Each year, ONE publishes a DATA Report, an annual assessment of the extent to which the G8 are following through on their commitments to global development. Tomorrow we will be launching ONE’s 2009 DATA Report, with a special kick-off event in London.

We have an amazing panel to help launch this report: Bill Gates, co-Chair of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bob Geldof, anti-poverty activist and ONE principal, Dr Francoise Ndayishimiye, of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria; Arunma Oteh, of the African Development Bank, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

In Germany, we’re planning a press briefing with Tobias Kahler, Andreas Hueber (both ONE staff) and Elizabeth Missokia from HakiElimu in Tansania. Tobias will outline the 2009 DATA Report while Andreas will focus specifically on aid effectiveness. Ms Missokia will offer insight into how donors and partners cooperate in Tanzania to scale up education, and what the Tanzanian civil society is doing to make sure that all funds by donors and government are used in the most effective way possible.

In Rome, we will be briefing journalists at around the same time as London, and telling the story of how this year’s G8 hosts are faring worst on living up to their aid commitments. We will also be highlighting that as the only existing member of the G8 who signed the G8 communiqué in 2005 in Gleneagles, Berlusconi has a personal obligation, as well as a national one to deliver on his promises.

In Washington DC, ONE will be meeting with policy makers throughout Washington to inform them of the findings in the Report.

In the coming days and weeks we’ll have much more on the 2009 DATA Report including an interactive website, a blog series detailing numerous features in the Report, and much more. So be sure to check back often!

-Jessica Gomez-Duran

This Thursday, we’re releasing the 2009 DATA Report, our annual report on the G8’s delivery on their promises to Africa. At that launch the panelists will answer questions, including one submitted and voted on by ONE members, and Bob Geldof is here to explain why:

In just a short amount of time, ONE members all over the world sent in hundreds of thoughtful questions to be asked at the launch of our 2009 DATA Report. We narrowed down the options and picked out five of the most important questions, and now you get to have the final say on which question will be asked.

Check out the questions and vote for which ONE will be answered on Thursday. Act quickly though, voting closes at 7:00a.m. EST and noon GMT on Wednesday.

-Weldon Kennedy