We have a winner in ONE’s Next Top T-shirt contest. It’s Valerie Strecker of Slidell, Louisiana and her design, voted on by almost 60,000 ONE members worldwide, is available for pre-order in the ONE Store.

Check it out:

The design is being printed right now on our new, made in Uganda, 100% organic, fair-traded cotton T-shirts and they’ll be ready to ship in just over a week. The shirts come in black and white, and in both men’s and women’s styles and they make great gifts. Don’t wait, get yours today.

Today we have the distinct honor of bringing to you a very special series from men and women who have served in our Armed Services. This piece comes from Jake Harriman, founder and CEO of Nuru International. Jake served over 7 years in the Marine Corps as an Infantry Platoon Commander and a Special Operations Platoon Commander for an elite unit called Force Recon:

On this Veteran’s Day 2009, the United States once again finds itself engaged in conflict. As you read these words, the brave men and women of our armed forces are battling Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and splinter terrorist organizations in half a dozen other countries around the world.

But on this Veteran’s Day I want to speak to you from the frontlines of a different war – a war against a senseless, unnecessary evil that daily takes thousands more lives than are lost in Baghdad, Gaza, Kandahar, Mogadishu, and Jaffna combined. It is the war against extreme poverty.
I have had the unique experience of fighting in both of these battles.

I spent 7-and-a-half years as a Marine Corps Infantry and Special Operations Platoon Commander – serving four operational tours in Iraq, the Horn of Africa, and other areas of southwest Asia. During combat operations in Iraq, I had several very profound experiences that awakened me to the fact that the only way to see the end of terrorism is to end extreme poverty.

The End (Jake’s Story) from Nuru International on Vimeo.

My men and I saw the desperation in the eyes of poor farmers who were coerced by Jihadists into fighting the Americans. Why? Is it out of some misplaced/ignorant sense of hatred for the West and all it stands for? No. It is because the farmers’ children were starving and the Jihadists promised food, education and money if they fought the Americans.

Extreme poverty strips a person of real choices. A life without choices leads to desperation, and desperate people do desperate things.

When my commitment was up, I left my career in the Marines and set out to create an organization to fight extreme poverty. Nuru International partners with the rural poor in the developing world and other nonprofit and for profit organizations to end extreme poverty one community at a time. We don’t give handouts, but instead through training and empowerment we actually equip the poor to become the answers to their own problems.

There is hope for those without choices. We can end extreme poverty in our lifetimes, and in so doing, answer the cry of the desperate, give a voice to the voiceless, and provide choices to impoverished men and women who have been struggling for so long.

A revolution has begun…a revolution to wake up and mobilize a generation to end this fight once and for all. There is no room in this fight for egos, partisan politics, or ideological differences. One sixth of humanity cries out to us today – asking you and me to simply put our differences aside and use our talent, skills and resources to empower them with choices. This Veteran’s Day, I ask you to step forward and get in the fight with us. In so doing, you will ensure that thousands of brave veterans and countless global citizens have not sacrificed their lives in this war in vain. Join the revolution. Be hope. Be light. Be Nuru.

All images copyright Nuru International 2009

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…)

Two weeks ago, Eugene Cho, ONE member, lead pastor of Quest, and founder of Q Café launched a new venture, One Day’s Wages. At its core, the idea is simple; create a movement of people to take one day’s worth of our wages, about 0.4%, and donate that money to organizations working on the ground to end global poverty and promote global health.

Then again, it’s not just about making donations. It’s about learning about global poverty. Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristoff was just featured on their blog. And, it’s about making change. ODW is working with ONE to make sure effective advocacy is part of this movement (they already have over 800,000 Facebook fans). Back in the spring, Eugene interviewed faith relations manager Adam Phillips to introduce ONE to ODW. Of course, notice Eugene sporting a ONE band in the ODW launch video.

The Movement of One Day’s Wages from One Day's Wages on Vimeo.

ODW describes itself as “a movement of stories and actions of compassionate justice to fight extreme global poverty.” Some of the stories are already getting out. CBS featured it in “The Inspired Nation” from On the Scene with Shira:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Congratulations to ODW on their launch!

On Friday, President Obama announced that the U.S. will overturn its 22-year-old ban on travel and immigration to the U.S. by HIV-positive people.

In early July, we let you know that the HIV travel ban was set to be lifted through a change issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), noting that public comments were being requested and that a final rule would be issued later in the year. We are happy to report back that the change has been approved, and the ban will be officially lifted at the beginning of the New Year.

Of the new regulation, President Obama said, “We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic-yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people with HIV from entering our own country.” He continued, “If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it.” Obama also thanked former President George W. Bush, for approving the initial steps to repeal the ban last summer. Obama’s comments came during a signing ceremony to extend the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, which provides medical care and support to about 500,000 mostly low-income and uninsured people living with HIV/AIDS.

I just returned from Sidney Harman Hall here in Washington, DC where Bill and Melinda Gates presented the Living Proof Project.

A lot of you watched the speech live here on the ONE Blog so I won’t rehash the event detail for detail, but what I saw tonight was probably one of the most compelling and crystal clear cases for US investments in global health I’ve ever witnessed. Smallpox eradicated, polio reduced 99 percent, measles reduced 93 percent, terrific progress made in the fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria– it was truly inspiring to see these facts laid out by two people who are playing such a pivotal role in encouraging the US government to do more.

But with so much to be optimistic about, Melinda Gates probably put it best when she said “the world is getting better. But it’s not getting better for everyone, and it’s not getting better fast enough.”

The presentation was interspersed with some fantastic footage chronicling US global health investments on the ground. It’s no secret that video is often the best medium to really capture some of these powerful stories, and the crowd’s reaction definitely demonstrated that.

