This week, Secretary Clinton announced the Civil Society 2.0 Initiative, an effort to help grassroots organizations in developing countries use digital technology to enhance their work and communications. It’s part of an effort to build the kind of capacity Western governments and NGO’s have enjoyed in the past.

According to the State Department, it will include these 5 components:

1. Deploying a team of experienced technologists to work with civil society organizations around the globe to provide training and support to build their digital capacity.

2. Partnering these technologists with local civil society organizations and governments to develop and implement technology-based solutions to local problems.

3. Publishing interactive “how to” programs and curriculum online to help organizations that do not have access to in-person assistance.

4. Creating a curated open platform that allows any citizen or company to develop, share or suggest content for the curriculum.

5. Allocating $5 million in grant funds for pilot programs in the Middle East and North Africa that will bolster the new media and networking capabilities of civil society organizations and promote online learning in the region.

You can read more about the initiative here.

Hopefully you got a chance to tune in to the live webcast of the 1GOAL launch this past Tuesday. The London kick-off, which was hosted by 1GOAL founder Queen Rania of Jordan and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, featured a variety of speakers via satellite (such as FIFA President Sepp Blatter in Zurich, President Zuma in South Africa, Prime Minister Zapatero in Madrid) as well as a special message from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Sec. Clinton talked about the role education plays in lifting families and countries out of poverty and also said that the U.S. “is committed to working with partners of all kinds- other governments, businesses, academics, activists, parents and teachers- everyone who wants to help us expand access to education for children everywhere.”

As many of you might remember from ONE Vote ’08, global education was one of President Obama’s strongest development commitments during the campaign, with a promise that if he became president the U.S. would contribute $2 billion to a Global Education Fund.

Hopefully this message from Sec. Clinton for 1GOAL is a sign that the Administration is ready to get serious about a making strong, new investment in global education. As Senator, Sec. Clinton championed global education with the bi-partisan Education for All Act, which would have scaled up U.S. development assistance to its fair share of the amount needed to send every child to school around the world. It’s great news that Sec. Clinton has lent her voice to 1GOAL and hopefully a sign that with her leadership, the Administration will get to work on turning President Obama’s campaign pledge into a reality for millions of children around the world.

PS– Check out photos from the global launch here.

This week’s issue of the New York Times Magazine is devoted almost entirely to the topic of women’s issues around the globe. Featuring a cover story by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn called “The Women’s Crusade” the magazine also includes an interview with Secretary Clinton—who just wrapped up a trip to Africa—as well as a Q&A with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

You can check out all of the articles here.

-Chris Scott

The State Department has announced that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will “travel to Africa next week on a seven-nation tour aimed at highlighting the Obama administration’s commitment to the continent.” Clinton plans to visit 7 countries including Kenya, South Africa, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Liberia and Cape Verde.

You can read more details of the trip here. We’ll bring further news as it develops.

-Chris Scott

We’re watching Secretary Clinton’s remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations, and wanted to share with you some remarks on global development delivered just moments ago. We’ll work on bringing you additional info as it comes in (you can stream the webcast in the below post):

“To our third policy approach, and a personal priority for me as Secretary, is to elevate and integrate development as a core pillar of American power. We advance our security, our prosperity, and our values by improving the material conditions of people’s lives around the world. These efforts also lay the groundwork for greater global cooperation by building the capacity of new partners and tackling shared problems from the ground up.

“A central purpose of the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review that I announced last week is to explore how to effectively design, fund and implement development and foreign assistance as part of a broader foreign policy.

“Let’s face it: we have devoted a smaller percentage of our government budget to development than almost any other advanced country. And too little of what we have spent has contributed to genuine and lasting progress. Too much of the money has never reached its intended target, but stayed here in America to pay salaries or fund overhead in contracts. I am committed to more partnerships with NGOs, but I want more of our tax dollars to be used effectively and to deliver tangible results.

“As we seek more agile, effective and creative partnerships for development, we will focus on country-driven solutions, such as those we are launching with Haiti on recovery and sustainable development and with African states on global hunger. These initiatives must not be designed to help countries scrape by. They are a tool to help countries stand on their own.

“Our development agenda will also focus on women, as drivers of economic growth and social stability. Women have long comprised the majority of the world’s unhealthy, unschooled and underfed. They are also the bulk of the world’s poor. The global recession has had a disproportionate effect on women and girls, which in turn has repercussions for families, communities and even regions. Until women around the world are accorded their rights and afforded the opportunities of education, health care and gainful employment, global progress and prosperity will have its own glass ceiling.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is about to deliver a major address, which you can stream live at CSPAN.org.

In the speech, Secretary Clinton is expected to list administration priorities, among which are the need to:

— “pursue global economic recovery and growth — by strengthening our own economy, advancing a robust development agenda, expanding trade that is free and fair and boosting investment that creates decent jobs;

— “combat climate change, increase energy security and lay the foundation for a prosperous clean-energy future; support and encourage democratic governments that protect the rights of and deliver results for their people; and

— “stand up for human rights everywhere.”

-Chris Scott

UPDATE: Clinton’s Q&A at the Council on Foreign Relations streaming live:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday made it clear that investment in agricultural productivity and the fight against hunger are priorities for the government, saying, “The issue of chronic hunger and food security is at the top of the agenda that we’re pursuing here in the State Department and in the Obama Administration,” She was speaking at the 2009 World Food Prize Awards ceremony, which honored Dr. Gebisa Ejeta, an agricultural scientist who helped develop hybrids of sorghum, a vital African crop, which are resistant to many common problems, including drought and weeds. Dr. Ejeta’s scientific advances have helped increase agricultural yields in regions most prone to food insecurity.

