In early April I had the honor to be part of a delegation traveling to Ethiopia at the invitation of Bread for the World and the Protestant Development Service (EED). We saw some amazing projects and had numerous discussions about the development opportunities and challenges in Ethiopia.
On the flight back I had a long conversation with another delegation member, who is sort of the ambassador of the Protestant Church to Germany and the EU, about all the everlasting impressions the trip had on us. We could think of so many and I’d like to share some of these with you:
It’s almost summer here in Washington, DC—and you know what that means? Time to sign-up for national conferences! Several of our partners are hosting events and advocacy workshops in Washington, DC from May through July, and we hope you’ll be able to join them.
Find out more and RSVP by clicking the links below—and don’t forget to tell your family and friends to sign-up, too!
Check out this post from our partners at Bread for the World about founder Rev. Art Simon’s new book The Rising of Bread for the World: An Outcry of Citizens Against Hunger.
“We began with a tiny seed of an idea, but the seed had life and, when planted, God gave it growth.”
-Rev. Art Simon, The Rising of Bread for the World
We’re all in this movement together because we want to see change. We want our concern about poverty, hunger, and disease to help real people. We know that advocating for better policies is crucial to making this happen.
But when change seems to be taking forever, it can help to take a longer view. The great thing about advocacy is that once improvements are made, they continue to help people year after year.
A new book by Rev. Art Simon, founder of Bread for the World—a hunger advocacy group and ONE partner)—shows what can be accomplished when people all over the country contact Congress to urge for changes that help poor people (Simon is wrapping up a book tour on April 11 in Appleton, WI.).
One example from the book is the impact of establishing the Child Survival Account. Bread members successfully urged Congress to create the account in 1985. Every year since, it has immunized 100 million children. Since the account was established, the number of children dying of preventable causes has dropped from 40,000 to 26,000 per day. Both these numbers are still way too high—but the lives of 14,000 children every day are worth fighting for.
Check out this great opportunity courtesy of Jennifer Coulter Stapleton of Bread for the World. As a former Hunger Justice leader myself, I highly recommend it:
ONE partner Bread for the World is looking for the best and brightest 20- to 30-year-old advocates to join their next class of Hunger Justice Leaders. Selected participants will attend an advocacy training workshop—all expenses paid—in Washington, D.C., June 12-15, 2010.
Do you have what it takes to be a Hunger Justice Leader?
During training, participants will:
Gain skills in advocacy and community organizing.
Connect with like-minded young leaders from across the U.S.
Explore the biblical foundations of faith and justice.
Speak out on Capitol Hill by visiting your members of Congress.
These young leaders will return to their communities to engage their campuses, churches, and communities in advocacy to end hunger and poverty.
Don’t miss this opportunity to change our world, and yours. The application deadline is March 12. Apply today at www.bread.org/bealeader.
Here are a few more updates today from our partners and friends on the effort underway in Haiti:
American Red Cross:
“We are humbled and thankful for the outpouring of support from our blog visitors offering their services to help those in need in Haiti. We committed $200,000 last night, and increased that amount this morning to $1 million.”
AmeriCares:
“AmeriCares is sending $3 million worth of medical aid to survivors of yesterday’s deadly, 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Haiti from our Stamford warehouse. Disaster relief modules stocked with emergency medicines and medical supplies valued at $2 million have been deployed from the Amsterdam warehouse.”
Catholic Relief Services:
“In the Dominican Republic, the country that shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, CRS is preparing 10,000 packages, each containing food and water for a family of five. The first 500 are scheduled to be delivered to Port-au-Prince on Friday. Today four CRS staff members are traveling by bus from the Dominican Republic to Port-au-Prince as CRS begins to increase our presence in Haiti to respond to this unprecedented disaster. CRS has committed an initial $5 million (US) to help survivors of the devastating quake.”
FEED:
In 2009, WFP School Feeding reached over 400,000 Haitian children in 850 primary schools. FEED is working to maintain WFP School Feeding in Haiti during this critical time.
International Relief & Development:
IRD, a specialist in disaster response and emergency relief operations, has mobilized an emergency response team to Haiti. IRD will focus on the provision of emergency commodities, such as water, sanitation kits, medicines, hygiene kits, and shelter materials.
