Thanks to the handy work of our Weldon and Kimberly, we now have videos from this morning’s launch of the ONE DATA Report 2009 in London.
Here’s a 6 minute highlight reel of all of the speakers.
[Panelists: Bill Gates, co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bob Geldof anti-poverty activist and ONE adviser, Dr. Francoise Ndayishimiye, Senior Gender Adviser, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, Arunma Oteh, Vice President for Corporate Services, African Development Bank, Archbishop Desmund Tutu, ONE's International Patron and Jamie Drummond, ONE's Executive Director]
In 2005 at the Gleneagles Summit, the G8 made a host of historic promises to Africa, including doubling development assistance by 2010, promoting increased trade and investment, cancelling debt, improving health, and achieving universal primary education by 2015.
Today in London, ONE released the 2009 DATA Report, its annual in-depth look at how the G8 are progressing towards these targets. This year’s report is divided into four parts: aid quality and quantity, trade and investment, debt cancellation and investing in people (a look at the progress made in the health, education, agriculture and water and sanitation sectors). What does this year’s report reveal? Here’s a look at a few key findings.
Development Assistance
By 2008, the G8 had delivered only a third of their commitment—just $7 billion of the total $21.5 billion increases promised to Africa by 2010. Some countries fared better than others: the US, Canada and Japan are meeting or beating modest targets; Germany and the UK are striving to meet their more ambitious commitments. France’s delivery is disappointing, and Italy—the host of the upcoming G8 Summit—has utterly failed to make progress on its promised aid.
Looking ahead to 2009, ONE estimates that the G8 will have delivered only a half of their commitment. 80% of the 2009 shortfall will be due to France and Italy. That means that in 2010, the G8 must deliver the entire other half to reach their target.
In 2008, the G8 met in Accra to review progress on improving aid effectiveness. While the forum helped accelerate progress towards achieving better aid, more must be done to reach the 2010 goals.
Debt
The steps taken by the G8 since 2005 have brought them close to fulfilling their commitments on debt. At the end of 2008, Africa had been relieved of $92.8 billion of its debt obligations.
But the global financial crisis threatens to overturn these advances. Among the 20 African countries that reached ‘completion point’ in the debt cancellation process, 11 now face a risk of debt distress through reaccumulation of debt.
Trade
The G8 are not living up to their promise to “make trade work for Africa.” Despite an increase in exports, Africa accounts for only 3.5% of global trade—the lowest share of any region in the world.
Making trade work for Africa will require a combination of: increased access to developed country markets; reduced agricultural subsidies; improved aid for trade; stronger regional integration; and more policy space.
Investing in People: Health, Education, Agriculture and Water
When the G8 made their 2005 commitment to double ODA to Africa by 2010, they also promised to make sure that this aid would meet specific development outcomes in health, education, water and agriculture.
Progress has been made on some of these goals, including getting children into primary school, supporting AIDS treatment for those who need it, and distributing bed nets to protect mothers and children from malaria.
Progress towards other outcomes has been rather slow, such as increasing access to improved drinking water and sanitation and increasing agricultural productivity. Greater details on all of these investments can be found in the full DATA Report.
The findings above are just a small sampling of the information you’ll find in the 2009 DATA Report. To view the full report online, please click here.
The 2009 edition of the DATA Report, ONE’s annual assessment of the G8′s progress on their commitments to global development, is launching this morning in London at a special kick-off event featuring Bill Gates, co-Chair of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bob Geldof, anti-poverty activist and ONE principal, Dr Francoise Ndayishimiye, of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria; Arunma Oteh, of the African Development Bank, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Each year, ONE publishes a DATA Report, an annual assessment of the extent to which the G8 are following through on their commitments to global development. Tomorrow we will be launching ONE’s 2009 DATA Report, with a special kick-off event in London.
We have an amazing panel to help launch this report: Bill Gates, co-Chair of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bob Geldof, anti-poverty activist and ONE principal, Dr Francoise Ndayishimiye, of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria; Arunma Oteh, of the African Development Bank, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
In Germany, we’re planning a press briefing with Tobias Kahler, Andreas Hueber (both ONE staff) and Elizabeth Missokia from HakiElimu in Tansania. Tobias will outline the 2009 DATA Report while Andreas will focus specifically on aid effectiveness. Ms Missokia will offer insight into how donors and partners cooperate in Tanzania to scale up education, and what the Tanzanian civil society is doing to make sure that all funds by donors and government are used in the most effective way possible.
In Rome, we will be briefing journalists at around the same time as London, and telling the story of how this year’s G8 hosts are faring worst on living up to their aid commitments. We will also be highlighting that as the only existing member of the G8 who signed the G8 communiqué in 2005 in Gleneagles, Berlusconi has a personal obligation, as well as a national one to deliver on his promises.
In Washington DC, ONE will be meeting with policy makers throughout Washington to inform them of the findings in the Report.
In the coming days and weeks we’ll have much more on the 2009 DATA Report including an interactive website, a blog series detailing numerous features in the Report, and much more. So be sure to check back often!
This Thursday, we’re releasing the 2009 DATA Report, our annual report on the G8’s delivery on their promises to Africa. At that launch the panelists will answer questions, including one submitted and voted on by ONE members, and Bob Geldof is here to explain why:
In just a short amount of time, ONE members all over the world sent in hundreds of thoughtful questions to be asked at the launch of our 2009 DATA Report. We narrowed down the options and picked out five of the most important questions, and now you get to have the final say on which question will be asked.
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The 2009 edition of the DATA Report, ONE’s annual assessment of the G8′s progress on their commitments to global development, is 
