International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty October 17th to 19th

October 17th is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty when people worldwide show their solidarity with the poor and commitment to ending poverty. Join millions around the world as they STAND UP and TAKE ACTION Against Poverty and for the Millennium Development Goals. This worldwide call to action is led by the Global Call to Action Against Poverty and the United Nations Millennium Campaign.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight goals to be achieved by 2015 that were drawn from the Millennium Declaration adopted by 191 member countries of the United Nations in 2000. The MDGs respond to the world's main development challenges and in a brief outline promise to:

1. eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. achieve universal primary education
3. promote gender equality and empower women
4. reduce child mortality
5. improve maternal health
6. combat HIV/AIDs, malaria and other diseases
7. ensure environmental sustainability
8. develop a global partnership for development

At the halfway point to 2015 some progress has been made on the MDGs but urgent action is needed if nations are to deliver on the promise in the Millennium Declaration: "We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected."

Last year a record breaking 43.7 million people around the world stood up and called for action against poverty and inequality. Help break the Guinness World Record this year and send an even louder message to our governments for more and better aid, debt cancellation, trade justice and other action to end poverty.

You can stand up anywhere: at work, at church, in the streets, at the family dinner table, or in the classroom. You can also send letters to the government or any number of other creative ways to contribute towards ending poverty and inequality. You may also use this opportunity to tell others about ACCESS and how they can help eradicate extreme poverty and more, through education.