Anne came up to talk about ONE’s legislative priorities.

Overall, ONE advocates for more and better aid, debt cancellation and fairer trade practices.

Anne walked through the budget and appropriations process and the very real impact this legislation can make in the world’s poorest countries.

Throughout the process, YOU can weigh in with legislators. As a ONE member you are helping to build the political will so that the U.S. will commit additional funds to development assistance.

Anne then highlighted a few key pieces of legislations that ONE will focus on this year:

• The Education For All Act
• The Child Act
• The Jubilee Act
• The Growth Act
• The Farm Bill

See the full legislation priority presentation here.

Andy Rigsby from CARE is talking to us about how to build a movement. Here are some highlights:

Movements grow out of recognition of an injustice he says. We know that over 3 billion people live on less than $2 a day. We know that over 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. If all you ever do is raise awareness about these two facts you’ll be incredibly successful.

But we can do more. We can build a movement.

Our job is to make the unseen seen. Most Americans have the luxury to never see extreme poverty. We need to talk to enough people to reach the tipping point. We want to reach a critical mass of awareness about extreme poverty.

We are all a part of a network. If you have one conversation about this issue, and everyone else in this room has a conversation, and a staff person at CARE and at ONE and at Jubilee has a conversation, then we will make an impact.

Advocacy can be both conventional and nonconventional. Take opportunities to put issues in front of a community.

There is a lot of power in tabling. You can educate a lot of people just offering the same information that you’ve been offered today.

Talk to existing communities like church groups, other issue organizations, neighborhood associations and even at your dinner table.

Billions of people around the world are impacted by U.S. Global policy, but they don’t have a voice in our policy process.

And the sad and lonely truth is that very, very few citizen go to their representatives to tell them about the issues that they care about.

Don’t feel the need to be an expert. We need to be passionate voters and constituents. When we lobby a member of Congress, we have a real opportunity to make change.

I just finished leading one of our small group breakout sessions.

In the group, each person chose a fact sheet about one of the following:

• The Millennium Development Goals
• More and Better Aid
• Debt Cancelation
• Trade Justice
• Clean Water & Sanitation
• Education
• Child and Maternal Health
• HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria

They read through the fact sheet for their issue and then shared with the group a fact or statistic or idea that they found especially surprising or interesting. Conversation began to flow quickly, as the many issues all relate to one another.

Some of the things we discussed were the stigma of AIDS, the link between education and health, the impact of debt on all the extreme poverty issues, the important role women play in ending poverty, the importance of trade in creating a sustainable economy and even what to say to someone who asks you what ONE is.

All the issues’ fact sheets are included in everyone’s training packets, and I’ll post all ONE training packet materials on the blog soon.

Anne Batchelder is now leading the group through the basics of trade.

She told us that international trade has the potential to reduce poverty, but the rules that are currently in place are preventing poor people from benefiting from trade.

Most people living in extreme poverty live in rural areas and rely on agriculture.

If Africa were to increase its share of world exports by 1%, the resulting $90 Billion generated would be three times what the continent receives in aid and debt relief.

ONE supports trade policy that will deliver real benefits.

Raising incomes in poor countries means:

• improving access to markets
• reduction or elimination of rich country subsidies
• right to direct trade and development strategies

You can read through Anne’s full slide show here.

Andy from CARE is talking about development aid.

First Andy talked through the problems: 1 billion people live on less than a dollar a day. 3 billion live on less than 2 dollars a day. 125 million school-aged children are not enrolled in school (2/3 are girls). 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS.

Next Andy talked about how much of our current international aid does not go to real poverty-reduction programs and about how important it is to do give smart aid, to good governments for programs that will build the infrastructure that will truly make a difference.

The average American thinks the US spend 24% of our budget on development assistance. They want it to be 10%.

In reality, the U.S. gives 0.39% of our budget to poverty-reduction development aid. (data from 2005)

One dollar in development saves seven dollars in emergency relief. Every year of education for girls, yields great gains for health and economic indicators. Development aid eradicated polio and nearly eradicated smallpox.

You can flip through Andy’s full presentation here.

Alessandra Harris from Jubilee USA is speaking about debt cancellation.

She is explaining where the debt comes from, discussing the history of the debt and the real impact of these debts. Many poor countries use most of their money toward paying off old loans, and if they keep paying off these loans, they will never meet the Millennium Development Goals.

She is also talking about the history of the debt cancellation movement, Jubilee USA, the Jubilee Act, and the importance of freeing countries from debt so that they can escape extreme poverty.

You can learn more about the basics of debt in this document “Why Drop the Debt Page” The document walks you though:

• how debt cost lives
• how the countries have already paid their loans (but are still paying them off due to skyrocketing interest)
• how the strings attached to debt hurt poor people
• how banks have knowingly lent the money to corrupt governments and that the money loaned was spent on irresponsible projects that never could have helped the people in these countries
• how debt cancellation means real results- more schools, teachers, food, clean water and healthcare in developing countries.

“Debt is tearing down schools, clinics, and hospitals and the effects are no less devastating than war.” – Dr. Adabayo Adedeji, African Center for Development Strategy

Why Drop the Debt Page 1

Why Drop the Debt Page 2

Stephanie Handler, ONE Regional Field Organizer, is now walking the group through the basics of ONE. Her talk includes the history of ONE, the definition of extreme poverty, the emergency of HIV/AIDS, what U.S. funding can do to help and what ONE believes we can do to help the world’s poorest people.

You can flip through the slideshow here.

“The ONE Campaign believes that the U.S. enacting a comprehensive package which includes fair trade, debt cancellation, fighting corruption, and directing additional resources for basic needs such as education, health, clean water, food, shelter, and care for orphans, would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the poorest countries. Therefore, the ONE Campaign supports efforts rooted in building strong, widespread support for bold, new initiatives to meet the Millennium Development Goals.”

ONE Field Coordinator Anne Batchelder opened up the training by welcoming the crowd and telling everyone how excited we are that they are here. We’re now watching a short film that introduces ONE’s history and mission.

(The response to this training has been overwhelming and I have the exhausted volunteers running the registration table to prove it.)

More volunteers keep flooding in.

Annie Chung learned about ONE when a friend forwarded her a petition online a few months ago. She checked out the website and knew she wanted to get more involved. The idea that individuals are banning together to make a difference is meaningful to her and she’s doesn’t want to just sit around and wait for things to happen, she wants to make things happen.

Julie Drysdale came from Santa Cruz with her eleven-year old son Danny. They learned about ONE at the 2006 Warped Tour. Julie is an activist, but she’s really here for Danny, who’s psyched to do ONE organizing with his friends.

We’re here and we’re rearing to go.

Some super volunteers have shown up early to see if they can help out. Jimmy Yanez and Nina Torres are manning the registration table. Jimmy first heard and signed up for ONE back during the Live Eight concerts in 2005. Nina Torres signed up for ONE in 2006 and handed out ONE bracelets in the store she managed in Sacremento, California.

Katie Clifford also showed up early. She first heard about ONE from TV commercials last year. When she saw the commercials, she says, she was interested in what the celebrities had to say, rather than the celebrities themselves, and she’s excited to learn how to do hands on work.

Roneal Jit and Ronita Jit are siblings from San Francisco. The both saw the commercials, but Roneal first became connected to ONE when he found the ONE Declaration on a MySpace page. They’re both excited to meet other members and help out.

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