White Band Day 2

Today is White Band Day 2, organised by Make Poverty History to remind world leaders in the leadup to the UN Summit in New York that the world is still watching, and expects to see serious progress towards making poverty history. In Wellington they're marking this with a Make Poverty History concert and speeches outside the Beehive. Why? Because despite liking to think of ourselves as good international citizens who do our bit, the fact is that we don't. The New Zealand government contributes only 0.27% of GNI (gross national income) in development aid - far below the accepted international target of 0.7%. That simply isn't good enough. We need to triple our contribution if we are to properly do our bit and help the UN achieve its eight Millenium Development Goals on time.