Global Call Against Poverty update

World Poverty Day and IMF/World Bank targeting a great success

• Posted on Oct 24, 2007

1) More people to take action – an incredible 40 million + people (the number is still being finally verified) stood up and spoke out against poverty in October 16/17
2) More countries to be involved – at the latest could 130 countries participated in activities on the 17th, up from 87 last year
3) More diverse events – there was an incredible diversity of events from the Poverty Requiem, to concerts, to banner-making, to political delegations and many more. There has been a lot of feedback about how positive the range of events was
4) More political – all feedback so far has been that this years mobilization was far stronger politically than last year. Delegations visited senior ministers and heads of state in up to 40 countries, very strong activities took place at the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF and the political messaging was far stronger
5) More media coverage – we are still assessing the media coverage but early indications suggest it is greater that last year. Whilst we by no means flooded the front pages, there has been a lot of pick-up and the messaging in that pick-up is excellent. A fuller media update is being prepared.

A few details:

Stand Up and Speak Out
Final numbers will be announced soon but it looks set to be in the region of 43 million people which is a phenomenal achievement and almost double last year’s mobilization. This really shows that the momentum is building and the movement growing – and was made possible by the incredible work done by so many people last year and this year.
Also, we are delighted that the spread of where people stood up with unconfirmed numbers of more than 27 million in Asia, more than 2 million in the Arab region and more than 7 million in Africa.
Again, the number of countries involved grew to around 130 this year and many countries have reported that this event has helped them kick start joint civil society campaigning for the first time. For examples, in Fiji, a coalition has come together and was able to mobilize 13,267 people.

Political targeting
GCAP has shown that it can have real impact in targeting politicians in a coordinated manner around the world. We do not have precise figures yet, but senior politicians – mainly finance and development ministers and heads of state – were lobbied in more than 30 countries on or just before October 17th. All civil society delegations took specific national policy change demands to their political representatives, but also included the global call for reform of the IMF and World Bank. We believe this is the largest coordinated lobby of ministers around the world before the annual meetings of these financial institutions.

Banners Against Poverty
Banners were produced in more than 30 countries on every continent. The highlight was a 10 km banner made in Pakistan signed by more than 1.2 million people. Plans are now being discussed to bring all the banners together some time next year.

Poverty Requiem
The Requiem was performed 45 times in 23 countries on October 17th as well as at the UN and outside the World Bank on the 16th and 21st October respectively. Already countries including Suriname and Netherlands are looking at how to extend the use of this incredible performance piece.

Ambassadors
GCAP has focused this year on identifying and working with grassroots ambassadors rather than high-profile ambassadors. People on each continent have been identified and GCAP is now building a longer-term strategy to work with these individuals and to identify more individuals to act as powerful advocates for change. More details are available on request. A new web site has also been launched at http://www.testimonies-whiteband.org which is a ‘People’s portal’ for recording people’s stories and testimonies to give a real and human face to poverty.

Women's Tribunals
Several women's tribunals took place around the world on October 17th to highlight the growing feminisation of poverty and the role of women in ending it. Of note was the tribunal in Delhi which brought 400 women from across India together and was attended by the current President of India who is the first female to hold that position.

IMF/World Bank annual meetings
GCAP had a very visible and powerful presence at the annual meetings from the 20-22 October. The highlight was a performance of the Poverty Requiem by more than 250 students from Pennsylvania outside the Bank. The performance was watched by a number of official delegations and several members of the media as well as the public. It was a moving experience and served as a powerful tool for getting the message of GCAP across to influential people at the meetings.
GCAP spokespeople also lobbied several senior officials at the Bank and took part in a press conference highlighting the growing power of civil society and our demands to be heard, to participate more in transparent processes at the Bank and Fund and for good governance and greater accountability. They also presented the demands of national and regional coalitions and used many examples to highlight the impact of Bank and Fund policies.

More information is gradually becoming available on www.whiteband.org.

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