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Micah Challenge Pushes for Zero Corruption
After the success of the 10.10.10 Campaign, which saw more than 60 million Christians in over 70 nations praying for an end to extreme poverty, our friends at Micah Challenge have announced the next stage in their strategy to keep world leaders accountable for the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
A Micah Challenge report, to be released on Dec. 9, will reveal a critical need for Christians to further engage with international advocacy efforts to tackle corruption as a key tool to eradicate poverty.
The report, launched on International Anti-Corruption Day, will refer to evidence of corruption negatively impacting the poor in Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Open for Service: A Case for Good Governance will urgently appeal for transparency in Government, business and the global Christian Church.
The document follows discussion between development practitioners, politicians, economists and academics reflecting the views of those living in extreme poverty and proposing solutions to corruption crimes, which could prevent Governments achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Joel Edwards, International Director of Micah Challenge has said: 'Corruption is a like a tower block on a runway. It accounts for over a trillion dollars going missing, and is a massive barricade to the well being of the poorest people in the world.'
'It’s difficult to define, complex in its treatment and entrenched in business and political systems. No wonder it has gone on underground for so long. Simply, corruption kills people.'
Rt Rev. Dr Benjamin Kwashi, Archbishop of Jos in Central Nigeria, spoke on the problem of corruption at Africa’s Transformation conference this year: 'Compared to corruption in the West, Africa is an apprentice.'
The call for Good Governance comes alongside first-hand evidence on the effects of corruption on poverty released by multiple international stakeholders earlier this year.
Research in the World Bank's Africa Development Indicators 2010 report highlights the severe effects of 'quiet corruption' such as bribery, weak regulation and poor service delivery in the health, education and agriculture sectors of Africa.
In one instance more than 50 percent of drugs sold in Nigerian drugstores in the 1990s were found to be counterfeit. The study will also mention that there are as many as 91 children per primary school teacher in the Central African Republic, compared with 22 children per teacher in Mauritius, due to absenteeism.
Case-studies from Peru, Cambodia and Zambia in a Tearfund report called Corruption and its Discontents similarly establishes that corruption and a culture of bribery form one of the biggest barriers to poverty eradication.
The Open for Service report will highlight the role that churches can play in advocating for good governance in overcoming poverty. Former Director of the UN Millennium Campaign, Salil Shetty said in the foreword: 'The people in the front-end of the evangelical churches know that if public resources are managed in a transparent and accountable manner, there is nothing stopping the world from achieving the MDGs by 2015.'
The report will be launched online on December 9 at micahchallenge.org.
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Keywords: micah challenge open service | micah challenge good governance | joel edwards micah challenge | micah challenge international | dr joel edwards
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Thanks Mal for helping us see the US gun laws issue from an ethical perspective. Our right to possess guns (or any other right, for that matter) is surely insignificant when compared to our responsibility to preserve life.
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I just love your truly impacting comments and articles and find myself hungering for more after every one arrives. Thank God you are willing servants...
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Saw your EDGES show on Australian Christian Channel yesterday. Loved it. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to view your wonderful and highly professional presentation.
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