ONE’s Co-Founder and Executive Director Jamie Drummond writes about his personal journey to Ethiopia:

Twenty five years ago, like many of my generation, I was called to action by images of drought and starvation – and by a couple of shaggy-haired, Irish rock stars with whom I’ve now been working for a decade. The Ethiopian famines and the world’s response through Band Aid and Live Aid have shaped the image of Africa for a generation and spurred concerted action to fight extreme poverty. A quarter of a century on, it is perhaps a good moment to ask how the aid that has flowed has worked and how the model of celebrity-led advocacy is faring.

A few weeks ago, I returned to Tigray in northern Ethiopia to look again at the impact of funds raised by Band Aid and the work of the World Food Programme. I travelled through this region in 1995 and visited a village called Daereda. Drought and a desperate population had denuded their valley of trees and greenery; fertile top soil had been eroded by seasonal flash floods. Back then, many of the villagers were grateful for the food aid they had received and quick to thank the western public and a far-off thing called Geldof. But they wanted more than handouts – they wanted to take matters into their own hands and heal the physical damage to their lands.

The food aid helped them do just that. It was being given through “food for work” programmes. Teams of thousands set to work planting trees, contouring steep hillsides to conserve soil and water, digging ponds and building check dams, all to raise the lands fertility. Today, the results are astonishing. The valley is lush and green; the river flows all year round; the land is more fertile and productive.

This success story is echoed in valleys across Tigray. The region receives many expert visitors to see how it was done. And in spite of the images of starvation we’re currently confronted with, it’s not the only positive story to have come out of Ethiopia in the past decade. The country has also halved malarial death rates through widespread use of insecticide= treated bed nets, and doubled school enrolment. Economic growth has been over 5% for a decade, 7% on average for the last three years.

But parts of the country, and region, are still on the verge of starvation. This could lead some quickly to assume that 25 years on nothing has changed. No serious investigation can lead to the conclusion, but it is still not acceptable that 14 million Ethiopians today rely on food aid and that for some rations are being cut.

The answer as ever is complex. Climate change is causing more frequent droughts, impairing rural communities’ coping mechanisms. Not enough has been spent on rural roads and the government hasn’t permitted mobile phones or developed local markets. But above all there has been insufficient global attention paid to agriculture. Spending on agriculture went down from 17% of global aid in 1980 to just 3.8 % in 2006. It’s stunning that after the famines of the 1980s we didn’t increase investment in long-term regional food security and agricultural productivity. The World Bank and IMF even counselled against it as part of their notorious structural adjustment programmes. Tough questions must now be asked about the international development business and how this was allowed to happen.

At last this year the G8 countries agreed to invest $20bn in agricultural productivity. (more…)

AllAfrica.com reports on a situation in Ethiopia that’s threatening crop production this year. Due to the late start of Ethiopia’s wet season, and the unreliability of the rains, the number of those in need of aid could increase.

Excerpts below, full piece here

“The rainy season will start late particularly in the northeastern part of our country,” Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told reporters at his office on 24 June. “That means the cropping season for some types of crops may not be appropriate this year.”

Ethiopia produces 90-95 percent of its total cereal output during the main rainy season, called ‘meher’, which runs from June to October.

According to the US Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net), the ‘meher’ crop season is likely to experience below normal rains. The ‘belg’ (early rains, February-June) season, which normally accounts for 5-10 percent of total cereal output, has also been unpredictable.

-Chris Scott

Roger Thurow has been a Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent for twenty years and has reported from more than sixty countries, including two dozen in Africa. His new book Enough: Why the World’s Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty, co- authored with Scott Kilman, hit bookshelves this week.

When it comes to world hunger, it’s time to say, “Enough is enough!”

Several weeks ago I had the honor and great pleasure of addressing the ONE leadership retreat and presenting a preview of my book ENOUGH: WHY THE WORLD’S POOREST STARVE IN AN AGE OF PLENTY. This week ENOUGH hit the sturdy shelves of the bookstores and the virtual shelves at amazon.com.

In the days in between, the United Nations’ food agencies confirmed what we all feared: global hunger is getting worse. The number of chronically hungry people is soaring past 1 billion – the highest number since before the Green Revolution in the 1970s and an increase of more than 11% from just last year. And for the first time in nearly 40 years, the prevalence of hunger is climbing; 15% of the world’s population is now hungry, up from 13% in the middle of this decade.

