Custom software experts take on the Live Below the Line challenge and the development of the charity’s website

24th April 2013, London – To raise awareness of the Global Poverty Project, custom software experts, ThoughtWorks, will take part in the 2013 Live Below the Line challenge and take on the development of the charity’s online platform. The ThoughtWorks team will join 20,000 others from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the UK to live below the line for five days and increase the number and effectiveness of people taking action against extreme poverty.

Live Below the Line is an international campaign that aims to address extreme poverty and creates a scenario in which people must feed themselves on £1 a day (inclusive of food and drink) – thus highlighting the difficult decisions that people in extreme poverty must make daily.

Participants will live on £1 a day from 29 April – 3 May which will bring to life the direct experiences of the 1.2 billion people currently living in extreme poverty, as defined by the World Bank. Those involved with Live Below the Line may do the challenge during the global week or any other time through 30th June 2013 and continue to raise funds for anti-poverty initiatives. In the UK alone this year, we're expecting to have over 5,000 participants raising around £750K for anti-poverty initiatives including 35 charity partners in the UK.

In 2012 ThoughtWorks Australia took on the initial lead of the development of the charity’s online platform, which enabled $3,500,000 to be raised throughout the campaign. 2013 has seen ThoughtWorks Europe and India take over the development, with a new approach using remote inceptions and offshore delivery.

Barry O’Reilly from ThoughtWorks comments that: “We had such a great internal response from people wanting to get involved and support this challenge, so we are all very excited about doing our bit to raise awareness and money for this fantastic cause. Every ThoughtWorker is motivated by delivering creative software that has the power to help change the world we live in. And by working with the Global Poverty Project, we can achieve just that.

“We are all strong believers in the power of software and technology being used as tools for social change. We are delighted to be both working with and taking part in the Live Below the Line which demonstrates in a concrete way, the poverty and inequality that billions of people suffer on a daily basis.”

If you would like to donate towards the ThoughtWorks team’s efforts, please visit https://www.livebelowtheline.com/team/thoughtworks-europe, or if you would like to set up your own team and get involved in the five day challenge, please visit the Live Below the Line website at: https://www.livebelowtheline.com.

-ENDS-