Investing In Women- A New Fact Sheet

Last week, when Bono spoke at the California Women’s Conference, he passed along some of the startling stats (listed below) about women in Africa.

• Nearly two-thirds of adults with HIV in Africa are women young women (age 15 to 24) in South Africa accounted for around 90% of new HIV infections in 2007.
• In Africa, the likelihood of a woman dying in childbirth is 1 in 20 (compared to 1 in 2,800 in the US).
• Although up to 80% of farmers in the developing world are women, they own less than 15% of land worldwide.

You can find more facts about women in Africa, as well as inspiring facts (like the one below) about the benefits of investing in women in the developing world, in this new fact sheet.

“Investing in women is considered smart economic policy because it can often yield higher economic returns than investing in men. Providing an extra one year of education beyond the average boosts earnings by 10-20%, compared to 5-15% for males. Increasing the share of women with a secondary education by one percentage point boosts annual per capita income by 0.3% on average. A study in Kenya found that agricultural yields could be raised by as much as 20% simply by reallocating existing agricultural inputs (seeds, fertilizer, education) more equally between men and women.”

-Virginia Simmons

At the CA Women’s Conference

As you know, Bono spoke at the California Women’s Conference this past Wednesday. One volunteer Amy Quinn was in the audience, and had this to share:

I was one of the lucky 14,000 women to have attended the Women’s Conference in Long Beach last Wednesday. I left the conference with a renewed sense of purpose, which quite frankly, I desperately needed when I arrived at the conference that morning.

In particular, I was moved by Bono’s recollection of his experiences back in the mid 80’s - on his visit to Ethiopia during the horrible famine that occurred there. This is also when my “world vision or Weltanschauung” changed, and I, at the ripe old age of 14 - became a hunger/poverty activist. As Bono said - the flames of that continent sting your eyes - they sear your conscience… He said, “In my travels I have met kids the mirror image own and looked into their faces as they let go of life. And it makes me even angrier that their eyes are always free of accusation. It humbles me beyond belief that they don’t hold it against a world that couldn’t spare the twenty cent immunization that would have them back in the bosom of their family. Even their mothers and fathers…their grief is pure. There’s no blame, just acquiescence…”

As the mother of a six year old little boy - it was easy for me to substitute my son’s eyes for this image.

(more…)

VIDEO: Bono Speaks at CA Women’s Conference

As we previously reported, Bono spoke at the 2008 California Women’s Conference last night. We’ve compiled the full footage of his speech, split into 5 parts, below. Enjoy!

PS- In his speech, Bono refers to a petition organized by the ONE Campaign to hold both presidential candidates accountable in the fight to end extreme poverty. Please sign here.

Full speech, Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

-Chris Scott

Bono to Speak at Women’s Conference

Bono will be speaking tonight at the WE Empower Women’s Conference in California at approximately 6 pm PST (9pm EST). Maria Shriver is hosting the event which features speakers such as Condoleeza Rice, Madeline Albright, Jennifer Lopez, and more. You can watch a live webcast of the event here.

WE Empower’s website describes the conference thusly:

Under the leadership of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver, The Women’s Conference has grown from a small government initiative for working professionals into a far-reaching organization, a life-changing experience, and an international network of women from all walks of life, backgrounds and perspectives.

The Women’s Conference event is the largest and most dynamic gathering of women in the nation. Recognized for its unparalleled capacity to empower and inspire women to become architects of change, the annual conference unites more than sixty internationally-acclaimed leaders and visionaries with 14,000 women in one arena, plus thousands more virtually, to share enriching stories of transformation and success, words of encouragement and life lessons.

-Chris Scott

ONE at the Echo on Sunset

On a recent Saturday night at the Echo in Los Angeles, Par Avion Band played in conjunction with a fashion show to help promote awareness of ONE’s ongoing campaign to fight poverty and preventable disease.

The fashion show, held by Beckie Lynn Productions, featured a number of upcoming Los Angeles models showcasing the work of local designers, and was hosted by Scarlett Cassanova, of L.A. club Hang the DJs.

The objective of the combined fashion /music event was to increase awareness of the ONE Campaign among L.A.’s immense audience of music enthusiasts. Paul Avion wore the ONE shirt on stage, and interested music-lovers from the Los Angeles area signed up to receive more information on ONE. The ONE portion of the event was coordinated by ONE’s SoCal Field Organizer Betsy Avila and ONE volunteers Nare Ovespian and Kyle McNeal.

Due to the success of the event, more fashion-music events in L.A. are in the works for fall!

-Paul Avion, LA ONE Member

All Dressed Up and Something To Do

The Fancy Dress Swim to Make Poverty History once again attracted a lot of attention to the ONE Campaign! People were curious about what we were doing parading around on the beach in fancy dress. This provided the opening to talk about ONE and get them involved. Doing this just before the Twilight Dance Series concert on the Santa Monica Pier gave us a built-in crowd. Though we didn’t have a lot of time before the concert started, a number of people signed the ONE Declaration and showed a lot of interest in the Campaign. Fortunately I’d printed out several copies of the fact sheet beginning with the Millennium Development Goals and gave them out to those wanting more information.

Our experience continues to be that all sorts of people are much more intrigued and open to us when we are wearing fancy dresses than if we’d just been wearing our ONE t-shirts. Most of us wore a ONE t-shirt with our costume.

We’ve done five Fancy Dress Swims so far, starting in June of 2006 and each one has been totally fun and wildly successful! Now we’ve started ONE_SantaMonica to continue and expand the work/play in this and other ways. We are in the process of planning our next event for Global Day of Action October 17 at the Church in Ocean Park.

What is a Fancy Dress Swim to Make Poverty History? We use the playful, fun, spectacle of going in the ocean or other bodies of water in fancy dress(es) to attract attention to ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History and get people involved.

-Herley Jim Bowling, ONE member, Santa Monica, CA

LA Lobby - Ready!

With eighteen Congressional seats in Los Angeles County alone, it was time to get the Los Angeles ONE team together to generate action around the August Recess. Over forty volunteers showed up at Wednesday night’s LA ONE Volunteer meeting, including two staff-members from Congressman Adam B. Schiff’s office and Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich’s publicist, as well as the Founder-Director of Friends of The United Nations.

All attendees had the opportunity to express why they signed up for the ONE Campaign and what they hope to accomplish by being a volunteer. Although most were new to the lobbying world, there was a definite interest in letting their member of Congress know that they care about extreme poverty and global disease. We discussed all pertinent pieces of legislation that ONE is focused on, including the Education for All Act, The Global Child Survival Act, the GROWTH Act and Jubilee Act. We also talked about ONE Vote ‘08 and the importance of engaging Presidential Candidates (see the Candidate Trackr) when they are in town.

Lead volunteer Amy Quinn was by my side assisting with the meeting, and ONE member Jeanine, who was new in town from Maryland, was a great help in facilitating as well. Thanks to all of you who took the time (and braved the LA traffic) to join the meeting and learn more about ONE. Let’s keep the momentum going and let all eighteen Representatives know that we care about extreme poverty.

Special thanks goes out the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel for donating the meeting space and a consistently gracious and accommodating staff.