport, or cards, or knitting, or skipping, progress is always really encouraging. I’m not really one for numbers. I never quite managed to get my times tables down pat (much to the chagrin of my father), and stuck to General Maths in Year 12, but even I have been astounded by the latest report from the United Nations. The 2012 Millennium Development Goal Report is the compilation of key indicators and data, which provide an assessment on how the world is going with reaching the targets. As we know, the target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and halving poverty – 2015 – is getting really close. The good news? Extreme poverty is falling. The proportion of people living on les than US$1.25 fell from 47% in 1990 to 24% in 2008 – that’s a reduction of over 400 million people. 400 million people who are living above the… read more

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  • A $60 billion return on a crap investment?

    Posted by Ben

    25 July, 2012

    Politicians sure do love a good cost-benefit analysis. When resources are scarce, and since there's always another good cause (or a more politically attractive one) to invest public money in, it's good to have some sort of evidence of return on investment. Of course, cost-benefit isn't the only thing that matters when it comes to public policy. However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has just released a cost-benefit analysis that I hope every Australian politician reads: Global costs and benefits of drinking-water supply and sanitation interventions to reach the MDG target and universal coverage*. Looking beyond the yawn-inducing title, though, the report is mind-blowing. It assesses the total economic benefits of meeting the Millennium Development Goal targets as 60 billion US dollars each and every year, through time savings from reduced illness, reduced health care costs and lives saved. Just hold that thought for a moment; halving the proportion of people in the world without access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation would bring… read more

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