People need between 20 and 50 litres of clean water every day to cater for their basic needs but millions of children are deprived of drinking water the world over, with more than 4,000 dying every day as a result.

With this statistic in mind, SOS Malta has provided three schools in Uganda with fresh water through the development of water collection systems.

The project covered the Ngeru, St Stephen’s and St Peter’s Primary Schools in Jinja, eastern Uganda, which cater for more than 800 children. The schools were provided with water storage tanks, wells and a system that collects rainwater through gutters installed on the premises.

The project was supported by the Foreign Ministry and Vascas Jewellers. Meanwhile, 25 other workers are also redecorating and carrying out maintenance works at the Ngeru Primary School, which is reportedly in a very bad state.

STOPPoverty! to participate in side-events to United Nations summit on MDGs
By Charlot Zahra

With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York on 20 to 22 September 2010 to accelerate progress towards all the MDGs by 2015, taking into account the progress made towards the internationally agreed development goals

The Maltese MDG Campaign, STOPoverty! will be participating in the side events organised in New York by Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) to support the United Nations’ (UN) in its efforts to boost progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

STOPoverty! in collaboration with ĊAMYouths will also organise a local campaign to push locally for the achievement of the MDGs.

The Maltese MDG campaign will start on 10 September 2010 by gathering around 150 young persons to empower them to become more active global citizens.

The ultimate aim of this capacity building exercise is “to create a pool of young and motivated persons who are willing to take on more responsibility towards the achievement of the MDGs by being pro-active in their communities to secure support for the MDGs,” Skop, the federation of NGDOs, explained.

STOPoverty will run a political campaign throughout the months of September and October, to increase media coverage for issues related to development and the MDGs, “as well as bring the issue on the agenda of our political and community leaders as well as other stakeholders”.

“The simple fact is that 189 world leaders made a historic promise at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 when they signed onto the Millennium Declaration and agreed to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015,” Skop explained. “So now it’s time for the citizens and civil society to hold their leaders to account for these commitments.”

In fact events/actions/campaigns by UN agencies, non-governmental organizations such as the GCAP, Permanent Missions, the private sector and other partners were expected to be held in and around the UN in New York before and during the Summit to push for the achievement of the MDGs.

With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York on 20 to 22 September 2010 to accelerate progress towards all the MDGs by 2015, taking into account the progress made towards the internationally agreed development goals.

Coming amid mixed progress and new crises that threaten the global effort to halve extreme poverty, “the summit will be a crucially important opportunity to redouble our efforts to meet the Goals,” Ki-moon said, referring to the targets adopted at the UN Millennium Summit of 2000 aimed at slashing poverty, hunger, disease, maternal and child deaths and other ills by a 2015 deadline.

The MDG review summit was “a key moment for civil society across the world to take action and call for a robust action plan to deliver the MDGs,” Skop explained.

Background

In 2000, 164 world governments came together to create the Education for All goals, 189 governments also created the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Two of the eight goals involve ending poverty through education:
* to ensure that all boys and girls complete primary schooling by 2015
* to ensure that girls have the opportunity for education at all levels by 2015.
They promised to make sure there was enough money and that the policies were in place to make it a reality. Since then many countries have abolished school fees, spending was increased by $4 billion and an extra 40 million children are now going to school.

Yet progress is not fast enough. With business ‘as usual’ over 50 million children will still be without an education in 2015. Read more on Education for All
1GOAL is an initiative of the football strand of the Class of 2015 and is run by the Global Campaign for Education to mobilise support to hold world leaders to these promises for 2015.
“We support the footballers and their fans in calling on all world leaders to do their part to ensure every child can go to school. We need to see action at the World Cup and beyond. By acting now, together we can ensure education for all.” ~ President Jacob Zuma, South Africa Host, 2010 FIFA World Cup
The campaign has captured unprecedented support and political will across the world. 1GOAL is supported by the football world and its governing body, FIFA. 1GOAL supporters and ambassadors include a multitude of global football stars, celebrities and world leaders, all working to achieve the shared vision of education for all.
On October 6th 2009, the 1GOAL campaign was officially launched in a satellite-linked ceremony led by the 2010 FIFA World Cup host, South Africa President Jacob Zuma, Her Majesty Rania Al-Abdullah, Queen of Jordan, President of Ghana John Atta Mills, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, President of Spain, Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General and Sepp Blatter, the FIFA President.

