The Global Fund just announced that by the end of ‘06 programs it finances will have delivered more than 18 million insecticide-treated malaria bed nets to families at risk from malaria, an increase of 135% from 2005. Malaria kills more than one million people a year, with 90% of these deaths occurring in Africa, mostly in children under 5 years of age. Insecticide-treated-bed nets (ITNs) are widely accepted as one of the most cost–effective malaria prevention measures.

Professor Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund, in their release:

“With Global Fund finance, the world has begun a massive counterattack against malaria at a scale we haven’t seen for decades.”

For months we’ve been working to make sure that the “third-country fabric” provision of AGOA, a clause that could have been overlooked and forgotten, was voted on and passed.

All in all, we sent more than a quarter of a million messages to members of Congress (which is a lot, trust me; I helped collate them by district), placed a full page ad in the newspaper Roll Call, and spoke with our representatives one on one. With a late-night vote in the House on Friday and an early-morning vote in the Senate on Saturday, they let us know they were listening.

And now is our chance to thank them.

By extending this provision until 2012, Congress did not just save as many as 150,000 jobs in some of the world’s poorest countries. They created the sustainability needed for businesses to invest in a growing African industry. Please take a moment to
thank Congress for continuing a U.S. economic policy that is working to fight poverty.

Their actions mattered.

Please let them know.

Every Tuesday, a new artist shows his or her support for ONE by sharing a song with our members. These artists come from different backgrounds, faiths, countries and musical styles, but all have at least one thing in common: they are ONE member who want to make poverty history.

Today, West Virginia-born contemporary Christian singer/songwriter Michael W. Smith shares “Can’t Wait Any Longer,” his enthusiastic support for our fight, and even a blog post (below.)

Listen to “Can’t Wait Any Longer” and all of the ONE Music on the ONE Podcast Page

“Life’s not all about the stuff we can accumulate or the honors people heap on us. Serving people in the name of Jesus is what really matters in the world. We have to step into peoples’ lives so that they can be changed by God.

But we really have to start believing this is our mission – that this is the authority that is ours as children of God. Simple acts can start to change thousands of peoples’ lives.

So I’m taking a stand – and I hope others will – to stand outside of the walls of the church, rubbing shoulders with the lost and to really live what I believe and embrace who I am in Jesus Christ. We are called to share our joy by serving the lost. The poor. The sick. The brokenhearted. The least of these. In Christ, we are given the courage and strength to change the world.”

-Michael W. Smith
http://michaelwsmith.com/

On Friday, I was proud to join my colleagues to vote for and pass H.R. 6406, which will extend a critical provision of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for five years. That extension means that tens of thousands of Africans will continue to have access to our markets for their goods.

Those of us who backed the bill were thankful for the groundswell of support from ONE Campaign members. When we’re working to get bills like this passed, the ONE Campaign’s support helps convince my colleagues to focus on what happens to people in developing countries. When hundreds of their constituents email, call, or write, that makes poverty a priority.

Impoverished countries need more than our sympathy; they need access to markets for their goods. Thanks to, in large part, your efforts, tens of thousands of people in some of the poorest regions on Earth continue to have that market access, and with it, a chance to break out of poverty.

Because of the dedication of you and others like you, we are ONE step closer to a poverty-free world. Thank you.

U.S. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) is a co-chair of the New Democrat Coalition. He is also the sponsor of the Global Poverty Act, H.R. 3605, a bill to require a comprehensive U.S. strategy to help eliminate extreme global poverty.

In all the excitement last week, I forgot to post photos from our evening AGOA letter drop-off.

People asked for one, so here’s the play by play from last Thursday!

5:30 PM: House offices were closing at 6 PM and ONE Campaign staff had
thousands of letters to deliver before the crucial AGOA vote! We quickly
divvied up the letters and hit the streets!

5:35 PM: Frantically searching for an empty cab, we ran (literally)
through the clogged and busy rush hour streets of Washington.

5:36…5:37…5:38: So cabs aren’t so speedy, but we hit a lot of green
lights, arrived, and finally split up to deliver the letters as quickly as
possible.

During the next 20 minutes, we navigated our way through the maze of
hallways and office furniture (as many offices were in the process of
moving), walked through a tunnel to access another building in search of
an office which had moved already, and successfully completed our
mission!

Considering that many of us had just met for the first time, it was an
unorthodox ice breaker!

Later, I watched the House vote live and I was struck by how the votes
of a few, but the efforts of many, would have a direct affect on the
lives and communities of thousands of people. The best part was waking
up on Saturday to see that the Senate had voted in favor of the “third-party fabric” provision of AGOA as
well.

That exercise was totally worth it!

Bono issued a statement on AGOA’s “third-country fabric” provision on Saturday saying:

“In the dying hours of Congress conscientious lawmakers on both sides
fought for this meaningful and immediate extension of AGOA’s third
country fabric provision. This means a Christmas present of secure jobs
for workers in clothing factories across Africa.”

Hi there loyal ONE Blog readers, my name is Weldon and I am the newest member of the ONE Campaign internet team. I’ll be doing all sorts of things here from writing to graphics to techie stuff, and I thought that I’d take a moment to introduce myself while introducing the first change that I made to the ONE Blog.

If you take a glace at the top of the right hand column of the blog you’ll see a new little link to subscribe to our RSS feed. If you click this link you’ll be able to subscribe to our blog, reading it regularly using a browser or feed reader.

Subscribing lets you read the ONE Blog at any time without having to visit the blog itself, making it quick and easy to get the latest on efforts to end global poverty.

Click here to subscribe to our RSS
feed!

You can visit the RSS wikipedia
entry to learn more about RSS and how to use it.

Well, as you can tell from that last post, it was late night around here, but at 1:27 AM we were all rewarded with great news: a 79-9 victorious vote in the Senate.

Passing the “third-party fabric” provision before adjourning Congress for the holidays was a clear opportunity for the Democratic and Republican parties to work together to take a lead in the fight against extreme poverty.

Fabric mills are scarce in Africa, so apparel makers in places like Lesotho import raw fabric from other countries, often Asia. This process is expensive and the duty-free status of African-manufactured clothing is one of the biggest reasons why African clothing makers are able to compete in the U.S. market.

Since AGOA was originally created in 2000, this provision has created hundreds of thousands of jobs in countries with some of the highest rates of unemployment in the world. If Congress hadn’t renewed the “third-party fabric” provision of AGOA early today, as many as 150,000 Africans could have lost their jobs and their abilities to contribute to their local economies.

With the President’s signature, this provision will be extended to 2012, allowing businesses more ability and reason to invest in this growing industry. I am honored to work among so many in our movement who helped make this happen and am thrilled to be able to follow the positive impact of this extension over the next five years.

Well done.

Victory! The AGOA bill just passed in the House with a vote of 212 to 184. This is a great reason to celebrate tonight!

Thank you to everyone for all your work.

Remember though, to keep the growing apparel industry in Africa out of jeopardy, the Senate must also pass the bill. If you haven’t already, call (202-224-3121) and send a letter online to your Senators telling them to help trade in the world’s poorest countries by supporting

the trade and tax bill which contains the AGOA provision.

Updates to come…