Ten years ago today, at a small press conference in New York, Bono and Bill Gates launched an activist entity called DATA, with start-up funds from Mr Gates, George Soros and Ed Scott.
I was one of the founders, along with Bobby Shriver and Lucy Matthew, and appointed the executive director. Though we started small, our oh so clever acronymic name stood for audacious goals: to campaign on debt, AIDS, trade and aid in partnership with African activists – in return for African governments offering more democracy, accountability and transparency to their citizens. We aspired to be data-based activists with a transatlantic bipartisan strategy, blending pop and policy, so that those with extreme global power would be forced to deal with extreme local poverty – and take the historic opportunity before us to end it.
Data can be fun. Data can tell a story. Data can arm an activist with stats to start a conversation or help make a point. And data can be visually intriguing and interactive.
At least that was the goal when we created the website to showcase ONE’s latest DATA Report, our annual assessment of G8 commitments to sub-Saharan Africa made at the 2005 Gleneagles Summit. This year’s print report, available on our website, presented an opportunity and challenge for a “show me, don’t tell me” opportunity to make this data “getable” on first glance and interactive.
We have another new face on the ONE Blog, Friederike Röder. She is ONE France’s new policy manager and we are very excited to have her on board. Say hi in the comments below!
Following the tradition started last year at the G8 in Canada, this year’s French presidency prepared an accountability report together with the other G8 countries, which outlines the state of delivery and results of the G8’s commitments on fighting extreme poverty.
Let’s start with the positives: it is commendable that the G8 continues with preparing such reports. Great promises are one thing, but keeping them and proving to have kept them is equally important. This is exactly what ONE has been saying for years (and showing the example for) with the DATA report.
New analysis published by ONE today has given the final verdict on the aid promises that were made by world leaders at the G8 summit in Gleneagles in 2005. The DATA Report 2011, also sets out the steps that need to be taken to make a renewed push towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals. It suggests new innovative finance schemes and identifies other measures to support proven smart aid programmes that help the poorest people in the poorest nations build a path out of poverty.
In 2005, the G8 countries all made robust commitments to sub-Saharan Africa — which they said they’d meet by 2010. ONE’s 2010 DATA Report gives the final verdict on how well they did.
You can tune into the livestream below to watch today’s DC panel discuss the report’s results.
The panel includes ONE President and CEO David Lane, ONE Board Member and former White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, and Senior Professional Staff Member on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Pearl-Alice Marsh — and is co-hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the University of Miami Center for International Media.
ONE’s Lauren Clanin is at the event and will be sending back recap posts soon. You can read a ton more about the DATA Report here.
Limber up! We want you to try and throw Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi out of the G8 because he’s let us down once again…We’ve even made a cheeky little game to give you some practice!
On a brighter note, some G8 countries have actually made real strides despite the tough times, and these investments have helped to give over 40 million children in Africa an education and halved malaria deaths in a number of countries.
So, enjoy the game (my top score is 8720) and please pass on to let people know that we don’t just believe in promises but delivery too.
Tuesday morning in Ottawa, Canada, ONE launched the 2010 DATA Report, our annual report card on G8 countries’ progress towards meeting their commitments to Africa. ONE’s President and CEO, David Lane, was joined on a panel by two powerful Canadian advocates – Belinda Stronach, and Yasmin Warsame.
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.