I just have to share this one that documents the results of Rotavirus vaccine in a clinic in Nicaragua. Even though I’d seen it before, I still find it really striking.

The Gates cited several specific examples of programs that are making great strides in global health– from the Global Fund and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, to the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the promise of the Millennium Development Goals.

It was fitting that the Gates chose to make this presentation in DC given the importance they placed in the US Government’s ability to make an enormous impact. As Bill Gates put it, though foundations like the Gates Foundation can act as catalysts, governments in rich countries “have the money, the expertise, and the leadership to deliver the interventions that will save millions of lives.”

There’s a lot more I could add, but I’ll choose instead to end it the same way the Gates did tonight– by pointing you to www.livingproofproject.org so you can see for yourself what I saw tonight and spread the word in your community about all the great work that’s being done thanks to US investments in global health– and how much is still left to do.

You can watch the presentation in its entirety in the below blog post.

At the U2 concert last night, I had the chance to catch up with Andrew Silvestri, who came out to volunteer with ONE in his hometown of Norman, Oklahoma, and previously worked on our ONE Vote ’08 initiative last year. He was joined by his brother Eric and sister-in-law Tara. They took a quick break from signing up new ONE members to talk with me about how they got involved with ONE.

Eric and Tara have long been passionate about global development and Tara are getting ready to move to Costa Rica, where Eric plans to pursue a Masters Degree in International Law and Human Rights from the United Nations School of Peace in Costa Rica. And just a year and a half ago, they adopted Malak, a baby boy from Ethiopia. ONE is part of how they stay connected to Africa.

Andrew credited his time at ONE working on global poverty, with his decision to change the focus of his graduate program at the Kennedy School of Government to African development.

From left to right, Andrew, Tara and Eric Silvestri volunteering with ONE at the Norman, OK U2 show

The Slivestris are three more in the long line of incredible ONE volunteers we’ve seen at every stop on the U2 tour, from Barcelona back in July, to Norman yesterday. Their commitment is the “wind to our backs” that Archbishop Desmond Tutu talks about in his video message during the show, and a huge part of the reason for our optimism that this generation will be the one to end global poverty.

-Aaron Banks

Check out this post on World Food Day from our partner organization World Food Programme. This post—exploring how the WFP is working to invest in local agriculture—is part of our Food Security in Focus series. Stay tuned to the ONE Blog for more entries in coming days.

-Kara Arsenault

Most of the world’s half-billion smallholder farmers struggle to make food spring from the earth. Hit hardest by the rising tide of natural disasters—and often lacking access to the credit, fertilizers and improved seeds that would boost their resilience— they continually hover a half-step away from ruin.

And yet, whole continents depend on their labors. In sub-Saharan Africa, where some 80 million smallholder farmers (mostly women) supply 80 percent of the food, they are the future.

In 2008, the World Food Programme (WFP) bought $1.1 billion worth of food in 73 developing countries. That same year, we launched a 21-country pilot initiative called Purchase for Progress (P4P), which seeks to leverage our huge purchasing power to the advantage of the smalltime farmers in the poorest countries where we work.

The program, which receives funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates and Howard G. Buffett Foundations, aims to empower tens of thousands of small-scale farmers to move beyond subsistence— by connecting them to markets. The food WFP buys from the farmers will feed the hungry in the same country. A guaranteed buyer also gives farmers the confidence—and the cash—to invest in their own enterprises.

This formula has already proved a “win-win” for small farmers from Asia to Latin America.

In Nicaragua, we heard from 76-year-old farmer Dionisio Blandon, who can finally afford quality seeds and fertilizers for his 1.4 hectare plot of maize because his P4P-supported cooperative has extended credit—to be repaid after the harvest. He expects his income to increase by 40 percent.

Anne Rono, a mother of seven from Kenya, tells us she’s usually at the mercy of traders who take advantage of small farmers by offering them below-market price for their maize. But this year—thanks to P4P—she’s getting a reliable buyer and a fair price, putting more cash into her hands so she can purchase fertilizer for her fields—and school books and clothing for her kids. In her words: “P4P can change my life.”

Find out more about Purchase for Progress here.

-Jennifer Parmelee, World Food Programme

Apparently not, according to the new report from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The surge in global trade over the last two decades has failed to improve working conditions and living standards in many developing countries. Although trade has contributed to growth and development worldwide, many of the jobs created in developing countries have appeared in the informal sector. Informal sector jobs tend to be the most vulnerable, characterised by less job security, lower incomes and an absence of access to social benefits. Yet, in many African and South Asian countries, as much as 60 percent of the country’s labour force is employed by this sector. In turn, these vulnerable labour market conditions have prevented developing countries from fully benefiting from globalisation. The report warns that this situation is likely to worsen as a result of the global financial crisis.

What can we do about this? The WTO’s chief Pascal Lamy encourages putting in place proper domestic policies to create good jobs in developing countries. The report recommends a number of ways to make trade policies more closely aligned with job issues in developing countries, including better coordination between trade and labour policies, and implementing policies to encourage formalisation of employment. Rich country governments also need to support poorer country governments in doing so, and enhanced trade capacity building assistance is one way to do this.

You can read the report here.

I unfortunately missed last night’s Daily Show, but William Kamkwamba, author of the new book “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” was Jon Stewart’s guest. It’s a pretty remarkable interview, and William has a pretty remarkable story.

For those unfamiliar with “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”, it’s the autobiographical story of William’s mission to fight famine in his home country of Malawi by constructing a wind mill– based solely off a picture he found in a book from a library. Upon hearing him recount his story, Jon Stewart jokingly responds, “You sound exactly like me as a boy.”

Check out the clip below, and read more about “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” on William’s blog here.