Five win awards in worldwide war on poverty - UN development agency

Five win awards in worldwide war on poverty - UN development agency

28 October – Three organizations focusing on responses to the HIV/AIDS crisis 
are among five groups which have won awards for creating successful 
grassroots programmes to combat poverty in their countries, the main United 
Nations agency responsible for development activities said today.

People heading effective anti-poverty organizations are nominated by the 
country offices of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) as outstanding 
contributors to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 
UNDP said. The MDGs, taken together, are designed to halve extreme poverty 
worldwide by 2015.

This year's three winners focusing on HIV/AIDS are Founding Executive 
Director Helen Ditsebe-Mhone of the Coping Centre for People Living with 
HIV/AIDS in Botswana; Founding Executive Director Jimmy Bhojedat of Guyana's 
Lifeline Counselling Services and founder Achmad Ramadhan of Indonesia's 
Centre for Information and HIV/AIDS Counselling, according to UNDP.

The other two winners, serving in economic areas, are Bulgarian Economy 
Minister Lydia Shouleva and the new Jordanian Minister of State and 
government spokesperson Asma Khader, who founded Jordan's National Network 
for Poverty Alleviation.

Since 1993, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been 17 
October and since 1997 the award ceremony has taken place close to that date 
to increase public awareness of poverty eradication activities.

Ms. Ditsebe-Mhone left the management of one of Botswana's leading hotels 
when she tested HIV-positive, went public about her diagnosis and founded the 
Coping Centre to battle the stigma attached to the disease. The centre also 
provides services to many others who are affected, the agency said.

Mr. Bhojedat expanded his organization, which at the outset served 70 people 
living with HIV/AIDS, to one now serving 40,000 people. He also supervises 
150 counsellors and 1,000 educators, including 190 youth-peers, UNDP said.

Mr. Ramadhan, an Islamic preacher, challenged cultural traditions by speaking 
publicly about HIV/AIDS in a community that considered the topic taboo. His 
centre now works with 50 Islamic organizations to raise awareness about the 
disease and to mobilize volunteers in the effort to teach prevention. "He has 
directly helped more than 10,000 people and indirectly reached more than 
100,000," UNDP said.

Lawyer, writer and human rights activist Ms. Khader, before her appointment 
this week as a minister of state, had linked representatives of ministries, 
national commissions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as 
individual activists, into a productive network combating poverty, UNDP said.

Minister Shouleva created a programme, From Social Assistance to Employment, 
that has found public works jobs for 80,000 previously unemployed Bulgarians. 
The programme includes literacy classes and vocational training and gives tax 
breaks to corporations investing in low-income regions, UNDP said.

She also incorporated the MDGs into her country's first comprehensive 
National Strategy for Poverty Eradication and Social Inclusion, it said.



SOURCE: United Nations, New York