'Live 58: Alliance' Fights World Poverty

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee has joined the Live 58: Alliance, which is an unprecedented, action-based alliance of Christians, churches, and world-class poverty-fighting organizations to reduce the number of people who live on US$1.25 a day to less than one percent of the world’s population by 2035.

CRWRC, brings to the alliance 50 years of experience in international community development. In 2010, CRWRC worked in 26 of the world’s poorest countries, assisting national organizations through sustainable programs in agriculture, adult literacy, primary health, income generation, and leadership development that are improving thelives of more than a million people. CRWRC contributes solid on-the-ground expertise, innovation, and an expanding network of global partners to the 58: movement.

"Among the 1.4 billion people living in abject poverty in today's world, 33 million also have HIV or AIDS," says CRWRC director Andrew Ryskamp. "Twelve million of these doubly-challenged individuals are children who have been orphaned by AIDS. CRWRC's collaboration with Live 58: focuses on development programs in Africa where we provide AIDS orphans with food, shelter, abuse prevention, counseling, education, and spiritual care."

Live 58: seeks to reduce global poverty by helping developing countries build a broad range of capital—natural, human, social, financial, and leadership—and combining them with fair access to markets that can stimulate growth.

The strategy's "engines of investment" combine the work of three societal sectors--government, business, and faith-based structures. The alliance's goal to reduce extreme poverty from 26 percent in 2005 to 1 percent in 2035 is based in part on World Bank Data that indicates a 24 percent drop in the number of people living in extreme poverty from 1981 to 2005.

In his recent book, Fast Living, author Scott Todd, who is chairman of North America’s largest network of religious relief and development organizations and senior advisor to Compassion International, says that his inspiration for working toward reducing extreme global poverty below 1 percent by 2035 came out of the death of a 12-year-old Tanzanian girl, named Jacqueline, from AIDS. Since then, Todd says that not only is ending poverty possible, it's possible in the next generation—if we are willing to raise our expectations and "make it so."

The Live 58: name is a reference to a chapter in the Old Testament of the Bible, Isaiah 58, in which God calls on the people of Israel to participate in a "true fast" that involves humility, sacrifice, and action on behalf of people in extreme poverty.

This call to action, aimed at a broad spectrum of Christian denominations and communities, is the heart of the Live 58: movement which seeks to "amplify the voice of a thousand ordinary prophets (like the Biblical figure Isaiah) to inspire Christ-centered, poverty-eradicating action through world-class Christian organizations."

CRWRC, with 50 years of experience in international community development, is one of ten anti-poverty organizations that comprise the 58: Council. The council members’ expertise also includes child and leadership development, food security, micro-enterprise development, justice for victims of violent oppression, water access, aid and policy, environmental stewardship, and disaster relief.

CRWRC is the aid, development and disaster relief agency of the Christian Reformed Church To donate financially to Care for AIDS Orphans through CRWRC, click here.

Members of the press wishing to interview CRWRC director Andrew Ryskamp about CRWRC’s role in Live 58: call cell 616-498-0816. For scheduling, or more information about CRWRC’s work.

For more information on CRWRC’s in community development, disaster relief, and justice education around the world, call CRWRC media contact Beth DeGraff at 616-648-7821 or 1-800-55-CRWRC (EST).

To find out more about 58: or join the movement, go to www.live58.org.