International
ONE Blog
Vulture Funds: your voices delivered
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On Friday I went to Jersey to hand-in our petition to Cathy Keir in the Chief Minister’s Office, asking them to stop vulture funds using Jersey’s courts to prey on poor countries. Along with the Jubilee Debt Campaign we’ve been campaigning hard to see Jersey bring in the UK’s Vulture Funds law, and in a week’s time the Democratic Republic of Congo’s appeal to the Privy Council will be heard – with things hanging in the balance as to whether they’ll have to pay $100m to vulture fund FG Hemisphere.
After having much of their debt cancelled by the IMF and World Bank just last year, the impact that this will have on the DRC, and the people living in extreme poverty, is just unimaginable. The Chief Minister’s team confirmed that legislation is on the way, but there’s no way that it will now be in place in time to counter this case. We’ll be closely watching the outcome of the DRC’s appeal next Monday, and may have to call on you again to take action. Let’s hope this is a victory for right over wrong. Your voices have been heard by Jersey’s Chief Minister’s office. If you want to add your voice you can still sign the petition here. |
Bono addresses global leaders on hunger, agriculture and transparency at pre-G8 symposium
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Amid a flurry of public officials, business and NGO leaders and African heads of state at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs‘ Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security, ONE had one of it’s own represented: our cofounder Bono. Bono just finished up a speech which covered everything from global agriculture to foreign aid to transparency in the mining industry. In the context of the day’s events, his remarks were a call to action to everyone in the room, urging us to work together to help lift 50 million people out of poverty. “The conversation has changed,” he said. “Aid is smarter. It’s finally dawning on most of us that the continent that contains the most poverty also contains the most wealth… Imagine a place bursting at the seams with gold, copper, oil… undeveloped arable land. Not to mention the human resources.” Bono praised President Obama’s new alliance to promote agricultural growth in Africa, which was announced earlier today. “If the words of his speech are turned into bold action in partnership with the developing world and the private sector, then today was a real moment,” he said. He did not shy away from acknowledging the harsh economic realities that many governments face today, bringing up the EU’s 0.7 percent ODA target, which is currently under threat. He also said that international development, like music, can be subject to the whims of fashion. “Hunger was boring, even unsexy, in some quarters,” he said. “But it’s not boring if you live in the Sahel right now.” It was an inspiring speech overall, but I think he summed it up best with this quote: “The moment we’re all working for is when we make aid history.” We couldn’t agree more.
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NEW VIDEO: Your G8 tweets on the street
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We’ve had an amazing response to our “Tweet at the G8″ action. Thousands of tweets were submitted to the ONE Street Tweeter on Twitter and through our online form. We culled through a ton of messages and painted them along routes to Camp David — where this weekend’s G8 meetings are being held — and in Washington DC near the White House. So watch a behind-the-scenes look at the ONE Street Tweet. And a huge thank you again to everyone who sent their messages to @ONEStreetTweet. 
Then, take a look at just the thousands of messages we’ve received on our ONE Street Tweet gallery.
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Lotukoi Peter’s message to the G8
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As world leaders meet in the United States for the annual G8 summit, Lotukoi Peter, a young man from Karamoja, Northern Uganda tells the youth-led development agency Restless Development about his message to the G8.
I was born in Lorukumo village and my parents took me to Lobuneit Primary school where I went until I was 11 and then dropped from school due to lack of school fees. I started idling around the community, taking alcohol from morning or involved in cattle raid planning and activities. I abandoned cattle raiding as now I know the importance of peace in the development of my community. I used to participate in When Restless Development volunteers started working in Kidepo parish, they mobilised young people into a group which I joined. I started learning about issues of sexual health, how to make a living and peace. I enjoyed the sessions and committed myself to the group in which I gained more knowledge in supporting my family and the community. Through the sessions delivered I learnt about vegetable gardening, I went ahead and established a commercial vegetable garden. The garden has helped me in getting household income, for example when one of my family members gets sick, I use part of the money saved from the sale of vegetables to provide treatment. Besides part of the savings from the sale of vegetables is use to buy more seeds for replanting and expansion of the garden. I learnt that the use of locally available resources like manure can help to improve vegetable growing because each time I grow the vegetable they do well when I have spread it to my garden therefore, it has become useful for me and has expanded the vegetable growing that has also enhanced me to go into commercial gardening. The biggest challenge [to start the business] was getting start up capital to run my business. Pests have been disturbing a lot by destroying my crops like cabbages, tomatoes, sukumawiki (spinach), cowpeas among others. Also the thieves uprooting my vegetables at night. What are your hopes for your business? Better incomes for these rural poor means that they will buy more from local producers and service providers, with important multiplier effects on the local rural economies and also for the benefit of the manufacturing and services sectors in the country people will be able to buy my produce if it expands. I hope to expand my business and also become an entrepreneur in the community. I now want to diversify my income by setting up another new