Live Below the Line
Encyclopedia
Live Below the Line is an awareness
and fundraising
campaign that challenges people in developed countries to feed themselves with the equivalent of the extreme poverty
line, to raise awareness of the challenges faced by those trapped in the cycle of extreme poverty.
In 2011 the campaign is being run in Australia
, America
and the United Kingdom
, where people are invited to help raise awareness of the issue of extreme poverty, and raise funds for anti-poverty projects.
The campaign was born in Melbourne
, Australia in 2010, and challenged Australians to feed themselves with $2 a day for five days, to raise funds for crucial anti-poverty projects. In just its first year the campaign involved over 2,000 Australians and raised over half a million dollars. In 2011 the campaign has grown internationally, with the challenge taking place in Australia, the United Kingdom and United States in 2011.
The campaign is now one of the fastest growing anti-poverty campaigns in the world, and is expected to raise over a million dollars for anti-poverty initiatives in 2011.
defined the Extreme Poverty Line as $1.25 US a day - that is, someone would be considered to live in extreme poverty if they lived on an amount equivalent to somebody living in the United States, buying United States goods with US$1.25 a day. In 2011 (taking into account inflation
and purchasing power
), the equivalent amounts for the United States, Australia and United Kingdom are US$1.50, AUD$2 and £1 respectively.
The figure is determined by translating the 2005 figure into a local currency
figure (using purchasing power parity
) and then accounting for inflation since the 2005 date. A more detailed explanation of how the Australian figure was arrived at is available on the Global Poverty Project
's site here.
by two friends - Rich Fleming and Nick Allardice - over a few drinks one evening in late 2009. Both were passionate about fighting poverty
, and had already been doing so for a number of years - but together they were worried at our ability to really understand at an emotional level the realities of extreme poverty.
One was from the Global Poverty Project, one from the Oaktree Foundation - and together they plotted the creation of a campaign that could simultaneously help tens of thousands of Australians begin to understand and connect with the issue of extreme poverty whilst also providing a platform for creating incredible change for the worlds' poor.
Seeing an incredible opportunity to engage huge numbers of people with the realities of extreme poverty whilst also achieving really substantial and significant outcomes in anti-poverty initiatives, they came together to create Live Below the Line.
Live Below the Line was officially born in June 2010, with the first campaign running from August 2 - 6. In its first year alone all expectations were exceeded, with over 2000 people participating, raising over $520,000.
The Global Poverty Project is an international education
and advocacy
organization working to catalyse the movement to end extreme poverty. We exist to increase the number and effectiveness of people taking action to end extreme poverty, to ensure that the world eliminates extreme poverty within a generation.
Using the world-class multimedia
presentation 1.4 Billion Reasons we're raising awareness of our ability to end extreme poverty and demonstrate how every person can contribute to the end of extreme poverty.
We're inspiring and empowering everyday people in workplaces, schools, universities, churches and communities around the country to become leaders in the global movement to end extreme poverty.
Oaktree Foundation
The Oaktree Foundation is one of Australia’s fastest growing and most dynamic international aid and development organisations. Entirely run by young volunteers under the age of 26, Oaktree has 61,000 members around Australia and has lead some of Australia’s biggest poverty campaigns – including the 2006 MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Concert
in Melbourne, and the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Roadtrip campaigns in 2007 and 2010 which succeeded in securing a bipartisan commitment to increasing foreign aid by $4.3 billion.
Oaktree sees education as the key to enabling the worlds’ poorest individuals and communities to lift themselves out of poverty. As a result Oaktree works across the Asia Pacific region – in places like East Timor
, Cambodia
and Papua New Guinea
– to build schools, train teachers, provide scholarships so impoverished children can attend school and much more.
The Oaktree Foundation is investing over $400,000 into its international development work in Papua New Guinea and Cambodia. In particular this means:
This means that thousands of young people are getting access to an education for the first time - providing them with a means to lift themselves out of poverty.
The Global Poverty Project are using funds raised to empower a new generation of anti-poverty advocates within Australia:
The Global Poverty Project's education work will empower tens of thousands of Australian students, building the social movement
required to see an end to extreme poverty within a generation, and supporting the change required to alter the systems that perpetuate extreme poverty.
Awareness
Awareness is the state or ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects or sensory patterns. In this level of consciousness, sense data can be confirmed by an observer without necessarily implying understanding. More broadly, it is the state or quality of being aware of...
and fundraising
Fundraising
Fundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...
campaign that challenges people in developed countries to feed themselves with the equivalent of the extreme poverty
Extreme poverty
Extreme poverty, as defined in 1996 by Joseph Wresinski, the founder of ATD Fourth World, is:"The lack of basic security connotes the absence of one or more factors enabling individuals and families to assume basic responsibilities and to enjoy fundamental rights. The situation may become...
line, to raise awareness of the challenges faced by those trapped in the cycle of extreme poverty.
In 2011 the campaign is being run in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, where people are invited to help raise awareness of the issue of extreme poverty, and raise funds for anti-poverty projects.
The campaign was born in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia in 2010, and challenged Australians to feed themselves with $2 a day for five days, to raise funds for crucial anti-poverty projects. In just its first year the campaign involved over 2,000 Australians and raised over half a million dollars. In 2011 the campaign has grown internationally, with the challenge taking place in Australia, the United Kingdom and United States in 2011.
The campaign is now one of the fastest growing anti-poverty campaigns in the world, and is expected to raise over a million dollars for anti-poverty initiatives in 2011.
