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Campaigning to beat poverty, injustice and inequality
Stop AIDS.  If not now, when?

6,000 people die every day from AIDS-related illnesses, a preventable tragedy given the existence of simple life-saving medicines.  Skillshare International is working in some of worst-hit countries, in Southern Africa, and sees the devastating effects of the pandemic.

Since 2005, world leaders including the British Prime Minister, have promised to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010.  But this promise is being broken: barely one in four people have access to the HIV drugs they need to stay alive.

In spring 2008 the UK Government will publish a new three-year strategy on tackling HIV and AIDS in the developing world.  We believe this is a crucial moment: the Government must provide the money, the health workers, the affordable medicines - and the leadership - so desperately needed to keep promises and save lives.

Please help by taking action.  Go to www.ifnotnowwhen.tk to join us in sending a message to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for International Development.

In a speech to the United Nations in July 2007, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, "We cannot allow our promises... to descend into just aspirations... and then only words that symbolise broken promises".
Our HIV & AIDS campaigning

HIV & AIDS is a global emergency claiming 8,000 lives a day in some of the poorest countries in the world. Every day Skillshare International sees the devastating affects of the epidemic in Africa and South Asia. With the Stop AIDS Campaign we are working to make AIDS history.

We would love to hear from anybody who would like to campaign with us.  Please email campaigns@skillshare.org to see what we can do together.
Campaigning in Leicester
Skillshare International's UK office is in Leicester and our staff play their part by working with other local organisations and activists in the Leicester Make Poverty History Group.  The group campaigns at local events, organises discussion evenings about global issues, and has lots of information on its website www.leicestermakepoveryhistory.org.uk
Campaigning for Trade Justice
Skillshare International is a member of the Trade Justice Movement, a group of organisations which believe that the rich and powerful are pursuing trade policies that put profits before the needs of people and the planet. To end poverty and protect the environment we need Trade Justice not free trade, so together we are campaigning for trade justice with the rules weighted to benefit poor people and the environment. Find out more at www.tjm.org.uk or contact our UK Supporters Office.
 
Why campaign?
We want all of our supporters to join in campaigning with us. It's often very easy to do but it also often the most powerful way to make a lasting difference for the greatest number of people. Simply by adding your name to a petition you can tell your politicians that you care about an issue, and if they care about getting your vote then it will certainly make them think! 		 
Campaigning works when people join together and decision-makers see that there's a movement for change that they must respond to. Tireless campaigning in recent years has put international issues firmly on the political map, and now is the time to accelerate our efforts. Campaigning with Skillshare International
 
 
Global Call to Action against Poverty

In 2005 Skillshare International joined hundreds of other organisations in a very successful one-year campaign called Make Poverty History as part of a global movement called the Global Call to Action against Poverty.  Skillshare International and other NGOs are still actively campaigning under the GCAP banner, symbolized by a white band.  For example in London in June 2007 we joined forces with international volunteering organisations to represent volunteers voices against poverty as part of a mass rally ahead of the G8 summit.  For more information please visit www.whiteband.org and www.makepovertyhistory.org or contact our UK Supporters Office.

This page was updated on 10 January 2008