This piece is part of a larger blog series on transparency in the extractives industry. Stay tuned for more updates on this topic.
So far, the campaign to fight corruption in the extractives industry has received tremendous support from ONE members. About 99,000 of you have signed the petition, 6,000 have commented directly on the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) website, and nearly 1,300 tweets have been directed at the SEC, all in a week’s time! Yesterday, Bill Gates and 14 members of the US House of Representatives added their voice to yours urging the SEC release a strong Cardin-Lugar rule.
Yesterday, Mr. Gates sent a letter to the SEC highlighting the importance of a “strong and robust” ruling on the bipartisan Cardin-Lugar Amendment (Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act). According to the letter, in 2009 natural resources in Africa brought in nearly $246 billion to the continent (six times the amount of aid going to the continent). Yet the endemic corruption in many governments in developing countries means that much of this wealth is siphoned off to private bank accounts. With the help of the amendment, citizens of resource-rich countries can ensure that this money no longer fills the pockets of autocrats but goes toward improving the lives of average citizens.
ONE Regional Faith Organizer Joe Mason‘s question on faith, advocacy and development got answered during a recent White House Q&A. Here’s his report:
Recently, the White House hosted an online Q&A session on innovation for global development. Since the subject is a passion of mine, I was immediately prompted to submit a question to USAID Administrator Dr. Raj Shah.
Last Saturday, the town of Dexter, Mich., came together to celebrate Airplane Day, a unique advocacy event that commemorates the life and legacy of Laurence Carolin, a Dexter teen who passed away due to brain cancer two years ago.
Laurence was a truly incredible and selfless individual who was passionately involved with ONE and committed to raising awareness about the fight against poverty and disease. He even dedicated the last year of his life to this cause and donated all of his Make-A-Wish Foundation money to the United Nations Foundation, one of ONE’s partners. Laurence’s compassion was so inspiring that he was not only invited to meet Bono (a co-founder of ONE), but even inspired his family and friends to commit to carrying on his legacy of activism. Airplane Day is the culmination of this promise on the date that marks Laurence’s arrival in the US after he was adopted from his birth country of South Korea.
As we continue our campaign to protect critical Canadian international development funding, ONE member Sarah Stone, from Waterloo, Ontario, reports back from meeting her local member of parliament.
As a constituent and on behalf of ONE I had the opportunity recently to meet with Peter Braid, Conservative Member of Parliament for Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.
ONE member Sarah Stone and Peter Braid, Conservative Member of Parliament
Mr. Braid had recently returned from a trip to South Sudan as part of his role as the vice chair of the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association, the main purpose of which is to discuss trade, aid and strengthen ties with African parliamentarians. During this trip, and on previous trips to Africa, Mr. Braid has seen firsthand the benefits of Canadian foreign aid. We discussed my involvement in the Griot Project, and my recent trip to Washington this past December to participate in #ONErocksDC, a lobby day on Capitol Hill and the White House with ONE.
ONE member Heather James reports on a faith event in Washington state.
Saturday morning was incredible. Braving construction chaos and downtown parking, a group of 25 interested (and interesting) everyday citizens of Washington State converged in Tacoma to attend a ONE Faith workshop with Jonathan Young, our regional field director and Adam Phillips, manager of faith advocacy at ONE.
We learned about initiatives for global health and poverty relief, and how these things relate to our faith communities. Our goal for the morning? To come away with at least one practical thing a faith community could do to make a difference in the life of one of the 1.5 billion people living in extreme poverty.
ONE Vote Organizer Mike Castaldo looks back on a year of campaigning for the world’s poor with ONE Vote.
After a year of following candidates around, the ONE Vote 2012 team has officially survived four states and lots of miles on the road. Along with a few bumps and bruises, we made new friends, got together with old ones, and did what we could with what we had to end extreme poverty and raise awareness around the country, particularly with GOP presidential candidates.
Regional Field Organizer Tzviatko Chiderov reports on a letter-writing event in Chicago yesterday. This piece is part of a larger blog series on transparency in the extractives industry. Stay tuned for more updates on this topic.
We had a great event for ONE members in Chicago yesterday. A group of all ages and backgrounds gathered at Robert Morris University downtown to hear what ONE is all about, learn of our objectives for the new year, see living proof of smart, effective foreign aid, and find ways to get more involved in their communities.
In fact, almost all of our attendees took several important actions during the hour-long meeting. They wrote letters to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in support of greater transparency, and encouraged the Commission to pass a strong rule requiring companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments for access to their natural resources.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
