America.gov this week featured two articles outlining and detailing each US presidential candidate’s policies in regards to combating poverty and disease in Africa. Each article features a major campaign surrogate discussing his respective candidate’s plans—Howard Wolpe for Obama, Herman J. Cohen for McCain. Both are rather illuminating and definitely worth the read.

Excerpts below, full Obama piece here, full McCain piece here

A McCain administration would place even more emphasis on promoting private-sector economic development in Africa, Cohen said.

“The Millennium Challenge Corporation is very strong on private-sector [development], and I think you will see the United States Agency for International Development moving to finance even more private-sector activity to help even more Africans themselves become investors,” he predicted. “Now that Africa is becoming more open to the private sector, they need the infrastructure to make it work. “

An Obama presidency will “greatly facilitate the diplomacy required to try to make some progress on these difficult issues,” such as the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan or the political situation in Zimbabwe.
In the long term, Wolpe said, the central challenge facing Africa is the building of cohesive states. An Obama administration would be particularly focused on helping Africans search for common ground and eliminate conflict across the continent, he predicted. “Unless you can tackle that issue, the prospects for long-term sustainable economic development will be constantly compromised,” he said.

-Chris Scott

Ambassador John J. Danilovich, writing for the Huffington Post, yesterday offered up an eloquent and concise argument for why foreign aid is more important now than ever. He writes that the United States taking a leading role in fighting extreme poverty is the smart and right thing to do, and also warns that “poverty, when left unchecked, leads to despair and resentment that may become a breeding ground for terrorists.”

Excerpts below, but the whole piece is definitely worth a read

[F]ighting poverty abroad helps us here at home in concrete ways. Here’s how:

Economic empowerment makes good neighbors. People liberated from poverty’s grip have greater opportunities to participate in and contribute to the political and economic life of their countries. Democracy and economic development go hand-in-hand, and serve as a foundation to achieve stability and reduce poverty. Stable, democratic nations are more likely to work with us to counter threats to global security.

Raising the quality of life in one corner of the world raises it throughout. We live on an increasingly interconnected planet. By strengthening the capabilities of developing nations to support the health and education of their citizens, and to protect the environment and natural resources of their communities, the fight against poverty ensures a better quality of life for everyone.

Open markets offer expanded options. By stimulating the economies of developing countries, opportunities emerge for greater private investment, which is the true engine of economic growth and essential for assisting people escape poverty. Entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes — including U.S. businesses — have the potential to invest in new markets, to increase trade, and to expand commercial relationships.

-Chris Scott

Last Thursday, “Pennsylvania ONE Day” spread to the community of Mount Saint Joseph Academy. It was not long until over one hundred Mount students swarmed to sign the ONE Declaration, showing their support for their ONE state. White bands and pamphlets were distributed, and as a result there are ONE posters hanging in classrooms and hallways. The Mount girls showed their support by wearing their ONE T-shirts and continue to wear their bands.

ONE volunteers don’t just reach out to college campuses, but also to local high schools, where their response to this cause is both inspiring and remarkable. Every signature we add to the ONE Declaration brings us one step closer to eliminating the poverty that affects so many.

-Caroline Johnston

The Center for U.S. Global Engagement continued its Impact ’08 in Pennsylvania effort with a panel discussion on the global challenges facing the next president featuring former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. The panel was moderated by CNN Special Correspondent Frank Sesno. The program also included remarks by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, University of Pennsylvania President Dr. Amy Gutmann, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, and former Navy Secretary John Lehman.

ONE volunteer Amanda Waldman was fortunate enough to attend the event and shared some comments with me afterwards. She said that Rubin discussed at length the importance of utilizing SMART power instead of hard or soft power, meaning that in order for the world to recover from the very serious global recession, diplomats and world leaders need to find a balance between diplomacy, development, and defense.

-Brian Sweeney, ONE Vote 08 Field Organizer

As we previously reported, Bono spoke at the 2008 California Women’s Conference last night. We’ve compiled the full footage of his speech, split into 5 parts, below. Enjoy!

PS- In his speech, Bono refers to a petition organized by the ONE Campaign to hold both presidential candidates accountable in the fight to end extreme poverty. Please sign here.

Full speech, Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

-Chris Scott

Yesterday brought word that over 100 million people stood up for the Stand Up and Take Action —a remarkable number. Anita Sharma from the United Nations Millennium Campaign has more:

Congratulations ONE! I wanted to share with you the recent Stand Up and Take Action press release. Nearly 30,000 ONE members and supporters joined the recent campaign. Over the course of this past weekend, nearly 117 million people in some 130 countries participated in diverse events such as sports stadiums in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Spain, houses of worship in Indonesia and Canada, and the steps of parliament in Uganda, India, and Italy.

Because the financial crisis threatens to erase gains made in the fight against global poverty and puts resources and commitments into jeopardy, the timing of the summit and Stand Up could not be more urgent or appropriate. We intend to build on this amazing show of global support by demanding that our leaders keep their promises to ending extreme poverty.

You can read the full press release here.

-Anita Sharma, United Nations Millennium Campaign

On Sunday, ONE had the pleasure of being invited to bring the ONE bus to Northland Church in Orlando, Florida. Northland is an Evangelical Church in the Orlando community of Longwood. Since the church has 10,000 members this was a huge stop for us. The ONE bus pulled up to Northland Church at 8:00 on Sunday morning greeted by Sarah Mattingly, who helped ONE to get the bus approved at Northland. We would like to especially thank her for spending the day with us outside speaking to people. During all three services the praise pastor fully endorsed ONE and asked the attendees of each service to go out to learn more.

We were able to sign up over 700 new ONE members. After the last service, ONE staff was asked to stay and speak to the 100 + college-age group. We jumped at the opportunity and while I spoke about ONE, Sara Paterni worked the crowd getting as many volunteers as possible to sign up and answer any questions. ONE made a great partner and lots of new friends. We look forward to working closely with Northland in the near future.

-Jedidiah Hall, FL ONE Field Organizer

Bono is scheduled to speak at the 2008 Women’s Conference in a few moments. You can watch live in the webcast player below. (Webplayer is after the “read more” jump.)

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Stand Up Against Poverty just announced that over 113 million people stood up during this year’s Stand Up and Take Action event held over the weekend. That’s nearly 2% of the world’s population.

Click here for a breakdown of the numbers by continent.

-Chris Scott

During yesterday’s White House Summit, President Bush expressed his view that America must remain committed to international development “regardless of the ebb and flow of the markets.”

Excerpts below, full transcript here

You know, we meet today in the middle of a serious global financial crisis. Over the past few weeks, we have seen how the world’s economies are more interconnected than ever before. The crisis is having a major impact on working people all over the world — including many in developing nations.

During times of economic crisis, some may be tempted to turn inward — focusing on our problems here at home, while ignoring our interests around the world. This would be a serious mistake. America is committed — and America must stay committed — to international development for reasons that remain true regardless of the ebb and flow of the markets. We believe that development is in America’s security interests. We face an enemy that can’t stand freedom. And the only way they can recruit to their hateful ideology is by exploiting despair — and the best way to respond is to spread hope.

We believe that we ought to remain committed to development because it’s in our long-term economic interests. When America helps developing nations rise out of poverty, we create new markets for our goods and services, and better jobs for American workers. And we’re committed to development because it’s in our moral interests. I strongly believe in the timeless truth: To whom much is given, much is required. We are a blessed nation and I believe we have a duty to help those less fortunate around the world. We believe that power to save lives comes with the obligation to use it. And I believe our nation is better when we help people fight hunger and disease and illiteracy.

-Chris Scott