Charity must not become a casualty of the recession
In the grip of the downturn, we need to move from donor and receiver to true partnerships, writes Richard Branson. He emphasizes that we need to revolutionize the way businesses and the social sector work together.

Foreign Aid and Bad Government
America should stop pouring billions into bureaucracies to buy short-term alliances and focus its efforts on bottom-up entrepreneurship, according to this op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. The author, Iqbal Z. Quadir, founder and director of MIT’s Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship, sets forth an approach that President Obama should adopt. In this plan, America should: a) remove trade barriers on exports from the poorest countries; b) bolster small entrepreneurs with seed money in the range of $25,000; c) give $1 million to match any grass-roots group capable of raising $1 million to establish a health clinic.

New York Times: Poverty, Climate Change … and Recession (Blog)
A look at the links between policies aimed at curbing climate change and those designed to alleviate the suffering of the world’s poorest. As poverty campaigners make climate change as a priority issue and as international institutions propose solutions, it is important to remember that many nations are too poor to invest in cleaner energy systems, or to curb deforestation, which releases greenhouse gases.

AFP: AIDS fund chief appeals for US leadership
The head of the global fund against AIDS and other diseases in poor countries on Thursday urged the Obama administration to take the lead in overcoming a multi-billion dollar funding gap despite the economic crisis.

Reuters: U.N. urges African economies to diversify
Africa must boost food production and diversify its economies into manufacturing and services to cut the impact of future shocks like the current financial crisis, the United Nations said Thursday.

-Chandler Smith

The New York Times is reporting that Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has decided to join a power-sharing government as prime minister with President Robert Mugabe. This decision was reached unanimously at a meeting of the opposition party’s leadership in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. The Times reports that it will “usher in a new phase in the opposition’s decade-long struggle against Mr. Mugabe, 84, and his almost 30-year grip on power.” We’ll bring you any further developments as they occur.

Excerpts from the breaking news below, full report here

Mr. Tsvangirai now faces the daunting job of reviving Zimbabwe’s moribund economy and rescuing an increasingly famished, sick and impoverished population with a partner, Mr. Mugabe, whose security forces have viciously beaten Mr. Tsvangirai and thousands of his supporters over the past two years and abducted and allegedly tortured dozens more in just the last few months.

But after more than four months of deadlock and uncertainty following Mr. Tsvangirai’s signing of the power-sharing deal with Mr. Mugabe, his followers reacted with hope that he might be able to stop the country’s accelerating downward spiral.

The challenges are monumental, and the distrust of Mr. Mugabe is so deep that it is uncertain whether the United States and European nations will lift sanctions and infuse substantial new aid for the reconstruction of Zimbabwe until they have solid evidence that he will agree to sweeping changes in the country’s disastrous economic policies, the restoration of the rule of law and democracy.

-Chris Scott

On Thursday evening Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL-20) held a town hall meeting at the Nautilus Middle School in Miami Beach to discuss the stimulus bill that recently passed the House of Representatives as well as other issues that are important to her constituents.

During the question and answer portion of the evening, Miami ONE Member, Danielle DePas spoke about how the economic crisis is not only impacting those within the United States but also many people around the world, especially those living in extreme poverty. She asked the Congresswoman if she would support continued foreign assistance and if she would work to empower women in poverty.

The Congresswoman expressed strong support for continued and increased foreign aid and assistance and stated that she thought poverty issues would be a priority under the new administration and especially for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

After the town hall ended we had a chance to speak directly with Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz and thank her for her support. She enthusiastically took a wrist band and asked us to stay in touch with her and her staff as we work to take on the challenges of extreme poverty and preventable diseases.

Here’s a video we recorded from the town hall:

-Sara Paterni

• President Obama spoke by phone yesterday with South African President Kgalema Motlanthe and said Pretoria had an important role to play in helping resolve Zimbabwe’s political crisis. “President Obama emphasized the importance of South Africa’s leadership role as a strong and vibrant democracy in Africa. The two leaders discussed their shared concerns about the situation in Zimbabwe,” the White House said in a statement.
• Zimbabwe’s unemployment rate has spiked to 94 percent, meaning that fewer than half a million people in the country are formally employed, the UN’s humanitarian arm said today. “At close of 2008, only six percent of the population was formally employed, down from 30 percent in 2003,” said a report from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
• And the dire news continues from Zimbabwe as more than half of the country’s population will need food aid in February and March, the World Food Program (WFP) said on Thursday. The WFP said in a statement that it aims to assist 5.1 million people in February while a group of U.S.-sponsored aid organizations plans to assist 1.8 million more people in the southern African country.

