Poverty

In The Netherlands there's a discussion going on about whether we need to sustain to spend 0,7% of the total Governments' budget for development cooperation. We are one of the richest countries in the world. We have to take care of the poor. The World Bank recently published an update. Which seems positive, but still alarming for many people in many countries.
Yesterday for the first time I joined a meeting of the South North commission of PvdA (ZNC)  about development cooperation/international cooperation. And it is so obvious that we have the responsibility to do so! 0,7 %.... it's almost cynical to doubt that. There are countries around us who, even in those days of economic crisis, spend more rather than less of their budget. We need to take the whole system into the 21st century, relations are changing, but we still have the responsibility to do so. transparent, open to new initiatives, combining skills here and there, to take care for now and then. But DO it!