Monday saw the beginning of the two-day UN food summit, held in Madrid, where top officials from countries and institutions like the World Bank gathered to discuss the global food crisis. The summit was an opportunity to strategize about addressing the food crisis – particularly for poor countries – as the excerpts below describe.

ONE’s Eloise Todd was at the summit, and will be reporting about the outcomes shortly on the blog.

Excerpts below, full article here

World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is leading a delegation to the two-day meeting starting on Monday, said more resources and attention are needed to help the poor.

“Food prices are now volatile and that factor, combined with the impact of the financial crisis, only serves to heighten the challenges confronting the developing world,” Okonjo-Iweala said in a statement.

“We expect high price volatility to continue and it will hit the poorest the most, as they spend half their income on food. More needs to be done as we must ensure those who are vulnerable get the assistance they need.”

Okonjo-Iweala said while food prices have fallen they are are still higher than, say, just three years ago. And in some countries, prices have not fallen as sharply as in others.

-Beth Adler

The United Nations is reporting today that approximately 2,971 people in Zimbabwe have now died from a cholera outbreak that has afflicted the country. We’ll keep you posted on this and other developments in Zimbabwe here.

Excerpts below, full report here

The U.N. humanitarian office said 2,817 new cases were reported Monday, taking the cumulative number of infections since the outbreak began to 56,123.

The global body said more than one person in every 20 who contract cholera in Zimbabwe is dying of the disease. The usual mortality rate for large-scale outbreaks is 1 in 100.

The outbreak began in August and spread rapidly because of Zimbabwe’s poorly maintained infrastructure and crumbling health care system.

-Chris Scott

This past Saturday I was able to attend “Living a Purposeful Life,” a youth event with Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, at Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, VA. Dozens of junior and senior high school students worked with Imam Johari on developing life skills and thinking intentionally on what sort of life they would live as they become young adults. A “Purposeful Life” was not only filled with thoughts on career choices, family needs, and community concerns, but a commitment to fighting global poverty, hunger, and disease.

At the end of the event the students signed up to join ONE and most took an extra white band to share with a friend in school on Monday. It was an afternoon full of lively discussion with the students. In one side conversation, a student told her friend about the Millennium Development Goals and how it was possible to achieve them. Pretty impressive! Even so, what impressed me more was seeing the students depart the event acting toward that goal of achieving the MDGs.

-Adam Phillips

Davos scales back glitz amid economic downturn
With capitalism in crisis, the 2,500 business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week will find less starpower than usual. Organizers say the five-day event that starts Wednesday will focus on work and on shaping the world after the crisis ends.

Reuters: Before UN food summit, World Bank urges aid for poor
Global food prices may have eased from their 2008 peaks but price volatility, together with the effects of the world financial crisis, has provided little respite for the poor, a senior World Bank official said on Sunday on the eve of a U.N. food meeting in Madrid.

AFP: Millions of Zimbabwe children could be denied education: charity
Millions of Zimbabwean children could be denied their education when schools reopen Tuesday, as thousands of teachers may fail to return to work, British charity Save the Children has warned. The start of Zimbabwe’s new school year has been delayed by two weeks because last year’s exams were not graded, after teachers demanded payment in foreign currency to mark them.

New York Times: West African Villagers Stake Their Fortunes on the Future Price of Rice
Hoping to take advantage of high global food prices that brought many poor nations to the brink of chaos last year, farmers across West Africa are reaping what experts say is one of the best harvests in recent memory. But after investing and borrowing heavily to expand their production, these farmers also run the risk of being wiped out as global food prices plummet.

-Chandler Smith

Bill Gates just circulated his first annual letter about his work at the Gates Foundation. It provides some great insight into the Foundation’s past work and their plans for the future.

Bill Gates shakes hands during an AIDS prevention discussion with male sex workers. The meeting was sponsored by a collaboration between AVAHAN and ARM (Assoc. for Rural Mass India), Indian Community Welfare Assoc., TAI hotel, India, December, 2005. credit: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/ Prashant Panjiar.

Excerpts below, full letter here

Bill Gates:

This past July, I went from being full-time at Microsoft to being full-time at the foundation. I took a few weeks off for some family time, including a trip to Beijing for the Olympics, but I was anxious to keep myself mentally challenged and so the pause between jobs was brief.

Many of my friends were concerned that I wouldn’t find the foundation work as engaging or rewarding as my work at Microsoft. I loved my work at Microsoft and it had been my primary focus for over 30 years. I too would have worried if I had paused and thought about it enough. My job at Microsoft had three magical things. First there was an opportunity for big breakthroughs—including changing computers from being expensive and only for big companies to being inexpensive and empowering to individuals with a wide range of great software for almost any task. I wanted a personal computer with great software for myself and everyone else. Second, I thought my skills would let me help create a special company that would be part of a whole new industry. I felt I belonged in the software business, having thought about the engineering and the business possibilities maniacally from age 13. Finally, the work let me engage with people who were smart and knew things I didn’t. The day-to-day work always involved new problems and new ways of drawing out the best efforts from other people. We were always taking risks—some of which didn’t pay off and some of which did. Most people don’t have even one job that has all those elements, and my friends thought I wouldn’t be able to avoid comparing my new work to what I had had at Microsoft.

