Singers/Musicians

The Africa Progress Panel (APP) is an independent body whose members currently include Tidjane Thiam, Muhummad Yunnnus, Kofi Annan and Bob Geldof. The Panel works to track the commitments made by African governments and their international partners especially in terms of good governance.

They publish a regular newsletter which is full of information related to Africa, including policy news and a calendar of key upcoming events. As you can see below, their latest newsletter has an editorial on the importance of business:

Business: doing well by doing good

Most people agree that economic growth depends upon a vibrant private sector. But when it comes to Africa, there remains a degree of schizophrenia about the role of business.

Investors outside Africa hear about the opportunities but are put off by the negative image of Africa as risky and unsafe. And others remain suspicions of business – as exploitative, unethical and motivated only by financial profit.

Africa is vast, and diverse. Headline-grabbing instability in one place has little bearing on conditions elsewhere. The biggest constraints to investors are mostly mundane: red tape and high costs, poor infrastructure, limited access to capital, underpaid officials and weak law enforcement, fostering uncertainty and corruption.

Many governments are trying to do their part. According to the World Bank, more business-friendly reforms were implemented over the last year than in any previous one.

Business can add social value. At a minimum, this means doing no harm, paying taxes, not partnering in corruption and implementing codes of good practice, including the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative.

But much more is possible. Healthy, educated and connected people are essential for market growth, and stability. Corporations can work with authorities and civil society on both policies and their implementation, and on projects that both attract investment and create social and environmental benefits.

This should now become standard. There are many best practices to draw upon, and more business-oriented advocacy groups springing up, both in Africa and internationally – including the Business Call to Action, the newly formed ‘Frontier 100’, Investment Climate Facility, Business Action for Africa, the APP’s own Business Advisory Group and many others.

Good business is good for Africa.

Click here for access to the full newsletter.

-Jessica Gomez-Duran

Time magazine honored George Clooney yesterday as one of its 100 Most Influential People in 2009 for his activism around the crisis in Darfur. George has been a great friend of ONE, and working with the organization he cofounded, Not on our Watch, he has been an influential player in the fight to focus attention on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur — and on the responsibility of the US government and other world leaders to do something about it.

ONE cofounder Bono writes about Clooney in the Time 100 Issue:

His commitment to ending the atrocities in Sudan is not a role, not a performance. It is real — and it is serious work. Some people think celebrities should stick to the script, stay feted and fetal in their air-conditioned trailers. Some people think it’s an appalling juxtaposition to see the rich and famous in a photo call with the vanquished and the vulnerable.

It is. George knows that. But he also knows that the cameras trained on you and the column inches dedicated to you could be covering something a little more important than, well, you. Like the slaughter of innocents in Darfur. Like the refugee camps full of starving Sudanese.

And he knows the details, the nuances of his and your sides of the argument. Hey, if you’re going to pay attention to George Clooney, he’s going to insist you pay attention to this stuff. Now there’s a radical idea.

Read the full text here.

Bono also interviewed George on his work in Darfur for a CNN special on the Time 100 hosted by Anderson Cooper that will air Friday night May 1 at 11 PM EDT on both CNN and CNN International. It will re-air on CNN Saturday and Sunday at 8 and 11 PM EDT.

-Kathy McKiernan

The IMF is about to make a decision at its annual Spring Meeting this weekend that will impact millions of people in some of the poorest countries in the world. This weekend, there is an opportunity for the IMF’s governing body to decide what to do with the proceeds from a planned sale of a small portion of their gold reserves. Will they use those funds to build up their endowment to pay their staff? Or, will they use the lion’s share of the money raised to help the global poor weather the current financial crisis?

ONE members have a strong opinion, and in just one week, more than 60,000 have signed our petition to the Managing Director of the IMF Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The petition reads:

Dear Dominique Strauss-Kahn,
Please use the revenue from gold sales to create as much funding as possible for developing countries and ensure that this doesn’t create new debts or have harmful conditions attached.

Yesterday, anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof met with Strauss-Kahn and delivered the petition. Afterward, he took a moment to record this message:

Earlier today, ONE held a press conference with the African Development Bank at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington D.C. The panel was an interesting mix of distinguished African development advocates and officials, including ONE supporter and activist Bob Geldof; African Development Bank President Donald Kaberuka; Tanzania Finance Minister Mustafa Mkulo; and New York Congressman Gregory Meeks.

The meeting was held in anticipation of the IMF and World Bank annual Spring Meetings. Both institutions will be making critical decisions to follow up on the details of the G20 commitments and determine what will be delivered and with what conditions. The press conference was focused on how the Spring Meetings can provide low income countries – particularly African countries – with the resources they need to get through this financial crisis as well as build on recent development successes, without creating a future debt crisis.

At the event, Bob described how the economic crisis has continued to marginalize the poor peripheral parts of the world. Interesting, Bob remarked that $5 billion (the amount ONE is asking the IMF to provide to developing countries in grants and loans) is a tiny amount compared to the bailout given out in developed countries. Bob referred to a study commissioned by ONE that shows that by injecting $50 billion to Africa now will would increasing global output by as much as $250 billion. He called for aid to Africa to continue and challenged the group to think about how relatively small change can make a big difference.

Mr. Kaberuka described how Africa, in the past several decades, has been a story of progress and setbacks. He questioned the idea of a “banking crisis.” Rather, Africa faces an economic crisis. Mr. Kaberuka emphasized that the amount needed for developing countries is relatively small – the international community pledged $50 billion at the last IDA replenishment and $9 billion for the African Development Bank. Doubling these could have a significant impact.

