Follow Friday is a chance for people on Twitter to recommend other people, organizations, and movements on Twitter. We at @ONECampaign like to take the opportunity to give shout-outs to other partner organizations and people who are making a difference in the fight against extreme poverty.

Here’s today’s round-up:

#FF Check out a video from @water of co-founders Gary White and Matt Damon visiting water projects in Ethiopia: http://bit.ly/774FZW

#FF It’s a hopeful trend: this video of the month from @aglimmerofhope highlights life today in Ethiopian villages. http://bit.ly/4E3gDk

#FF @RefugeesIntl asks MONUC to speak up in DR Congo: http://bit.ly/2DW1kI

#FF @interactionorg peers into the future of development assistance: http://www.interaction.org/md/sample-articles-september-2009-monday-developments

We’ve just wrapped up ONE’s Next Top T-shirt Challenge and are very excited about the winning design submitted by ONE member Valerie Strecker. We hope these T-shirts can play a part in spreading the word about ONE and the great work ONE members are doing to fight poverty and disease.

A few of you have asked to know more about the T-shirts themselves and their story is definitely worth telling.

The cotton used in the making of the T-shirts is grown in Northern Uganda, by subsistence farmers, who each have approximately five acres of land on which they grow both food and cash crops. The cotton used in the ONE tee’s was harvested from a group of approximately 16,000 certified organic farmers, many of whom lived for years in IDP Camps (internally displaced peoples camps) as a result of the war, and who have only returned to their homes and fields in the past few years. Cotton is planted between May and June and harvesting takes place between December and February.

The cotton is hand-picked by the farmers and then delivered to local store-rooms for later delivery to the ginnery where the seeds and any trash is removed and the remaining fibre is baled. Baled cotton is transported to Kampala, Uganda where it is processed in a factory owned by Phenix Logistics into yarn and then fabric. There are approximately 63 people employed full-time in the spinning, knitting and dyeing sections of the factory. 10 tonnes of fabric (about enough to make 40,000 tees) takes about 2 weeks to produce.

Fabric is delivered to a nearby garment factory where approximately 260 workers produce up to 1000 tee-shirts per day. This factory would be able to employ approximately 1800 people and produce 120,000 tee’s per month if it could secure orders for these volumes, reminding us of the importance of working to expand trade and investment opportunities in the developing world.

Both the textile mill and the garment factory have worked hard to improve worker conditions, both have undergone social compliance pre-audits and are due to be audited for WRAP certification by the end of this year. Apart from fair wages, both factories offer other benefits such as :

• Lunch subsidies
• Employee discounts
• Free Christmas hampers
• First Aid and/or clinics on site with ready access to doctors and hospitals if needed

We’re proud of our T-shirts and we hope you’ll be that much more excited about getting yours from the ONE Store knowing that they not only look great and help fund ONE’s advocacy activities, but also represent an investment in sustainable agriculture and industry in Africa.

Valerie Strecker, the winner of ONE’s Next Top T-shirt Challenge, was nice enough to tell us a little bit more about herself and her design philosophy in the email below. You can also learn more about Valerie’s work on her website: http://www.flyingfishart.com and become a fan on her Facebook page.

I grew up in Louisiana enjoying the rich cultural experiences of great food, nature, and family. Coming from an artsy family, mother & brother-artist and father-musician, provided me with an environment to imagine and create. My mom helped in teaching me design, composition, typography and the “hands on” art. As for the cg…that was self-taught!

Around age 17, I started airbrushing pixels with Windows Paint ‘95. A friend then introduced me to Adobe Photoshop 5 and said “this is the magic wand tool”, “those are crawly ants” and “here’s the paint bucket”… now go for it! I had no idea of the “fun” that lay ahead, but stuck with it! I’ve endured all of the “fun” aspects of maxing out 3 computers (now on computer no. 4, “Big Mac”) and at 25 I’m enjoying a successful art career as a graphic designer.

My passion is working with bands to create their image – from album covers to graphic tees, starting my own clothing line, designing surfboard graphics, developing company logos and branding, and working with organizations that affect positive change in the world – both humanitarian & environmental.

