President-elect Obama’s campaign brought together some 1.5 million volunteers from across America. With so many Americans engaged in the recent election and excited about government, great development benefits could be garnered by channeling this energy towards U.S. development goals.

President-elect Obama’s goals include giving every child the chance to go to primary school (currently 75 million children do not get that chance), eliminating deaths from malaria, and helping those in the developing world to improve their own ability to grow food. Skilled workers are critical to implementing all of these goals. Americans with experience in teaching, agriculture, medicine, trade or a variety of other sectors can help to train practitioners in their fields in other countries.

In ONE’s briefing to President-elect Obama‘s transition team, ONE asks the incoming administration to fulfill two of their campaign commitments to increase human capacity by doubling the size of the Peace Corps by its 50th anniversary in 2011 and creating a Civilian Assistance Corps that would recruit highly skilled volunteers from the United States to work towards development goals including both direct service provision and training of local capacity.

There is more information on both of these proposals and our briefings to the incoming Administration here.

-Rena Pacheco-Theard and Josh Lozman

As part of ONE’s briefing to the presidential transition team, we recommended that President-Elect Obama follow through on his commitment to prioritize global education by scaling up U.S. funding for basic education to reach $3 billion annually. This recommendation is based on the President-Elect’s own commitments during the campaign: Obama pledged to capitalize a $2 billion “Global Education Fund” and to leverage U.S. commitments through the Fast Track Initiative, a financing mechanism that coordinates increased resources for countries whose education plans have been technically vetted and endorsed. Obama reiterated this commitment at the Clinton Global Initiative in September, and also said he looked forward to signing the Education for All Act, bipartisan legislation which would provide $10 billion in funding for education over five years.

Following through on these commitments could go a long way towards erasing the global education gap. Currently, 75 million children (more than half of whom are girls) are not enrolled in primary school. Nearly half of these children live in Africa and one-third live in fragile states. These out-of-school children represent a serious lost opportunity in the fight against extreme poverty and disease. With its widespread impacts on health, education, democratic development and economic growth, education is one of the most critical tools available to help poor countries forge a pathway out of poverty. The case for expanding access to education is even stronger amidst the current economic climate- investments in education are long-term and will reap benefits for communities and nations for generations to come.

In FY08, the U.S. appropriated $694 million for global education (primarily through the Development Assistance account and the Economic Support Fund), a large portion of which was directed to Pakistan and also programs such as the African Education Initiative, which provides learning materials like (more…)

President-elect Barack Obama has appointed Senator Hillary Clinton to be the next Secretary of State, and on Tuesday, January 13th, she will go before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for her confirmation hearing. Senator Clinton has been a strong ally in the struggle against global poverty and extreme disease during her time in the Senate as well as on the presidential campaign trail. But as Secretary of State she’ll face many challenges, including two ongoing wars and a recession, that may shift her priorities.

Funding for our proven, cost-effective, life-saving State Department programs (including global primary education, malaria prevention and treatment, sustainable agriculture, international development, and aid reform) could take a backseat in the new Administration. Or worse — these programs could be cut in an eventual clamor for foreign aid reductions that will do little if anything to take pressure off of the U.S. domestic economy.

That’s why we’re asking ONE members in relevant states (see list, below) to call their Senators on the Foreign Relations Committee before the 9:30 AM (EST) hearing on Tuesday. We don’t have much time, but we must make sure Hillary Clinton’s confirmation hearing features the issues most critical to the world’s poorest citizens — setting the tone for the new State Department’s priorities and reminding Senator Clinton as well as the Committee that Americans want strong U.S. leadership against global poverty and preventable disease.

If your Senator is listed below, please click here to get talking points and instructions for placing your call.

Senators on the Foreign Relations Committee:

• Sen. John Kerry (Massachusetts)
• Sen. Chris Dodd (Connecticut)
• Sen. Russ Feingold (Wisconsin)
• Sen. Barbara Boxer (California)
• Sen. Bill Nelson (Florida)
• Sen. Robert Menendez (New Jersey)
• Sen. Benjamin Cardin (Maryland)
• Sen. Robert Casey (Pennsylvania)
• Sen. Jim Webb (Virginia)
• Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire)
• Sen. Richard Lugar (Indiana)
• Sen. Bob Corker (Tennessee)
• Sen. George Voinovich (Ohio)
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)
• Sen. Johnny Isakson (Georgia)

Also check out this video we made about calling your Members of Congress!

-Emily Stivers

On December 17th, we delivered our petition with more than 86,000 signatures to President-elect Barack Obama’s foreign policy transition team.

The petition asked Obama to make a clear statement, through his upcoming inaugural address and budget priorities, that he intends to fulfill his campaign commitments to fighting poverty and preventable disease worldwide. View the petition here.

Senior members of the Obama-Biden Transition’s foreign policy team gladly accepted this petition, and were impressed by the 86,113 members –- at the time of delivery –- whom we mobilized on behalf of the world’s poorest people.

