Stand Up Against Poverty. Stand Up for the MDGs

STAND UP is a mobilisation initiative designed to coincide with global mobilisations around the International Day of Poverty Eradication and the White Band Day of the Global Call to Action against Poverty on October 17. It relies fully on citizen participation in that it mobilises all individuals, everywhere, to take part in local, communal/group events around the world through which they use their bodies (rather than their voices) as concrete symbols of MDG advocacy. To ensure the inclusion of those not physically able to stand up, a symbolic act of raising a hand, wearing a white band (the symbol of the global fight against poverty), or holding up a banner with the "Stand Up Against Poverty" message are also counted.

As organisers explain, STAND UP "moments" can be inserted into many different types of events that are already taking place during the 24-hour advocacy period each October. For example, on Sunday the 15th (in 2006), faith leaders were encouraged to lead their congregations in a STAND UP moment during church services; a STAND UP moment could be integrated into half-time at football and other sports events; schools and universities could engage students (or corporations could engage employees) in a STAND UP moment on Monday morning the 16th, and so on. As part of the 2006 experience, there were specific requirements for such "moments" to be counted toward the Guinness World Record; for instance, an announcer asked everyone gathered to come together and sit/kneel down, gave a brief explanation of the STAND UP initiative, and then asked the gathered crowd to count down from 10...then at 0 everyone stood up together for one minute. During this minute each year, the announcer reads a STAND UP pledge, which may be tailored to include messages relevant to individual organisations holding these events. (Those organising the event are asked to count or estimate as accurately as possible the number of people taking part in the STAND UP initiative, and efforts had to be logged/registered online or via fax).

Instructions are also provided online each year to those wishing to organise their own STAND UP event. An event toolkit includes information, tips, and various STAND UP materials. These materials can be adapted and used to produce posters, banners, tee-shirts, fliers, placards, etc. Each year, already-existing/planned events are outlined on a dedicated page on the STAND UP website; various blogs are designed to foster interaction between those planning events.

In 2009, for the October 16-18 experience, organisers took advantage of the power and reach of digital technology to make mobilisation and engagement possible online. The UN Millennium Campaign partnered with Skype and Ustream, a live online video platform that enables anyone to broadcast to a global audience of unlimited size. On October 12-15, in the lead-up to the mobilisation, former Irish President Mary Robinson and African entertainers Femi Kuti and Angelique Kidjo were amongst a group of high-profile decision makers and cultural celebrities slated to participate in a 30-minute conversation with ordinary citizens around the world to discuss poverty and its root causes. Technology provided by Ustream enabled the Skype calls to be broadcast live on Facebook. Viewers were encouraged to start their own conversations about poverty and its root causes, watching and participating in the conversations live here (to download and broadcast the clips after the conversations have occurred, click here.) In 2009, citizens were also encouraged to visit the STAND UP website beginning on October 16 to Stand Up virtually and be counted towards what organisers hoped would be a new Guinness World Record.

Also detailed on this website are various ideas for advocacy that go beyond the in-person events planned as part of STAND UP. Those who click here may access ideas for sending letters to one's government, organising teach-ins, distributing books or other educational materials, donating blood, planting trees, or finding any number of other ways to contribute towards ending poverty and inequality.

Poverty.

The final results of the successful 2006 Guinness World Record attempt are available on the STAND UP website and various partner websites. In short, 23,542,614 people participated in 11,646 events around the globe. For example: in Jaipur, India 30,000 cricket fans stood up at the start of the India vs England match; hundreds of thousands stood together for one minute at an anti-poverty music concert in Mbare slums in Harare, Zimbabwe; schoolchildren across Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza, and Westbank stood up together to highlight the injustice that not all children can afford to go to school; in Bangladesh, over half a million young people stood united in gigantic white human chains across 64 districts of the country; and in the United States, United Nations Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown, Queen Noor of Jordan, and HH Swami Ramdev stood up with thousands in Times Square, New York. In the words of Kumi Naidoo, spokesperson for the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP): "Ordinary people around the world have stood up to express their passion to end poverty. Together, we have sent a clear message to our political leaders that we are going to keep pushing them to deliver on aid, on debt cancellation, on trade justice and to provide good and accountable governments. The people's voices are growing louder. We will not rest until poverty is ended."

In the 2007 event, over 43.7 million people in 127 countries broke the Guinness World Record set in 2006. In 2008, more than 116 million "stood up" - "breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest mobilization around a single-cause event in recorded history."

Launched in October 2002, Millennium Campaign is an initiative of the UN working to inform, inspire, and encourage people's involvement in and action for the realisation of the MDGs.