Under the
slogan, “more awareness, less poverty,” university students reach out to the public to inform
them
about global poverty and, ultimately solve the
problem prevailing in the world. GP3 Korea,
which stands for
Global
Poverty Public Awareness Project in Korea, is an NGO (non-governmental
organization) consisting of
university
student volunteers. It was founded by graduate school students and Choi
Eun-chang, currently an
affiliated
fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, in the winter of
2009 after they took
Globalization,
Poverty, Development and Law course at Korea University’s
Graduate School of International
Studies.
“We believe the
solution to the global poverty issue needs not only the governments’ assistance or the
super riches’
donations but also the civil society’s
awareness,”
said Kim Ah-hyun (Dongguk University,
4),
the communications
manager of GP3 Korea. “Thus, we
focused on how the media does not talk about
global poverty much,
which leads to public’s
indifference and passive attitude toward it. We try to eliminate
this vicious cycle
by creating an open access to information about global poverty.”
After its foundation, GP3 Korea recruited its first
members in 2009 and officially started its projects. Members
serve their term for six months, and this year, 132
students are partaking. As GP3 Korea’s primary purpose
is
to create and make poverty-related information
written in Korean available for the public, it mainly utilizes
the
Internet and (SNS) social networking services. On
its homepage(http://www.povertyinfo.org), GP3 Korea
provides a variety of information on the poverty
issue through boards such as Poverty Wiki, as well as
up-to-date news regarding the poor
countries.
Poverty Wiki is a wiki-based open knowledge library
with the name of Global Poverty Digital Library
reviews all created by the members and volunteers.
In addition, by using diverse social networking services,
GP3 Korea sends out easily accessible articles and
photos about the cause, reality and possible solutions
of global poverty.
In order to do so, the members process the heavy
and difficult information being circulated into accessible
and easy-to-read materials. For example, GP3 Korea
summarizes the United Nation’s official data or
news
released by foreign press in English and translates
them into Korean. The members of GP3 Korea explain
such is significant in that it can alleviate the
asymmetry of information.
“We think open access to public knowledge is the
most important factor in increasing awareness of the
issue,” Kim said.
“By providing articles and telling stories about poverty
through mobile applications and
SNS, we are enabling the public to easily pick up
information and realize the severity of the issue.”
Within the group, GP3 Korea is divided into 11
different teams including Design, Event, Translation and
Funding, all collaborating to accomplish the same
goal. Thus, GP3 Korea employs other means of
promoting global poverty rather than simply working
with written materials.
Recently, it created and distributed a video
informing the public about countries suffering from poverty
through SNS and YouTube. In addition, GP3 Korea
makes continuous efforts to publicize the issue offline.
Last year, it organized campaigns and flash mobs
near Hongik University subway station and received
much public attention.
“The flash mob we performed last May is probably
the most remembered event,” Yoon
Won-joo
(Sungkyunkwan University, 3) said. “In the process of organizing, preparing and practicing for the
event,
which was quite time consuming, there had been
many difficulties. But I believe such opportunity let us
understand better and care more for the global
poverty issue.”
Sessions, called unions, are also held
regularly, where all the members gather and discuss global
poverty
and other associated issues such as Fair Trade and
official development assistance.
The first union of this month was held on
April 6 in Sogang University, under the theme of “Seeking
hope in Africa” along with
a lecture by Yoon Sang-wook, the author of “There is No
Africa in Africa”
and Yook Sook-hee, an instructor of the Department
of African Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign
Studies. The lecturers not only provided knowledge
about Africa and poverty issues but also advised the
students about their future career on a global
stage.
“GP3 Korea works so
that the information and knowledge we distribute will reach the
public,” Kim said.
“Hopefully, the enthusiastic will take a step
further to make a more specific and a real change. Because
this is how ‘the better
future’ is made.”
