In our quest to create a world free of child poverty, we go beyond conventional social and economic approaches. Through our annual photo campaign, we always aim to go a notch higher and show child poverty, at the same time efforts being made to eradicate child poverty through photos. These photos often tell great visual stories of what communities worldwide are doing to create a world free from poverty. Furthermore, the photo campaign creates a space for more people to take part in the ‘Together we can End Child Poverty worldwide’ campaign. It enables people who may not be in a position to organize or participate in events, write stories or participate in social media campaigns, at least get a platform to show their efforts towards ending child poverty.
In honoring this year’s global theme (Acting together to achieve social and environmental justice for all), we believe that social and environmental justice is key to ending child poverty as it addresses the underlying structural root causes of poverty including: corruption, gender inequalities, racial discrimination and racism, restrictions of freedom of religion or belief, and violence against children. On this International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP), we are thus launching our global photo campaign where we are inviting you to show us what actions you are taking in your community to address child poverty and tell us how those actions are influencing social and environmental justice for children.
However, we are cognizant that the campaign this year comes at a time when then global landscape is experiencing massive socio-economic disruptions that are further exacerbating child poverty, at an accelerated rate; as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic. This pandemic has further created an unprecedented strain on social protection systems, including health care and poverty reduction mechanisms; thus reversing major gains made with regards to social and environmental justice. We therefore request that even as you show us what actions you are taking in your community to address child poverty, you also be cognizant of this reality so that your photos also reflect a social and environmental just world for children in the wake of this new global norm.
Remember, we are asking you to show us what actions you are taking in your community to address child poverty and tell us how those actions are influencing social and environmental justice for children. Visit our website for guidelines of this photo campaign and how you can submit your photo.