Christian Aid Global

The quilombolas are the descendants of escaped slaves. This podcast looks at our work supporting the quilombolas to protect themselves and the forest they live in, looking especially at their critical Brazil nut harvest - which is the feature of our Harvest appeal this year.

Early monsoon rains believed to be the worst in 80 years have affected up to a million people in the state of Uttarakhand, northern India. Over 800 people have died and with thousands still missing the Indian government suggest the death toll could rise above 5,000. Christian Aid partner CASA is already on the ground providing immediate relief. In this podcast, Yeeshu Shukla of Christian Aid reports from Rudraprayag district, Uttarakhand - one of the worst affected areas. Donate now to the India Floods Appeal http://www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies/current/india-floods/index.aspx

Joseph Stead, Christian Aid’s Senior Economic Justice Advisor, talks about Christian Aid’s new report, ‘Invested Interests: The UK’s Overseas Territories’ Hidden Role in Developing Countries’ and reveals that UK-linked tax havens are at the centre of a global financial system that encourages crime, corruption and aggressive tax avoidance in developing countries. Joseph explains both what the UK government can do and also how Christian Aid supporters can get involved through the Enough Food IF campaign. http://enoughfoodif.org The report is available on the Christian Aid website: www.christianaid.org.uk/Images/Invested-interests-tax-report-June-2013.pdf #tax; #havens; #campaign; #campaigning; #G8; #IF; #enoughfoodIF; #food; #hunger

While Kenya exports a wide variety of crops, many Kenyans continue to go hungry. The World Food Programme estimates that more than a million Kenyans will need food assistance this year and malnutrition remains one of the country’s biggest childhood killers. As the G8 summit approaches, Christian Aid has joined more than 200 other organisations to call on them to take decisive action to tackle hunger around the world as part of the IF campaign. In this podcast, Antoinette Powell talks to Alvin Mosioma, director or the Tax Justice Network, Africa, about how tax could lift millions of Kenyans out of a cycle of poverty and hunger. To find out more about the IF campaign visit www.christianaid.org.uk/actnow #tax; #IF; #Belfast; #G8; #campaign; #food; #hunger; #ChristianAid; #charity; #enoughfoodIF; #Kenya; justice; #Mosioma; #TJNA

Twenty years ago, a young couple called Orestes and Alcinda were living with their three young children in a makeshift black plastic tent, with no services or sanitary facilities, and cooking over a campfire, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in the south of Brazil. Today, Orestes and Alcinda have their own home and their own farm, and are members of the cooperative that is Brazil’s largest producer of organic rice. Hear their voices and their remarkable journey in this podcast, made to celebrate small holder farmers and land rights for the poor, critical in global food production, as we get ready for the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign's Big IF rally in Hyde Park on Saturday 8 June.

More than 150,000 people have arrived in northern Iraq, fleeing the ongoing crisis in Syria. In this account, Christian Aid communications officer Antoinette Powell reflects on the news from Syria she hears each day through the BBC and her time spent meeting refugees in informal camps in northern Iraq. Christian Aid’s Syria Crisis Appeal is enabling our partners in Lebanon and Iraq to respond to the growing Syrian refugee crisis. Christian Aid partner REACH is working in informal refugee settlements around Sulaimaniya, providing essential items such as food and hygiene kits to 1,500 refugee families. Our ACT Alliance sister agency, International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), is also providing support to people in desperate need inside Syria itself. Please visit www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies to support the appeal. #Syria; #Iraq; #refugees; #displaced; #IDPs; #displacement; #conflict; #emergency; disaster; #MiddleEast; #ChristianAid; #charity

Alex Prats, Christian Aid’s Principal Economic Justice Policy Advisor, talks about Christian Aid’s new report, 'Who Pays the Price? Hunger: The Hidden Cost of Tax Injustice', and explains how the scandal of world hunger could soon end if the revenues that developing countries lose through tax dodging were available to them to invest in agricultural development. Alex also explains how Christian Aid supporters can get involved and hold politicians to account by joining the Enough Food IF campaign. http://enoughfoodif.org/ To read the report http://www.christianaid.org.uk/images/Who-pays-the-price-Hunger-the-hidden-cost-of-tax-injustice-May-2013.pdf

Earlier this year Judith Sadler, North East regional manager at Christian Aid, visited Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. In this moving podcast she reflects on her time in the region; sharing her personal insights and experiences. If you would like to pray for peace in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, and across the Middle East, you can join the Act Palestine Forum prayer vigil on the 24th of every month. For more details visit www.actpalestineforum.org/vigil. #MiddleEast #conflict #peace #HolyLand

Christian Aid's Paul Langley and Emma Donlan talk about this year's Christian Aid Week and how people can get involved. They also tell us about some of the projects that benefit from the funds raised. #caweek #caweek2013 #IF #Bolivia #Zimbabwe

This Christian Aid Week (12-18 May 2013) we're focusing on projects around the world that are helping communities to bite back at hunger. In this podcast, Christian Aid's Susan Barry reflects on her time visiting the Bhejela community in Zimbabwe with whom she shared food and worship. The community have been working with Christian Aid partner the Dabane Trust to build a sand dam to provide them with a reliable source of water which they are using in their community garden to grow food. For more information please visit www.caweek.org

Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, became Chair of Christian Aid’s Board of Trustees on May 1 with a plea to Christians to become agents of social justice. Having stepped down from his former job as Archbishop in December, Dr Williams said he was pleased to still be working with and for people living in poverty around the world. ‘In the last few years as Archbishop of Canterbury I became more and more aware of the priority of development and aid issues worldwide,’ he said. ‘I wondered before I stepped down from office how best to carry on with the work that had really excited me and engaged me. So when the suggestion came to chair Christian Aid I was really delighted.' Dr Williams, who is also Master of Magdalene College Cambridge, begins as Chair less than two weeks before the start of Christian Aid Week which kicks off on May 12. For more information go to www.christian-aid.org.uk/caw.

Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, became Chair of Christian Aid’s Board of Trustees on May 1 with a plea to Christians to become agents of social justice. Having stepped down from his former job as Archbishop in December, Dr Williams said he was pleased to still be working with and for people living in poverty around the world. ‘In the last few years as Archbishop of Canterbury I became more and more aware of the priority of development and aid issues worldwide,’ he said. ‘I wondered before I stepped down from office how best to carry on with the work that had really excited me and engaged me. So when the suggestion came to chair Christian Aid I was really delighted.' Dr Williams, who is also Master of Magdalene College Cambridge, begins as Chair less than two weeks before the start of Christian Aid Week which kicks off on May 12. For more information go to www.christian-aid.org.uk/caw.

Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, becomes Chair of Christian Aid’s Board of Trustees today, May 1, with a plea to Christians to become agents of social justice. Having stepped down from his former job as Archbishop in December, Dr Williams said he was pleased to still be working with and for people living in poverty around the world. ‘In the last few years as Archbishop of Canterbury I became more and more aware of the priority of development and aid issues worldwide,’ he said. ‘I wondered before I stepped down from office how best to carry on with the work that had really excited me and engaged me. So when the suggestion came to chair Christian Aid I was really delighted.' Dr Williams, who is also Master of Magdalene College Cambridge, begins as Chair less than two weeks before the start of Christian Aid Week which kicks off on May 12. For more information go to www.christian-aid.org.uk/caw.

This Christian Aid Week (12-18 May 2013) we're focusing on projects around the world that are helping communities to grow themselves enough food to eat, not just for today but for tomorrow. In this podcast, Christian Aid’s Susan Barry explains how a simple text message containing weather forecast information is proving to be revolutionary for farmers in Kenya. Susan talks to Jimmy Wetindi who works for Christian Aid in Kenya about why this project is necessary, and also interviews Truphena Iriri, a local farmer, about the change these text messages have brought for her and her family. For more information please visit www.caweek.org

Alirio Uribe, a Colombian lawyer paints an overall picture of the human rights situation in Colombia ahead of a UN review taking place in Geneva in April 2013, a process called the Universal Periodic Review. Alirio talks about the government efforts to tackle the problem as well as areas of concern. #humanrights #Colombia #UPR #UN #Geneva #humanrightsdefenders

The good news is malaria deaths in Africa dropped by a third between 2000 and 2011. The bad news is more than half a million children still die each year. But the worst bit is that these deaths are preventable. Malaria is both preventable and curable, for relatively little money, yet access to nets, treatment and diagnosis is not equal. As we approach World Malaria Day 2013, Antoinette Powell talks to John Kitui, Christian Aid’s programme advisor on community health, to discover how our partners are helping to address this inequality. Find out more about Christian Aid's work on malaria at www.christianaid.org.uk/whatwedo/in-focus/hiv-malaria-health/index.aspx #malaria #prevention #inequality #nets #Africa

Tens of thousands of people took action as part of the “Enough Food for Everyone IF” campaign ahead of the government’s Budget and together we all played a key role to make the government keep its 0.7% aid promise. However, if we want to be the generation to end global hunger, we’ve still got more big IFs to tackle. So far the government hasn't delivered on their tough talk and made big companies spill the beans on the taxes they owe overseas. To understand why we need to keep the pressure up, CA_Global speaks with Mara Luz, Christian Aid’s Country Manager for Brazil, Jeanne Kamara Country Manager for Christian Aid in Sierra Leone and Charles Usie, Programme Manager for Christian Aid Nigeria. For more information visit www.christianaid.org.uk/if

Few people would think of church leaders if asked to name heroes of the HIV response. But since its launch members of the International Network of Religious Leaders Living with, or Personally Affected by, HIV and AIDS (INERELA+) have been pioneering a new approach to prevention and challenging stigma associated with the virus. Antoinette Powell talks to one of its founding members, Reverend James Matarazzo, who explains why it was high time for leaders within the Christian church and other faiths to begin championing this work. Find out more about Christian Aid's work on HIV at www.christianaid.org.uk/whatwedo/in-focus/hiv-malaria-health/index.aspx #HIV #AIDS #INERELA+ #ANERELA+ #faith #prevention #SAVE #ABC #prevention #FaithLeaders #religion #stigma

Of the one million refugees who have fled from the conflict in Syria, more than 114,000 of them have sought refuge in northern Iraq. Living in hastily erected makeshift structures that offer no protection from the cold or the storms, refugee communities are in desperate need of water, food and medical assistance. In this podcast, Nameer Sallu from Christian Aid partner organisation REACH, speaks to us from Iraq about the refugee situation and how the organisation is seeking to help those in need. To donate to the Syria Crisis Appeal please visit www.christian-aid.org/emergency #Syria #Iraq #MiddleEast #conflict

19 March 2013 marks the 10-year anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq. The humanitarian impact of the invasion has been devastating. A lack of security, as well as access to basic services such as sanitation, water and health, continue to affect the lives of millions of Iraqis. Christian Aid has been working in Iraq for almost 20 years. As well as providing assistance in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion, our partners are working in both the north and south of the country to support the poorest and most vulnerable communities. We are seeing seeds of hope as families rebuild lives. I caught up with Phoebe Aranki-Stoves, recently returned from Iraq, to hear about the situation and our work there first hand.