Everyone, give a warm welcome to the New Media team’s new intern, Lorraine Chu. She’ll be helping us cover more topics on the ONE Blog, so leave her a comment and say hello!
Oliberte employs workers in Africa to manufacture their shoes. Photo courtesy of Oliberte.
Entrepreneur Tal Dehitar’s two-year-old business, Oliberte, is booming. Selling high-quality casual shoes, Oliberte has gone from selling a mere 200 pairs of shoes in 2009 to a projected 18,000 in this year alone. Most would consider this a huge accomplishment in itself, but what makes Oliberte such a success story is that it is the first international company to market shoes made entirely in Africa.
Dehitar is bringing much-needed help to an almost scarce African middle class -– Oliberte currently employs around six workers in Ethiopia and will expand this year to train and employ up to 50 workers in Liberia. Dehitar also makes sure that his workers are given proper treatment.
“We make sure they pay at minimum the minimum wage with the understanding that as we grow as a company, they’re committed to improving their conditions, whether it’s through [initiatives such as] health insurance programs … now all the factories provide maternity leave programs to all the women,” said Dehitar in a recent CNN story.
Canadian-born Dehitar is intent on making people see Africa as a continent with some major manufacturing potential. His concept is simple: do good while living well. “If you want to pay people right, if you want to treat them with respect, use good product, then come to Africa,” he said.
And consumers seem to be in agreement. At the PROJECT trade show in New York City — a showcase for clothing brands across the world — buyers from trendy stores like Urban Outfitters and high-end boutiques showed great interest in Oliberte’s products.
Andrew Pollard, an industry expert, said that “What [Dehitar] is doing is he’s forging new ground. Where most people in the industry would never even know that Africa is a viable place to manufacture, he’s showing that it is.”
A entrepreneur with a conscience, Dehitar is successfully proving Africa’s manufacturing potential. Here at ONE, we are excited to see where Oliberte will go and how it will hopefully inspire others to think more globally.
Below is a special message for ONE members from David Lane written on Friday, January 21st:
It’s a bittersweet day for me. Today is my last day at ONE, as I’ve accepted a position at the White House. Working with all of you to fight extreme poverty has been the best job I’ve ever had. It has been exciting, humbling and rewarding. We’ve worked hard to make sure that the case for our shared fight against extreme poverty—which is so clear and compelling to us—becomes obvious to others.
In the coming months, ONE will be actively searching for a new CEO to help guide and grow our organization. In the interim, one of our board members—Joshua Bolten – has agreed to fill this role. As many of you know, Josh is currently a visiting professor at Princeton and has spent years in the US government at the highest levels. I am extremely grateful to Josh for stepping in to this role and I know he is excited to work closely with all of you.
As I reflect on my time at ONE, one of the things I am most proud of is that we have become a truly global movement. We now have members in over 100 countries on 7 continents. ONE’s membership and staff are a committed, passionate, and diverse group from across the political and social spectrum. You represent different political parties, nationalities, faiths, and walks of life. It is our deep commitment to the fight against extreme poverty that allows us, and propels us, to transcend differences and harness our strengths in a powerful way.
And, I’ve seen with my own eyes the awesome power of millions of people from all corners of the globe, from all walks of life, working together to end poverty. I am as proud as I’ve ever been to stand beside all of you, and I will remain a loyal ONE member today and always.
This week, Kelly Hauser is in Jacmel, Haiti, helping out with her alma mater’s sister city program, From Gainesville with Love. She will discuss some of what she sees in a short blog series in honor of those who died and lost family members in the January 12 earthquake.
Over the next few days, I will write about the resilient and creative spirit of Haiti and in particular, of Jacmel, the small coastal city where I am spending my vacation. After the January 12 earthquake, 85 percent of Haiti’s buildings were damaged, most of its 18th century New Orleans-esque downtown was condemned, and thousands of people were moved into tent camps.
