Some charities stick to funding aid projects. At Christian Aid we do things differently.
We believe that if we don’t tackle the causes of poverty, we will forever be dealing with its symptoms – hunger, disease, unemployment, inequality, environmental destruction, lack of education and opportunity. And a procession of celebrities in khaki shorts pleading for your donations.
It tackles the causes, not just the symptoms
It works
Throughout history, people have come together to stand up to injustice, faced massive resistance and apparently insurmountable odds – and won.
This year sees the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. The non-violent protests pioneered by Mahatma Gandhi helped India gain its independence. The US civil rights movement, led by Rev Martin Luther King, successfully challenged the discrimination endured by black Americans in the 1960s.
‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.’ Martin Luther King
Campaigning works. These are some successes of our own.
Jubilee 2000 Global debt-cancellation alliance, co-founded by Christian Aid. Won cancellation of $100 million of debts owed by the poorest nations.
Fairtrade Foundation Also co-founded by Christian Aid. Successful campaign of letter-writing, leafleting and picketing persuaded UK supermarkets to stock fairly traded goods.
Trade Justice Movement Ongoing. Victories so far include UK government promising to cease attaching unfair conditions to loan and aid packages, and withholding £50 million of funding to the World Bank. More on Christian Aid's trade campaign.
Many voices are better than one
We are successful because we never work alone. We campaign in coalition with other development agencies and non-governmental organisations, not only in the UK and Ireland, but all around the world.
But most crucially of all, we do it with the backing of thousands and thousands of our supporters – all people who share our goals. Together we can make ourselves heard by those with the power to change things: the politicians, the chief executives, the decision-makers.
And they listen
Not only when it’s their mum’s signature on the postcard, either. ***
Think about it: we’re all voters. And when masses of people mobilise around a particular cause, it speaks to politicians – especially to their desire to get re-elected next time.
It’s the same thing in the world of business. If the customers – who are always right, remember – aren’t happy, it is in a company’s interests do something about it.
It’s not all about chaining yourself to railings and singing We Shall Not Be Moved.
Supporting a campaign need only take a minute of your time – just as long as it takes to sign a petition, send a postcard or click a mouse.
We are always trying to make it easier (and fun) for people who feel passionately about righting wrongs to get involved. After all – there’s no campaign without campaigners.
Ask questions – change the world
At Christian Aid, we believe that we have a moral imperative to act on the behalf of people who cannot. And nothing changes by itself. Mahatma Gandhi once said people have to be the change they want to see in the world. We couldn’t put it better ourselves.
*** In 1999, among the 300,000 Christian Aid campaign postcards calling for the cancellation of developing world debt received by the then chancellor, Gordon Brown, was one signed by his mother. She told him not to waste any money on a stamp replying to her, and to put that towards debt relief as well.