Action Aid Australia is unhappy at the governments broken election promise to increase aid to 0.5% of gross national income by 2015. The current Labour government has now cut almost $2.7 billion from their aid program and delayed the 0.5% target by a full year. This could have been a lot worse if you guys hadn’t have supported the calls for the Coalition to keep their commitment.

Thanks to the bombardment of many charities online media campaigns, it is believed that Bob Carr decided to intervene due to the intense pressure to keep their promises. Rumours are abound that the government was planning to defer by up to five years, or even abandon the scheme altogether!

We now have the opportunity to back up our early campaign and send messages to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to keep the coalition’s commitment. She is a well know advocate of the aid program, and as a long standing supporter we need to offer her our support to ensure this important topic is kept high on the priority list.

Why not send an email to Julie.Bishop.MP@aph.gov.au and ask her to keep the coalition’s commitment. She’s on our side and needs as much support as possible to succeed where the government has failed not just us, but those people who are living in desperate poverty and badly in need of our help. Together we can make a difference.

Sponsor a Child with Action Aid Australia

To sponsor a child is a simple and easy way to help turn around a life that is in desperate need of your help. For less than $1.50 a day, you can help provide a child in need with food, clean water and the education they require to rise above poverty. You will receive -

• A one-to-one relationship between you and child
• A photograph and information about your child’s life
• Regular updates direct from their community
• Two personal messages a year

> > Click here to Sponsor a Child with Action Aid Australia

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."

Action Aid Australia is asking for your help in telling the government to continue to commit money to foreign aid. 5 years ago Australia agreed to give 0.5% of our gross national income to foreign aid, but now this commitment is under threat as the Federal Government is meeting to decide whether to continue with their promise.

Please click on the link at the bottom of this post to ask new foreign minister Bob Carr for more money to help protect the rights of the world’s most vulnerable people. This financial commitment by the Australian government will see the continued life saving programs across the globe save many lives.

Australia has long provided support to the world’s poorest communities. The Prime Minister and Treasurer need to keep the Government’s promise of giving  0.5% of the countries GNI for foreign aid until 2015 as originally promised. The aid we provide helps transform the lives of the world’s poorest communities and can help provide a real life solutions to global poverty.

Simply click on the link below to ask new foreign minister Bob Carr to defend Australia’s aid program. It literally takes 30 seconds and can help save many lives across the globe.

> > Click here to sign petition

Sponsor a Child with Action Aid Australia

To sponsor a child is a simple and easy way to help turn around a life that is in desperate need of your help. For less than $1.50 a day, you can help provide a child in need with food, clean water and the education they require to rise above poverty. You will receive -

• A one-to-one relationship between you and child
• A photograph and information about your child’s life
• Regular updates direct from their community
• Two personal messages a year

> > Click here to Sponsor a Child with Action Aid Australia

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."

Action Aid Australia is asking you to join them on an amazing 10 day adventure to Cambodia to help build a kindergarten for 100 village children in the remote Korng Pisei area. This once in a lifetime trip is an incredible opportunity to visit the breathtaking countryside of Cambodia, where you will -

• Visit the incredible ruins of Angkor Wat
• Spend 6 days of cycling through amazing scenery
• Visit the vibrant city of Phnom Penh
• Spending several days building the kindergarten

This is the second year this trip has been organised, with last years participants from England compiling a video below of what they got up to -

This years participants from Australia will join volunteers to build a wooden kindergarten to provide a suitable place for children to come together and learn. The local people will also use the new building as a meeting place, making the building much more of a development for the whole community.

Plus these exciting ‘First Hand Experience’ trips raise between $40,000 and $100,000 on average, which is great news for those people in the communities you visit. Simply click on the link below to find out more information on this exciting trip of a lifetime.

> > Click here for more information

Sponsor a Child with Action Aid Australia

To sponsor a child is a simple and easy way to help turn around a life that is in desperate need of your help. For less than $1.50 a day, you can help provide a child in need with food, clean water and the education they require to rise above poverty. You will receive -

• A one-to-one relationship between you and child
• A photograph and information about your child’s life
• Regular updates direct from their community
• Two personal messages a year

> > Click here to Sponsor a Child with Action Aid Australia

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."

Action Aid Australia were pleased to help promote their ‘Fertile Ground’ campaign with their friend Polly, who flew in from Uganda to visit various states and spread the word around the country about sustainable agriculture and the status of women farmers. Polly is from an area in East Uganda which is very difficult to farm due to droughts, yet still manages to grow groundnuts, cowpeas and oranges at her families 10 acre farm.

Women farmers like Polly play a hugely critical role in developing countries in a bid to end world hunger. Women farmers produce up to 80% of food in the developing world, even though many of them are barred from owning farmland or taking part in agricultural aid programs. Polly, who arrived in Sydney on Saturday 18th June 2011, visited -

• Orange
• Bellingen
• Armidale
• Bundaberg
• Melbourne

before heading home to her farm, husband and 5 children in Uganda. Polly is well known within her community and thanks to this ground breaking journey she will be able to pass on her new found knowledge to her friends back home, whilst also sharing her experiences of visiting Australia to the many people who will never have the opportunity to leave their country.

ActionAid Australia is calling on the government to make good on its $464.2m food security commitment and help under the G8?s L’Aquila Food Security Initiative and help to reduce the number of hungry people by up to 17% worldwide. To put that into context…

that’s almost 150 million people who could be saved from hunger and starvation.

Sponsor a Child with Action Aid Australia

To sponsor a child is a simple and easy way to help turn around a life that is in desperate need of your help. For less than $1.50 a day, you can help provide a child in need with food, clean water and the education they require to rise above poverty. You will receive -

• A one-to-one relationship between you and child
• A photograph and information about your child’s life
• Regular updates direct from their community
• Two personal messages a year

> > Click here to Sponsor a Child with Action Aid Australia

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."

Action Aid Australia are offering you the chance to join in with their fundraising and help millions of starving children across the globe to fight against poverty. Why not join in the fun with the City2Surf run which kicks off on Sunday 14th August 2011 and is one of Sydney’s favourite and biggest sporting events.

Last year 80,000 people entered, raising an amazing $2.8million for charity.

Plus as an extra incentive, The Sun-Herald will donate $10,000 to the chosen charity of the highest fundraising individual and team! Entry to the event opened on 22nd May 2011, and already 55,000 people have already joined! Have you got what it takes to complete the spectacular course to Bondi Beach?

By choosing to join in and fundraise for ActionAid Australia, you will be helping them to continue their great work with children, families and communities across the globe. ActionAid work alongside poor, excluded and vulnerable people to help end poverty and injustice together, so anything you can do to help will be greatly appreciated.

> > Click here to enter City2Surf

Sponsor a Child with Action Aid Australia

To sponsor a child is a simple and easy way to help turn around a life that is in desperate need of your help. For less than $1.50 a day, you can help provide a child in need with food, clean water and the education they require to rise above poverty. You will receive -

• A one-to-one relationship between you and child
• A photograph and information about your child’s life
• Regular updates direct from their community
• Two personal messages a year

> > Click here to Sponsor a Child with Action Aid Australia

"Please note, any prices mentioned in the Charity Gifts blog are correct at the time of posting. Please check the relevant website for the latest pricing information."