As part of the 'Zoom-in On' Poverty Global Photo Contest, co-organised by the Xinhua News Agency and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Xinhua and Reuters anounced on August 8 that they will send a joint-photo journalists group to Africa to participate in the global campaign to combat poverty.

While in Africa, part of the Xinhua-Reuters team, along with local journalists and news correspondents, will visit the gold mining town of Gauteng in South Africa to capture some of the achievements made, and the challenges facing the fight against HIV/AIDS. They will also head to Kenya to cover such topics as the promotion of youth development in poverty affected areas and drinking water safety and water security.

The project will cover a vast range of poverty-related topics in Sub-Saharan Africa, including the food crises and severe drought that is currently devastating refugee camps and local communities.

"The actions of these journalists to demonstrate how much media representatives across the world can raise the profile of human welfare and contribute to development through their work," said Wang Yao, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Xinhua News Agency and Director of the Board of Judges of the contest.

With the overall aim to encourage amateur and professional photographers to photograph the challenges and progress made in poverty alleviation, Africa is seen as an ideal location for this month-long photo shoot, having experienced poverty alleviation first hand, whilst also facing complex development challenges that threaten to undermine its development in the future.

UNDP China Deputy Country Director, Napoleon Navarro, said, "UNDP attaches great importance to its partnership with Xinhua and is committed to working together to not only reduce the physical distances that exist between rich and poor communities, but also those which are less visible. More than anything that we do, bridging these gaps and reducing poverty, in all its forms, are central to our efforts to forge development pathways that are equitable, sustainable and people orientated."

As an international event, the competition has received more than 5,000 entries, which have been submitted through the competition's official website by some 400 applicants from France, Italy, Australia, the United States, Israel, Singapore, Iran and Mozambique, among others. Thecontest is scheduled to conclude with an award ceremony in Beijing on October 17, 2011 – the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.