For the last several months, a number of global development-focused NGOs across the United States have been advocating to update the way the U.S. administers its development programs. ONE is asking Congress and the Obama Administration to elevate development as a national priority and update the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (the legislation that governs how foreign assistance works). By streamlining and updating the channels through which US contributions are distributed, we can ensure that U.S dollars are put to use more quickly and more expansively.

For an overview of why modernizing foreign assistance is necessary, check out this Reuters article. The authors draw from the perspectives of Howard Berman, a senior Democrat who heads the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, World Bank President Robert Zoellick, Steve Radelet, a senior fellow at Washington’s Center for Global Development, and the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN – of which ONE is a member).

For more information on MFAN, please see www.modernizingforeignassistance.net.

-Sara Rogge

Last week ONE volunteer Rafael Batista bumped into Florida’s Governor, Charlie Crist while on a college tour in Tallahassee. Rafael, who is also the President of the Pembroke Pines Charter High School ONE Club, took the opportunity to stop Governor Crist for a quick chat about ONE and a photo!

-Sara Paterni

President Obama can provide leadership that creates a world where no one has to do die from a mosquito bite. Malaria is the number one killer of young children in Africa – but it doesn’t have to be. Rwanda and Ethiopia have cut deaths due to malaria by 50%, providing positive examples of the potential that exists in Africa and elsewhere to reverse the trajectory of the disease. Ending deaths from malaria in Africa and in other regions is achievable in the short-term and should be acted on now, but the United States should also lead the world in investments for what is needed to ensure the longer term improvement of health. ONE’s briefing to the presidential transition team makes recommendations for how President Obama can lead the United States in doing its fair share to realize both of these goals.

President Obama can start by fulfilling the commitment he made at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2008 to end all malaria deaths by 2015. The United States will not be alone in this effort, but in Obama’s own words: “The United States must lead.” ONE recommends that President Obama propose $825 million in total funding in FY09, and $1.55 billion in FY10 for malaria. These numbers were not drawn out of thin air; they are the US share of the total amount needed globally to fund the Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP) – the roadmap to eliminate deaths from malaria.

The GMAP sets an interim goal of 2010 to reduce the burden of malaria by 50%. This would be achieved by providing “universal access” (reaching 80% of those in need) to prevention and treatment services. If these targets are reached, by 2015 the world will have eliminated deaths from malaria and nearly 100% of those in need of prevention methods and treatment will be covered. This ‘quick win’ will help to lay the groundwork for strengthening health systems in developing countries.

Weak health systems are constraining the potential impact of large amounts of funding for specific diseases – including that of the United States. ONE’s briefing to the transition team recommends that the Administration spur discussions at the Italian G8 Summit of a multilateral initiative that would coordinate health system strengthening efforts. To indicate its intent to support this initiative, ONE recommends that the United States should pledge an initial $250 million in FY11. In addition to funding national health system plans in at least 19 countries by 2010, such an initiative would have several positive spillover effects. It would reduce the reporting burden many countries face, would coordinate donor efforts to ensure they are aligned with country plans and priorities, and would use limited aid dollars more efficiently.

Making an initial investment in malaria would set the foundation for a longer-term health system strengthening effort. In turn, investing in health systems would help to ensure that reductions in malaria deaths and increased access to malaria prevention and treatment last through generations, in addition to maximizing the potential of investments in other key areas to significantly reduce morbidity and mortality in developing countries.

-Lisa Fleisher

We all know the inauguration happened this week. We also know that there were many events, galas, balls, service projects and concerts that took place. Do we know there was also prayer?

During these inaugural days three prayers were offered on the National Mall. What struck me about these prayers was that they were not only lifted up for President Barack Obama, his Administration, and his family. That is crucial. But, they each included a summons for me and for all of us to remember the task we share in fighting global poverty, hunger and disease. The prayers called us to act on behalf of our brothers and sister around the world, even while we are focused on our new president.

On Sunday, Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, began his prayer on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with a call for Americans to be “bless[ed] with tears, tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting education, and thousands die a day from malnutrition, malaria and AIDS”:

Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, a ONE Sabbath supporter, gave the invocation Tuesday morning where he asked for forgiveness “when we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve.” He also prayed that Americans would seek “the common good of all” around the world in the years ahead:

Rev. Joseph Lowery, Civil Rights leader an co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, paraphrased the Books of (more…)

Yesterday the US Senate unanimously confirmed President Barack Obama’s nomination of Susan Rice as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Rice, who served as an assistant secretary of state for African affairs in the Clinton administration, will be the first African-American woman to hold the U.N. post.

You can read more about Ambassador Rice’s background on development and global poverty here.

-Steve Wilson