I found out about ONE’s tee challenge through my friend Mike. I remembered ONE’s commercials inviting everyone to unite as one in the fight against extreme poverty and knew I wanted to take part in getting the message out. I researched ONE’s organization, their mission and their goals to see how I could best a design that would be informative and visually striking. The “newsprint” allowed me to bring awareness to the critical issues and highlight ONE’s goals attained and yet to be achieved.

-Valerie Strecker

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has just issued a statement regarding Dr. Rajiv Shah, President Obama’s selection to be the next USAID Administrator. You can read ONE’s take on the pick here.

Gates Foundation statement:

The selection of Dr. Rajiv Shah as the next administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) demonstrates a commitment to providing strong, evidence-based, effective U.S. foreign assistance. We have worked closely with Raj for several years and know he will bring the same commitment, intelligence and visionary management style to USAID.

Raj was an important part of the foundation’s leadership and played a key role in our efforts on global health and agricultural development. In global health, he worked to promote the development and distribution of vaccines, which are the most cost-effective public health investments we can make. He also helped develop and implement a strategy aimed at breaking the cycle of hunger and poverty by providing small farmers in the developing world with the tools and opportunities to boost productivity, and build better lives for themselves and their families. We are confident that he will bring the same rigor, innovation and belief in the transformative power of foreign assistance and sustainable development to USAID, and we look forward to working with him.

AllAfrica.com recently posted an interview with Aaron S. Williams, the new US Peace Corps director. During the interview, Williams discusses the current state of the Peace Corps as it approaches its rather remarkable 50th anniversary. He notes an 18% increase in applications this year alone.

Williams also touches on a subject ONE Blog readers are no doubt familiar with: food security. Excerpts below, full interview here.

And now a new departure has been the new food security initiative. Secretary [of State Hillary Rodham] Clinton is very interested in food security; it’s going to be one of her primary initiatives and has the full support of course of the Obama administration. It is a priority at Peace Corps, and we’re going to do more to expand our work in agriculture. Agriculture has always been an important part of Peace Corps’ involvement in working at the community level.

Q: What would you like the Peace Corps in Africa to be doing in three or four years?

I would like to see us continue our program in education; we’re very much involved in teacher training … hands-on involvement with teachers in the schools. I want to see us continue to expand our work in health, not just in HIV/Aids, but also in malaria and tuberculosis. We have trained skilled volunteers who work at the community level, really strengthening the capacity of NGOs at the grassroots to work in these areas.

I want to see us having a broad, expanded role in food security, especially because in Africa women play an instrumental role in the agricultural sector. I want to see us reach out to women who are involved in agriculture. I want to see us reach out to young people and introduce them to the importance of agriculture and food security. So those are the areas [where] I’d like to see us really establish a broader presence and deeper involvement at the community level.

Alexander Woollcombe from the ONE UK office reports on a significant development:

Good news but there’s more to do

ONE volunteer Jennifer and staffer Tamar at the door of 10 Downing Street with the petition.

These are stormy times in Westminster – but the commitment to help those who most need it remains. And as the UK general election next year approaches it is more important than ever that our politicians understand they are being watched, and need to keep their promises.

Last week we asked ONE supporters to sign up to our petition to “prioritise legislation that makes the UK’s commitment of 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) as development assistance by 2013 legally binding”.

Yesterday ONE supporters Tamar, Jennifer and I delivered our petition to a friendly policeman who opened the black door of Gordon Brown’s house at 10 Downing Street. He promised to pass it on to the Prime Minister “at once”, which was nice of him.

Then the Queen, in her speech to open the new parliamentary session, announced, “draft legislation” to do exactly what we asked. So we won!

It’s a technical thing to ask for, but aid to developing countries is more useful if those receiving it know it is coming and can plan accordingly. It’s also a brave thing for the British Government to announce when the country is still in the grips of recession.

The UK first promised to spend 0.7% GNI on aid nearly 40 years ago. But it hasn’t ever happened. Now all the main political parties have committed to do it by 2013. Gordon Brown announced in September he would propose legislation on this, but it wasn’t a certainty that this promise would make it into the Queen’s Speech.

We didn’t get everything that we wanted however; the Queen announced “draft legislation”, meaning it is very unlikely to become law before the general election, while we want this to happen as soon as possible. But with the help of ONE supporters, and everyone else who cares about Africa and development, we’ll keep the pressure on the Government. There’s a lot of work to do to make aid better but every step in the right direction is a step worth noting. Thanks to everyone who signed the petition.

