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Take Action! Ask Your Community to Stand Up Against Poverty on Oct. 17 by Joining RESULTS

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The campaign to make poverty history — a central moral challenge of our age — cannot remain a task for the few, it must become a calling for the many. On this International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, I urge everyone to join this struggle. Together, we can make real and sufficient progress towards the end of poverty.

— former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan

On October 17, 2008, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, over 116 million people around the world participated in the Millennium Campaign’s Stand Up, Take Action (SUTA) events and broke a world record for the most people standing up together at one time! This movement sent a powerful message to decision makers around the world that their constituents are committed to eradicating poverty and expect the same from their leaders. This October 17, you can ask your friends, family, and neighbors to Stand Up, Take Action against poverty by joining your local RESULTS chapter. RESULTS is making this a national effort and the grassroots and D.C. staff will be supporting you to plan and execute an outreach event in your community on Stand Up day. The goal is to help garner new advocates interested in joining your RESULTS group and take real, strategic action to fight against global poverty. With more voices in each community you can deepen community involvement, broaden media coverage of issues of poverty, and provide even greater support to decision makers as you move them to become champions for the end of poverty. Make a call to invite someone to join you in Standing Up Against Poverty on October 17!

Sample Conversation with a Member of Your Community

Engage

Hi __________, it’s great to talk to you! *I know you’ve been interested in girls’ education in Zimbabwe for a while through the mission work that your church does. Did you know that October 17 is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty?

*Knowing something about the person you’re calling and connecting to their interests is helpful.

Problem

 I’m part of a grassroots advocacy group called RESULTS. We’re planning an event for October 17 with RESULTS to grow the number of local voices working to end poverty. We’ll also join the millions around the world who will be standing up against poverty that day.

Inform about the solution

 I personally got involved in RESULTS because I wanted to make a difference in the lives of people living in poverty. We’re an organization of hundreds of activists all over the country who work on ending global poverty. We do this by learning to speak powerfully about hunger and poverty and by creating relationships with members of Congress and the media. I continue to volunteer with RESULTS because I know that by talking to our members of Congress and getting them to take action on issues like education or microcredit or global health, I let them know that their constituents are committed to ending poverty in the world. RESULTS provides proven solutions that Congress can support. As a RESULTS volunteer, I play an important role in getting Congress to stand up against poverty throughout the year, and I truly believe that I have saved lives.

Call to action!

 October 17 will be an opportunity for you to hear more about how RESULTS works to end poverty. Would you come to our event at ________ (name time and place) and join us in standing up and taking action against global poverty?

How Does RESULTS Make an Impact in Alleviating Poverty?

RESULTS builds support for proven poverty-fighting strategies by educating the public, decision makers, and the media through a network of savvy grassroots volunteers in over 100 communities. With the support of a staff based in Washington, D.C. and around the country, RESULTS activists engage in community debate by meeting directly with their members of Congress, building coalitions, and generating media. RESULTS focuses on training volunteers to be effective advocates that can provide members of Congress vital information about legislative action and often inspire them about how they can take leadership in ending poverty. Each RESULTS chapter does its part in coordinated efforts to bring forward policies that empower the world’s poorest people. Activists take action monthly, or more often if needed, on issues like getting children into school, increasing access to AIDS and tuberculosis treatment and prevention programs, and empowering women to be their own ladders out of poverty with financial services, called microfinance. RESULTS focuses on proven, cost-effective solutions to ending poverty. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof writes, “In general, aid appears to work best when it is focused on health, education and microfinance.”

Why Do You Volunteer? Tell Your RESULTS Story!

It’s important to share with people about why you personally are a part of RESULTS. How did you get involved with RESULTS? What inspires you to be an activist? What motivates you to stay involved? Here are three sample stories from current volunteers about how they would share about their RESULTS experience:

I became an economist because I wanted to understand and work to end the horrible disparities I saw in my travels overseas, but I became a college professor in Kentucky instead of an aid program administrator abroad. Somehow, I never realized that even if I was not working overseas, I could still contribute something vital, outside of the classroom, besides donations. [RESULTS] made it clear that small concrete steps I could take would improve the daily lives of strangers, and had already done so. To think that I, Joan Combs Durso, could have been doing this important work all along, so simply and effectively, and had not even known I could, made me ill. I signed a Partner form that day and RESULTS has been a part of my life ever since. Within months, I had two face-to-face meetings with my Congressman. My RESULTS work has enriched my students’ classroom experiences and has made my international economics courses much less about theory and more about the real world. Wherever I go in life, I will join a RESULTS chapter or start one if it does not already exist.

— Joan Combs Durso, Ph.D., Louisville RESULTS Group

They say our generation can tip the scales politically, but we don’t really know how. RESULTS training was great because it broke it all down into easy steps. We learned we can do such simple things, like writing letters and calling editors and member of Congress. It helps you realize that literally anyone can do this.

— Bethany Weller, Minnesota State University RESULTS Group

I remember the fall of 2003 as an appalling time. I was convinced that the Iraq War was not a solution to the 9/11 attacks. As the number of innocent civilians, wounded and killed, climbed, I felt hopeless and helpless. A friend invited me to a RESULTS Education and Action meeting. There I learned about TB, the number one killer of adult women in the world. A small group of us then wrote letters to our legislators in Washington, requesting that they support a TB bill in the foreign aid budget. Two hours later I walked to my car feeling smarter, more useful, and more hopeful. Now I write letters to the editor, call and meet with my legislators and their aides, and continue to educate myself on effective ways to address the issues of poverty. I’ve no doubts that these efforts are creating a better world.

— Susan Smarr, Denver RESULTS Group

Introducing RESULTS Campaigns

Empowering Citizens

RESULTS is reviving democracy to create health, hope, and opportunity for all. In 2008, our volunteer activists in over 100 communities around the U.S.:

  • Held over 300 meetings with congressional offices, including 95 face-to-face meetings with U.S. representatives and 21 face-to-face meetings with U.S. senators;
  • Hosted over 330 educational community outreach events nationwide; and
  • Generated over 200 strategic media placements, including editorials, op-eds, articles, and TV spots.

Education for All

Education for All (EFA) is a global commitment launched in 1990, but which has roots in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to provide quality basic education for all children. RESULTS has played a leading role in eliminating primary school fees, which are a major barrier to education for poor families. While tremendous progress has been made, 75 million children are still not in school. Working with world leaders, advocacy organizations, think tanks and teachers, RESULTS is at the center of a global effort to create a Global Fund for Education to catalyze new momentum toward getting every child in school. This new architecture for global education aid is the key to delivering on the world’s promise of Education for All.

Global Health

When RESULTS began advocating for global tuberculosis (TB) funding over a decade ago, the U.S. was providing less than $1 million per year to fight this scourge. Next year the U.S. is expected to spend over $200 million to fight TB, and contribute over $1 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. RESULTS has been instrumental in creating the political will to fight these diseases of poverty. Our challenge now is to redouble these efforts, close the funding gap facing the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, and continue to work toward universal access to life-saving medicines.

Economic Opportunity

Working alongside Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammed Yunus, RESULTS has led efforts to build political support for microfinance. Today, over 106 million of the world’s poorest people hold microloans to start or expand a small business. RESULTS is working with Congressional allies to pressure the largest development bank — the World Bank — to do its part to expand access to financial services. As a result of this advocacy, the World Bank is exploring the creation of a $200 million fund for the very poor. Our continued work will ensure this concept is realized.


http://www.results.org/issues/global_poverty_campaigns/2009_global_campaigns_summary/