Blog Contributor:

Carola Bieniek

ONE Germany in Tanzania

Oct 14th, 2009 9:30 AM UTC
By Carola Bieniek

Our friends at the ONE Germany office just returned from a very successful trip to Tanzania to study the progress being made in the fight against poverty. Carola Bieniek chronicles the trip in vivid detail (and great photos):

Last week ONE Germany organized our first ever Africa trip. We took actress Minh-Khai Phan-Thi, actress and singer Jana Pallaske and musician Rea Garvey to Tanzania. Despite all the differences between the 48 countries South of the Sahara we think that Tanzania can be considered as a good example for much of Africa: the economy has shown steady growth, which is in part due to good governance; child and maternal mortality have dropped; Tanzania has made enormous progress in primary school enrollment. Only a few days after the German general elections and before the new government has been formed we wanted to show our guests how important targeted and effective development assistance is.

We started out on Tuesday morning in Arusha at two local health centers. In Tanzania medical treatment for pregnant women and children under five is free. So we wanted to find out what this meant for the women. At the first clinic we were astonished by the sheer lack of things: there were almost no supplies and even the lab’s only equipment was an old German microscope. But we also met Agnes, a mother of two, who benefitted from the government’s efforts to eradicate deaths through malaria. The clinic informed her of the disease and handed her a voucher to replace the family’s old net. At the second clinic we saw hundreds of women waiting for pre-natal examinations, birth, vaccinations for their newborns, contraceptives or HIV meds. We came to chat with a couple of the women and Dr. Solomon Ole, the district’s Health Coordinator.

Asked what they’d need most we received different answers – a building to protect the women from the weather, an ambulance, an incinerator. And I somehow understood why it’s called development corporation: it takes a good government to set plans to defeat disease and unnecessary deaths but it also takes donors to fulfill their promises to realize these.

In the afternoon we took a tour of Tanzania Pharmaceutical Industries. The company ventures to break Tanzania’s dependence on foreign pharmaceutics. Together with the NGO action medeor they’re building a new plant to produce ARVs.

Day 2 was rather hectic: (more…)

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Germany has the choice. But it doesn’t feel that way.

Sep 21st, 2009 10:00 AM UTC
By Carola Bieniek

The situation is a bit odd. The world’s third largest economy will have national elections in less than a week’s time. More than 62 million men and women eligible to vote can set the country’s course for the next four years. But the country hasn’t seen much of a campaign. No ferocious fighting over tough issues. Even the media seem to be somewhat halfhearted when covering the candidates and their positions. Germany’s national election campaign 2009 is boring.

Why? The current government lead by Angela Merkel rests on a majority of Germany’s two major parties: CDU and SPD. Ms. Merkel’s principal contender is vice-Chancellor and Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. When the world financial crisis hit at the end of last year both parties declared that the German people expected crisis management. Not mudslinging about the upcoming elections. And they were probably right. So the crisis forced the two ruling parties into a discipline at work. During the very last weeks before Election Day we could watch a bit more efforts by both sides to explain the political differences between the two. But nevertheless – the key political decisions of the last four years were made by the two large parties together. A government running against itself… how exciting is that?

So everyone in Germany is watching the polls to have a notion of what will happen in this country after September 27. And from the arithmetic of Germany’s five parties which are likely to make it into the next Bundestag the most likely alternatives are a continuation of the current coalition of SPD and CDU lead by Ms Merkel or a coalition of CDU and the more market liberal FDP. And then again – you never know: It is still possible that Mr. Steinmeier will become chancellor of a coalition made up by SPD, FDP and Green party.

What does this mean for Germany’s role in the global fight against poverty? Most parties are quite close in their positions on development as ONE found out in a questionnaire it sent out to the most important candidates. Even Ms Merkel was quite outspoken about Germany’s responsibility to keep the aid promise – but became clearly less forthright during the recent months when the burdens of the financial crisis became more and more evident. Now there is a clear danger that political decision makers overlook the necessity and potential for economic recovery which lies in development of the poorest countries. This is why we need to act.

During the last months ONE has been mobilizing thousands of voices – famous and non-famous – across the country to sign the Article ONE. The Article ONE is an abbreviated version of our demands for Germany’s policy during the next four years. As soon as the ballot is cast and the protagonists of the next four years begin to shake out we will confront them with all the impressive names which support the Article ONE. We will even go on a trip to Tanzania with well known German artists to gather stories from first hand that aid is working. The poorest people of the planet do not deserve that the promises given to them can be reneged because too many billions were given to bankrupt banks. We are ready to go. The weeks after the elections will not be boring at all.