As Bono said today “the proposal to make the 0.7% pledge legally binding is not just a great announcement, it is transformative of real lives, by a government that has led the world in keeping its promises to the world’s poorest people. The next step is making sure this becomes law as soon as possible, in 2010”.

Great news! Yesterday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act (S. 1524) in a 15-3 vote. This bill will give USAID (the agency handling most of our U.S. foreign aid) the tools and people it needs to better fight poverty around the world.

ONE members, interns and staff delivered our Upgrade Aid petition earlier this month with over 45,000 signatures from ONE members across the country.

Take a look at what Committee Ranking Member Richard Lugar (R-IN) had to say about the bill’s passage:

The bill we passed today…is the product of well over a year of research and analysis by Senators and their staffs. It has attracted the support of most development groups, led by the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network. It is co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of 19 Senators, twelve of whom are members of this Committee. This level of backing for a bill related to foreign assistance structure is extremely rare. It provides an opportunity to build something approaching a consensus on this issue.

And here are some remarks by Senator John Kerry (D-MA), the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman:

This legislation demonstrates Congress’s commitment to strengthening the capacity, accountability and effectiveness of our foreign aid programs. With the U.S. facing critical foreign policy and development priorities worldwide, it is vital that we update our foreign aid programs to reflect the new challenges of the 21st century.

Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, added:

I’ve been able to see our foreign assistance dollars in action and am proud of the role we are playing in producing positive change in the lives of millions around the world, but at the same time, I share the frustration of many Americans that our foreign assistance efforts have often lacked transparency, coordination, monitoring and evaluation. This bill begins to reinvigorate USAID to improve the coordination, execution and efficiency of U.S. assistance so we can make each dollar go farther.

And Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, said:

This is one of the most significant pieces of foreign assistance legislation that has passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in decades. I am proud that this is truly a bi-partisan bill, developed in a collaborative manner and that it includes input from a wide range of voices. These programs are critical to millions of people around the world, they contribute to our mutual economic health, and are in the direct national security interests of the United States.

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.

For all of you living in California, this is just a quick reminder that the California ONE Membership Conference is taking place this Saturday. The conference is set to feature workshops, experts from ONE and other poverty-fighting groups, and much more. Please plan to join us!

Space is limited, so be sure to RSVP here. Details below:

What: California ONE Membership Conference
Where: Mission Bay Conference Center, 1675 Owens Street, San Francisco, CA 94158
When: Saturday, November 21, 2009 from 10 AM to 2 PM

Last month we did something we’ve never done before. We asked ONE members to design a new T-shirt. At the time, we had no idea what to expect, but your response was nothing short of staggering.

ONE members from around the globe submitted more than 500 designs, our expert judges selected 3 finalists and more than 58,000 of you voted for your favorite. And now, we have a winner in ONE’s Next Top T-shirt challenge.

The winning T-shirt design, seen below, came from Valerie Strecker of Slidell, Louisiana and it’s available for pre-order in black and white, and in both men’s and women’s styles from the ONE Store.

As Chalya Shagaya said in the email kicking off this contest, “What we wear says a lot about who we are…The right design has the power to go even further, and spark a global conversation. It starts with “I love your shirt, what does it mean?” and ends with greater awareness of the role we can all play in ending poverty and disease in some of the most vulnerable places on earth.”

Hopefully this T-shirt, and all the other great stuff available in the ONE Store, can play a small role in starting that conversation. Because we know the power of your voice in the fight against global poverty, and now we also know the power of your creativity.

A big thank you to everyone who submitted a design. We’re all inspired by your talent and commitment. Also, to our judges who had the very difficult task of choosing our two runners-up: Alex Robbins and Danny Hass.

Keep watching your email for more on our new T-shirt, because later this week we’ll be photographing the guys from the multi-platinum band Daughtry and “Friday Night Lights” star Connie Britton wearing the shirt. We’ll be sending those photos your way, along with an opportunity to order the shirt. But there’s no reason to wait, visit the ONE Store to pre-order your shirt (they also make great holiday gifts!) today.

-Ivey Helmick