Although the initial delivery is complete, you can still sign the petition here. As the number of signers grows — hopefully hitting our new goal of 100,000 before the inauguration on January 20th — your signature will keep on working in our fight to alleviate global poverty and prevent diseases, including HIV/AIDS and malaria. We will continue using this petition in our advocacy efforts, taking every opportunity to encourage the President-elect to get us on track to meeting his pledges.

After the inaugural address on January 20th, we’ll be looking at Obama’s first Presidential budget request, for Fiscal Year 2010, and working hard to make sure it provides sufficient support for the proven, effective and affordable programs that give hope and opportunities to millions of people now living in desperate need.

Learn more about our transition strategy here.

Sign the inauguration petition here.

-Emily Stivers

ONE recently prepared a set of transition documents for President-elect Obama’s transition team. These documents essentially represented ONE’s best effort to put in writing a set of recommendations for how the Obama team could put its vision for development into action after taking office. The booklet included issue specific recommendations that could be implemented both in the short and longer term.

All of these recommendations are meant to fit into Obama’s broader vision for fighting poverty and making the Millennium Development Goals America’s own goals for development. In order to do so, President-elect Obama also committed to double U.S. spending on development assistance by $25 billion. In an effort to tie the two together, ONE’s transition document includes a section outlining the annual expenditures necessary to reach this goal over five years. It lists each of Obama’s existing commitments to development and added those priorities that ONE recommended to fulfill the overall vision. All of these things can be accomplished with an increase of $23.96 billion by fiscal year 2013.

While this increase sounds large, it still only represents less than 1% of the U.S. federal budget and can provide significant assistance to countries struggling to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Some of the priorities and commitments we include are:

• Fully funding PEPFAR, tuberculosis and malaria as authorized in the Lantos-Hyde act passed this year
• Create an initiative to build long-term agricultural capacity
• Work toward universal primary education by signing and funding the Education for All Bill
• Create and small and medium enterprise fund to support economic growth in Africa

These are just a few of the ideas mentioned in the briefing.

The scale up acknowledges that the United States is currently facing a difficult economic crisis and that therefore the new Administration will have to strategically choose which priorities to invest in immediately and which will have to be initiated a year or two down the line. Ultimately however, despite the difficult budget environment facing the U.S. in this upcoming year, ONE hopes that the Obama administration will begin the scale up with a total increase of $4 billion over the spending level in fiscal year 2008 so that those most critical initiatives can begin their scale up. Delaying the effort will only make annual increases required in future years more difficult to achieve. You can view the chart showing scale-up here.

-Erin Thornton, Policy Director, ONE

As the world gets ready to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama, we are asking the President-elect to use his inaugural address to spread hope and dignity to those most in need. President-elect Obama’s inauguration will provide an opportunity to take unprecedented action in the fight against global poverty. A few weeks ago, ONE launched a petition asking the President-elect to “make a clear affirmation of his pledge to fight poverty and preventable diseases worldwide” in his inaugural address on January 20th. Already we’ve smashed our goal of 50,000 signers with over 86,000!

Soon we will deliver this petition to Obama’s transition team. Before we do, please take a moment to add your voice, and be sure to ask your friends and family to do the same.

Dear President-elect Barack Obama,

In your inaugural address, please make a clear affirmation of your pledge to fight poverty and preventable diseases worldwide, and support that statement with an FY2010 budget request that puts the U.S. on track to meet your historic commitments.

-Chris Scott

As you may have heard, President-elect Barack Obama officially nominated Governor Bill Richardson to serve as Secretary of Commerce earlier today. During his run for the Democratic presidential nomination Governor Richardson went On the Record with ONE to talk about what he’d do to fight global poverty. Below are some interesting quotes and background information.

Richardson talks to ONE about extreme poverty

“When I travel, individuals come up to me in the poorest nations on earth and ask, “What has America done.” The reason is everyone expects America make an effort to make a difference in the world because we are the most powerful nation in the world. But we also need to regain our moral authority.

I also want to make a difference in the areas of pandemic diseases. AIDS. Refugees. Malnutrition. Enormous challenges in Africa—the poorest continent in the earth. Why is it that nobody cares about Africa? I always say that. Why did we let Rwanda happen? We should care about peacekeeping conflicts in Africa. We should care about the fact that close to 25% of the entire continent may be HIV positive. We should forge private/ public partnerships to make Africa a priority in the world’s foreign policy.
I think it’s also important that we recognize that America needs to lead.”

Richardson Praises ONE Campaign, Calls for a Marshall Plan for the 21st Century

SANTA FE, NM — Democratic Presidential candidate Governor Bill Richardson released the following statement today, praising the ONE campaign and calling for a sustained effort to eradicate poverty in the developing world:

“Millions dead from disease in the developing world, mothers who go to bed hungry every night, children who have never seen the inside of a classroom — this is our burden. Our belief is that we can and must do better.

