This Friday, President Obama is heading to Ghana. It’s his first trip to Africa as President and we’ve just posted a short film, “Yes, Africa Can” that captures the excitement on the ground.
We spent several days interviewing Ghanaians of all ages and backgrounds about their country’s progress and its prospects for the future. What you’ll see in this film is an illustration of Ghana’s success and the palpable pride Ghanaians feel about their democracy, peace and unity as a country. I think it’s summed up best at the end:
“I believe that yes, Africa can. I believe that yes, I can. I believe that with dedication, perseverance, sense of purpose, we can achieve anything in the world.”
President Obama’s trip will shine an international spotlight on Ghana’s success story, and others like it, where strong African leadership, entrepreneurship and smart donor policies and investments are laying the groundwork for stability, prosperity and a brighter future.
It’s hard keeping up with the avalanche of inaccuracies and misinformation coming from Dambisa Moyo, the Zambian-born banker turned aid critic and now author of “Dead Aid.” You can see the growing catalogue that ONE has compiled here.
Yesterday, we caught wind of a Q and A she did with Fast Company magazine where she confirmed what we’ve long suspected: that Moyo has little understanding of the health and poverty fighting programs she routinely criticizes. This time it was PEPFAR, the US anti-AIDS program, which has put over 2 million Africans on life-saving treatment. Here’s what she had to say:
Let’s talk about Pepfar. They’ve increased it to $30 billion for 15 countries. Say every country roughly gets $2 billion. Zambia has 10 million people, so that’s roughly $200 a person. That’s approximately the per-capita income of Zambia — you’re roughly doubling the per capita income. But that has had no meaningful impact on the health sector. $2 billion and you can’t overhaul the system? That seems to me completely absurd. African governments have completely abdicated their responsibility.
If Ms. Moyo had any basic knowledge of the program – or had done a simple Google search — she’d know that last summer the U.S. Congress approved $39 billion in funding over five years for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis programs under both PEPFAR and the Geneva-based Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. Together, these two programs fund projects in over 137 countries.
PEPFAR is not a perfect program and its supporters have historically been its loudest critics, but no one with any basic knowledge of the program would doubt its groundbreaking (and lifesaving) achievements in just five years. By the end of 2008, PEPFAR was supporting treatment for more than 2 million people in Africa; care for more than 10 million people with HIV worldwide, including more than 4 million orphans and vulnerable children; and providing antiretroviral treatment for pregnant women, allowing nearly 240,000 infants to be born HIV free.
Furthermore, consider that just 10 years ago it cost $10,000 per person per year to treat a patient with AIDS. Treatment is now available for $140 per person per year, a breathtaking improvement in efficiency.
Moyo goes on to say that only a fifth of PEPFAR money reaches the ground.
The dollar amount [of PEPFAR] that hits the individual is 20 cents on the dollar if you’re lucky.
We tend to agree with Ms. Moyo that not enough aid money is hitting the ground, but her suggestion that only 20 cents on the dollar in PEPFAR money is hitting the ground has no basis that we are aware of. We challenge Ms. Moyo to provide evidence of her assertion. Where is the evidence? Rather than making up numbers and misleading the public, we wish Ms Moyo would join us in supporting the new aid transparency initiative we’re backing called Publish What You Fund.
Moyo’s comments would be laughable if the subject matter wasn’t AIDS and the question wasn’t whether the United States and others should continue these successful, life saving programs.
African development was again the subject of G8 discussions as world leaders gathered in Toyako, Hokkaido in northern Japan from July 7-9 for the 2008 G8 Summit. While the G8 was confronted with multiple global challenges, including climate change and a weakening global economy, the 2008 Hokkaido Summit marked an important “mid point” moment in the fight against poverty. The Hokkaido Summit came at the critical halfway point to both the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the G8 Gleneagles promises to Africa. The G8 are dangerously behind on their landmark commitments to the region, having delivered only $3 billion of the promised $25 billion in additional assistance to Africa by 2010, according to the 2008 DATA Report.
After difficult negotiations, the G8 summit yielded small gains for the poorest. The bulk of G8 agreements on development and Africa and food security reiterated previous pledges rather than outlining new measures to get the group back on track. The G8 did announce plans for a new effort to tackle the global food crisis, though more details are needed to ensure its effectiveness and delivery. They highlighted the UN High-level meeting on the MDGs in September as an important opportunity to review progress and identify actions needed to overcome remaining challenges.
At a time when G8 credibility is at risk due to slow progress in delivering on commitments, there was a strong call for greater accountability in the G8 Communique. The G8 agreed to track progress against previous commitments in health, education, water and agriculture, as well as its compliance with anti-corruption measures.
Overall, the US, UK and Germany provided strong leadership in negotiations and have significantly increased their funding for Africa in recent years.
After the jump, the following brief overview of outcomes for Africa from the 2008 G8 Summit.
At past G8 summits, we’ve seen a number of landmark commitments on health – from treating and preventing infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS to improving health systems to eradicating Polio. In fact, it was at the G8 Summit in Okinawa, Japan (the last time Japan hosted the G8) that the initial seeds were sown for the Global Fund. The Global Fund has now saved more than 2 million lives by providing treatment and prevention for AIDS, TB and Malaria.
