Economic Justice 2008

Helping individuals and communities break the cycle of poverty

Sponsored by The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Winner

David Young 

Community Rights and Forest Law Enforcement Government and Trade initiative of the EU, Global Witness

David Young's background is in rural development and forestry. He is campaigning on behalf of Global Witness to put community rights at the centre of forest management in forest-rich developing countries. The campaign includes a series of partnerships between Europe and timber-producing developing countries. The main objectives of the programme are to ensure that only legal timber enters European markets and to put local communities at the centre of decision-making on forest use. David is working to build better relationships between partner countries and to lobby European decision-makers on these issues.

Finalists

Emma Mamo

MIND

Emma is a Campaigns Officer at MIND aiming to raise awareness of the relationship between debt and mental health and is calling on the finance, health and advice sectors to work together to address these issues. The campaign aims to improve the finance sector's understanding of the challenges that people living with mental illness and debt can experience. Emma has set up meetings between corporations, trade associations and politicians to highlight the complicated relationship between finance and mental health.

Rachel Noble

Tourism Concern

Rachel works for Tourism Concern, a charity aiming to expose exploitation in the tourism industry and campaigns for greater benefits for local people in destination countries. She has worked on the charity's Tsunami campaign aiming to ensure that the post-tsunami tourism developments are sustainable and beneficial to local people displaced by the tsunami who are dependent on the coast for their livelihoods.

John Pierce

National Housing Federation

John has been Campaign Executive at the National Housing Federation (NHF) since 2006 when he launched the Pre-Payment Meter campaign. The aim is to persuade energy suppliers to make their pre-payment meter tariffs the same as their quarterly bill tariffs. This would remove the premium of up to £100 that their poorest customers have to pay. The campaign works to persuade energy suppliers to voluntarily remove this premium. The NHF are also lobbying the government to legislate for its removal.