ONE’s co-founder Bono took aim at the oil industry today for trying to kill new US rules that would help prevent corruption by requiring oil, gas and mining companies to make public what they pay for the rights to extract natural resources in developing countries.   Speaking on a panel moderated by President Bill Clinton at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, Bono called out Exxon and Chevron, along with the rest of the American Petroleum Institute, for...

How happy is Africa?

The happiest people in sub-Saharan Africa apparently reside in Angola, which ranks #61 in the UN’s recent World Happiness Report, a 156-nation survey of the world’s happiest countries. Angola’s happiness is on par with that of Eastern Europe, and way below the US (#17) and the UK (#22). Although that may not seem like great news, there have been some major strides in sub-Saharan Africa’s general feeling of happiness, which 39 out of 50 sub-Saharan African countries participated in over...
Ever wondered how many protests take place around the world?  This incredible animated map tracks every known protest since 1979, which adds up to 250 million individual events. The data is taken from The Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT) which tracks international news reports and records protests, violence and changes in military or police posture. What’s incredible is the increase in activity over time.  These are the protests happening in December 1983. And this is February 2012. The map is tracking...
In partnership with One Acre Fund, we are following Anne, a smallholder farmer from Kenya, for a whole growing season. From planting to harvest, we will check in every month to see what life is really like for a farmer in rural Kenya. Written by Hailey Tucker. L-R: Loice Wachiye, Leah Wachiye, Joshua Wachiye Agnes Makokha, Anne and Phanice Wangila take a break from harvesting. Many of Anne’s family members and neighbours came to help her harvest. Photo: Hailey Tucker It’s a...
By Hannah Elansary, ONE US marketing intern Ricky Lee Gordon at work on a new mural. Photo: oxeloskateboards.com Ricky Lee Gordon is on a quest to prove that art can make a difference. His artwork has been exhibited all over the world from the Gambia to New York, and featured on the BBC and National Geographic alongside world-famous graffiti artist Banksy. Inspired by his hometown of Cape Town, South Africa, his creative alter ego Freddy Sam is a forever-young, fearless romantic who still...
This infographic from the OECD Development Assistance Committee projects which countries will be home to the world’s poorest people by 2015, and compares this to the picture in 2005.  Part of their report Fragile states 2013: Resource flows and trends in a shifting world it reveals that by 2015, half of the world’s people living on less than USD 1.25 a day will be in fragile states.   And while poverty has decreased globally, progress on Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1 to halve...
In partnership with One Acre Fund, we are following Anne, a smallholder farmer from Kenya, for a whole growing season. From planting to harvest, we will check in every month to see what life is really like for a farmer in rural Kenya.  Written by Hailey Tucker. For the 2013 season, One Acre Fund offered each of its Kenyan farmers more than 400 live sweet potato vines to plant and harvest. Anne with her new orange-flesh sweet potato plants. Photo credit: One...
The World Bank’s recent report, Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience, underscores the urgency of supporting African farmers now so that they can better cope with the potential impacts of a changing climate. Turn Down the Heat finds that an increase of 4 degrees Celsius worldwide would spell increased droughts, more frequent flooding, and shifts in rainfall in Africa, jeopardising the region’s food security and economic growth. Here are some of the report’s findings. What...
By Arathi Rao, ONE’s Policy Manager, Agriculture and Nutrition Children at Mawango School in Malawi eating a mid-morning snack of porridge, supported by the World Food Programme. Photo: Morgana Wingward Last week world leaders pledged more than $4 billion to global nutrition programs and committed to save 20 million children from malnutrition at Nutrition for Growth, a pre-G8 event, in London. Now that these ambitious targets have been set, and tremendous resources have been mobilised to accomplish this goal, one question...