Get on Board Bus

This participatory initiative used face-to-face dialogue - through a vehicle that reached out to Africa's people wherever they lived - to give voice to those who might otherwise be excluded from high-level dialogue. Driving across Africa, the bus met people living in extreme poverty in an effort to ensure that their voices would be heard at the G8 summit. The people on board the bus asked people they meet on their journey to tell them or show them what they thought about poverty, and what should be done about it. These messages were intended to form a challenge from the people of Africa to world leaders to support - not undermine - Africa's own efforts to overcome poverty and injustice.

The project broadcasted live from the bus through the internet so that interested people could ride along to the countries the bus visited. Through the Get on Board Bus website (no longer active), the African public could be on board the bus and listen to the voices of Southern and Eastern Africa being delivered direct to world leaders. Members of the public, worldwide, were invited to meet the people the bus met and see the things participants saw. They were also encouraged to send free e-postcards to friends in an effort to help raise awareness about the initiative, and the issue of poverty in Africa.

Rights, Economic Development.

The project is part of a wider mission: The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) and Make Poverty History. These collective voices are calling on world leaders to “change the face of global poverty forever.” Their demands include tackling unfair global trade rules, cancelling the debts of the poorest countries and increasing the quality and amount of aid given to developing countries.

Make Poverty History is a coalition assembled in the United Kingdom (UK) to fight global poverty. Charities, faith groups, trade unions and celebrities joined together to urge the UK government, as host of the G8 summit in 2005, to make the most of its position to press other world leaders to bring about change for the world's economically poorest people. It sought to achieve meaningful policy change on three key issues: trade justice, debt cancellation and aid.