Archive for June, 2010
Today, a House Appropriations Subcommittee marked up the FY2011 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, which cut the President’s FY2011 request by $4 billion. Representing less than 1.5 percent of the total budget, the State and Foreign Ops bill is the primary source of funding for America’s foreign assistance programs that deliver critical global health, development, and hunger-fighting efforts.
The decision to slash the International Affairs budget and in turn, the Foreign Ops bill, will be judged not by how it reduces our deficit but by its lasting impact on the world’s poorest.
Despite these cuts, we are grateful Congresswoman Lowey demonstrated leadership in boosting funds for effective tools like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunizations, which deliver proven, results that save millions of lives.
Now, as food prices continue to rise and drought consumes arable portions of Africa – leaving almost 400,000 children in Niger at risk of dying of starvation over the summer – Congress has decided to step back on America’s commitments to a global food security initiative — a decision that will have a ripple effect on budgets to come.
Over the years, both Republicans and Democrats have stepped up in difficult times to tackle the HIV/AIDS crisis and beat back malaria, and TB in many parts of the world. ONE hopes that Congress will continue America’s world leadership in difficult times, restore the International Affairs budget, and keep its commitments to the most vulnerable people in the world.
Yesterday, the IMF and the World Bank decided to support $4.6 billion of debt relief for Liberia.
More details from the official press release:
Debt relief under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative from all Liberia’s creditors was estimated at US$ 2.7 billion in end-June 2007 present value terms. Debt relief from the IMF would total US$730 million—the IMF’s biggest ever HIPC contribution for a single country—and from the World Bank’s IDA, US$374 million.
After reaching the HIPC completion point, Liberia also becomes eligible for further nominal debt reduction from IDA (US$66.9 million) and the African Development Bank (US$17.2 million) under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) and beyond-HIPC assistance from the IMF (SDR117.4 million or US$173 million) and the EU Special Debt Relief Initiative (US$0.9 million).
As a result of this relief, Liberia will no longer face a heavy debt service burden in relation to its revenue and foreign exchange resources.
The Boards determined that Liberia has taken the necessary policy actions to reach the completion point, and therefore debt relief from both the HIPC Initiative and MDRI becomes irrevocable. Liberia has successfully implemented its poverty reduction strategy and maintained a stable macroeconomic environment, despite the global economic crisis.
“We welcome the concerted efforts made by Liberia to obtain this debt relief—this will help attract new investment and generate much needed opportunities,” said Chris Lane, IMF mission chief for Liberia. “Liberia can now mobilize additional resources to rebuild the road network and the electricity supply system, providing the infrastructure needed to allow economic growth, while continuing to expand the health care and education systems. Liberia will also be able to further develop its own financial market and channel private savings to productive uses. We wish to acknowledge the efforts by the international community to finance Liberia’s debt relief, with over 100 members of the IMF making exceptional contributions beyond the normal terms granted to heavily indebted poor countries.”
Over at DipNote, Lizzie O’Rourke– a Foreign Service Officer– has a great look at her time working in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues.
Here’s an excerpt:
I didn’t plan to get involved with the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI) — I was just lucky. As a new Foreign Service Officer, I was assigned to a period of training following my swearing-in. For many new FSOs there are some extra days between the completion of initial training and departure for post. When that happens, our Career Development Office assigns us to offices at the State Department for on-the-job training (OJT) — short-term stints that let us learn about the domestic workings of the Department before heading overseas. I received my OJT assignment prior to wrapping up my initial training, and started at S/GWI right after my training finished.
At first, I didn’t know much about S/GWI’s mission, and my lack of previous involvement with women’s studies or gender issues made me wonder if I would be at a disadvantage. I soon realized, however, that this was not the case: the fast-moving pace of this office carried me with it, and I was quickly immersed in variety of projects. Part of that was due to the timing of my assignment, which could not have been better: I was assigned to the office in March, which is Women’s History Month. March 8th is International Women’s Day, a holiday our office celebrates with the International Women of Courage (IWOC) Awards.
Preparations for the IWOC Awards program required some unexpected tasks — most memorably, the chance to meet briefly with the First Lady — and long hours. Yet nothing prepared me for the moment when the ten awardees shared their stories at a S/GWI-sponsored public forum, where they spoke frankly of their past struggles, which for some included imprisonment and torture. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend some time with them throughout the events; any language barriers were quickly broken by smiles, and eventually, hugs.
As you know, we’re still collecting photos for Nelson Mandela’s birthday card. He’ll be celebrating his 92nd birthday on July 18th. So far, over 17,000 ONE members have helped us build this birthday card.