-Steve Wilson

Reuters—Africa must focus on infrastructure despite crisis
Africa risks a “lost decade” of under-development if it neglects projects to boost energy and transport infrastructure because of the global financial crisis, the World Bank said on Wednesday. Inger Andersen, a senior World Bank infrastructure official, said initial hopes that Africa might be spared the worst of the global credit crunch were premature. Governments will be hit by falling demand for commodities, reduced revenues from remittances, tourism and domestic taxes, he said.

AP—EU proposes tens of billions in aid to help poor nations meet climate change targets
The European Union promised billions of dollars in aid to the world’s poorest nations on Wednesday to entice them to sign a new global climate change pact. The plan is part of the EU’s negotiating position for the U.N.-sponsored climate change talks in Copenhagen later this year. Dimas said financing would be vital for getting global agreement in Copenhagen, adding that developing countries can ill afford to pay an estimated $71.1 billion per year by 2030 to meet climate change commitments.

Christian Science Monitor—How to feed the hungry billion
The Christian Science Monitor argues that relatively quick and substantial progress can be made in the fight against hunger and malnutrition if nations rededicate themselves to international aid for agriculture, which has dropped from 13 percent of all development aid in the early 1980s to only 3 percent now. For example, simply improving food storage could increase production by 30 to 40 percent in many poor countries, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. In addition, building roads could get more goods to market. In sub-Saharan Africa, just 4 percent of arable land is irrigated, compared with 38 percent in Asia.

-Steve Wilson

Washington Post: Weasels vs. AIDS Relief
Michael Gerson criticizes President Obama’s decision to remove Dr. Mark Dybul from PEPFAR coordinator.

International Herald Tribune: Bill Gates’ Next Big Thing: Helping the Developing World
In this article, Kristof anticipates Bill Gates’ open letter which was published on Monday. He praises much of the work that the Foundation is doing, but also notes that more work lies ahead (particularly in leveraging the revolution in social entrepreneurship and more effective advocacy). “But if Gates manages to accomplish as much in the world of vaccines, health and food production as he thinks he can,” Kristof says, “then the consequences will be staggering.”

Reuters: UN chief warns more could go hungry in crisis year
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday said rich nations had to do more to prevent the economic crisis from adding to an already intolerable 1 billion people going hungry in the world.

The Guardian: Liberia Declares State of Emergency as Caterpillar Plague Wrecks Crops
Liberia has declared a state of emergency over a plague of caterpillars that has destroyed plants and crops and contaminated water supplies, threatening an already fragile food situation. Tens of millions of marching caterpillars have invaded at least 80 towns and villages in central and northern Liberia, preventing some farmers from reaching their fields and causing others to flee their homes.

-Chandler Smith

• Uncertainty remains over the future of power-sharing negotiations after the opposition said it would not accept the outcome of last weekend’s regional summit.
• Zimbabwe will present its annual budget this week, which analysts expect to contain desperate measures in the wake of economic collapse amid political crisis.
• Cholera deaths in Zimbabwe have climbed above 3000 as the disease now spreads to rural areas.
• Anti-apartheid activist Kumi is going on a hunger strike to pressure the South African government to demand faster political change in Zimbabwe and urge African leaders to isolate the country’s president, Robert Mugabe.
• The European Union has tightened its sanctions against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, EU officials have said. More than 60 individuals and firms with links to Mr Mugabe have been added to a list of those banned from travelling to the EU or doing business there.
• The Center for Global Development authors a memo to President Obama outlining what the new administration can do to restore democracy in Zimbabwe.
• Most schools in Zimbabwe stayed closed yesterday on the first day of term, presaging a second year in a row of almost no education for the country’s children.
• President Obama wants a fresh approach to toppling Robert Mugabe and is discussing with aides an unprecedented, US-led diplomatic push to get tough new UN sanctions imposed against the Zimbabwe regime, The Times has learned. During talks Mr Obama has had with his top Africa advisers in recent weeks, the central idea they focused on was taking the issue of Zimbabwe before the UN Security Council, but for the first time to combine such a move with an intense diplomatic effort to persuade Russia and China not to block the initiative.