Today, I met with Roland Zenny, Jacmel’s Chamber of Commerce President, to talk about whether foreign direct investment is happening in Jacmel. Upon arriving in his office, Zenny handed me a 2′ 8 block of what looked like really dense Styrofoam. This material is the basis for a vision that he and a group of private investors from the United States are making a reality just a few miles outside of the center of the city.
Using an incredibly sturdy version of polystyrene patented by the company MilleniumBlok, the investors plan to build a village of earthquake and hurricane tolerant houses that will be sold for around $10,000. While this may seem like a lot in a country that where the GDP per capita is around $733, they expect that people with steady jobs will be able to afford them.
In an effort to create a market, they will develop a textile factory in the village that will provide 1,200 jobs. Tax incentives will encourage other factories to set up shop nearby. Local banks like Fonkoze have committed to marketing a mortgage product for houses in that price range, making such housing affordable for more people. Zenny’s plan is for the development of inexpensive earthquake-resistant housing and a mortgage market to spur increased movement from tent cities to permanent housing.
While this project is not targeted to the poorest of the poor (the private sector rarely has the capacity to do so), it has the potential to spur growth, change the public’s perception of what is within their reach, and introduce builders and aid groups to disaster-tolerant materials. As an indicator of how much hunger there is for opportunity and reconstruction, Zenny estimated that 4,000 people attended the Chamber’s information session on the project.
Could the private sector be a key to reconstruction in Haiti? Earlier this week I passed a cooperatively-owned agricultural school in the countryside outside Jacmel. I asked my companion, a local pastor, about who funds the school. “It is part of a cooperative,” he said. “The classes are funded by the farmers who take them. That is the Haitian way.” In many ways, this is similar to how the planned village will work in that, in the end, they will both be funded by the same people who benefit from them and will be driven by demand for the final product.
People here want to make their own way and are hungry for opportunities to do so. A great question to ask is: What can we do to support that?
Satellite photographs. Hollywood actors. Dictators and the threat of the world’s next genocide. Although this may sound like the makings of an action-packed spy movie, it’s not. It’s the foundation of the Satellite Sentinel Project, George Clooney’s latest project to combat civil war in Sudan through the use of cutting-edge satellite and mapping technology.
Mr. Clooney initiated the Satellite Sentinel Project in time for Sudan’s big vote next week, which determines whether southern Sudan, a region rich in oil, will become independent from the rest of the country. Human rights experts warn that it’s a dangerous proposal — if President Omar al-Bashir refuses to accept the South’s independence, the country could plunge into a civil war, sparking the world’s next genocide.
In order to avoid this, Mr. Clooney’s project, in partnership with the Enough Project and Not On Our Watch, will use satellite imagery analysis and field reports with Google’s Map Maker technology to watch for indications of war preparation on the border between North and South Sudan. Any signs of war will be immediately exposed to the mainstream media and the human rights community.
“We want to let potential perpetrators of genocide and other war crimes know that we’re watching, the world is watching,” said Mr. Clooney. “War criminals thrive in the dark. It’s a lot harder to commit mass atrocities in the glare of the media spotlight.”
According to John Prendergast, co-founder of the Enough Project, “Deterrence is our objective. We want to contribute to the prevention of war between North and South Sudan. If war does ignite, we want to hold accountable those responsible, and hopefully deter human rights crimes that would be committed in the context of war.”
Here at ONE, we believe that peaceful countries with leadership accountable to its citizens will have the best chance at winning the fight against extreme poverty and disease. Projects like the Satellite Sentinel Project will help create and promote more transparent governments that respect civic participation and the rule of law necessary to ensure that investments are made in the poorest people.
Erin and Chris hold up ONE posters at the “Today Show” in New York City.
This morning, we asked some of our friends on Twitter and Facebook this question: “What are the qualities that make a good activist?” Almost 70 of you commented on Facebook and nearly 50 tweeted us your answers on Twitter. Here’s a sample of our favorite responses:
Tamtam Finn: a good activist should be able to inspire other people, should believe in every word he says and should really love what he’s doing. in this case he’ll be very loyal to the idea.