Click here to sign, and then add your photo to the mosaic of ONE members that we will personally delivered to him. Nelson Mandela has devoted his life to serving his community, fighting for his country and speaking out on behalf of the poor. Wish him happy birthday and show him our thanks.
Please welcome Laura Yu to the ONE Blog. She’ll be interning with ONE’s Policy Team this summer and contributing regularly:
Andrew Mitchell, the newly-elected UK Secretary of State for International Development, gave his first overseas speech last Friday at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. There, he outlined the coalition government’s plan for international development, which would “put women front and center” of the development agenda.
Noting that development assistance is one of only two protected areas of the UK budget, Mitchell reaffirmed the coalition government’s commitment to allocating 0.7% of the UK’s gross national income (GNI) to foreign aid by 2013. He also promised the UK would continue to keep aid untied from commercial interests and urged the U.S. to follow suit. The government’s new development agenda will emphasize value for money, accountability, and transparency, with a strong focus outputs and results.
The UK development agenda will also have a major influence on the country’s approach to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). While progress on the MDGs has certainly been made, the MDGs concerning maternal health and child mortality are most off-track. Mitchell likened the plight of women dying from pregnancy-related causes in Nigeria to a jumbo jet crashing week in and week out in the same place. He called for more innovative approaches to improving maternal and child health, including cash incentives to promote women’s health and education, and using mobile phones for emergency referrals. In discussing family planning and safe abortion, Mitchell stressed the importance of empowering women to make informed decisions on their own lives. The present is the perfect time to address maternal health head-on Mitchell said, as “we have within our grasp a golden opportunity, a perfect moment when we have the technology and the political will—if not to eradicate maternal mortality—then to reduce it significantly.”
Mitchell concluded his speech looking forward towards the MDG Summit in September, calling on world leaders to arrive at the summit ready to fulfill their aid commitments, make new and ambitious pledges, and sign the Secretary-General’s Action Plan on women and children’s health. While he acknowledged the financial crisis, Mitchell maintained that nations should continue to focus on development, not only because of the moral imperative, but also because development is “the best return on investment you’ll find.” As the summit approaches, nations have the opportunity to show they are not indifferent to the suffering of the world’s poorest, especially women and children.
In just a few weeks, New York City—one of the fashion capitals of the world—will be showcasing lots of fantastic African design. Check out the post below to learn more about Africa Fashion Week and how our friends at COMPETE Africa (a program of USAID that promotes trade within the private sector) are involved.
On July 12-18, New York will host Africa Fashion Week. The week-long affair—which COMPETE Africa is helping to sponsor—will feature exhibitions, industry networking events, sample sales and runway shows from fashion designers all across Africa. One such designer will be Stella Atal, an accomplished artist who employs young African artists in her Ugandan business.
This will actually be the second fashion show featuring African designers in recent weeks. Just last month, COMPETE Africa and the African Cotton & Textile Industries Federation sponsored the Origin Africa Designer Showcase in Nairobi, Kenya. The event matched fashion designers in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda with regional apparel and textile manufacturers.
For more details on Africa Fashion Week and how you can attend, click here.
-Chad Schofield
DRC celebrates independence with hopes for brighter future – Today the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is remembering the 50th anniversary of its independence from Belgian rule, but its people have little reason to celebrate given the deeply rooted instability still plaguing the country. The Congolese are striving for peace and a good global reputation, with the country’s prime minister vowing “to make Congo the center of the sun’s radiance for all of Africa.” (Harry Verhoeven, The Guardian)
Accessing progress and future goals in the lead up to the MDGS – Just sixty days before the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Summit, UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa will meet in Ghana to examine the region’s economic and development gains over the past decade and look into ways of achieving a development breakthrough for Africa. Accessing development finance, creating employment, investing in human capital and promoting inclusive growth that favors the most vulnerable will continue to remain important challenges. (AllAfrica.com)
Ugandan AIDS clinics forced to turn away patients – Thousands of patients eligible for anti-retroviral treatment (ART) in Uganda are being turned away due to an informal ban on enrollment of new patients as a result of lower than anticipated funding support from PEPFAR and other donor entities. One doctor insists that “donor governments’ inability or unwillingness to meet their commitments is one of the main reasons the goal…of achieving universal access to HIV treatment by end of 2010 will not be met.” (Henry Zakumumpa, AllAfrica.com)
African Youth Score With FIFA Football For Hope Centers – More than a dozen nonprofit organizations are partnering with architects from around the world to develop youth centers for their communities as part of FIFA’s official World Cup campaign, “20 Centers for 2010.” The aim of the centers is to address local social challenges in disadvantaged areas and improve education and health services for young people. (Cameron Sinclair, The Huffington Post)
