Stand Up

Make noise for the MDGs this September with Stand Up, Take Action!

Aug 13th, 2010 8:46 AM UTC
By ONE Partners

Cara Gold from the United Nations Millennium Campaign shares a unique opportunity to participate in Stand Up, Take Action!, a global grassroots effort to raise awareness for the Millennium Development Goals.

What will you be doing the weekend of September 17-19? Will you be joining the global movement to raise awareness of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – eight goals to end extreme poverty and its root causes? I will!

Join me and millions of others as we take a stand for the rights of 1.4 billion global citizens who live on less than $1.25.

Since 2007, the United Nations Millennium Campaign has organized Stand Up, Take Action! -– a global grassroots mobilization effort to raise MDG awareness. Last year, a record-breaking 173 million people around the world took a “Stand” against poverty. I know we can beat that in 2010!

How can you get involved? This year, Stand Up, Take Action! “Make Noise for the MDGs” is happening around the world from September 17-19, with a global day of action on September 18. Register your event online at www.standagainstpoverty.org where you can also download Stand Up signs, brochures, logos, banners, t-shirt designs and more.

Be sure to also visit Meet Up to see what other events are happening in your community and “like” us on Facebook to talk about your event! Have fun with the theme –- ring bells, sing loudly, drum to your heart’s content and don’t forget to take pictures and video! You may be featured in next year’s promotional video!

Did you know that 2010 is a crucial year for the MDGs? Between September 20 and 22, approximately 10 years after 189 countries signed the Millennium Declaration, world leaders will attend the United Nations MDG Review Summit. At this meeting, progress will be assessed and plans will be made for the next five years.

This year’s Stand Up is not only a key opportunity for you to make your government aware that people care about the MDGs, but it also helps hold governments accountable for promises they have made. So please join us by taking a “Stand” against poverty in 2010!

- Cara Gold, U.N .Millennium Campaign

New world record: 173 million Stand Up

Oct 21st, 2009 4:21 PM UTC
By Chris Scott

173,045,325 to be exact. That’s the number of people who mobilized this year to “Stand Against Poverty.” We’ll have a couple more reports from ONE members who hosted Stand Up events over the weekend, but for now, here’s the latest from our friends at Stand Against Poverty:

A Guinness World Record shattered this weekend when 173,045,325 citizens gathered at over 3,000 events in more than 120 countries, demanding that their governments eradicate extreme poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). “Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now!”, now in its fourth year, has been certified by Guinness World Records as the largest mobilization of human beings in recorded history, an increase of about 57 million people over last year.

“The more than 173 million people who mobilized this weekend sent a clear message to world leaders that there is massive, universal, global demand for eradicating poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” said Salil Shetty, Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign. “In particular, we have seen citizens determined to show their governments that they will hold them accountable for keeping their promises to end hunger, improve maternal health and abolish trade-distorting agricultural subsidies. They will not accept excuses for breaking promises to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, who have already been hardest hit by the global food, economic and climate crises they had no role in causing.”

In Asia more than 100 million people participated (101,106,845); in Africa more than 37 million people participated (37,848,412); in the Arab region more than 31 million people participated (31,394,459); in Europe more than 2 million people participated (2,102,121); in Latin America more than 200,000 people participated (229,371); in North America nearly 200,000 people participated (191,535); and in Oceania more than 170,000 people participated (172,582).

U2 fans Stand Up and Take Action (and rock!)

Oct 20th, 2009 9:00 AM UTC
By Aaron Banks

Last weekend was the annual Global Day of Action when people all over the world Stand Up and Take Action to end global poverty, and at Sunday’s U2 concert in Norman, Oklahoma, USA, 50,000+ U2 fans stood up to show their support.

They joined millions of people around the world – a Guinness Book of World Records 116 million stood up last year! – to show solidarity with the world’s poorest people and demand action on meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving poverty and disease worldwide by 2015.

Check out ONE members Standing Up at the show, after a long day of taking action against global poverty and signing up more than 2,000 new ONE members:

-Aaron Banks

Stand Up Against Poverty

Oct 16th, 2009 8:45 AM UTC
By Weldon Kennedy

Today is the global day of action against extreme poverty, and around the world millions of people will be literally standing up as a demonstration of their commitment in the fight against extreme poverty. It’s the easiest of actions, but when 116 million of us do it together like last year, it’s a profound statement against extreme poverty.

ONE members take part every year, and this year we’re going a step further asking you not only to stand up, but to shout out and encourage your friends to do the same. Once you stand up, just update your Twitter and/or Facebook status to spread the word.

On Twitter just tweet:

I’m standing up to end poverty today with @ONEcampaign. Pls RT and join me #standup09

On Facebook, first you’ll need to become a fan of ONE.

Then post your status as:

I’m standing up to end poverty today with @ONE. Please post this as your status and join me.

If you don’t have a twitter or facebook account don’t worry, just visit the Stand Up website and show your support.

The last 2 years we’ve set a new world record, and if everyone takes part and spreads the world, we may very well go down the pages of Guinness again this year. So start right now. Stand up.

Thank you for taking action!

One staff in London Stand Up against poverty