I have to admit that before I worked for The Global Poverty Project, I was one of these people who thought that extreme poverty levels were stagnant. It’s not that I disagreed with aid or development spending in principle, but I didn’t see things getting better. My childhood is filled with memories of watching these starving kids on tv, drinking dirty water and surrounded by flies- poverty porn at its worst. How can I be blamed for thinking that nothing ever changes if all I see on tv is things never changing?
I was a sucker- pulled in by misinformation and sensationalist newspaper headlines. “British taxes spent on India’s NASA programme”, “Why are British taxes paying for Ethiopian girls to join pop groups?” etc. My thinking was shaped almost entirely by tabloid bitching about aid and development. I prefer to think it’s not my fault, but instead a significant lack of balance in the media on the subject.
But then the facts, well, they paint a very different picture.
More has been done in the last 15 years to end extreme poverty than ever before in our history. The number of people living in extreme poverty (less than £1 a day) has been halved; half a billion lives have been saved through vaccinations, and more children than ever before are getting an education in the developing world. These are not sensationalist stories, these are sensational stories.
So my question is, why don’t we ever hear about these? Why don’t I pick up a newspaper and read that UK Aid helped 4.9 million girls gain a primary and lower secondary education last year? Why don’t I go online and read that UK Aid is going to vaccinate millions of children in the next five years against some of the most horrific diseases in this world? Why don’t I read that UK Aid has led the fight against polio that has seen more than 99% of the disease wiped out? I never see these headlines on front of a newspaper.
Yesterday (June 25th), The Sun newspaper published an ‘exclusive’ story about international aid on their front page. In their investigation they mention that £13,000 of UK Aid was wasted on an Ethiopian gameshow that promotes human rights, and £7,000 on a litter drive in Jordan. Now I have to admit, these projects aren’t as lifesaving as malaria vaccinations or as important as humanitarian aid in a crisis, but they do play a part in helping to stabilise developing countries. I’m not saying that they’re entirely wrong though- it’s a sad fact that some of UK Aid is wasted through corruption. But the vast majority of aid not only transforms lives- it transforms countries. This is the type of news that should be celebrated.
And crucially, no one is pretending every penny is spent in the most effective way. We’re talking about huge, clunky, government departments spending billions in more than 100 countries across the globe - of course, in that context, you’ll find something you think probably isn’t the best use of resources. The reality is just very different to the way it’s portrayed in the media. Millions are being spent saving millions of lives.
We need some balance, which in part is why Global Citizen exists, and why I’m every day happy to be part of the movement - to hear stories of incredible people who live in poverty every day, working their way out with the support of my taxes. In reality, we’re not going to change the political views of the owners of The Sun. You know who I’m talking about, it’s probably a waste of time. Instead, we need more positive stories, more people writing about what’s really happening.
I want to make Global Citizen the place where you come to learn about what’s really happening. So come join me. If you want to write about the amazing stuff that’s happening every day in our world - tell the stories of the incredible people at the forefront of the movement to end extreme poverty, then come write for us. Visit our submissions page and submit away!