Charities split over drive to 'make poverty history' again

from The Guradian

Aid agencies worried by Brown's desire to resurrect 2005 celebrity campaign

Nick Mathiason

The Observer

In 2005, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and the world's biggest aid agencies joined forces in a co-ordinated push to place the eradication of African poverty at the heart of the international agenda.

The result was Make Poverty History. This uneasy alliance of celebrities, campaigners, and Labour politicians, who at the same time were fighting an election, mobilised hundreds of thousands of Briitsh people who wore white rubber wrist bands and demanded action to help poor countries. Make Poverty History successfully ensured world leaders made commitments to increase aid and write off debt but was dismissed by some as a well-intentioned PR exercise that failed to deliver on over-hyped promises.


Now, two years later, Gordon Brown is attempting to create Make Poverty History II. A series of initiatives over the next year will focus on health and education in Africa and attempt to corral world leaders into meeting millennium development goals on poverty alleviation.

The Observer has learnt that one of Brown's most trusted aides, Shriti Vadera, who is now Minister for International Development, has held key meetings with representatives from Oxfam, Save the Children and Data, the campaign group founded by Bono. The meetings focused on mapping out a strategy to create an annual focus for fighting poverty which, like the original effort, would rely on campaign groups to mobilise activists to support Brown's initiatives on the world stage.

Since the summer, Oxfam and Save the Children have worked on policy papers to resurrect the coalition. But some of the biggest aid agencies have privately confessed to strong reservations about toeing the government line. There is a sense that the move risks creating a schism in the development community. Action Aid and Christian Aid are thought to be most keen to keep their distance from the government, while Oxfam and Save the Children are keener on fostering ties. In the middle, acting as a mediator, is Catholic aid agency Cafod.

Most aid agencies are now aware of the limitations of using celebrities like Bono, Bob Geldof and Chris Martin of Coldplay to drum up support. Next year a publicity drive will focus instead on showing the public that increased aid has brought substantial improvements to millions of people.

But campaign group Data makes no apologies about its close links to the UK and US governments because it believes it is the politicians who ultimately decide how much money is injected into fighting poverty.

However, other well-placed campaigners are increasingly concerned over the close relationships between Oxfam and Data in particular. Senior officials from those groups have been invited into key positions within the Labour Party. They include Justin Forsyth, a former high-ranking Oxfam official who is now Number 10's special adviser on development, and Kirsty McNeil, a former Data employee, who has contested a parliamentary seat as a Labour candidate.

One senior campaigner said: 'While it's great that Number 10 wants to push poverty up the political agenda, we don't want to be tied into a compromising position where we can't ask the tough questions of our government.'

A Department for International Development spokesman said: 'Of course ministers and officials, in DfID and other government departments, have regular discussions with NGOs about what needs to be done to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The government is committed to doing all it can in order to keep the promises it made at the Gleneagles summit in 2005 to reduce global poverty.'

A meeting on Friday between the big five agencies broke up with no agreement. One who attended said: 'The meeting was inconclusive but we all recognise the importance of sticking together. We will do our utmost to maintain a common front.'

Campaign groups are pleased that Brown is passionate about poverty eradication. But they are wary of being manipulated in what could be an election year. Others are keen to bring issues such as tax justice into the development debate but the government has shown little signs of acknowledging these.