At this time of giving and sharing, the Southern Africa Trust has launched a challenging online giving campaign to raise funds from individuals and organisations in South Africa that will get the public thinking about how to seriously help people living in poverty - and give wisely.

Speaking at the launch of the Change a life forever this festive season campaign, Southern Africa Trust executive director, Neville Gabriel, said "the dual aim of the campaign is to stimulate deeper public discussion about how to address poverty in southern Africa and to raise money to support the work of organizations working to change the root causes of poverty, so that those who live in poverty now, won't die that way".

Every year, South African's give over R1-billion to charity, yet more than 100 million people still live in extreme poverty in southern Africa. Often, donations provide temporary relief to people in poverty but do not go further to support work that addresses the reasons why people continue to live in poverty. The campaign challenges the public to also give to solve the problems that cause poverty, not only to address its immediate symptoms.

Shirley Moulder, a trustee of the Southern Africa Trust who was amongst the first to give to the campaign, said, "working with others, we are seeking lasting solutions to poverty so that our interventions can make a real difference in the lives of the poor".

The campaign is being run in partnership with the Mail and Guardian newspaper. It will run for five weeks from 23 November 2007 to 21 December 2007 with a modest target of raising R250,000 during the festive period. The secure online giving experts, GivenGain, will manage the online donation facility.

The Southern Africa Trust is an independent, regional, non-profit agency that supports deeper and wider engagement in policy development to overcome poverty in southern Africa. The Trust currently supports 75 organisations committed to overcoming poverty. It has provided more than US$8 million in grants to these organisations for more than 100 projects throughout southern Africa that address hunger, better use of water and other natural resources, the protection of child migrants, a stronger voice for women in the public sphere, control of small arms, and more effective management of community organisations, amongst many other initiatives.