Having grown up in Washington DC, I’ve spent a lot of time at our nation’s monuments- the Vietnam War Memorial, the FDR Memorial and Theodore Roosevelt Island are among my favorites. Perhaps this is why I was so struck by something Bill Gates said in his keynote speech at Rotary International’s Convention earlier this week. He described how the eradication of polio would serve as “a monument to humanity’s ability to come together on behalf of the world’s poorest people.” While Gates was speaking about a figurative monument, I couldn’t help contemplating what such a monument would look like. Either way, I found it be a very inspiring concept.
The best thing about this invocation is that this it’s not too far-fetched. In his speech, Bill Gates praised Rotarians for their incredible contribution- in money, time and sweat equity- towards the 99% reduction of polio cases worldwide since 1988. He lauded progress such as in India, where there has only been one case of polio reported this year, remarking that it could not have been done without Rotary. However, Gates cautioned that while they are “this close” to the end of polio, the final 1% will be the hardest because of logistical, scientific and financial obstacles, such as the $400 million funding gap in FY2012 for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. He challenged Rotarians to redouble efforts and “make your voices louder” as they have the potential to be very powerful advocates with government leaders and policy makers.
I was particularly excited about this call to action because at ONE we believe in the power of individuals coming together and using their collective voice to tell the living proof about how investments in global health and development are critical and are working to improve lives around the world. As part of our newly launched collaboration, ONE members and Rotarians will join forces around the U.S. and beyond to raise awareness, advocate and increase support for life-saving childhood vaccines. I’m certainly looking forward to the day when I can bring out-of-town guests to the monument resurrected in honor of the fact that no child suffers or dies from a preventable, treatable disease such as polio.
ONE members, if you live in the greater New York City area, this event may be of interest to you. Concern Worldwide, an international humanitarian organization that works to end extreme poverty, is hosting a spring run this Saturday, April 9th at 9:30 AM in Central Park. The four-mile run/walk will support Concern’s programs in 25 of the poorest countries around the globe.
Miss New York 2011, Nency Escamilla, will be at the event to help call attention to the plight of the global poor as well as introduce her personal charity, “Uplifting Heroes,” which supports US troops on active duty around the world through community mobilization.
Register for the event on Concern’s website and join hundreds of other poverty-fighters just like you. And don’t forget to join the after party at the East End Bar post-run!
Joyce Kamwana, an ambassador with the Here I Am campaign and a great friend to ONE, visited our office in D.C. a few weeks ago. Joyce, who has been living with HIV for more than two decades, shares her inspiring story with us in this exclusive ONE interview.
Thanks to the Global Fund, she was able to get on antiretroviral therapy, allowing her to have a healthy and productive life. And she is amazed that she has lived long enough to become a grandmother — something she thought she would never be. She asks, “Who would have dreamt that I would I would live this long?”
Special thanks to our superstar videographer Kimberly Cadena for putting the video all together!
We can end senseless, extreme poverty. To do so, we not only need to do our part, but work together in partnership. That’s why I’m really excited to announce a new partnership with One Day’s Wages (ODW), a grassroots movement of people, stories and actions to alleviate extreme global poverty.
ODW promotes awareness, invites simple giving and supports sustainable relief through partnerships, especially with smaller organizations in developing regions. Working together, ONE and ODW will be looking to grow our movement of people taking action and lifting their voices to advocate for smart solutions and policies in the fight against global poverty.
During the next two days, I’ll be reporting live from the 2010 Global Corporate Citizenship Conference, an annual gathering hosted by the Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Over the past few years, many leaders in the private sector have realized that there’s a driving need to partner with the international development community and increase corporate social responsibility and accountability.
Why? Because not only do people demand it (think about how you felt after the Enron and WorldCom scandals) it just makes good business sense – especially if we can implement the notion of corporate responsibility all across the globe.
Today, our U.S. Policy Director Larry Nowels and Policy Manager Nora Coghlan are attending the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s (USGLC) annual conference here in Washington, D.C. The coalition, a network of more than 400 organizations from the private, public and nonprofit sector, comes together each year to discuss ways to elevate diplomacy and development alongside defense in order to build a better and safer world.
This year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah and MCC CEO Daniel Yohannes will be participating in a panel discussion on President Obama’s new global development policy, while a group of prominent military leaders will discuss the importance of diplomacy in national security.
Listen in on the conference in the player below, and if you have a question, send it to USGLC’s Twitter. It starts at about 9:30 AM EDT and goes on all day — so feel free to drop in anytime.
Please welcome Brooke Riley to the ONE Blog. She is our policy team’s most recent addition and will be assisting with global health research.
Today is the final day of the groundbreaking Global Maternal Health Conference, the first international technical conference focused exclusively on maternal health. This exciting conference, organized by EngenderHealth’s Maternal Health Task Force, brings together more than 600 maternal health experts in New Delhi, India to discuss one of the most challenging fields in global health.
Although progress has been made, maternal mortality rates remain unacceptably high, especially in the developing world. Approximately 343,000 mothers die each year during childbirth and 80% of those deaths could be prevented if women had access to basic maternal health services.
This conference aims to build consensus and catalyze action around evidence, programs and policy to achieve Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Five and improve the lives of mothers around the world.
To bring attention to pressing maternal health needs globally, the first two days of the conference have featured numerous exciting events and presentations, including a film screening of ONE supporter Christy Turlington’s film “No Woman, No Cry.”
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.
