Why is it important to 'Blow the Whistle' now?
There are two great opportunities to build upon at this time. Firstly, huge energy was generated by the Make Poverty History campaign – if we do not act now this energy will be lost.
Make Poverty History had a massive impact on both the G8 leaders and the wider public - 88% of the UK public were aware of the campaign. The active role of the churches was widely acknowledged in the MPH evaluation report as absolutely central to the success of the campaign. Micah Challenge UK is setting out to harness and refocus the energy, passion and commitment of the hundreds of thousands of Christians that found in the MPH campaign a way to take effective action against the injustices of poverty.
Secondly, 2007 is ‘half-time’ – the half-way point to delivering the MDGs in 2015 and an ideal time to put the spotlight on governments and their performance to date. To do this, Micah Challenge is running a global ‘Blow the Whistle’ campaign to scrutinise the half time scores and the performance of the players - and so encourage global, G8 and national leaders to honour the promises they made to the world’s poorest.
