At the end of May the Senate passed a bill to provide emergency aid for
Jordan, Burma, and food security – urgent humanitarian needs that our
government needs to address.
The problem:
The Senate funded the assistance by proposing to cut the budget of the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which invests in long-term poverty reduction, by 1/3. The U.S. has already promised MCC funding to several very poor countries, including the African nation of Burkina Faso, scheduled to sign a compact with the MCC in July. Since the news, the NGO community has been advocating hard against the proposed cuts.
The result:
Last week the proposed cuts were reduced from $525 million to $58 million by a conference of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate approved the bill last night and it is now up to the President to approve.
This month, I had the privilege of traveling to Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world. 80% of the population is rural, subsistence farmers. The women I met in Burkina Faso rely on small vegetable plots to feed their families and send their children to school. The MCC’s programs would help women have access to land, help girls go to school, and improve rural roads – key strategies for reducing poverty and increasing food security. I also met with (more…)
I have the unfortunate job of sharing some disappointing news about global AIDS funding this morning.
We needed “Unanimous Consent” (or “UC”) to keep PEPFAR reauthorization moving in a timely and bi-partisan fashion. This means that every member on the Senate floor had to agree to the proposed legislation.
Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid asked for UC for PEPFAR twice this morning: Once with no amendments, and a second time with 4 amendments (2 from the Republican side and 2 from the Democratic side.) Both attempts failed to pass.
This means we now have no choice but to look to push for PEPFAR reauthorization after Congress’s scheduled recess.
This legislation is critical to millions of lives, and this means that President Bush will have a more difficult time pressuring other wealthy countries to follow the U.S.’s leadership and give more to global AIDS when he attends the July G8 summit in Japan.
Earlier in the week we were hopeful after Sen. Reid set a deadline for the completion of negotiations, with the intent of calling for UC and a vote on this important legislation. We do know that the major differences with Sen. Coburn have been addressed and that he has lifted his hold on the bill. Unfortunately not all the senators have come to an agreement yet – 3 in particular have maintained their holds and a 4th objected on the floor.
We are hopeful that negotiations will continue through the July 4th recess and that the momentum we built through the last few weeks will continue, culminating in a vote soon after the Senate comes back into session.
We will keep you updated with more analysis and plans. As ONE members, we have to be prepared to take action the next chance we get. The people who need this funding don’t have a voice in America’s legislative system – but we do.
With gas prices rising to record levels and showing no signs of slowing, energy security is quickly becoming the number one election year issue. Yesterday alone there were at least three press conferences on Capitol Hill from party leaders on the issue of high energy costs. But amid the finger-pointing and searching for quick fixes, there’s a quiet effort underway in Congress to promote US energy security while also fostering stable, long-term relationships with resource rich African countries. Few people realize that 22 percent of US crude imports came from Africa in 2006. That’s slightly more than we imported from the Middle East in the same year.
Yesterday morning I attended a hearing by the House Financial Services committee, chaired by Congressman Barney Frank, on the Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act (EITD), a bill that would require oil, gas and mining companies to disclose their payments to foreign governments. It’s an important first step in promoting transparency and accountability in resource rich countries, many of which are the poorest and worst governed countries in the world. Mandatory disclosure of payments has several benefits:
It promotes US interests by combating corruption and improving the stability of US investments abroad through improved governance in oil producing countries.
It’s an important poverty reduction tool, enabling oil revenues to be managed in a more accountable manner. Citizens in poor countries will be able to hold their recalcitrant governments accountable for the revenues they received from public concessions.
It helps investors assess the risks of their investments in what are often high-risk operating environments (in fact, the Financial Services Committee heard from an investment industry spokesman who endorsed the bill wholeheartedly).
It protects companies from false or unfair accusations and blame shifting by host governments. Citizens will be able to clearly see how much companies are paying and how little benefit they are receiving.
Finally, for all the pain we’re experiencing at the pump, we shouldn’t forget that soaring commodity prices represent a tremendous opportunity for African governments to convert natural resource wealth into poverty-fighting investments for their people. Transparent disclosure of extractive payments can encourage this kind of responsible use of revenues.
Since the bill requires all oil, gas and mining companies listed on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to disclose payments, it includes more than just US companies. In fact, fourteen out of the fifteen oil and gas companies that are publicly traded would be covered by the bill, including all three major Chinese oil companies that are active internationally. Since a vast majority of internationally competitive companies would have to report payments, US companies would not be put at a competitive disadvantage.
The bill has a long way to go before becoming law, but judging by its positive response this morning, it appears to be off to a good start. For more information and to keep track of the bill’s progress, check out www.openthebooks.org.
