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Six years ago, 189 world leaders sat down and agreed to end poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. On October 15&16, people across the world will stand up to remind them of this promise.
Thank you for joining us as we set the Guinness World Record for the most people standing up against poverty. Together we can end extreme poverty.
STAND UP was part of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty month of mobilization around The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP).
UPDATE
CONGRATULATONS! Together 20 Thousand people from across the Emirates contributed towards setting a new world record of:
23, 542, 614
Send in your ‘Stand Up’ pictures to standup@makepovertyhistory.ae
WHAT was the STAND UP challenge?
STAND UP is a global advocacy effort to set an official Guinness World Record - the greatest number of people ever to STAND UP Against Poverty and for the Millennium Development Goals - on October 15-16 2006. Within a 24-hour period, a minimum of 10,000 people must physically and symbolically "STAND UP" to communicate their desire to fight poverty and to hold their governments and leaders accountable for promises to end poverty by 2015. The purpose of this action is to raise awareness of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to publicly demonstrate to policy makers the growing global support for the achievement of the MDGs and for the strengthening of development policies in both Northern and Southern countries.
STAND UP is a mobilization initiative designed to coincide with global mobilizations around the International Day of Poverty Eradication and the White Band Day of the Global Call to Action against Poverty. It relies fully on citizen participation in that it mobilizes all individuals, everywhere, to take part in local, group events around the world through which they use their bodies (rather than their voices) as concrete symbols of MDG advocacy. To ensure the inclusion of those not physically able to stand up, a symbolic act of raising a hand, wearing a white band (the symbol of the global fight against poverty), or holding up a banner with the "Stand Up Against Poverty" message will also be counted.
HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED?
Monitored by Guinness World Records the STAND UP challenge will take place between 2.00pm (UAE) 15 October to 12.00pm (UAE) 16 October. During this time thousands of people will be standing up all over the world. In schools, universities, offices, churches, town halls and at sporting events and concerts. Either join an event or gather your friends, colleagues and family and create your own STAND UP event.
HOW CAN I ORGANISE MY OWN EVENT?
Remember that whether your ‘Stand Up’ event/moment consists of two people or two thousand people it is equally important because every one of us counts. And the great thing about ‘Stand Up’ is how easy it is to organize. So make sure you carry out the following steps to help make poverty history.
1. Identify a local public space which is in a central location – city hall, marketplace, park, school, office lunch room, university campus, etc.
2. Decide on event theme: e.g. school assembly, office lunch break, music concert, theatre group, dance performance, carnival, rap concert, religious group meeting, street theater, film screening or just a simple gathering of friends, family and colleagues.
3. Decide on who will lead the event. A person from within your group or a high profile person/celebrity from the community. They can be asked to be master of ceremonies at the event.
4. Inform everyone via e-mail, letter, fliers, posters etc about this mobilization day. Invite them to come and join this global challenge.
5. Tell us about what you have planned by sending in the ‘Registration Form’.
6. Incorporate the ‘Stand Up’ procedure into your event.
7. Record the numbers from your event and email/fax them to us before 12pm UAE time on the 16th of October to be a part of the World Record.
8.Send us pictures of your group before and after you ‘Stand Up’
ONCE I HAVE THE EVENT ORGANIZED, WHAT DO I DO AT THE EVENT?
The actual STAND UP moment must be coordinated to take place at a suitable time during your event. The following steps should be taken:
1. A group leader, school principal, headboy, celebrity, mayor, society president, CEO or other relevant figure (“an announcer”) will ask everyone gathered to come together and sit/kneel down.
2. The announcer gives a brief explanation of the STAND UP initiative. Why we are doing this: A world record attempt to STAND UP Against poverty, in support of the MDGS, for promises that must be kept to end poverty by 2015 (A template for this speech and the ‘Stand Up’ Pledge are available on the Materials page.
3. The announcer asks the gathered crowd to count down from ten with them and then at “0” everyone will STAND UP together for one minute. (Disabled people can perform any appropriate action to show they are taking a stand or just be present).
4. During this one minute the “announcer” or other appropriate figure reads the STAND UP pledge on behalf of those gathered. The pledge will have space to include messages relevant to individual organizations holding these events.
5. After the STAND UP moment and the reading of the pledge the “announcer” informs the audience that “x” number of people have Stood Up at this event and their efforts will be logged as part of the record setting attempt and total numbers of people Standing Up around the world against poverty.
6. After this the event can continue as scheduled. Although don’t forget to take pictures and register your event so that it is counted for the world record attempt!
Do this by emailing the ‘Return Form’ to standup@makepovertyhistory.ae by 12pm UAE time on 16th October. (You can send in your pictures to this address as well)
REMEMBER:
The ‘Registration Form’ which could just be a simple email telling us about what you have planned and where, is to be sent before the event.