How the line is calculated
In 2005 the World BankWorld Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
defined the Extreme Poverty Line as $1.25 US a day - that is, someone would be considered to live in extreme poverty if they lived on an amount equivalent to somebody living in the United States, buying United States goods with US$1.25 a day. In 2011 (taking into account inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
and purchasing power
Purchasing power
Purchasing power is the number of goods/services that can be purchased with a unit of currency. For example, if you had taken one dollar to a store in the 1950s, you would have been able to buy a greater number of items than you would today, indicating that you would have had a greater purchasing...
), the equivalent amounts for the United States, Australia and United Kingdom are US$1.50, AUD$2 and £1 respectively.
The figure is determined by translating the 2005 figure into a local currency
Local currency
In economics, a local currency, in its common usage, is a currency not backed by a national government , and intended to trade only in a small area. As a tool of fiscal localism, local moneys can raise awareness of the state of the local economy, especially among those who may be unfamiliar or...
figure (using purchasing power parity
Purchasing power parity
In economics, purchasing power parity is a condition between countries where an amount of money has the same purchasing power in different countries. The prices of the goods between the countries would only reflect the exchange rates...
) and then accounting for inflation since the 2005 date. A more detailed explanation of how the Australian figure was arrived at is available on the Global Poverty Project
Global Poverty Project
The Global Poverty Project is a community education group founded by Hugh Evans and Simon Moss that aims to increase awareness of, and action towards fighting extreme poverty through a presentation entitled 1.4 Billion Reasons, patterned after Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, delivered around the...
's site here.
History
The concept of Live Below the Line was born in the back yard of a Melbourne share houseShare housing
A share house is a model of household in which a group of usually unrelated people reside together. The term generally applies to people living together in rental properties rather than in properties in which any resident is an owner occupier.-Demographics:...
by two friends - Rich Fleming and Nick Allardice - over a few drinks one evening in late 2009. Both were passionate about fighting poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, and had already been doing so for a number of years - but together they were worried at our ability to really understand at an emotional level the realities of extreme poverty.
One was from the Global Poverty Project, one from the Oaktree Foundation - and together they plotted the creation of a campaign that could simultaneously help tens of thousands of Australians begin to understand and connect with the issue of extreme poverty whilst also providing a platform for creating incredible change for the worlds' poor.
Seeing an incredible opportunity to engage huge numbers of people with the realities of extreme poverty whilst also achieving really substantial and significant outcomes in anti-poverty initiatives, they came together to create Live Below the Line.
Live Below the Line was officially born in June 2010, with the first campaign running from August 2 - 6. In its first year alone all expectations were exceeded, with over 2000 people participating, raising over $520,000.
Organisations behind the campaign
Global Poverty ProjectThe Global Poverty Project is an international education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and advocacy
Advocacy
Advocacy is a political process by an individual or a large group which normally aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an...
organization working to catalyse the movement to end extreme poverty. We exist to increase the number and effectiveness of people taking action to end extreme poverty, to ensure that the world eliminates extreme poverty within a generation.
Using the world-class multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
presentation 1.4 Billion Reasons we're raising awareness of our ability to end extreme poverty and demonstrate how every person can contribute to the end of extreme poverty.
We're inspiring and empowering everyday people in workplaces, schools, universities, churches and communities around the country to become leaders in the global movement to end extreme poverty.
Oaktree Foundation
The Oaktree Foundation is one of Australia’s fastest growing and most dynamic international aid and development organisations. Entirely run by young volunteers under the age of 26, Oaktree has 61,000 members around Australia and has lead some of Australia’s biggest poverty campaigns – including the 2006 MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Concert
Make Poverty History Concert
The Make Poverty History Concert was held on the night of November 17, 2006 produced by Dan Adams, Hugh Evans and John Connor at Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, Australia. The concert was timed to coincide with the G20 Summit which was being hosted by then-Australian Treasurer, Peter Costello...
in Melbourne, and the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Roadtrip campaigns in 2007 and 2010 which succeeded in securing a bipartisan commitment to increasing foreign aid by $4.3 billion.
Oaktree sees education as the key to enabling the worlds’ poorest individuals and communities to lift themselves out of poverty. As a result Oaktree works across the Asia Pacific region – in places like East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
, Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
– to build schools, train teachers, provide scholarships so impoverished children can attend school and much more.
Impact
Funds raised in the first Live Below the Line campaign are being used to fight poverty through education initiatives in the developing world and education and advocacy projects in Australia.The Oaktree Foundation is investing over $400,000 into its international development work in Papua New Guinea and Cambodia. In particular this means:
- Opening a primary school in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea, by providing scholarships for 8 locals to be trained as teachers at a nearby universityUniversityA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
and then return to teach. - Building and refurbishing three secondary schoolSecondary schoolSecondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
s in the poorest provinces of Cambodia. - Ongoing and systematic teacher training for teachers in each new Cambodian school.
- Hundreds of scholarshipScholarshipA scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
s each year to each school, allowing the poorest and most disadvantaged students to gain an education for the first time. - Piloting a new model of public-private partnershipPublic-private partnershipPublic–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...
to run the schools to an extremely high standard, and providing a model for other schools in Cambodia to emulate.
This means that thousands of young people are getting access to an education for the first time - providing them with a means to lift themselves out of poverty.
The Global Poverty Project are using funds raised to empower a new generation of anti-poverty advocates within Australia:
- Training 25 inspiring role modelRole modelThe term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".The term first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students...
s from around the country to deliver the world-class educational presentation 1.4 Billion Reasons in schools - letting students know what extreme poverty is, and how it can be ended within a generation, and - Providing students at 400 Australian schools with the knowledge and resources they need to become leaders in the movement to end extreme poverty.
The Global Poverty Project's education work will empower tens of thousands of Australian students, building the social movement
Social movement
Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....
required to see an end to extreme poverty within a generation, and supporting the change required to alter the systems that perpetuate extreme poverty.