Rev. Adam Russell Taylor has served as the Lead for the Faith-Based Initiative at the World Bank Group through which the Moral Imperative Initiative to End Extreme Poverty emerged.

Today, as the world commemorates the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP) under the theme “Coming Together With Those Furthest Behind To Build An Inclusive World Of Universal Respect For Human Rights And Dignity,” it is imperative to remember that, despite the significant progress that has been made in reducing extreme poverty, an estimated 1 billion children still live in poverty globally – that is 1 out of every 2 children in the whole world. As we join in the commemorations, it is important that we pause and consider the questions: what does it mean to come together for these children? how do we ensure their inclusion in development? and how do we secure? their right to human dignity, while they are still children?

Investing in early childhood development can deliver dramatic outcomes for the well being of children and adults throughout the life cycle. Advances in the science of early childhood development have also made graphic the devastating consequences of adversity and deprivation in these critical years for development goals. There is now a global consensus that it is possible to achieve well being for children and society by redressing the drivers of childhood deprivation and trauma. The resourcefulness of faith, and the assets and services of faith institutions are critical to the wellbeing outcomes of millions of children, and especially those at risk and thus vulnerable to adversity. Faced with adversity, millions of children, families and communities have come to rely on this resourcefulness to grow their resilience.

The Maputo Protocol was originally adopted by the “Assembly of the African Union” in Maputo, Mozambique on July 11, 2003. The official document is titled “Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa.” The Maputo Protocol is a treaty instrument that is binding on all countries that ratify it. It went into effect in November 2005, after the minimum 15 of the 53 African Union member countries ratified it. As of June 2007, according to the African Union, 43 nations had signed it and 21 had formally ratified it: (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Comoros, Djibouti, Gambia, Libya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Mauritania, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Senegal, Seychelles, Tanzania, Togo and Zambia). Those who ratify the treaty are called “States Parties.”

The causes of violence against children are complex and varied. They include socio-economic causes such as poverty and social exclusion, and many other deeply rooted political, cultural and familial factors. Ending today’s unprecedented violence against children calls for extraordinary and urgent collaboration among religious and spiritual communities, UN agencies, international and multilateral organizations, governments, civil society, the private sector, media — and, most importantly, with children.This declaration is an affirmation by the participants during the forum in fulfilling their pledge in taking part to ending Violence against Children.

This Moral and Spiritual Imperative statement seeks to generate the necessary social and political will by inspiring greater commitments from others to join in this cause, tapping into many of the shared convictions and beliefs that unify the world’s major religions around the call and responsibility to combat poverty.

Child poverty is a challenge which should bind us globally. In almost every country in the world children are more likely to be living in poverty than adults, and compounding this, their particular life stage makes them more vulnerable to its devastating effects with potential lifelong consequences for their physical, cognitive and social development. While children themselves suffer the impacts of their poverty most severely and immediately, the harmful consequences for societies, economies and future generations can be felt nationally, regionally and even globally.

We, the senior religious leaders and interest constituencies of, respectively, women, youth, children, people with disabilities and people living with HIV/AIDS from all over Africa, have met at the Commonwealth Resort Hotel in Munyonyo, Kampala, from 30th June to 2nd July 2014 to deliberate on the ongoing process of the post 2015 Development Agenda.