Further Action
TAKE ACTION On your Own
Buy a white band:
Get yourself a white band and wear it! See the resources box below for details of how you can get your hands on one!
Band together:
Order more white bands to sell to your friends, family, work mates, youth group, schoolmates, sports team etc. Check out the resource box below for more details.
Spread the word:
Do a short talk about MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY at your local church, in your school, or in your community group. Encourage people to get involved by signing up on the website or by organising an event (see ideas below). Click here to download a sample speech.
If public speaking is not your thing then write an article about Make Poverty History for your club bulletin or community, church, or school newsletter or website. Write a letter to the editor to be published in your local newspaper. Set up your own Blog about what you are doing to help Make Poverty History and encourage others to take action as well.
Get others involved:
Organise a discussion group, study group, lunch meeting, after work drinks, work party, school disco or even a meeting at your town hall…anything to get people talking and thinking about MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY. Get hold of some Make Poverty History action postcards and take them along. These can be sent directly to the politician of your choice to tell them that you want to see action on poverty in 2005 (see resource box below for how to get hold of some action postcards).
Play fair:
Encourage your local sports team to wear white bands especially if they are going on tour or playing a high profile game. Give out action postcards to all of the team members and make sure they sign and send them. White band the goal posts!
Model it:
Ask your local retailers to put white bands on their window dummies.
Screen it:
Get hold of a copy of the click ad and screen it at your school, university, workplace, church etc. Click here to download the videos
Say cheese:
Take photos of things you have white banded. The most innovative photos will be posted on the website on the local events page. Send them to us at: events@makepovertyhistory.org.nz.
Put a banner on your website:
Put a Make Poverty History banner on your website. The instructions can be found here
Volunteer:
Send an e-mail to events@makepovertyhistory.org.nz if you would like to help out by becoming a volunteer in your area.
TAKE ACTION In a Group
Form a Make Poverty History supporters group:
Get your friends, schoolmates, workmates etc involved and set up a Make Poverty History group. Look at the box below for ideas and make sure you download a copy of the Political Action Kit. Together you can send e-mails, write letters, get people to sign action postcards and organize a group meeting with your local MP. Work together to write letters to the editor and get them published in your local paper or in magazines.
White Band a local monument:
Make a huge white band from old sheets or white material and wrap it around a local monument. Make sure you contact your local paper and ask them to come and cover the story. Click here to download information about how to write a press release. Make smaller white bands and wrap them around trees, lampposts, and anything else you can find. Take a photo and send it to events@makepovertyhistory.org.nz. Remember to be a tidy kiwi by clearing up after yourself!
Take it outside:
Organise a group of Make Poverty History supporters and head to the main street, shopping centre, park, or a local event. Hand out Make Poverty History postcards – there are general postcards that you can use to spread the word about the campaign and action postcards that can be signed and sent to political leaders (see resource box below). To make sure the cards get sent, ask people to sign the action postcards on the spot, collect them all up, and post them on their behalf – that way you can be sure they reach Parliament (postage is free)!
Jazz it up:
Head on down to local music events/gigs and hand out Make Poverty History action postcards. You could even ask the musicians to wear a white band while they are playing.
Set up a Make Poverty History display:
All you need to do is download some resources from this website and set up a MPH table at your school, university, workplace, church, club etc. Order a heap of white bands (see resource box below) and sell as many as you can. Get hold of heaps of action postcards (see resource box below) to send to the government, and encourage as many people as possible to sign one. Collect as many as you can and then send them all at once by freepost to Parliament.
TAKE ACTION and Organise an Event
If you decide that you really want to get out there and help spread the word, then why don’t you organise a Make Poverty History event. Ask your friends or other Make Poverty History supporters to help you. All it takes is passion and creativity! You can organize an event at your school, in your workplace, in your faith group or in the larger community. When you are organizing an event or activity it may be useful to keep the following things in mind.
Will your MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY event or activity:
- Support Make Poverty History and the four main goals of the campaign: More and Better Aid, Trade Justice, Drop the Debt and End Child Poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand?
- Help spread the campaign demands as broadly as possible?
- Get as many people as possible to wear a white band?
- Drive as many people as possible to www.makepovertyhistory.org.nz?
- Attract public attention and media attention?
It is also really important that you:
- E-mail resources@makepovertyhistory.org.nz with details of your event (so that we can promote it on the website) and to request general/action postcards and event/generic posters (see resource box). Also, if you are holding a community event let us know if you would like to get hold of some white bands on a sell or return basis – we may just be able to help.
- Download as many of the resources as you can (see resource box).
- Make sure everyone involved with the activity signs on to the campaign and signs an action postcard to send to political leaders.
- Take heaps of pictures (preferably with a digital camera) and send the best ones to events@makepovertyhistory.org.nz.
How can we help you?
- We will provide you with some basic resources to help you promote the campaign. Check out the resource box below for what is currently available.
- We will promote your event on the website, just remember to e-mail us all of the details at events@makepovertyhistory.org.nz.
- We will post photos of your event along with a short write up on our events page. Again, just e-mail us at events@makepovertyhistory.org.nz.
- Unfortunately we cannot provide you with direct financial support but we can help you out with resources and materials (see resources box below).
RESOURCES
Send action postcards to the government: Get hold of Make Poverty History action postcards that you can send directly to a politician of your choice, to tell them that you want to see action on poverty. Write to resources@makepovertyhistory.org.nz with your name and address and tell us how many postcards you want. We can also send you some general Make Poverty History postcards that you can hand out to people to help raise awareness about the campaign.
Advertise with Event Posters: If you decide to organize a local Make Poverty History Event let us know and we can send you some posters to help you advertise. These posters can also be downloaded off this website. For posters e-mail us at: resources@makepovertyhistory.org.nz. Please include your name, address, how many posters you want and some information about the event you are planning.
Spread the word with MPH posters: Even if you aren’t organizing an event you may still wish to put up some MPH posters on your school, work, university or church notice board. You could even convince some local shop/café/restaurant owners to put some posters up in their window. E-mail us at resources@makepovertyhistory.org.nz; you know the drill!
Get the media involved by writing a press release: You need to make sure that you contact your local newspaper or radio station if you a planning an event or an exciting action such as white banding a well known local monument. You can download a standard Make Poverty History press release here as well as download information about how to write your own press release here.
Get some White bands: You can purchase white bands through various charities and Trade Aid stores for $2. Don’t forget, if you are organising a community event and would like to get hold of some white bands on a sale or return basis, e-mail us at resources@makepovertyhistory.org.nz.
DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES:
Download these resources so that you can take action now!
Click here to download all of the resources at once (size: 482Kb)