One gives voters voice on poverty

Anti-poverty group One is launching an online and grassroots campaign, developed by Enable Interactive, designed to give a new voice to voters’ concerns about global poverty in the run-up to the general election.

The “One Vote 2010” campaign, which launches today (13 April), mirrors a campaign run by One in the US during the 2008 election that featured video statements from Barack Obama and John McCain.

It features video messages from party leaders who will outline their priorities for tackling poverty and gives voters information and tools to help them communicate with their candidates about global poverty using social media platforms such as Facebook and twitter.

Oliver Buston, One’s Europe director, says: “This campaign uses exciting online platforms to help voters engage their local candidates on global issues – just as they did in the Obama campaign. This just wasn’t possible before the rise of social media.”

He adds that the campaign is helping voters have “intelligent conversations with their candidates” about poverty issues.

One members are also partnering with the Global Poverty Project to lay out key facts about poverty and solutions in a presentation it hopes will reach more than 40,000 people in the UK.

One will also live-stream the Development Ministers’ debate on 21 April and is encouraging its members to submit questions to the leaders’ televised Foreign Policy Debate on 22 April.

One is an anti-poverty group supported by Bono and Bill Gates.