Program Partnerships

Community Call to Action

Introduction

In November 2009, LGMA entered into a funding agreement with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) to embrace the Community Call to Action project and help eradicate world poverty through the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
 
Background

Over 25,000 children die from extreme poverty every day[i], many from preventable and curable diseases.   In 2000, 191 United Nations member countries including Australia committed to eight targets to halve poverty by 2015. The Millennium Development Goals which includes halving extreme poverty, getting all children into school, closing the gap on gender inequality, saving lives lost to disease and the lack of available health care, and protecting the environment, formally globalises the individual efforts of the world’s nations to significantly improve and increase the lives of the world’s poorest people. 
 

 Our contribution

Baby Aruligo | Improving women and children's health, Solomon Islands. Photo by Lorrie Graham | AusAID photo library

In recent years, LGMA has taken on a significant role in advancing the development of the Australian local government sector and has been a driving force behind numerous projects and initiatives that promote collective engagement.
 
In supporting the Community Call to Action, LGMA has committed to a number of initiatives designed to engage the local government sector in the promotion of the MDG targets, including: 

• Promoting the sector’s participation in World Vision Australia’s 40-hour famine;
• Hosting a Make Poverty History Charity dinner at the 2010 LGMA national congress & business expo in Adelaide in May;
• Engaging World Vision Australia’s Chief Executive, Tim Costello as a 2010 congress keynote speaker Including articles in each edition of LGM, LGMA’s bi-monthly magazine to raise awareness and showcase examples of leading practice by Australian councils in helping to reach MDG targets.
• Establishing a dedicated page on the LGMA website; and
• Sponsoring LGMA national staff members who wish to support an anti-poverty initiative.

In addition, LGMA aim to encourage all councils and shires to adopt the ethos of the Community Call to Action and organisations such as World Vision Australia and Make Poverty History, and support their staff and communities’ engagement in activities that achieve the MDG targets. 

For more information about LGMA's involvement with the Community Call to Action program and/or contribution to the Millennium Development Goals contact Helen Diggerson on +61 3 9682 9222 or at [email protected].

 

Children stand in front of an outdoor toilet in Wanggar Pantai village, Papua, Indonesia. Australia is funding a $3.7 million project to improve health, disaster management and clean water and sanitation in the area following a devastating earthquake in 2004. Photo by: Dian Lestariningsih | AusAID photo library	Australia supports the Government of East Timor in its efforts to reduce extreme poverty and hunger in East Timor, where poverty estimates indicate that 49.9 per cent of the population live on less than US$1 a day. Photo by J. Vas | AusAID photo library

For more information about AusAID projects and funding

Please visit http://www.ausaid.gov.au/

[i] www.makepovertyhistory.com.au