The ‘Return Form’ is to be sent in after the event. (but before 12pm on the 16th)
HOW DO I REGISTER MY EVENT?
Please fill in the ‘Registration Form’ and e-mail it to us immediately with ‘STAND UP EVENT’ at in the subject header if you are planning to organize an event standup@makepovertyhistory.ae
Once you send us this info we will post it on the events calendar so that the people of the Emirates can see where all ‘Stand Up’ Events are taking place and can join you to make it a bigger success.
Remember that for your event to be counted and for the World Record to be set we need to have all the exact numbers. So you need to send the ‘Return From’ via email or fax, back to us before 12pm UAE Time on 16th October.
HOW CAN I BE COUNTED FOR THE GUINNESS WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT?
If you are attending an existing event, you will automatically be counted and registered by event organizers.
If you are organizing your own event you will need to register your STAND UP numbers.
Numbers can be submitted by completing the ‘Return Form’ from the Materials page and emailing it to us before 12pm UAE Time on 16th October:
standup@makepovertyhistory.ae
For those not able to access the web and email the form you may also fax it to us on a fax number that we will make available soon.
I have an existing event on the 15-16 October, can I still be involved in STAND UP?
YES, the STAND UP moment has been designed so that it can also be inserted into existing events that are already taking place.
Some examples of this could be:
Mosque/Church Service or other faith based gatherings: Engage faith leaders to lead their congregations in a STAND UP Moment during Church/Mosque service.
Football and other sports matches: Insert a STAND UP moment into half time at football and other sports events.
Clubs and student groups: Gather your members and have a STAND UP moment during your regular events and meeting.
Schools & Universities: Engage schools to hold a Stand Up moment on Monday morning at a school assembly or in the common room;
Corporations: Engage your company to gather their employees on Monday morning and hold a Stand Up moment.
We even have print advertising media that you can customize with your logo if you would like to advertise your ‘Stand Up’ event or help us promote the ‘Stand Up’ initiative.
(email us at standup@makepovertyhistory.ae for more info on how to obtain customized versions of the advertising material)
What support can we get if organizing an event?
The Millennium Campaign is in the process of preparing an “Event in A Box” a range useful information, tips and STAND UP materials which will be available to download from the MPH website. We currently have a flyer, brochure, set of logos, Registration Form and Return Form for you to download.
These materials can be adapted and used for your event to produce posters, banners, T-Shirts, fliers, placards etc.
Who’s involved with STAND UP?
For the STAND UP challenge the Millennium Campaign has joined forces with Make Poverty History, the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) and a wide range of other groups and organizations like trade unions, faith based groups, local governments, youth groups, Parliamentarians, sporting associations, media and other key actors.
The STAND UP challenge is designed to coincide with global mobilizations around the International Day of Poverty Eradication and the White Band Day of the Global Call to Action against Poverty on October 17th.
Why do you want people to STAND UP?
The act of Standing Up Against Poverty is a strong symbolic statement. We hope to have a strong political impact by telling our leaders and the world that hundreds and thousand of people, all over the world have mobilized publicly to demand that poverty eradication and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals are a political priority and that there are no excuses for not achieving these Goals by 2015.
But what are the MDG’s?
The MDG’s or Millennium Development Goals are a set of 8 goals with specific targets that were agree to by an unprecidented 147 heads of state and all of the 192 countries of the UN to halve extreme poverty by 2015.
See what the goals are here.
Can disabled people be included in the STAND UP challenge?
To ensure the inclusion of those not physically able to STAND UP i.e. disabled people, a symbolic act of raising a hand, wearing a white band or holding up a banner with the “Stand Up Against Poverty” message on it will also be counted. In these cases, rather than rising from a sitting position, symbolically “standing up” will also be taken to mean “taking a stand” against poverty.
What time does the STAND UP challenge start and finish?
The STAND Up challenge will start at 2:00pm (UAE) on Sunday 15 October and finish at 12:00pm (UAE) on Monday 16 October. We only have 24 hours!
My event falls out of this time slot, can it still be counted?
No, the above time period can not be changed to accommodate individual events. However the STAND UP challenge is part of a month of mobilization around poverty eradication ending on October 17th so please let us know about your events so your initiative can be logged as part of this wider month of action.
What do I need to do for my Stand Up event to be part of the World Record?
All the action takes place within a 24 hour period which runs from 2pm UAE on Sunday 15th October until 12pm UAE on Monday 16th October. Only a few countries will have the same time as GMT so you will need to look up what the times will be for your country. For example, it runs from 6am to 6am in New York, from noon to noon in Johannesburg and from 7pm to 7pm in Tokyo - the website www.timeanddate.com can tell you how many hours you are ahead or behind GMT.
To make sure that your event takes place in time your event needs to be stageed within the allocated time and the ‘Return Form’ needs to be sent to us before 12:00pm (UAE) 16th October
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