From a netfriend:

In the light of the focus on ending poverty I just wanted to draw the list’s attention to the Micah Challenge and the Millenium Development Goals.

Micah Challenge is a global ecumenical campaign to support government commitment to the Millennium Development Goals.

The call from the Micah Challenge is this…

This is a moment in history of unique potential, when the stated intentions of world leaders echo something of the mind of the Biblical prophets and the teachings of Jesus concerning the poor, and when we have the means to dramatically reduce poverty.

We commit ourselves, as followers of Jesus, to work together for the holistic transformation of our communities, to pursue justice, be passionate about kindness and to walk humbly with God.

We call on international and national decision-makers of both rich and poor nations, to fulfil their public promise to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and so halve absolute global poverty by 2015.

We call on Christians everywhere to be agents of hope for and with the poor, and to work with others to hold our national and global leaders accountable in securing a more just and merciful world.

Their website is http://www.micahchallenge.org.au.

Australia, together with all 191 member states of the United Nations, pledged to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women by fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. (UnitingJustice and Uniting International Mission have already been lobbying the Federal Government on a number of issues with reference to the Millennium Development Goals. Unfortunately, little action has been taken by Government to meet our obligations.) One of our Election 2004 Issues Papers contains information about the MDGs. The web address for this is: http://nat.uca.org.au/unitingjustice/resources/election2004/enablingdevelopment.doc