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.
In three weeks, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance will enter into force, five years after its official adoption by the African Union (AU). Cameroon’s recent ratification bumps the approval number to 15 member states — enough to make the Charter legally binding and operational. Why should we bother with this document? Critics cite the fact that it was ratified in majority by countries that don’t lead by example in terms of good governance. Others say that it might be just another paper tiger without any teeth, joining the stacks of legal documents that don’t change anything in the lives of real African citizens.
Although President Obama did not mention our issues during the State of the Union last Tuesday, he did discuss and defend foreign aidduring his Google+ Hangout session this week, which aimed to give Americans a chance to personally ask him about his policies and administration through social media.
A homeless veteran in Boston asked President Obama why the US should be spending so much on foreign aid when so many Americans are hurting at home. Obama responded, “We only spend about 1 percent of our budget on foreign aid. But it pays off in a lot of ways.” It goes toward helping countries improve their economies and prevent famine, avoiding “some military crisis somewhere down the road that could be even more expensive.”
He goes on to say, “So, aside from it being the right thing to do, as a very wealthy country… it’s also important to make sure that people understand this is part of our overall security strategy.”
Listen to his quote here:
ONE members were asked last week to vote on a question on the beginning of the end of AIDS from ONE member and University of Florida student Liz, but it was not chosen for Obama’s Google+ event. We will continue to keep HIV/AIDS on the president’s radar at events like this one and beyond.
Obama, in Google+ ‘Hangout,’ Defends Drone Use, Foreign Aid – During one of the questions in last night’s Google+ hangout, President Obama was asked about the justification for foreign aid, when so many Americans are struggling at home. He explained that “we only spend about 1 percent of our budget on foreign aid . . . but it pays off in a lot of ways,” including playing a critical role in our “overall security strategy.” (National Journal, George E. Condon Jr.)
New Chief Unveils Plan to Revive Disease-Fighting Fund – “There is nothing broken that can’t be fixed,” Gabriel Jamarillo, the new general manager of the Global Fund, said on Monday. Mr. Jaramillo has announced that he will focus on ‘establishing a disciplined private-sector governance process’ for managing grants, improve risk management from country to country, and try to raise new money.” (WSJ, Betsy McKay)
ONE Vote Organizer Charlie Harris reports from the Florida primary.
In my last post, I showed you some of the really cool things that can happen in a day in the life of a ONE Vote organizer. But sometimes, things don’t always go as planned. Such has been the case for my recent exploits down here in the Sunshine State in the build up to the primary. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to complain about being near the beach, but patience is definitely a virtue on the campaign trail.
Thursday, I made the two-hour trek down to Pensacola, Fla., from where I am staying with family in Panama City Beach. As soon as I arrived at what was to be an event with presidential candidate Sen. Rick Santorum, a torrential downpour made the event soggy and unpleasant for someone who forgot their umbrella. But luckily, I had a cool ONE hoodie nearby (shameless ONE Store plug, check them out). To my dismay, the crowd gathered was told that Senator Santorum couldn’t land due to the severe weather threat, and thus I trudged back to my car for what was not looking like a fun ride back. But when life gives you severe weather that makes road conditions hazardous, get FroYo until the storm passes!
Joseph Terranova, co-founder of Tukula, shares his company’s model for women’s empowerment.
In the East African country of Uganda, a staggering 276,000 young people cannot find jobs each year. Even though many of these youth are university or trade school educated, there is simply not enough infrastructure to accommodate them in the job market. And without jobs, many of these youth will relapse into the cyclical poverty endemic in much of their country.
Photo credit: Bobby Neptune/Tukula
Young women are particularly vulnerable to unemployment. Many find themselves caught in premature marriages, struggling to support their children with little hope of saving for the future of their families.
But in the heart of Jinja, Uganda’s second largest city, five young women work diligently to create beautiful handmade bags and other accessories for Tukula (meaning “we grow” in Luganda), a for-profit social enterprise based out of Lancaster, Pa. The women, who range in age from 16 to 33, have different life stories.
All of them have completed some amount of tailoring school, and two are continuing their education using the money they earn at Tukula. The women hail from different tribes and ascribe to different religions. But what brings them together is their desire to better the future of themselves and their families.
One of these women, Ayakaka Sally, talks about the impact that Tukula has had on her life. “I used to depend on people,” she says. “But Tukula has made me to be on my own. Now I can afford my food. I can pay my rent. It’s good for me.”
Tukula works with its artisans to create budgets and savings programs aimed at preparing each woman to attain her future goals. By creating and selling beautiful, high-quality products, the company hopes to impact more women in the future.
Tukula is working to eliminate abject poverty in Uganda before it begins, one woman at a time. To learn more visit tukula.org.
This piece is part of a larger blog series on transparency in the extractives industry. Stay tuned for more updates on this topic.
A year and a half ago, ONE and our Publish What You Pay Coalition (PWYP) partners asked ONE members to take action by calling your senators to urge them to pass a provision shining a spotlight on payments made between extractive companies and the countries they work in, many in Africa. The bipartisan Cardin-Lugar Amendment passed through Congress and became law!
This new law was designed to help to end the resource curse — the paradoxical condition of scores of countries blessed with abundant natural resources such as oil, timber, precious stones and metals, with most of their citizens living on less than $1.25 a day. This is because dictators, corrupt government leaders and bureaucrats steal and hide, in private foreign bank accounts, billions of dollars received from multi-national companies for drilling and mining these resources.
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.