http://www.join1goal.org/home.php

European Year 2010 for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion raises awareness n Mental Health and Well Being research has shown that people with mental health problems are more likely to experience poverty while people experiencing poverty are particularly vulnerable to develop mental health problems.

In the context of the European Year 2010 for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, leading experts from Richmond Foundation and Mount Carmel Hospital, together with the Commissioner for Children joined forces today (25th June) during a press breakfast to raise awareness on mental health issues and the well being of children and youths.

http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=10267

Europe joins forces to fight poverty and social exclusion
Almost 84 million Europeans live at risk of poverty, which means they face insecurity, and go without what most people often take for granted.

Living in poverty may result in a variety of problems, from not having enough money to spend on food and clothes to suffering poor housing conditions and even homelessness. Poverty also means having to cope with limited lifestyle choices that may lead to social exclusion.

Inspired by its founding principle of solidarity, the European Union has joined forces with its Member States to make 2010 the European Year For Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. The key objectives are to raise public awareness about these issues and renew the political commitment of the EU and its Member States to combat poverty and social exclusion.

The guiding principle of the 2010 Year is to give voice to the concerns of people who have to live with poverty and social exclusion, and to inspire every European citizen and other stakeholders to engage with these important issues.

This Year also aims to challenge stereotypes and collective perceptions of poverty. By harnessing the EU’s principles of solidarity and partnership, 2010 represents a clarion call to tackle the causes of poverty head-on in a bid to ensure everyone can play a full and active role in society.

Civil society organisations and social partners will join participating countries and the European Commission to run a series of activities throughout 2010.

Two European-level conferences will take place in January and December; an art initiative will build a bridge between people experiencing poverty and social exclusion and the creative world; while special training days will give the media and decision-makers fresh insight into these complex subjects.

National and local events will take place in every EU Member State, plus Norway and Iceland. Activities will include awareness raising campaigns, workshops and information seminars in schools. Films, magazines and other information material will be produced to help people understand how poverty and social exclusion affect their communities, and for those directly affected, increase awareness of their rights.

Along with public figures, people who have experienced poverty will act as campaign ambassadors, which will help to raise visibility and credibility for the Year’s activities and invite others to get involved.

For further information please visit:

http://www.2010againstpoverty.eu/about/?langid=en

Figures released by the OECD show a reduction in EU overseas development aid in 2009, prompting an NGO confederation to fret that at the Millennium Development Goals might not be reached.
CONCORD said that current levels the EU would not meet commitments to provide 0.7 per cent of GNI in aid by 2015 to reach the Millennium Development Goals.

CONCORD is the European confederation of Relief and Development NGOs. Its 24 national associations and 18 international networks represent over 1,600 NGOs which are supported by millions of citizens across

“The news represents yet another broken promise by EU governments and delivers a further blow to the MDGs, which will be reviewed in New York this September,” it said.

Germany and Italy, two major European economies, cut aid to 0.35 per cent and 0.16 per cent of GNI respectively, taking a big chunk out of the total EU aid budget. Several other EU countries, including Austria, Ireland and Portugal also reduced their aid expenditure in 2009, In all EU countries’ which give development aid saw contributions falling by a total of 0.2 per cent.

The UK and Belgian governments increase aid while the top performers are Denmark and Sweden, who spent 0.88 per cent and 1.12 per cent of GNI respectively.

CONCORD calls on EU member states to publish legally-binding timetables showing how they will meet their aid commitments, submitting them to the European Commission during 2010. An annual review of aid targets should take place at Council level with a discussion of its results in the European Parliament.