@RuthAnslow: what makes a good activist is a stubborn refusal to accept how it is!
Buffi Owens: Not backing away or giving up when the going gets tough, when the wall of opposition seems insurmountable – keeping up the good fight.
Troy Lucas: Persistence and not being afraid to speak publicly, even when others don’t care to hear what is being said.
Jim Cieri: Selflessness, putting us before me (and us is everyone).
@inigondan: persistence persistence persistence and more persistence
@andeans: “reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.”-Gibran
Julia Maganini: Good men or women who are not afraid to stand against evil and wrongdoing in the world. Men or women who, in the face of all odds, fights just because it’s right.
@EricMayle: an activist is someone who is forever burdened by humanity’s inability to catch up with its potential.
Have anything to add? Tell us in the comments below.
Just in case you missed it, here’s the video clip of the World AIDS Day segment from “Special Report with Bret Baier,” which aired yesterday at 6 PM ET on FOX News. The powerful segment featured interviews with former President George W. Bush and Bono and included President Obama’s special World AIDS Day message. Click the image below to watch the video, and be sure to leave us a comment to let us know what you think!
This is the last post in a five-part series on innovative prevention efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS for World AIDS Day. This blog post discusses how schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease, increases a woman’s chance of getting infected with HIV.
Before I came to ONE, I worked for an organization called the Global Network, which worked to raise the profile of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), disabling and debilitating diseases that impact more than a billion people around the world but receive very little public attention and funding. One of the most interesting things I learned in my time at the Global Network was how one NTD, schistosomiasis (also known as snail fever) took a particular toll on women.
Global distribution of S. haematobium Infection in Africa (As Well As S. japonicum and S. mekongi Infections in Asia) from the World Health Organization.
Schistosomiasis in anyone is problematic — it causes stunted growth and anemia and frequently leads to blood in the urine, intestinal damage and even cancer. But one type of schistosomiasis (S. haematobium) in girls and women can cause additional problems, including the development of rough, mucosal patches in the genitals.
Because of these patches, females who are sexually active are more likely to experience contact bleeding, and are thereby more susceptible to acquiring HIV. In fact, a study in Zimbabwe showed that women suffering from genital schistosomiasis were three times more likely to become infected with HIV than their counterparts who did not have schistosomiasis.
Having studied HIV/AIDS for years, I was astounded to learn of a potential risk factor for HIV in women that I had never even heard of before and that had received virtually no attention from policymakers. But I was also heartened, because treatment for schistosomiasis — thanks in part to drug donation programs — is just 32 cents per person, per year. For all the other worthy investments we make in AIDS prevention and treatment that are often tens and hundreds of dollars per year, certainly we can afford to tack on some additional loose change to control an NTD while also mitigating a potential risk factor for HIV in women!
As much as this seems like a no-brainer, there are still barriers to ensuring coverage for the women who need it. Partners of the Global Network, including the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative in the UK, are doing great work around the world to get praziquantel (the drug to treat schistosomiasis) to millions of people in need, but the drug remains in short supply globally. More research and on-the-ground pilot programs need to be conducted as well, to confirm linkages of causality between schistosomiasis and HIV and to show how HIV and NTD integration in the field can work.
We have no reason to delay treatment, even as this research is continued, however. In fact, as I write, millions of women and children are receiving treatment — including praziquantel — across Rwanda thanks to a partnership between Columbia University’s Access Project and the Rwandan Ministry of Health, and that’s progress worth celebrating for both HIV and NTD prevention.
Right now, some of the world's biggest oil companies are fighting to keep some of their deals with foreign governments secret. Let's tell big oil we won't be bullied.
Cuts to poverty-fighting programs won't balance the budget, but they will set back progress on Canada's development priorities and risk jeopardizing existing investments.
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.