In her speech at the prize ceremony, Secretary Clinton spoke to the growing challenges caused by global hunger. Hunger is not merely a physical condition, she said; hunger also threatens economic productivity and global security, as well as the success of education and health programs. Hungry children, for example, struggle to concentrate in school and cannot make the most of their education. Despite the growing global number of hungry people, and the mounting difficulties caused by hunger, Secretary Clinton emphasized that with a comprehensive, long-term strategy, and donor support, it is possible for the planet to produce enough for all people to feed themselves and their families.

Secretary Clinton outlined the seven principles guiding this Administration’s effort to construct a comprehensive agriculture plan to achieve global food security and economic productivity:

• Increase agricultural productivity by improving access to quality seeds, fertilizers, irrigation, tools, and credit, and train farmers to use these inputs effectively.
• Stimulate the private sector by improving storage and food processing facilities, rural roads and transportation, and other infrastructure that enables farmers to get their products to market.
• Maintain natural resources so farmland remains productive in the future, including helping countries to adapt to climate change.
• Expand knowledge by investing in research and development, as well as training, cultivating the next generation of plant scientists.
• Facilitate increased trade to help farmers to sell crops domestically and internationally.
• Support policy reform and good governance which will help agriculture flourish.
• Support women and families, as 70% of the world’s farmers are women who are, to this point, largely neglected by agricultural programming.

In the near future, Secretary Clinton, President Obama, and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will seek guidance from experts in the field as the administration creates a strategic agricultural initiative. Secretary Clinton stressed that agricultural development will not come from a “one-size-fits-all” approach.

Secretary Clinton concluded that an international strategy is necessary to increase agricultural productivity and address global hunger, and that the U.S. has a particular opportunity to lead. “Now for us, sustainable agriculture won’t be a side project. It is a central element of our foreign policy,” she declared. She encouraged the international community to also make agriculture a priority.

This is an excellent first step towards fulfilling the administration’s commitment to address food insecurity, and increase agricultural investment and productivity. We at ONE look forward to what comes next. We will continue to track the administration’s commitment to agriculture, and encourage you to check back to the blog for updates.

-Beth Adler and Pooja Gupta

The Huffington Post today is running an article by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the Obama administration’s fight against global poverty. In the article Secretary Clinton outlines “7 guiding principles to support the creation of effective, sustainable farming systems in regions around the world where the current methods aren’t working.”

Check them out below, full piece here

1. We will seek to increase agricultural productivity, by expanding access to quality seeds, fertilizers, irrigation tools, and the credit to purchase them and training to use them.
2. We will work to stimulate the private sector, by improving the storage and processing of food and improving roads and transportation so small farmers can sell the fruits of their labor at local markets.
3. We are committed to maintaining natural resources, so the land can be farmed well into the future. That includes helping developing communities adapt to climate change, which has had a major effect on the world’s farms.
4. We will expand knowledge and training by supporting R&D and cultivating the next generation of plant scientists.
5. We will seek to increase trade so small-scale farmers can sell their crops far and wide.
6. We will support policy reform and good governance, because sustainable agriculture flourishes in a clear and predictable policy and regulatory environment.
7. We will support women and families. 70% of the world’s farmers are women, but most programs that offer farmers credit and training target men. This is unfair and impractical. An effective agricultural system must have incentives for those who do the work. And it must take into account the particular needs of those whose futures will shape our world: our children.

-Chris Scott

Today in her opening statement before the Senate Appropriations Sub-Committee on Foreign Operations, Secretary Clinton made clear once again the critical need for overseas development assistance for our economic and national security. She began her testimony by stating, “When I appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee a few weeks ago with Secretary Gates, we both emphasized the need for a comprehensive approach to the challenges on our nation’s agenda…urgent development needs ranging from extreme poverty to pandemic disease that have a direct impact on our own security and prosperity.”

The Secretary also reiterated the administration’s commitment to meet our goal of doubling foreign assistance by 2015, and highlighting in this year’s budget: $525 million for maternal and child health, about $1 billion for education, $1.36 billion to address food insecurity, and $4.1 billion for humanitarian assistance. The Secretary stated, “these initiatives build good will, alleviate suffering, and save lives, but they also make our country safer and our partners stronger.”

Members of the Sub-Committee present at the hearing included Senators Patrick Leahy, Judd Gregg, Arlen Specter, Kit Bond, Barbara Mikulski, Robert Bennett, and Sam Brownback.

Senator Bond talked about the need for smart power, Senator Mikulski asked about better partnering NGOs with USAID, Senator Bennett emphasized the Millennium Challenge Corporation as a model for assistance, and microenterprise as a way of helping the poor, and Senator Brownback spoke on delivering better results with food aid and micronutrients.

-Arjun Mody

On Sunday, I attended an inaugural celebration in DC of our newly-confirmed Secretary of State. At the event, Secretary Clinton focused a portion of her speech on the disproportionate effect of poverty on women and children throughout the developing world.

Clinton said for women in the world’s poorest countries, “the glass ceiling is poverty that limits their dreams,” and reminded the crowd to resounding applause and cheers that women’s rights are human rights. In her brief remarks, she spoke of her observations traveling in Africa of women organizing in their communities and asked when we will start counting their contributions. She passionately spoke of her dedication to universal basic education and health care around the world.

The energy of the crowd suggested high hopes for the new Secretary of State who enters the office as a champion of ONE’s issues.

-Lauren Conn, ONE Regional Field Organizer