“I am proud to support the ONE campaign in its efforts to alleviate suffering and transform the developing world. Accomplishing these goals will require an enduring will and an abiding faith in the dignity of every human being. I am confident that we will be successful.

“As a former UN Ambassador and a diplomat, I know that just as poverty-stricken neighborhoods produce crime, poverty-stricken states produce terrorism. Ending world poverty is thus not only a moral imperative, it is vital to the security of the United States. ONE’s specific targets — fighting HIV/AIDS, improving education, providing housing, ensuring the health of mothers and children, and providing safe, clean water — are critical for the developing world and America alike. Our next President must actively support these goals at home and abroad.

“We need a Marshall Plan for the 21st century. Developed nations, public organizations, and private companies must coordinate a sustained, focused, intensive effort to wipe out the developing world’s most pressing problems. The original Marshall Plan lifted Europe from the ravages of war and established the United States as the dominant economic player in the world. I believe that during the coming century, our nation’s economic security — and the security of the world economy — depends on replicating that success in the developing world.

“I applaud the ONE campaign for beginning the hard work that the world community must collectively finish. Only if we can work together will we have the strength to solve this problem.”

-Chris Scott

Last week, ONE released its transition briefing to President-elect Obama’s transition team. Our transition briefing builds on the already robust agenda laid out by the President-elect with a series of short- and long-term policy pitches to the transition team along with a detailed sketch of how the Obama Administration can meet its commitment to double foreign assistance.

A transition briefing like this is meant to provide our thoughts on new priorities that could be taken up early on in the Administration and that also fit well with President-elect Obama’s vision. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all the things that ONE will support during the next four years whether they be existing priorities or new ideas that may emerge.

President-elect Obama’s campaign commitment to double foreign assistance provides us a framework for our requests and while it may sound ambitious, it is a critical necessity to the overarching goals. We are not naïve to the financial realities our country is facing, but for far too long development has played a supportive role in our overall foreign policy. It is our hope that President Obama will act on the vision he described as a candidate and raise the profile of development. We believe this briefing provides a roadmap to do that.

We hope that you find this briefing helpful and look forward to working with President Obama, his Administration, Congress, and all of our members to make this vision a reality.

-Erin Thornton, ONE’s Policy Director

Today we’ve been posting backgrounds and other key information on President-elect Obama’s security team as announced earlier today. Below is some information on Dr. Susan Rice, who Obama has announced will be nominated to serve as Ambassador to the United Nations.

Foreign Policy Related Activities (from U.S Center for Global Engagement website)

As Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Dr. Rice visited the majority of the 48 states in Sub-Saharan Africa and lobbied for increasing foreign aid to the region. She supported an all-African peacekeeping force to avert conflict on the continent and supported a congressional measure that allowed Washington to provide food assistance to the rebels in Sudan. Dr. Rice’s work at the Brookings Institution has focused on U.S. foreign policy, weak and failing states, the implications of global poverty and transnational security threats.

Selected Statements

Rice, President-elect Obama Security Team press conference, 12/1/08

“With your election, Mr. President-elect, the American people have signaled to the world that our nation is on the path to change. Now, we must fulfill that promise by joining with others to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of the 21st century to prevent conflict, to promote peace, combat terrorism, present the spread and use of nuclear weapons, tackle climate change, end genocide, fight poverty and disease.

“All of these goals are vital to America’s security but none can be accomplished by America alone. To enhance our common security, we must invest in our common humanity. And to do so, we need capable partners and far more effective international institutions.

“The United Nations was, in major part, America’s creation.”

(more…)

In his security team rollout this morning, President-elect Obama announced that Robert Gates would be staying on as the Secretary of Defense.

Below are some of Gates’ notable statements about global development.

Gates, Remarks at the 2008 US Global Leadership Campaign Tribute Dinner, 7/15/08

“Broadly speaking, when it comes to America’s engagement with the rest of the world, you probably don’t hear this often from a Secretary of Defense, it is important that the military is – and is clearly seen to be – in a supporting role to civilian agencies.”

“It has become clear that America’s civilian institutions of diplomacy and development have been chronically undermanned and underfunded for far too long – relative to what we spend on the military, and more important, relative to the responsibilities and challenges our nation has around the world.”

“In recent years the lines separating war, peace, diplomacy, and development have become more blurred, and no longer fit the neat organizational charts of the 20th century. All the various elements and stakeholders working in the international arena – military and civilian, government and private – have learned to stretch outside their comfort zone to work together and achieve results.”

Gates, Remarks at the University of Kansas, 11/26/07

“What is clear to me is that there is a need for a dramatic increase in spending on the civilian instruments of national security – diplomacy, strategic communications, foreign assistance, civic action, and economic reconstruction and development. Secretary Rice addressed this need in a speech at Georgetown University nearly two years ago. We must focus our energies beyond the guns and steel of the military, beyond just our brave soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen. We must also focus our energies on the other elements of national power that will be so crucial in the coming years.”

-Chris Scott