But eight years after the Global Fund’s inception, the fight against these infectious diseases, and delivering essential health services more generally, is being severely hampered by weak health systems and a critical shortage of health professionals. With this in mind, we’re asking the G8 to deliver a strategy for improving overall health conditions while continuing to vigorously fight infectious diseases. Here are ONE’s three top-line health asks:
1. Develop a time-bound action plan for delivering $100 billion for health: At the 2007 G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, non-US G8 members promised to provide $30 billion for AIDS, TB, malaria and health systems in order to match the United States’ $30 billion, five-year AIDS, TB and malaria program. That program, known as PEPFAR, will now be authorized at $50 billion over five years. Non-US G8 donors should build on the original spirit of the Heiligendamm commitment by providing a $50 billion match over the same five-year period, and improving the quality of these investments over the same time frame.
By the end of the Japanese G8 presidency, the G8 should provide a donor-by-donor timetable for delivering on this health commitment.
2. Set a numeric target for filling Africa’s critical shortage of health workers: G8 leaders should agree to funding an increase of at least 1.5 million additional health workers in Africa by 2015, with an interim target of at least 600,000 additional health workers by 2012.
According to the WHO, meeting major health-related MDGs, such as universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS, is “very unlikely” unless countries reach a minimum threshold of 2.3 doctors, nurses, and midwives per 1,000 population. In Sub Saharan Africa, this ratio translates to roughly 1.5 million additional health workers, including more than 800,000 doctors, nurses, and midwives.
3. Coordinate new and existing donor resources for health systems and health workers around national health sector plans. The G8 should agree to support the development of, and effective coordination of aid around, national health sector strategies. Assistance should be immediately scale-up in countries that already have rigorous national plans and a process should be developed to ensure all poor countries have the resources to complete donor-ready health sector investment plans.
This week we’re highlighting some of the key development issues we’re hoping to see addressed during next week’s G8 summit in Japan.
Yesterday, Josh Lozman put the spotlight on overall development financing and Monday’s troubling Financial Times article that indicated G8 negotiators are considering omitting a reiteration of their 2005 promise to increase aid to Africa by $25 billion by 2010. Watering down that commitment would be a serious breach of the G8’s credibility and accountability and we’re fighting to make sure it doesn’t happen.
But it’s important that we also focus on what’s needed to achieve the aid target. Big numbers, after all, are easier for the G8 to hide behind. Ultimately meeting the ambitious $25b goal requires scaling up financing for effective programs in specific sectors, such as health, education, agriculture and water and sanitation. Previous G8 commitments to these sectors are more than enough to meet the $25b goal. That’s why we’re asking G8 negotiators to get devilish in the details – we want to see an annual action plan for delivery on these promises.
In my next post, I’ll focus on what we’re asking the G8 to do this year on health.
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.
We’ve just concluded a very busy week in Japan with our participation in the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama. More than 40 African heads of state attended the meeting, which has been held every five years since 1993.
ONE was involved in a number of high profile events throughout the week aimed at turning up the pressure on the government and engaging the broader Japanese public on issues of extreme poverty. This included several print and television interviews, the launch of a campaign film featuring major Japanese and international personalities all speaking Japanese (watch this space for more), bilateral meetings with African leaders and Japanese officials (including Prime Minister Fukuda), and guest editing a special Africa edition of Asahi Shimbun, the world’s second largest circulation newspaper. We also used the occasion of TICAD to publicly launch ONE in Japan – the first country after the US – with a Japan specific action. You can check out the ONE Japan website at www.one.org/jp. Finally, we participated in a human sculpture event where the internationally renowned artist Anthony Gormley gathered over a thousand volunteers in a park to create the outline of a human body which he then photographed. All these events together have helped create a very important public debate in Japan.
You can also read a paper we released in advanced of TICAD titled, “Turning Consensus in Action” which makes recommendations to the Japanese government and the G8 on improving health, agriculture, education and aid delivery in Africa.
The final outcomes of TICAD fell short of our hopes. Prime Minister Fukuda made a headline-grabbing announcement that Japan would double its ODA to Africa, but details revealed that the announcement was not as good as it sounded. Japan will only be doubling its bilateral aid (which amounts to an increase of roughly $1 billion) and over a long, five year time period (between 2008 and 2012). They did make positive commitments on infrastructure and investment, announcing $4 billion in low interest loans to Africa for infrastructure development and a $2.5 billion facility to help Japanese firms invest more in Africa. On the agriculture front, Japan said it will help African nations double rice production within a decade.
Japan announced a new contribution to the Global Fund, but again, it was less than we hoped for, totaling only $560 million in “the coming years.” This amounts to an additional $100 million more per year. We were hoping for at least $1 billion over three years, which would represent a true doubling of their current support.
While we’re disappointed with the outcome, we’re going to continue to push hard for more from Japan before the G8 Summit in July. We’ll be watching closely next week when officials convene for a high level meeting on food security in Rome. Prime Minister Fukuda will be in attendance and we think this is an area ripe for more Japanese leadership.
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.