-Carola Bieniek

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ONE and U2 in Berlin

Jul 24th, 2009 9:57 AM UTC
By Carola Bieniek

Last Saturday, U2 finally hit Germany with their 360° tour. Before the show in Berlin’s Olympic stadium, ONE had invited friends and supporters to a summer outside reception at the waterside.

In his short address, Germany director Tobias Kahler gave an account of his recent travels through Ghana and Nigeria where he witnessed the progress that development cooperation can achieve. The simple possibility to cultivate and trade with pineapples, for example, started a chain reaction which irrevocably changed the lives of a whole community for the better. ONE’s CEO David Lane focused on the national election which is to be held in Germany on September 27. Referring to experience made in the US with campaigns like “On the Record”, he recounted how mobilization of the American public was able to influence the presidential race. ONE Germany is campaigning in a similar way, asking voters for their signature to the “Article ONE” which urges the next federal government to boost development issues in their coalition treaty. To raise awareness for this campaign, we asked our guests to sign the Article ONE and had their photographs taken while doing so.

All in all, ONE staff members, politicians, artists, journalists and representatives from other NGOs spent a relaxed afternoon with plenty of time to engage in discussions on our issues before moving on to the stadium to enjoy the concert.

Twenty spirited ONE volunteers spent their afternoon in a much less relaxed, but certainly as exciting way: Thanks to U2’s commitment to ONE, we had the opportunity to inform people on progress and challenges concerning the fight against extreme poverty and recruit new ONE members before and after the concert. As at all the other venues in Europe and North America, we set up our ONE stand and photo booth where newly signed-up ONE supporters could have their picture taken while giving the future a big kiss. A number of those pictures were seen by a crowd of 90.000 when they appeared on the giant 360° screen above the stage that same night.

We managed to sign up a vast number of new ONE supporters that day, including quite a few who had come from other countries – like Greece, Denmark, Sweden, Israel, Spain and even Brazil – to see U2 on stage.

The band’s truly amazing performance thrilled ONE volunteers, our prominent supporters and the rest of the 90,000 fans alike, and we were all inspired by the political messages sent out during the show. An especially moving moment was Archbishop Tutu’s message that surely convinced many of the infinite power we have in our hands if we act together. Right afterwards, a message on the screen asked fans to join ONE by texting “KISS” to a short code – all over the dark stadium, glowing mobile lights attested to the immediate reaction. There were statements on other contemporary political focal points, too: U2 dedicated their classic “Sunday, bloody Sunday” to the suppressed oppositional movement in Iran, bathing the enormous stage in green light. Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi – the most courageous woman in the world, as Bono said – was honored by hundreds of people wearing her mask during “Walk On”, and some of them even walked on stage during that song. A special greeting went out to another Nobel Peace Prize winner: U2 and fans sang “Happy Birthday” for Nelson Mandela since he turned 91 that day.

We’ll have more updates about ONE’s efforts on the U2 tour soon!

-Carola Bieniek

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German ONE Office Launches Election Campaign

Feb 12th, 2009 12:57 PM UTC
By Carola Bieniek

This Monday we launched our German 2009 election campaign “Be ONE of Us”. A panel featuring Bob Geldof as well as Die Toten Hosen front man Campino and ONE’s Germany Director Tobias introduced not only an ad campaign soon to be seen around the German capital Berlin but also a brand new poll showing encouraging results:

71% of Germans say that the government should keep the promise to increase ODA to 0.51 % by 2010 and give half of the increase to Africa. This is particularly interesting since the poll was undertaken last week – so these are figures from the midst of the financial and economic crisis.

Out of these 71%, 74% agree that the promises should be kept even if this involves minor additional burdens for the citizens.
59% of Germans find party positions on supporting the distress in poor countries very important or rather important for their ballot decision.
67% agree that Chancellor Merkel’s credibility depends in part on keeping the promise to Africa

The most important election in Germany 2009 will be the elections for German parliament – the Bundestag. In addition there will be several other elections on regional, national and European levels. It is important to discuss with people why the fight against extreme poverty in Africa needs to be continued also in times of crisis. The “Article ONE” (below) is a brief summary of our agenda. It can be supported by anyone around the world in order to be a strong impulse for the governmental program of the next German administration. (more…)

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Carola Bieniek

ONE Germany in Tanzania

Germany has the choice. But it doesn’t feel that way.

ONE and U2 in Berlin

German ONE Office Launches Election Campaign

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