So ENOUGH, which I wrote with my Wall Street Journal colleague Scott Kilman, is more timely than ever. During the writing, we held fast to an abiding mantra: outrage and inspire, outrage and inspire. We hope that is indeed what our book does:

Outrage, that we have brought hunger with us into the 21st century in ever-increasing numbers.

Inspire, that hunger can be conquered. A mighty grassroots movement founded on a new will to end hunger is rising.

ONE is a vital leader of that movement. We hope that ENOUGH will fuel the outrage and the inspiration to continuing shouting loudly, “Enough is enough.”

-Roger Thurow

From Day 2 of our listening/learning trip to Ghana and Ethiopia. You can read more about our trip here.

On Wednesday, June 17th, ONE and RED took a group of American influentials just outside Addis to the Golden Rose Agrofarms in the town of Tefki. They are one of the pioneers of the cut flower industry in Ethiopia. Cut flowers are a major agricultural product for Ethiopia and exports have grown from $13 million in 2004/2005 to $23 million in 2005/2006. Estimates are that it could earn $100 million in the next couple of years. The number of cut flower producers has grown from 3 in 2001 to about 40 now. Golden Rose is a family business that started exporting roses in 2000. They currently employ more than 700 people, about 500 of them women, and produce about 80,000 roses a day on about 15 hectares of land. They export 15 million roses a year to Scandinavian countries as well as the Middle East. With money from USAID, Golden Rose is working on expanding their farm, and has already acquired some land next door. This will mean an increased capacity to produce and more people employed in the agriculture sector in Ethiopia.

The Managing Director of the farm, Ryaz Shamji, took us around the farm with his lovely wife and explained to the group the effort they have put into the sustainable development of Ethiopia as well as ensuring good working conditions for their employees. Golden Rose encourages the employment of those with disabilities, has instituted a contributory program that allows employees to manage the funds and invest in collective projects. We saw the latest project – a grinding machine – being put together on the premises during our tour. Golden Rose also worked with government in the early days to set up incentives to attract additional cut flower producers and these discussions resulted in the creation of tax holidays, easy access to land, access to finance at low fixed interest rates and import duty waivers enjoyed by entrants to the industry today.

The government favors the flower sector because of the possibility for foreign exchange earnings while absorbing certain amounts of labor. When asked why he worked so hard to encourage additional investors and create competition for himself, Ryaz answered that the more cut flower producers entered the Ethiopian market, the better off Ethiopia would be.

Golden Rose is truly a model farm for sustainable agricultural development in Africa!

-Edith Jibunoh

Morgana Wingard is traveling with a delegation right now through Ethiopia as part of ONE’s learning/listening trip through Africa. Check out some of her photos and writings below:

Health extension workers test local villagers for malaria at this station. They typically see 5-6 cases a week except in outbreaks when they can see around 30 each day. Malaria nets are purchased by UNICEF with funds from USAID, the World Bank, and the PMI initiative and distributed through posts like these.

Rapid malaria tests performed by health extension workers at the Adama Health Post. Rory from UNICEF holds them up to display to advance team. National health system clinic partially funded by PMI through USAID.

Rapid malaria tests performed by health extension workers at the Adama Health Post. Rory from UNICEF holds them up to display to advance team. National health system clinic partially funded by PMI through USAID.

USAID funded internal residual spraying with DDT to prevent malaria.

Mosquitos and larvae for testing purposes. The larvae are 25th generation mosquitos who have never been exposed to pesticides.

Health extension worker at the Adama health post. There are 15,000 villages in Ethiopia. Two women from each village were selected to become health extension workers after year long training. The program is intended to extend primary health care servides and education throughout Ethiopia. There are now 30,000 health extension workers in Ethiopia. Part of the program is paid for by the gov’t. Other contributers include Gates Foundation, PEPFAR, PMI, and the Global Fund.

A look at day two from our delegation traveling through Ethiopia and Ghana. Learn more about their trip here.

What was one of today’s great highlights? Efficiency, energy and entrepreneurialism harnessed around Ethiopia’s oldest product: coffee. For someone that treasures their morning latte, it was truly an inspirational lesson.

Ethiopian’s take their coffee seriously, which is not surprising given that it contributes 60% of their export earnings (valued at $525 million) and employs 15 million farmers.

