Former Young Australian of the Year and founder of the Oaktree Foundation Hugh Evans is a man on a mission.
The 26-year-old was in Dunedin last night with the New Zealand chapter of the Global Poverty Project, which aims to spur Kiwis into action to help end extreme poverty around the world.
It is estimated 1.4 billion people live on less than $US1.25 a day.
Rather than show graphic images of emaciated children in developing countries, Mr Evans' 90-minute presentation 1.4 Billion Reasons last night showed about 1200 people at the Dunedin Town Hall how they could help by making simple changes to their everyday life.
"The best thing people in Dunedin can do is buy Cadbury's chocolate exclusively from Easter next year, because Cadbury's has announced their milk chocolate will be Fairtrade."
He suggested Dunedin residents put bouquets of flowers on the Cadbury building doorstep this morning to show their appreciation.
He also urged every University of Otago student to write a letter or email to their local MP and say, "We will only vote for you if you take steps to increase foreign aid to 0.7% of gross national income in line with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals".
The presentation was developed by the team behind the Australian Make Poverty History concerts which involved U2 singer Bono and actor Hugh Jackman.
Mr Evans said it was inspired by former United States vice-president Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth which showed the effects of global climate change.
The initiative advocates the United Nations' eight Millennium Development Goals which were developed in 2000 and adopted by 189 countries with the objective of improving the lives of those in extreme poverty by 2015.
Mr Evans said the presentation had already been given to thousands of people in Australia, and would also be held in Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland, Tauranga and Hamilton before moving to Canada and the United Kingdom later this year.
