Micah Challenge Australia Blog

 

The Micah Challenge blog is a space for discussion and debate about the issues of global poverty, faith, advocacy and justice and the Millennium Development Goals. This blog aims to provoke thought and challenge you to learn more about the issues discussed. We welcome your comments.

Micah Challenge is a global campaign of Christians speaking out against poverty and injustice. Click here to visit the Micah Challenge website.

  • Why The 0.5% Commitment Matters

    Posted by Ben

    19 April, 2012

    "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21). As many have noted, budgets are moral documents. To be sure they are political documents, and represent the outcome of a drawn-out, and sometimes bitter, process of contest and compromise. But they also reflect deep-rooted convictions and beliefs about what is necessary, what is good, what is worthy of investment. The budget is the Government's commitment of our shared resources to projects aimed at supporting the common good. In 2007, from Opposition, the Australian Labor Party made a historic commitment to increase Official Development Assistance (ODA) to 0.5% of Gross National Income (GNI) by 2015–16. This commitment was affirmed when Labor took office in 2007, and reaffirmed in 2010. It has become Coalition policy as well – so it is a bipartisan commitment. By the way, this bipartisan commitment amounts to investing just 50 cents of every $100 of national income in aid to the poor. Looked at that way, it's certainly not an overly generous... read more

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  • On the to-do list and bookshelf of our new Foreign Minister

    Posted by Ben

    28 March, 2012

    It no longer really counts as news that Australia's Foreign Minister is former NSW Premier, Senator Bob Carr. But it's worth reflecting for a moment on what we are hoping and praying for from our new Foreign Minister. Aid is only one part of the Foreign Minister's portfolio, but it's a significant and growing part of the Federal budget, and it is probably the policy area in which the Australian Government has the most direct contribution to make in the global effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and end extreme poverty. The Australian aid program has been expanding in recent years and, by and large, has been becoming more transparent and increasingly focused on measuring its effectiveness. Senator Carr, in a recent radio interview, said that our aid program is "something that we can all be proud of". I couldn't agree more. On that basis, I think that our new Foreign Minister should build on the bipartisan commitment to lift aid spending to 0.5% of Gross National Income by 2015, and pursue lifting aid to... read more

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  • The beauty of repentant prayer

    Posted by Rebekah

    20 February, 2012

    “I used to spend a lot of energy asking God questions. Why must poverty persist in a rich country like the USA? Why does one continent, Africa, absorb like a sponge so many of the world’s disasters? When will ‘peace on earth’ ever arrive? Ultimately, I came to see these questions as God’s interrogations of us. Jesus made clear God’s will for the planet – what part am I playing to help fulfil that will?” – Philip Yancey, ‘Prayer - Does it Make Any Difference?' I often catch myself thinking about poverty as something outside of myself; something disconnected from the real world in which I live, day to day. It is hard to fathom that while I sit at my kitchen table each morning eating my muesli and yoghurt, starvation is a reality for a large majority of our fellow humanity. It’s so easy to maintain this disconnection and not stop to consider that I may somehow, in some way, actually be responsible for the poverty in our world. Poverty is often real enough to us that we can rant about the... read more

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  • Why we 'like' the aid advisors review.

    Posted by Ben

    31 January, 2012

    AusAID's recently completed Aid Advisor Review just barely made a dent in a media landscape dominated by cricketing comebacks, tennis marathons, lost Prime Ministerial shoes and the like, but it's a small, good thing, and another step in the right direction for Australia's aid program. Advisors can be tremendous for building capacity, transferring skills and knowledge, and filling critical human resource gaps in developing countries. However, as previously discussed on this blog, they can be pricey and it's not always the most cost-effective way, or the most strategic way to build national ownership for development priorities and deliver results that help the poor. Continuing to reduce our reliance on advisors and contractors to deliver our aid program is a good way to manage a growing aid budget well and build on trends towards greater partner country ownership of agreed development priorities. Australia still has more to do in meeting our commitment to lifting aid to 0.5% of national income by 2015 (let alone setting a timetable to meet... read more

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