Under the banner of the 2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, the European Commission has launched a competition for journalists reporting on issues related to the chosen themes for this year.

The European Year Journalist Award is open to print, online and audiovisual journalists and prizes will be awarded at national level (€800) and at European level (€4,500, €3,000, and €2,000) for the most original and newsworthy reports. The winners of the Europe-wide competition will be announced at a ceremony to be held in Brussels on December 17.

László Andor, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion said: “To tackle poverty, we need to give a voice to those who are excluded and we need to understand the causes of poverty. At the same time, we must propose practical solutions that work.”

The competition is open and journalists can submit entries online via the 2010 European Year website until August 31. Articles and audiovisual reports published or aired by a media outlet within the 27 member states, Iceland or Norway between last October 1 and August 31 are eligible.

The journalist competition is one of the main EU-level activities during the European Year and aims to help raise public awareness of the issues surrounding poverty and social exclusion.

Other events in the year include a Europe-wide art contest, major conferences on specific issues such as child poverty and homelessness and a series of events planned around the International Day Against Poverty in October.

For more details of the journalist competition, go to www.2010against poverty.eu and/or www.2010againstpoverty.eu/journalistaward.

Migrants sent €32 bn to their former country of residence in 2008, according to an EU report, published today.

In a report on workers’ remittances in the EU 27, Eurostat said the increase in workers’ remittances over recent years was mainly due to a sharp rise in extra-EU27 flows (from 11.5 bn in 2004 to 22.5 bn in 2008), while intra-EU27 flows rose less rapidly (from 7.9 bn to 9.3 bn). Consequently, the share of extra-EU27 remittances in the total has risen from 59% in 2004 to 71% in 2008.

In 2008, two thirds of the total outflow of workers’ remittances from the EU27 came from Spain (7.8 bn euro or 25% of total EU27 remittances), Italy (6.4 bn or 20%), France (3.4 bn or 11%) and Germany (3.1 bn or 10%).

No figures for Malta were given.

* The EU27 aggregate includes confidential data and estimates for missing Member States
For the full table on contributions from member states please visit – http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100211/local/migrants-sent-32-bn-to-their-former-country-of-residence-in-2008

Stop Poverty Now campaign starts
Ivan Camilleri, Brussels

Malta will be joining the rest of the EU in marking the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, which was officially launched in Madrid yesterday.

The island will be holding a number of events throughout the year including competitions for journalists and artists, a national awareness campaign, the publication of a book on experiences of poor Maltese people and activities commemorating international days related to the theme.

Malta prepared a programme of events and the EU decided to contribute 50 per cent of the costs, a spokesman for the Commission said.

Eurostat statistics published earlier this week showed that 15 per cent of Malta’s population is considered to be on the poverty line, living in households which do not earn more than €7,800 annually. The problem in the EU is even more severe, as the average of those at-risk-of-poverty reached 17 per cent in 2008.

With the slogan Stop Poverty Now!, the campaign aims to put the fight against poverty – which directly affects one in six Europeans – centre stage across the EU during 2010.

“Combating poverty and social exclusion is an integral part of getting out of the crisis. It is too often the vulnerable in society who end up being hardest hit by the impacts of a recession,” Commission president José Manuel Barroso said at the launch.

“That is why the European Year 2010 should act as a catalyst to raise awareness and build momentum for a more inclusive society which is part and parcel of the EU’s future 2020 strategy that I have proposed.”

Almost 80 million Europeans currently live below the poverty threshold.

According to a recent Eurobarometer survey on attitudes to poverty, the vast majority of Europeans (73 per cent) consider poverty to be a widespread problem in their country, with 89 per cent calling for urgent action by their government to tackle the problem. Most also expect the EU to play an important role.

The 2010 European Year aims to raise greater awareness of the causes and consequences of poverty in Europe, both among key players such as governments and social partners, and among the public at large.