project. I plan to expand my business to set up Turkey poultry because very many people from town do buy them expensively. My business will aim at making sure that my children do go to school, receive medical care and I also buy a car of my choice that I will be using for transporting my goods to the markets. What issue would you like world leaders to focus on that would have a direct impact on your life? Encouraging access to finance and business development services that will be instrumental in developing young farmers like me. The leaders should also focus on skills development related to the jobs that we doing in the community. This week eight of the most powerful leaders in the world are meeting for the G8 summit. What would your message to them be about what their priorities should be? The need to focus on young people’s engagement in Development processes in order to have improved livelihood. They should understand poverty dynamics and develop interventions that are conflict sensitive and can improve the lives of young people in Karamoja. One of the topics the leaders will be discussing is agriculture & farming and how to break the cycle of hunger and poverty. What do you think should leaders focus on in order to improve agriculture and tackle hunger in your country/community? Skill Development and provision of start capital to boost the agriculture. What would you like ONE members to know about your country/community? My Community is currently guarding peace existence among ethnic groups jealously to avoid setbacks through reporting and timely response to criminal acts by young people. With the current peace level in the region, we have begun producing peacefully, our run away children have began returning home and we also appreciate that they have come with new ways of living. Though the situation has improved, there are still cases of isolated cattle theft going on yet people today are hoping for sustainable livelihood. The statement is true because the Karimojong have a duty to choose to be alive, respect others and their property and to have peace as a state of perpetual love. I Seek peace if not I may join death. Living completely in the past is escaping realities. Restless Development is an agency that places young people at the forefront of change and development. It works in Africa and Asia to empower young people to take their lives into their own hand and trains, educates and inspires young people to be part of the solution. Find out more at www.restlessdevelopment.org |
Big win for agriculture: President Obama outlines new plan for global food security
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President Obama just gave a really important speech at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security, which outlined a new alliance against global hunger and next steps to help improve food security around the world. We wanted him to put this issue on the agenda at the G8, and boy, did he do that in a bold way! Check out this great quote: “This weekend at the G-8 we’ll be representing many of the largest economies in the world. We face urgent challenges—creating jobs, addressing the situation in Europe, and sustaining the global economic recovery. But even as we deal with these issues, I felt it was important to also focus on the urgent challenge that confronts some one billion men, women and children around the world every day—the injustice of chronic hunger and the need for long-term food security.” The United States’ New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition will work closely with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, President John Atta-Mills of Ghana, and President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete with the help of African Union Chair Boni Yayi, President of Benin, to help solve the continent’s hunger crisis. These leaders have vowed to make food security a priority for their countries and beyond, and will specifically work to promote agricultural growth and raise 50 million people out of poverty over the next 10 years. The best part of the New Alliance is that it truly puts the power in the hands of African governments, allowing donor countries and the private sector to align their assistance with individual country plans. “There is no reason why Africa should not be feeding itself,” he said. President Obama said that as long as he is in power, the US will remain a global leader in development, with the fight against global hunger at the forefront. Here’s another great quote from his speech on that note: “As President, I consider this a moral imperative. As the wealthiest nation on earth, I believe the United States has a moral obligation to lead the fight against hunger and malnutrition—and to partner with others. So we take pride in the fact that—because of smart investments in nutrition, agriculture and safety nets—millions of people in Kenya and Ethiopia did not need emergency aid in the recent drought. Still, when tens of thousands of children die from the agony of starvation, as in Somalia, that’s unacceptable. It’s an outrage.” Keep an eye on the ONE Blog for more analysis on his speech from our policy experts over the next few days. In the mean time, join us in thanking President Obama for putting global food security at the top of his G8 Summit agenda by sending him a thank you message via Tweet or Facebook Status:
Read more about President Obama’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition here. |
Sharing success stories: Transparency and accountability for better health outcomes
