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Here’s today’s round-up: #FF @mercycorps turns crisis into opportunity at the One Table blog. See how they’re investing in the world’s women: http://bit.ly/xgwOb #FF @savethechildren knows who’s Feeling the Heat: http://bit.ly/3VjmPm #FF @nothingbutnets reports from the ground in Uganda. Check out the trip: http://bit.ly/bfMym #FF @worldvision podcast with World Food Programme on 1+ billion urgently hungry: http://bit.ly/1u1aia |
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We were well-received in every office we visited, reflecting the bipartisan nature of the bill we support: S.1524, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act. This bill will give USAID, the agency handling most of our U.S. foreign aid, the tools and people it needs to better fight hunger and poverty around the world. After repeated delays due to lack of sufficient grassroots support, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is now on-track and scheduled to discuss and mark up S.1524 next Tuesday, November 10. The fact that the Senate is making time for this bill now, despite Capitol Hill’s preoccupation with healthcare and other domestic concerns, is a big win for our movement and proof that when we come together, we can influence our legislators and really make a difference. Your phone calls and signatures on this petition told our senators loudly and clearly that Americans care about the quality of our foreign aid. That was a message they really needed to hear. We may still have a fight to see this bill and other critical components of aid reform enacted. But better, smarter, stronger U.S. foreign aid is on the horizon — thanks in part to the ripple effects yesterday’s petition delivery is bound to have on the Senate and beyond. Keep watching the ONE Blog for an update after the mark up on Tuesday. |
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ONE is turning to its community of artists, friends, members and staff for their top picks on creative works that have enhanced their knowledge and understanding of the richness of African culture and arts. Today we have a recommendation from Vusi Mahlasela: Two years ago, I met an inspired young South African named Fred Swaniker at the TED conference who told me about a school he was launching in an effort to transform Africa by developing and supporting future generations of African leaders. I instantly wanted to help out. As I’m constantly discovering how small the world is (and getting smaller), it turns out that a good friend of mine happened to be on the board of Fred’s school— The African Leadership Academy. The school invited me to perform at their school opening in September 2008 and again this past September for their second year. I am amazed by how motivated, creative, positive, and pioneering the students are. I know they will bring great things to this world, and I know they will be some of our many future great leaders of the continent. They are part of the promise for a better future. I ask you to please visit the school’s site and see how you can get involved with this great mission. |
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If you watched Bill and Melinda Gates’ “Impatient Optimists” presentation, you probably remember this discussion about rotavirus, and the deadly impact it can have on children: The Living Proof Project also has this great corresponding photo gallery documenting clinics in Managua and Pantasma, Nicaragua where great progress is being made in the administering of rotavirus vaccines. You can check out the full gallery by clicking the image below: |
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Les Roberts, Clinical Associate Professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health has worked extensively in countries ranging from Zimbabwe to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Today he writes about a lesser-known country– the Central African Republic: The Central African Republic (CAR) is a little known nation in the middle of Africa with a population of only four million. The country was fleetingly in the public eye as the hunting grounds of choice of former French President Charles De Gaulle, and for the 1987 Coronation of Jean-Bedele Bokassa, an obscenely extravagant event made famous in the Werner Herzog documentary, “Echos from a Somber Empire.” What is less easy to observe is that CAR is a land that is nearly ideal for human development. The land is fertile and plentiful, rainfall is parsed into two growing seasons, there are diamonds and gold and expanses of tropical jungle. In the North of the country, the climate is arid and a variety of animals roam in large national parks. In the South, the mighty Oubangui River forms the border while assuring plentiful water and forest parks that bring visitors from around the world to see gorillas and forest elephants. This land of agricultural and tourist potential has had one of the most politically unstable periods of post colonial independence of any African nation. Adding to the troubles is the fact that the country has borders with the conflict-laden areas of Eastern Congo, Northern Uganda, Darfur, and Chad. Over the past two decades, agricultural exports have plummeted, roads and infrastructure have decayed, and the country has evolved to be one of the world’s poorest. Columbia University, in conjunction with UNICEF, recently conducted a survey about problems facing women and children in CAR. In the days to come, our partners at Columbia University will explore with us if CAR is presently the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and the opportunities of effective compassion and humanitarian response that the crisis presents. |
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We recently wrote about ONE Germany’s “Artikel ONE” campaign to compel the German government to “focus on human dignity.” Carola Bieniek has a great play-by-play looking at the German coalition treaty, and gauging the campaign’s success:
