The Micah Network and the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) created the Micah Challenge campaign to grasp a moment of unique potential. A moment when the intention of all of the world’s leaders to halve poverty by 2015, echoes something of the mind of the Biblical prophets and the teachings of Jesus concerning the poor. A moment when the world has the means to dramatically reduce poverty and hunger!

Micah Challenge is a global campaign to mobilise Christians against poverty. The campaign aims to deepen Christian engagement with impoverished and marginalised communities, and to influence leaders of rich and poor nations to fulfil their promise to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

These two aims - one looking inward and calling on Christians, and the other looking outward and calling on leaders - are interlocked. For many Christians, churches, and Christian organisations, engagement in political advocacy with poor communities will be a new step built upon a new understanding of Christ's mission for the church. Micah Challenge is encouraging these Christians to explore and embrace 'integral mission'. While for many Christians who are already engaged in work with poor communities, Micah Challenge offers a global framework for speaking up with the poor, particularly for achievement of the MDGs.

Micah Challenge was launched globally on October 15, 2004 at the United Nations in New York.

The MDGs are a compact between rich and poor, and a roadmap to halve poverty. In 2000, all 191 member states of the United Nations, and the global financial institutions, publicly promised to halve poverty by 2015 by achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals. They reaffirmed their promise at the World Summit of 2005. The Goals include measurable, time-bound targets. They are achievable, but not by 'business as usual'. Mobilising civil society to speak up at every governmental level is critical to ensuring that governments keep these promises.

"What makes these goals so remarkable is their clear commitment to a timetable. By being so time-specific, they give us an exceptional set of “advocacy levers”. The development community, and all who are committed to working for a more just and compassionate world, can and must use these levers to hold our leaders accountable and insist that they fulfil their promises. If we fail in this, the MDGs will undoubtedly go the way of many other “commitments” to end poverty – another set of broken promises to the poor, another tragic joke at their expense."
- Steve Bradbury, Co-Chair of Micah Network.

At December 2006, Micah Challenge national campaigns include:

• Six of the eight G8 member countries - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, UK, and USA; and three other European campaigns in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium.
• Eight campaigns in Africa - Burundi, DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
• Nine campaigns in Asia – Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
• Eight campaigns in Latin America and the Caribbean - Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Uruguay.

Find out about the work and resources of other Micah Challenge campaigns at the following sites: