September 21, 2005 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States…[ANN Staff]
When you have a decent place to live, nice job, food to eat and clean water to drink every day, poverty may not be something you think about. But for billions of people across the globe, poverty is a constant companion.
According to the World Bank, 2.8 billion people — about half the world’s population — struggle to survive on less than US$2 a day. And 1.1 billion live in extreme poverty, which is defined as living on less than US$1 a day. Some 840 million go to bed hungry each night.
In 2000 world leaders said “that’s enough,” and began an initiative to cut the world’s extreme poverty in half by 2015. The Millennium Declaration was born, building on a decade of major United Nations conferences and summits, according to Anne Woodworth, representative to the United Nations for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA).
The goal? There are eight that the international community aims to achieve by 2015, Woodworth says. “They are the most broadly supported, comprehensive and specific poverty reduction targets the world has ever known. These goals are simple, yet very fundamental.”
They include: eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and empowering women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a global partnership for development.
In a Call to Partnership communique at the end of a historic consultation at the Washington National Cathedral Sept. 11 to 12, a group of religious leaders beckoned Christian denominations and entities, government leaders and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to reduce global poverty and fulfill the Millennium Development Goals. The statement was presented to the United Nations leaders on Sept. 13, on the eve of the U.N. Summit of world leaders (see http://news.adventist.org/data/2005/08/1126733071/index.html.en).
Part of ADRA’s mission is to change the world one life at a time, and they partner with many NGOs, other civil society actors, and national governments in countries to fight global poverty. The organization, which formally began in 1956 by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, operates in 125 countries.
“ADRA has been working for decades to help countries achieve the kinds of results that are anticipated under the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs]. So in that respect, we aren’t doing anything different from our traditional areas of work. However, ADRA is starting this year to track its efforts at a project level in helping countries meet these international targets,” Woodworth notes.
“All of ADRA’s projects are targeted at the poor, vulnerable, disenfranchised, disempowered people in communities around the world,” she adds. “In terms of us deciding where to work, we will select those communities that are most in need, because we feel that’s where we’re called to work, [that’s] part of our mission and corporate identity. Moreover, that is where our donors expect us to have the greatest impact.”
“In our work worldwide, we come into contact with people of all faiths and denominations and this enriches our ministry,” says Tereza Byrne, ADRA’s marketing and development chief. “What we have in common at the moment we meet is their need and our ability to meet that need, which usually stems from poverty. Recognizing the inherent dignity that we believe is God-given, we partner with our beneficiaries to bring about positive change.”
More than 175 government representatives met this month at the United Nations in New York to recommit to the Millennium Declaration, which encompasses most of the major initiatives of the international community made in the 1990s to combat poverty
Developing countries have recommitted to using their personnel, time and attention, along with scarce resources for improved social services and economic development, while wealthier countries have promised to provide additional resources to help them achieve the goals, Woodworth says.
What do the Millennium Development Goals mean for those facing poverty if the goals are met? Woodworth explains that 500 million people will be lifted out of extreme poverty; more than 300 million will no longer suffer from hunger; rather than die before they reach their fifth birthday, 30 million children will be saved, as will the lives of more than 2 million mothers; 350 million more people will have safe drinking water; and 650 million people will have basic sanitation, improving their health.
In addition, hundreds of millions more women and girls will go to schools, access economic and political opportunity, and have greater security and safety. The more than 40 million people with HIV/AIDS and 900 million people living in slum-like conditions will live longer, safer and healthier lives.
Raising awareness is an important part of the fight against global poverty. “Leading up to this historic international meeting, which also celebrates the 60th year after the U.N.’s creation, over the summer there were global rock concerts and international campaigns to raise awareness of the need for poverty reduction and increased aid to developing countries,” says Woodworth.
What is the Christian’s responsibility regarding the poor? Dr. Zac Plantak, chairman of the religion department at Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Maryland, suggests that Christians sometimes make excuses for noninvolvement with the poor. “And since the problem can’t be solved, why try?” he writes in the Adventist Review, the official church paper. “Didn’t Jesus teach that the poor will be always with us?” Another text, he says, states that there should be no poor among us. How does one deal with that, with two seemingly opposing stands? Plantak asks.
“There’s only one way to reconcile them: There should not be poor, because poverty is not God’s will; There will continue to be poor, because of the continuance of human injustice,” Plantak explains in the article. “The will of God says there should not be any poor. Human injustice ensures there’ll continue to be poor. Thus the continuing existence of poverty in the world mentioned in Deuteronomy 15 is not an excuse for inaction, but an argument for generosity.”
“We simply cannot exist in this world and not share our resources with those less fortunate,” says Byrne. “To ignore the cries for help of people in need, if we’re able to do something to effect change, is to invalidate the words of Christ when He said in reference to meeting need, ‘… Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.'” (Matthew 25:40)
Woodworth explains ways to get involved. Get informed about issues related to poverty; research funding opportunities; donate money — one way is through ADRA’s “Really Useful Gift Catalog;” get involved in local communities; write to legislators to advocate for change in policies that hurt the poor. There’s even an internship program through ADRA, she says.
Even in the wealthiest countries there are pockets of poverty. “Look around,” says Woodworth. “And get involved.” Find more information about ADRA at www.adra.org.
Copyright © 2005 by Adventist News Network.
