ONE Blog
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: |
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 several of them along routes to Camp David — where this weekend’s G8 meetings are being held — and in 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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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. |
Big win for agriculture: President Obama outlines new plan for global food security
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UPDATED, May 18, 2:43 p.m.:
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, and his full remarks from today’s speechhere. And be sure to read our press release here. |
Coffee? Or lunch? You choose.
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This blog post is a collaboration with ONE and HarvestPlus‘ head of communications, Yassir Islam.
Imagine, if on your way to work today, you stopped grabbed a cup of coffee for less than $2. And that was it. You had no more money to spend that day. No money for lunch, no money for your bus ride home, no money to put food on the table for your family. That’s the cold hard truth that 1.4 billion poor people around the world have to face every day. A new ONE brief reiterates that the lack of nutritious food leads to “178 million young children being stunted and suffering irreversible damage.” To reverse that trend, we have to give poor people more opportunities to get a pay raise, and to be able to grow — or buy — the right kinds of nourishing foods that their children must have to reach their full potential. |
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. |
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. |
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