A Short History of Make Poverty History

Abstract

The first idea for launching a campaign against global poverty in 2005 was discussed during the G8 summit in Evian, France, from 1 to 3 June 2003. The summit had been dominated by the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and little progress had been made on tackling poverty.¹ Christian Aid had reviewed the promises made in the previous G8’s Africa Action Plan and found that little had been done.² The feeling among NGO activists at the summit was that the G8 leaders were not feeling enough pressure at home to prompt them to take serious action. Oxfam’s Campaign Director, Adrian Lovett, stated:

So that was a bit of a wake up call which we certainly felt in Oxfam, and we felt we had to do our part to help make things different. We were then facing a US presidency of the G8 which we didn’t have high hopes for. But then came the prospect of the UK in 2005, which was an obvious focus. I know other organisations were thinking in similar ways at the time. (Lovett, interview, 14.10.05)

In October and November 2003, a number of NGO representatives met at the Oxfam office in Victoria, London, and then at other NGO offices to look at the opportunities provided by the UK’s presidency of the G8 in 2005. On 12 November 2003, they sent a letter³ to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair that called on him to use the G8 and the UK’s presidency of the European Union (which was to be from July to December 2005) to achieve a breakthrough for sustainable development, particularly in the context of the global HIV/AIDS crisis and the plight of Africa.