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Last month during the Open Government Partnership (OGP) conference in Brazil, ONE hosted a side event to explore the ways in which opening governance –- making it more transparent and accountable -– can lead to better health outcomes. Chaired by Lu Ecclestone from the UK’s development agency, DFID, the panel included John Ulanga from the Foundation for Civil Society, Tanzania; Claire Schouten from Tiri: Making Integrity Work; Diego de la Mora Maurer from Fundar in Mexico; and me. Drawing on his experience in Tanzania, John Ulanga talked about a number of ways in which greater transparency and accountability in the health sector had led to improvements in performance. Public Expenditure Reviews had increased the proportion of funds actually making it to the point of service delivery, monitoring had thrown light on the abuse of subsidies for malaria drugs, and the simple wearing of name tags had improved citizens’ interactions with those at the front line of service delivery. However, as John emphasized, initiatives often remain as good ideas on the drawing board, with limited implementation by politicians reluctant to rock the boat. In his presentation, Diego de la Mora Maurer drew on Fundar’s many years of experience in relation to budgets and public policy processes. Diego talked in particular about how Fundar used its knowledge of the budget and legislative processes to push for more transparency about spending on health. Claire Schouten presented a number of examples from the many and varied places where Tiri works, showing the value of community-powered accountability and the difference that it can make. Tiri tailors its approach to the various contacts in which it works, enabling local communities to come up with solutions to the problems that they face. Finally, in my presentation –- based on a two-pager produced in collaboration with the Transparency and Accountability Initiative –- I introduced a number of examples to make the case that greater transparency and accountability at the level of the health sector can lead to more, better-used resources delivering improved results. In South Africa, the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa has helped 1.4 million people access antiretroviral treatment. In Tanzania, SMS monitoring of drug stocks has improved people’s access to malaria treatment by 240 percent. And in Uganda, community monitoring of health service delivery has contributed to a 33 percent reduction in child mortality. Up until now, the Open Government Partnership has given little attention to the impact that better governance can have on outcomes, such as health, that matter to ordinary people. This will need to change -– as Tanzania’s President Kikwete put it “To a pregnant woman, open government needs to be about the safe delivery of her baby.” Watch this space! |
Bono in TIME on Africa’s ‘resource miracle’
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ONE is in full-gear on all fronts heading into the G8 meeting this weekend, including our co-founder Bono. In addition to participating in our ONE Street Tweet action (you can see his message in the photo above) and speaking at tomorrow’s Chicago Council Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security, he has written a piece in TIME magazine that calls on G8 and African leaders to work together to ensure that Africa’s immense natural resources — oil, gas, minerals and more — are used for the benefit of all in Africa, and not just the few. He makes the case that effective, transparent management of Africa’s natural resources is the key to the continent’s future development and calls on world leaders to support tough legislation requiring transparency around payments between oil companies and countries rich in oil. Too often in developing countries, those deals are tainted by corruption — and what should be a resource “miracle” becomes a resource “curse.” Bono also calls on the G8 to stick with and deliver on its commitments to fund smart, effective initiatives that are helping African farmers develop their most fundamental natural resource — their land — in ways that will not only lift countries out of poverty, but deal a blow to hunger and malnutrition, too. Bono writes in TIME:
Read the rest of the article here. |
One last reminder to global leaders before the G8…
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When we heard that global leaders would be convening at the Chicago Council’s global agriculture event in Washington today, the first thing we thought was: We gotta take a advantage of this big moment!
In addition to printing YOUR messages to the G8 down Pennsylvania Ave. with our ONE Street Tweeter, we wrangled 20 ONE members and staffers to hold up giant signs around the Freedom Plaza, near the Reagan Building, where the Chicago Council event was being held. As world leaders entered the complex, they couldn’t miss our message fragmented out and displayed on 16 huge, bright green and black posters:
“Dear G8 leaders, 250,000 ONE members from all over the world want to give you some good news… (for a change). You hold it in your power to break the cycle of hunger + poverty (for good). 30 countries, 15 million fewer children malnourished, 50 million people out of poverty. It won’t be easy (but great things never are). Be bold. Act Now. Build a plan for the future of millions (not just a few). Sow the seeds of Change. ONE.org.” Check out some of the photos from today:
Did we mention our ONE members came out at 6:30 a.m.? Now that’s devotion! Give them a virtual high five by leaving a comment below. Photo credit: Mike Drachkovitch
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Your messages delivered to the G8 by the Street Tweeter
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This week we’ve been asking ONE members to send their messages to the G8 via the ONE Street Tweeter, and now they’re appearing on the road in Washington DC: 
The Street Tweet robot will be busy over the next few days painting the streets around the G8 summit with non-toxic washable chalk paint, and we’ll be updating you on where your messages end up. You can still send your anti-poverty pro-food messages to the G8 (in 40 characters or less) by tweeting at @ONEStreetTweet or by using our form. |
Photos: Our ONE Street Tweeter in action
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The ONE Street Tweet printing has begun! Yesterday, we went out to Maryland to print the first batch of your messages on the streets around an agriculture research facility. So far, more than 34 countries — including all 50 states and every G8 country — contributed to our ONE Street Tweet efforts. We’ll continue printing in Thurmont, Maryland today and Pennsylvania Ave. (right in front of the White House) in Washington, D.C., tonight. Remember — the whole goal of this action is to take your messages to the G8 on global agriculture to the streets — literally. So, that’s exactly what we’re doing. Take a look at some of the photos from our efforts over the past two days:
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About the Blog
The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any post expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
TAGS: Debt, Debt Cancellation, Partners, UK