As the goal of our ‘Article ONE’ campaign was to influence the content of the coalition treaty, we’ve picked apart the Article ONE and the treaty to see how we did: Article ONE: “The German government has the duty to act decisively against extreme poverty….” The coalition treaty speaks of values and interests in development politics. There is also an important reference, containing the commitment to fight extreme poverty, to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Article ONE: “…The successes of the past years show that there is a way out of poverty….” There is no reference to development successes of recent years in the coalition treaty. Article ONE: “…Germany keeps its promise to Africa and will allocate 0,51% in 2010 and 0,7% of its gross national income no later than 2015 for development assistance….” The international commitments to finance development are enforced in the treaty. However, whilst the 0.7% goal is named, concrete timing is not. However by referring to “international commitments” the treaty implies that this goal – through an intermediate goal of 0.51% ODA/GNI by 2010 – shall be reached by 2015. The CDU/CSU’s “Government Program 2009 to 2013” contains similar wording. ONE asked the Secretary Generals of the CDU and CSU to clarify this wording and they confirmed that the above interpretation is accurate. ONE therefore assumes the meaning is the same in the coalition treaty. There is, however, a reservation clause on the budget of which the exact relevance and meaning remain unclear to us. The coalition treaty ensures a “design of development assistance tailored to the need at hand in the areas of biodiversity as well as the fight against climate change and hunger”. This will make substantial Overseas Development Aid (ODA) increases necessary. Article ONE: “…Ownership as well as transparent and coordinated aid is key to highly effective development assistance….” Strengthening the individual responsibility of the developing countries is named as a central element and the importance of coordination on a national as well as an international level is picked up broadly in the treaty. (more…) |
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When you have a few minutes, I highly recommend this video produced by the New York Times. It tells the story of 37-year-old Mohamed Aden who for the last year has served as the leader of the small town of Adado, Somalia. He only recently returned to Somalia after spending roughly 16 years in Minnesota where he earned a college degree at Minnesota State, while supporting himself by parking cars and working in a factory. His return to Somalia, and his attempts to maintain a fragile peace and support development efforts in his village are truly fascinating. You can watch the full video by clicking the image below: |
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ONE’s Co-Founder and Executive Director Jamie Drummond writes about his personal journey to Ethiopia: Twenty five years ago, like many of my generation, I was called to action by images of drought and starvation – and by a couple of shaggy-haired, Irish rock stars with whom I’ve now been working for a decade. The Ethiopian famines and the world’s response through Band Aid and Live Aid have shaped the image of Africa for a generation and spurred concerted action to fight extreme poverty. A quarter of a century on, it is perhaps a good moment to ask how the aid that has flowed has worked and how the model of celebrity-led advocacy is faring. A few weeks ago, I returned to Tigray in northern Ethiopia to look again at the impact of funds raised by Band Aid and the work of the World Food Programme. I travelled through this region in 1995 and visited a village called Daereda. Drought and a desperate population had denuded their valley of trees and greenery; fertile top soil had been eroded by seasonal flash floods. Back then, many of the villagers were grateful for the food aid they had received and quick to thank the western public and a far-off thing called Geldof. But they wanted more than handouts – they wanted to take matters into their own hands and heal the physical damage to their lands. The food aid helped them do just that. It was being given through “food for work” programmes. Teams of thousands set to work planting trees, contouring steep hillsides to conserve soil and water, digging ponds and building check dams, all to raise the lands fertility. Today, the results are astonishing. The valley is lush and green; the river flows all year round; the land is more fertile and productive. This success story is echoed in valleys across Tigray. The region receives many expert visitors to see how it was done. And in spite of the images of starvation we’re currently confronted with, it’s not the only positive story to have come out of Ethiopia in the past decade. The country has also halved malarial death rates through widespread use of insecticide= treated bed nets, and doubled school enrolment. Economic growth has been over 5% for a decade, 7% on average for the last three years. But parts of the country, and region, are still on the verge of starvation. This could lead some quickly to assume that 25 years on nothing has changed. No serious investigation can lead to the conclusion, but it is still not acceptable that 14 million Ethiopians today rely on food aid and that for some rations are being cut. The answer as ever is complex. Climate change is causing more frequent droughts, impairing rural communities’ coping mechanisms. Not enough has been spent on rural roads and the government hasn’t permitted mobile phones or developed local markets. But above all there has been insufficient global attention paid to agriculture. Spending on agriculture went down from 17% of global aid in 1980 to just 3.8 % in 2006. It’s stunning that after the famines of the 1980s we didn’t increase investment in long-term regional food security and agricultural productivity. The World Bank and IMF even counselled against it as part of their notorious structural adjustment programmes. Tough questions must now be asked about the international development business and how this was allowed to happen. At last this year the G8 countries agreed to invest $20bn in agricultural productivity. (more…) |
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Global Health Magazine just posted this interesting interview with Ambassador Eric Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. In it he discusses the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) at length as well as the Obama Administration’s plans for combating the global AIDS epidemic. Excerpt below, full interview here
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Washington Post: Slowed funding threatens AIDS fight, group says The Economist: The HIV travel ban is lifted ABC News: Will Promising New Malaria Vaccine Deliver? Financial Times: G20 ministers seek to counter skepticism Reuters: China adopts “malaria diplomacy” as part of Africa push Business Day: Food subsidy scheme for poor homes a blessing for small-scale farmers |
The ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with frequent contributions from volunteers, members and partner organizations.
The ONE Blog updates readers daily with the latest in global development news and analysis and what ONE members and our partners are doing around the world to influence world leaders in the fight against global poverty.
The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE or ONE Action. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any post expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
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