In case you missed it, here’s the clip from NBC’s Nightly News about actor Sally Field’s work advocating on behalf of women in the developing world. It also spotlights her work with our friends at Vital Voices.
Tonight at 7:00 PM EST, Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News will profile our friends at Vital Voices for his “Making a Difference” segment. According to Vital Voices, board member Sally Field will be in the studio with Williams to discuss their work to “bring visibility to extraordinary women leaders around the world.”
Vital Voices has teamed up with Diane von Furstenberg as part of this month’s YouTube Video Volunteers project. As you may remember, ONE and Jeremy Piven encouraged people to take part in this opportunity in March.
Watch Diane’s video below—calling on volunteers to give voice to women around the world by creating a film about a women’s organization that they care about. At the end of the month, the top three films will go on YouTube’s home page, alongside Diane’s film for Vital Voices.
Don’t miss this chance to join Vital Voices and YouTube and help celebrate the strength of women everywhere.
First ladies from across Africa will meet with a range of top experts in a first-ever U.S. summit to develop and improve locally-run programs that benefit mothers and children throughout the African continent. The Leadership for Health Summit, to take place April 20 and 21 in Los Angeles is a joint effort of U.S. Doctors for Africa and African Synergy, a group formed by 22 first ladies from Africa.
Political leaders and policy experts, as well as representatives from aid organizations, charitable foundations and key businesses, will join the first ladies for the summit. The goal is to forge new partnerships to expand and enhance locally-run programs started by African first ladies. By linking the first ladies with the expertise and resources, organizers hope to improve the health of millions of mothers and children across Africa, saving hundreds of thousands of lives each year.
“Empowering Africa’s first ladies is an innovative approach to bettering the lives of millions of Africans. These are some of Africa’s most important leaders and aiding their efforts is critical,” said Ted Alemayhu, founder of U.S. Doctors for Africa.
During the invitation-only summit, the first ladies of Africa will introduce their domestic and region-wide efforts across Africa, engage in dialogues with other leaders from the field of global health, and set actionable goals for the coming year.
As an organizing partner for the summit, ONE is working to promote the first ladies’ work and leadership and to help develop sustainable partnerships towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The other organizing partners are allAfrica.com, Africare, Global Health Council, the David & Lucille Packard Foundation, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program, Until There’s A Cure Foundation, Vital Voices Global Partnership, White Ribbon Alliance, Women Deliver and the World Health Organization as well as corporate sponsors, Chevron, General Electric, ExxonMobil and the RAND Corporation.
This group of partners looks forward to building greater partnerships around the first ladies’ objectives, as laid out in African Synergy’s founding Statute: “strengthening the spirit of co-operation, partnership and collaboration among stakeholders at national, regional and international levels through a new approach and more active solidarity”; and of “pooling our efforts for more concerted and concrete action in order to alleviate suffering and effectively combat HIV/AIDS (and other scourges)”.
African Synergy’s collaborations include the opening of maternal health clinics, HIV treatment centers, orphan care programs and vocational training schools in Guinea, Niger, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Mali and Cameroon; as well as numerous other initiatives and advocacy efforts throughout all 22 member countries.
Immediately following the summit, the first ladies of Africa will be honored for their leadership at a gala benefit the evening of April 21, hosted by a committee of Hollywood activists and featuring musical performances by Natalie Cole and South African legendary musician Vusi Mahlasela.
ONE is honored to work in partnership with African SynergyUS Doctors for Africa, a humanitarian organization committed to increasing access to medical care for diseases and conditions affecting the people of Africa. Most of us can echo USDFA’s vision statement — We envision a future for Africa, free from the burden of preventable and treatable diseases and conditions, in which its people can prosper.
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.