-Chris Scott

I read this story in Sunday’s New York Times on children fleeing Zimbabwe “for lives just as desolate” in South Africa, and wanted to share it here on the ONE Blog.

Below are some excerpts but you can read the full piece on their site.

With their nation in a prolonged sequence of crises, more unaccompanied children and women than ever are joining the rush of desperate Zimbabweans illegally crossing the frontier at the Limpopo River, according to the police, local officials and aid workers.

What they are escaping is a broken country where half the people are going hungry, most schools and hospitals are closed or dysfunctional and a cholera epidemic has taken a toll in the thousands. Yet they are arriving in a place where they are unwelcome and are resented as rivals for jobs. Last year, Zimbabweans were part of the quarry in a spate of mob attacks against foreigners….

South Africa’s national police force is exasperated by the crimes… most victims do not file complaints. After all, they are here illegally, unless remaining in the Showgrounds. “Last week, I had 1,500 ready for deportation,” he said.

The captain stood up, walking over to a computer screen. “We keep photos of the refugees killed near the border.”…

Mention of the children seemed to feed his exasperation. “Street kids, more all the time,” he said. “They come in as if they are playing in a game.”

He asked, “What do we do about these kids?”

-Virginia Simmons

NY Times—Spread of Malaria Feared as Drug Loses Potency
The parasite that causes the deadliest form of malaria is showing the first signs of resistance to the best new drug against it. New studies have shown that artemisinin, an anti-malaria drug that’s been hailed in recent years as the biggest hope for eradicating malaria from Africa, is losing its potency, especially in southeast Asia. Researchers say increased efforts are needed to prevent the drug-resistant malaria from leaving inflicted regions and spreading across the globe.

Washington Times—Susan Rice offers Obama promise of ‘cooperation’
Newly arrived United States U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice on Monday pledged that the Obama administration would support broad U.N. goals to relieve global poverty and disease and work to improve the troubled U.N. peacekeeping mission in Darfur. “President Obama’s view is clear – that our security and well-being can best be advanced in cooperation and in partnership with other nations,” Ms. Rice said moments after formally presenting her credentials to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “There is no more important forum, for that effective cooperation, than the United Nations.”

Reuters—Clinton “very concerned” by Zimbabwe impasse
On a day when regional talks in southern Africa regarding the future of Zimbabwe’s government again ended in uncertainty, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she is “very concerned” by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s refusal to reach a power-sharing deal with his opponents and wants South Africa to put more pressure on him. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Sec. Clinton was “very focused” on the political stalemate in Zimbabwe and was looking at what could be done to ease the crisis.

Financial Times—World Bank says program cuts could see thousands die
The global downturn could result in tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths if countries do not protect programs targeted at the poor, a senior World Bank official warned yesterday. Julian Schweitzer, director of health, nutrition and population at the bank, told a conference that donors and developing countries should support initiatives including direct cash payments to the poor in order to reduce the likely severe impact on health services.

Financial Times—Call for teamwork on stimulus plans
Governments are not doing enough to cooperate on rebuilding troubled financial systems and fiscal stimulus packages alone will not boost economic growth, according to the heads of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Robert Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, said yesterday that pumping government money into the economy was not enough by itself. Zoellick said the necessary solutions to the global economic crisis were well known: coordinating fiscal stimulus, keeping credit markets moving, dealing with bad loans in banks, fixing regulation, resisting calls for trade protectionism and safeguarding the most vulnerable developing countries.

-Steve Wilson

I received a warm welcome from the students of Daniels Run Elementary in Fairfax, Virginia who were ready to take action against global poverty! The children were upset to see the majority of their peers eat only a handful of rice during the Oxfam Hunger Banquet which symbolizes the distribution of wealth around the world.

They vowed to raise awareness and act locally by serving the homeless in the DC area. Students also will wear their ONE bands as a reminder to be an advocate each day for the world’s poor.

-Lauren Conn