Reports out of Zimbabwe paint the typical picture of a country in crisis: food shortages, political violence, an exodus of refugees, skyrocketing inflation- essentially, a country on the brink of collapse. The most frustrating part of this image is that Zimbabwe did not always look like this- in the early 1990s, it was considered one of Africa’s most promising countries. For starters, it had one of the strongest, most diverse economies in the region. It was not only a major mining center and tobacco exporter, but also a strong agricultural producer with potential to become a regional breadbasket. Social indicators were also improving. Zimbabwe boasted one of the region’s most well-educated populations, with an adult literacy rate around 90%. The government invested heavily in education in the 1980s and with the introduction of free primary school fees, Zimbabwe was able to achieve universal primary education by1990.
By the early 2000s, this potential was squandered, demonstrating that poor leadership can wipe away development progress in a matter of years. A combination of disastrous economic policies, one-party rule and the emergence of challenges like HIV/AIDS has left millions of Zimbabweans destitute. On the economic front, inflation is over one million percent. 80% of Zimbabweans have no formal job, and many have reverted to the subsistence economy. Drought and a disastrous land redistribution policy have led to a dramatic decline in agricultural production and some 5 hectares of idle land. The United Nations (UN) now estimates that 4.1m people will face serious food shortages in Zimbabwe in 2008.
Health indicators have also fallen sharply. Zimbabwe faces the world’s fourth highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate, and life expectancy has dropped from 61 years during the early 1990s to 34 years at the end of 2005. Shortages in personnel, equipment and supplies have ravaged the health system and led to sharp rises in infant and child mortality. Gross economic mismanagement and dictatorship have also meant that Zimbabweans have not been able to benefit from the scale-up in donor assistance for health like other Africans have. According to UNICEF, Zimbabwe receives the lowest donor support in southern Africa for people living with HIV, at only $4 per person per year; for comparison, in neighboring Zambia the figure is $184 per person per year.
What this all demonstrates is the potential that a fair, democratic election could hold for Zimbabwe’s future. While one election will not fix all of Zimbabwe’s problems, it will open a window of opportunity for the country to get back on track and recover what’s been lost. Countries like Rwanda and Mozambique have demonstrated the remarkable recoveries that are possible after the most destructive civil conflicts. Keys to success in these stories were not only a government dedicated to development, but strong support from the international community. That is why it is vital that the international community is not only strong in demanding free and fair elections, but is poised and ready to offer support once Zimbabwe has a chance at recovery.
After years of silence on the crisis in Zimbabwe, last night former South African leader Nelson Mandela condemned the political violence that is gripping the country and criticized the government of Robert Mugabe.
Edith and I wanted to provide some more information and background about what this means.
Because of his stature both at home and abroad, these words by Mandela carry significant weight. Until now, the former president had kept quiet on the issue to avoid undermining current South African President Thabo Mbeki. However, in the past year Mbeki’s failed strategy of “quiet diplomacy” with Zimbabwe has come under increasing international criticism.
Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF, rejected the criticism early this morning, saying that Mandela’s comments were unacceptable and unfortunate for a man of his stature.
Mandela’s comments join a choir of African voices that many deem too little and too late to have a real impact on Mugabe. In the lead-up to the runoff elections scheduled for tomorrow, pressure has been growing on Zimbabwe’s neighbors to take more forceful action in persuading Mugabe to cancel the election and agree to talk with the opposition. An emergency meeting held yesterday by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was a missed opportunity for key African leaders to take the strong positions needed to influence action. After a five-hour meeting in Swaziland, leaders from Tanzania, Angola and Swaziland called for a poll delay and said that a run off would be illegitimate. This is the strongest position taken by the SADC yet, but they finished their statement by concluding that the people of Zimbabwe could handle their own problems. Mbeki, who was notably absent from the summit, spoke to the meeting host Mswati (Swaziland’s president) at length on the phone, although it is unclear what position he took.
Next week is the African leaders will meet for the annual African Union summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Depending on what happens Friday, this could offer a new opportunity for African leaders to condemn the situation and a chance for the AU to exert its legal power to suspend Zimbabwe’s membership and demand new elections.
Nelson Mandela uttered just four words criticising Zimbabwe’s leadership, but they were enough to resonate around the world….
In a speech at a dinner late on Wednesday, Mandela highlighted several global crises including poverty, the Middle East, Iraq and Darfur before referring to a “tragic failure of leadership” in Zimbabwe.
While brief, the phrase hit the headlines, with reports saying Mandela had “broken his silence”. He officially retired from politics nine years ago.
You can watch the speech here:
(Mandela is in London to celebrate his 90th birthday and to attend a celebrity-filled concert tomorrow designed to raise awareness and funds for his AIDS/HIV charity. The charity is called “46664″ – which was his prison number when he spent decades behind bars for opposing apartheid in South Africa.)
The “Girl Effect” is the powerful social and economic change brought about when girls have the opportunity to participate in their society. Decades of research shows that when women have access to more resources, they put their money towards making sure their children have better nutrition, education and health care.
The first step is investing in girls and it is one of the surest routes to ending poverty in the developing world. Check it out at http://www.girleffect.org/#/video/
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.