(more…)

ONE co-founder Bono is writing an occasional column for the New York Times and his latest column appeared today.

Below is a notable except that relates to ONE’s work:

“A few weeks ago I was in Washington when news arrived of proposed cuts to the president’s aid budget. People said that it was going to be hard to fulfill promises to those who live in dire circumstances such a long way away when there is so much hardship in the United States. And there is.

But I read recently that Americans are taking up public service in greater numbers because they are short on money to give. And, following a successful bipartisan Senate vote, word is that Congress will restore the money that had been cut from the aid budget — a refusal to abandon those who would pay such a high price for a crisis not of their making. In the roughest of times, people show who they are.

Your soul.

So much of the discussion today is about value, not values. Aid well spent can be an example of both, values and value for money. Providing AIDS medication to just under four million people, putting in place modest measures to improve maternal health, eradicating killer pests like malaria and rotoviruses — all these provide a leg up on the climb to self-sufficiency, all these can help us make friends in a world quick to enmity. It’s not alms, it’s investment. It’s not charity, it’s justice.”

You can read the full column here.

-Virginia Simmons

At the IMF conference in Tanzania, Bob Geldof took a moment to share his thoughts on what he would like to see the upcoming G20 summit in London do for Africa.

Learn more about the G20 and what we hope to see the G20 do for developing nations.

-Weldon Kennedy

The APP is an independent body whose members currently include Tidjane Thiam, Muhummad Yunnnus, Michael Camdessus and Bob Geldof. The Panel works to keep the world’s leaders focused on delivering the commitments they’ve made, especially in terms of good governance, as this is vital for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. As the APP website states, the panel members “will draw on the expertise of institutions working on African issues to present a rigorous and independent assessment of progress”.

They publish regular newsletters full of information related to Africa. Their latest newsletter, entitled ‘Anyone for Gs’, has an editorial on the G20/G8/G? which is a great introduction and helps explain what it’s all about.

Anyone for Gs? (Vol 1 Issue 8 )

The world enjoys a rich variety of Gs. There is the G-7, which is almost the G-8. The G-5 (China, India, Mexico, Brazil and Egypt) might be joining the G-8 meeting in July. We have the G-20 – which is really the G-22, if the EU and AU are added. Then there’s the G-77, which actually has 130 members. And don’t forget the G-15 which, confusingly, has 17 members.

Some argue that all these Gs are irrelevant, and that the only effective grouping is the G-2: the US and China. Others that only the G-192, the UN, has real legitimacy.

The proliferation of Gs is bewildering, but in fact may be a sign of health, as the world struggles to find governance structures which are both effective in terms of economic clout and have the political legitimacy to tackle the multiple crises before us.

For the G-54 (Africa), what matters right now is being heard by the world’s most powerful: on rebooting the Doha round, on increasing access to finance, and on keeping aid promises. Everyone will benefit if Africa is part of a coordinated global economic stimulus plan, not treated as an afterthought.

To make the case, Africa needs a strong voice, clear positions and specific proposals. The best Gs for Africa are those which give Africa a meaningful rather than symbolic opportunity to make its case, and which then commit leaders to a time bound course of action.

The full newsletter is available here.

-Jessica Gomez-Duran

Helping to set the stage for the G20 Summit in London in April, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) held a conference this week titled Eliminating World Poverty: Building our Common Future. The video below shows some of the highlights from the three keynote speeches delivered by Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, Sir Bob Geldof, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

All three speakers made a case about the progress that we’ve made and the potentially devastating impact the financial crisis could have on the world’s most vulnerable people if we don’t continue to take action. This point was reinforced by research that DFID released at the conference showing that the crisis threatens to push 90 million more people into extreme poverty.

-Weldon Kennedy

Yesterday, U2 performed in front of hundreds of thousands of people at “We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration” concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. ONE co-founder Bono took a few moments backstage to record this message to ONE members. Check it out!

-Josh Peck

On Friday we brought attention to a Gallup poll that indicated the American public considers President Bush’s work in the fight against HIV/AIDS to be his administration’s most successful accomplishment. Yesterday the Associated Press ran an article that serves as an interesting companion piece, examining this issue from an African perspective.

The article offers many different perspectives and opinions, including those in Africa who have been directly impacted by programs such as PEPFAR, to those who feel the focus on HIV/AIDS has distracted too much attention from other diseases.

Excerpts below, full piece here

Like countless Africans, [Sweetness] Mzolisa looks forward to Barack Obama becoming America’s first black president Jan 20. But — like countless Africans — Mzolisa says she will always be grateful to Bush for his war on AIDS, which has helped to treat more than 2 million Africans, support 10 million more, and revitalize the global fight against the disease.

“It has done a lot for the people of South Africa, for the whole of the African continent,” says Mzolisa, a feisty mother of seven. “It has changed so many people’s lives, saved so many people’s lives.”

Some critics, like rockers-turned-advocates Bono and Bob Geldof, have become admirers.

“The Bush regime has been divisive … created bitterness — but not here in Africa. Here, his administration has saved millions of lives,” Geldof wrote in Time Magazine as he accompanied Bush on an Africa trip last February.

“The administration and Bush himself deserve a lot more credit than they received for getting this job done,” says Josh Ruxin, assistant professor of public health at Columbia University.

-Chris Scott