Islamic Relief:
Islamic Relief USA announced that it will immediately fly a $1 million shipment of aid to Haiti.
Jubilee USA:
Jubilee USA is calling on the Obama administration to take 3 specific steps as part of its comprehensive response to the Haiti earthquake.
Oxfam International:
A six-strong team of Oxfam emergency specialists has been dispatched to Haiti from the UK today to assist the 200 staff who were already stationed in Haiti when the earthquake hit on Tuesday.
World Food Programme:
“A WFP food distribution reached 3,000 people in the southern town of Jacmel on Wednesday and, despite logistical difficulties, more distributions were planned for Thursday in three areas of Port-au-Prince with high a population concentration.”
World Vision:
“On Thursday, World Vision will rush 18 metric tons of lifesaving supplies from its warehouse in Denver to Haiti, which was hit by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake Tuesday that affected some 3 million people. Thursday’s shipment will include tarpaulins for temporary shelter, blankets, collapsible water containers, hygiene kits, and cooking sets.” Also, click here to watch an interview with Laura Blank, Media Relations Manager at World Vision.
Yele Haiti:
Wyclef Jean’s nonprofit organization, Yele Haiti, has raised over $1 million for the victims of Tuesday’s devastating earthquake from mobile donations.
This week our partner organization Bread for the World, launched their 2010 Hunger Report A Just and Sustainable Recovery. “To blunt the surge of hunger, unemployment, and the long-term effects of climate change, we need a just and sustainable economic recovery,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World Institute. “If we do not reshape our economy with jobs that allow low-income workers to feed their families and move out of poverty, our recovery will not be sustainable. Like a bubble, it will only collapse again.”
The report notes that hunger is on the rise in both the U.S. and abroad—1.02 billion people are suffering from food insecurity around the world, up 100 million from last year. The report also argues that green jobs are the best investment that the U.S. can make. Green jobs will not only help reduce both unemployment numbers and carbon emissions, but they could also help address hunger and poverty throughout the developing world.
Yesterday’s launch panel included a host of engaging speakers. Robert Greenstein, the Executive Director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, described how the U.S. could address the financial crisis, including by financing an expanded food stamps program. Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Jr., President and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, discussed how green jobs could provide opportunity for the poor and unemployed, emphasizing that Congress’ climate legislation must have a strong greens jobs component. Gawain Kripke, Director of Policy and Research at Oxfam America, cautioned that climate change is the next big crisis, noting that climate solutions must have pro-poor impacts, especially for developing countries.
If you’re interested in checking out the full report, it’s available here, along with some cool interactive tools.
I’m a vegetarian. So I wasn’t sure how to respond when my host Yemiama offered me chickens as a gift for visiting him in southeastern Burkina Faso. I reluctantly took the chickens with many “thank yous.” Later, as I climbed into our truck, my colleagues joked that the birds would never make it through U.S. Customs.
Recently, I visited Burkina Faso as a guest of the Ministry of Agriculture on a project supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). While there, I talked with farmers about how they are coping in the midst of a global food and financial crisis. Predictably, they are struggling.
But the government in Burkina Faso is trying. With the support of IFAD, they are working to improve agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods. In Kompiengbiga, they have built irrigation schemes, increased organic fertilizer use and taught farmers business skills. Burkinabè farmers have benefited from these efforts. Even in my short visit, I was impressed that they are willing to take risks and adopt new technologies if they are given the chance.
Unfortunately, far too few farmers are getting the support they need. Currently, only four cents of every dollar of Official Development Assistance supports agricultural development. That’s down from 17 cents of every dollar in the 1980s.
How did we get to a point where we failed to anticipate needs in an area as critical as agriculture? Part of the answer is donor policies are poorly aligned with needs in developing countries. This must change.
Creating more responsive foreign assistance that alleviates hunger and poverty is sorely needed. Right now Bread for the World members are urging their Senators to support S.1524, “The Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act.” This bill will strengthen the capacity, transparency, and accountability of U.S. foreign assistance—and is a critical step toward helping farmers like Yemiama. Click here to learn more about S. 1524.
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.