Our first briefing was at the Coffee Cooperative, an efficient model of scalable enterprise that provides farmers with a platform to sell their coffee. Over the last decade, this cooperative has successfully grown in size and scale.

Our next stop was the “Coffee Plant and Warehouse Enterprise,” a plant that processes over 600 metric tons of coffee per year. We were immediately captivated by the “Stacking and Storage Plant,” the spot where the Cooperative coffee first arrives from various farms. The delivery team of 150 unload the bags from the truck and run with lightning speed—with the 85 kilo bag on their head—to their next teammate, who stacks the unsorted coffee bags on a trolley and runs even faster to deposit the bags into the sorting area. Next, four durable machines sort the beans by grade, depositing them into the “sorting room.” Here, 200 women hand sort the beans, the sound of their peaceful efficiency in stark contrast to the high-pitched hum of the earlier machines. Finally, the sorted coffee is stored until the order is fulfilled and sent to the port of Djibouti.

And why the speed of the runners, who deliver 85 kilo bags with great hollering and cheering during an eight hour day? Load balancing of the four processing machines ensures consistency of operation. Now that’s a stimulant!

This energetic plant employs approximately 1000 people – 380 contractors, 400 women and 150 delivery men. Plum jobs are the permanent employees – paid over one dollar per day, with eligibility for an annual bonus, limited healthcare and the opportunity to benefit from the sale of the “by product husks.” Temporary workers are paid 50 cents a day, with a three month contract.

Our last stop of the day was a true inspiration. The Ethiopia Coffee Exchange (ECX), founded by Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, opened in April 2008. The ECX, an open outcry system, now trades 100% of Ethiopia’s coffee, plus a portion of other grains. This is Africa’s first electronic commodity exchange: a model of trust, transparency and integrity. Now that’s inspiring entrepreneurialism!

-Juliet Flint

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

World champion Ethiopian runner Meseret Defar continued her 5-year undefeated streak by winning the 3000 meter at the World Indoor Championships on Saturday. All through the race, Meseret Defar wore her white band. (Getty Images)

From the IAAF:

“It was somewhat inevitable the multi-talented Defar would prevail, and so it proved as she simply destroyed the field by winding up the pace from 400m out and unleashing her legendary kick-finish over the final lap.

And even Defar herself conceded in a post-race interview victory here at the Palau Velodromo Luis Puig was not the most testing of her career. “Today it was an easy race for me, because of that I didn’t have to run too fast,” she explained. “I feel that I’m ready for Beijing (Olympic Games) now.”

A new report on malaria from the World Health Organization outlines some positive news. Among the key findings is that the distribution of bed nets and medications have cut malaria deaths in half in Rwanda and Ethiopia.

From a Washington Post article this afternoon:

“This is the first time we have seen these results with the new tools,” said Arata Kochi, head of malaria programs for WHO.

“This is a genuinely historic achievement,” said Richard G.A. Feachem, former director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. “This is not theoretical. We do not have to wait for a vaccine or new drugs. If we implement today’s technologies aggressively on a national scale, we will have a big impact.”

Two key items in the current “tool kit” are bed nets impregnated with insecticide that lasts three to five years and treatment with at least two drugs. One of them is artemisinin, a compound originally derived from a Chinese herbal medicine.

Read the Washington Post article here. Tomorrow we’ll be able to link to the full report.

-Virginia Simmons

Women’s empowerment has been getting a boost in a small village in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. The village of Awra Amba (”Top of the Hill”) was founded by 20 Muslim and Christian peasants in the 1980s and now has 400 residents and a growing fan club.

According to a piece in the Christian Science Monitor, the village is an experiment in egalitarianism in an otherwise traditional society, a community where education is emphasized, women are given three months maternity leave from work responsibilities, and men join the women in cooking and weaving, traditionally female activities. Awra Amba’s vision of women’s empowerment, the third UN Millennium Development Goal, has attracted increasing attention internationally:

“Government officials and members of parliament, sheikhs and priests, and local and foreign nongovernmental organization workers have made the trip via a rocky road only accessible with a four-wheel-drive vehicle to see the success for themselves.

“I was completely captivated by my visit to the community,” says Ambassador Tim Clarke, head of the European Union delegation to Ethiopia. “I regard it as the model for the world community on how gender issues should be treated. I have come across nothing else like it anywhere in Africa – and indeed the world. I am using it to inspire the work of my office here on gender mainstreaming and empowerment of women.”

-Porter McConnell