Overall, the Pittsburgh G20 Summit appears to have made some progress towards reshaping global power structures to make them more representative, but it still has some way to go before it becomes a truly representative global decision making body.

I spent the summit with our US Government Relations Director Tom Hart, who said:

“Moving from the G8 to the G20 is a seismic shift: it brings many more of the world’s people to the table, but the new expanded world body must now start addressing the needs of the poorest countries, especially in Africa. For nearly a decade now, Africa has been squarely on the G8’s agenda, even if delivery on their commitments has been mixed. During this transition time, African development must not fall through the cracks. One way to show the world will not forget Africa would be to hold an upcoming G20 summit on the African continent.”

As I posted earlier here, we passed our petition, in which 75,000 ONE members worldwide call for a G20 Summit to be held in Africa, to the US delegation at the summit.

Below are some key points in the summit’s communique that are relevant to Africa:

• Agriculture – The G20 called on the World Bank to develop a new trust fund, as a way to implement the G8’s food security initiative announced at the L’Aquila Summit in Italy in July. This multilateral fund will support the set of principles championed by the White House to make aid for agriculture more effective, coordinated and geared towards the strategies developed by poor countries themselves.
• Climate change – The G20 failed to call for resources to help the poorest countries adapt to the harmful impacts of climate change, and tackle its causes. It was disappointing that there was no mention of the urgency of addressing these needs.
• African Development Bank – The G20 have reaffirmed the commitment to make sure the multilateral development banks have enough finance, especially the World soft loan arm, the International Development Association (IDA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The African bank has increased its lending to respond to the financial crisis by as much as US$4bn and now needs support to replenish its coffers. ONE welcomes Canada’s announcement of an extra US$2.8bn in loan guarantees for the Bank.
• World Bank and IMF- Both International Financial Institutions took steps towards increasing representation of developing countries.

I’ve never thought about driving to a large parking lot and having a party out of the back of my car. As such, it’s hardly surprising that the phenomenon of tailgating took me a little bit by surprise. But here on the North American U2 tour, the stadium parking lots turn into a massive series of parties, each of which is a veritable gold mine for new ONE members. It’s fantastic.

Just as every city and stadium presents a different way to sign up ONE members, I also find there are people with a variety of motives for joining. Everyone has a different reason for joining, from people who have a personal experience with extreme poverty to environmentalists who are concerned that not enough is being done to help the poor adapt to climate change. Whatever the person’s reason for joining, all it takes is a few seconds of introduction to ONE for most people to be convinced that they want to be members. And hence, I love all the tailgaters who give time (and sometimes food) to my ONE volunteers. Party on in the parking lot.

-Weldon Kennedy

Bono, ONE co-founder, just joined Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan and others in a commitment to 1GOAL: Education for All at the Clinton Global Initiative Meeting. Together with FIFA, 1GOAL is committed to ensuring that the legacy of the 2010 World Cup will be universal access to education for all children. As President Clinton said, “this is a staggering opportunity” to make a big difference for girls and boys around the world.

Read more about 1GOAL Education for All here.

After the announcement, Queen Rania immediately joined a panel moderated by Nicholas Kristof and went on to further make a passionate case for universal education. According to Queen Rania, an educated child is 50% less likely to contract HIV, just one of many ways education affects every other sector. She also pointed out another statistic so incredible that Nicholas Kristof made her repeat it: the developing world needs approximately $11 billion dollars to put every child into primary school– the same amount the US spends every 3 months on their pets. However, because education isn’t particularly “dramatic” it rarely gets the attention it deserves.

Nicholas Kristof, Queen Rania, and Hilda Solis join in a panel on Creating Good Jobs and Strong Communities

US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis addresses the CGI Meeting

-Chris Scott

Yesterday afternoon, I attended the unveiling of a giant 200-foot mural created by the “Moving the Lives of Kids” (MLK) Community Project in downtown Pittsburgh.

ONE’s petition asking the G20 to hold a future meeting in Africa covers 100 feet of the wall. The MLK team, including nearly 20 local artists and 30 kids from the community, painted the wall in less than five days. When we arrived for the unveiling and press conferences (and as it started to pour down rain) they were putting on the final finishing touches.

Right now I’m working on downloading and then uploading some video from the short press conference, but until then here are some more photos of the giant wall and the truly uplifting event.

(If you’re in Pittsburgh, the mural is on Ross Street between 3rd and 4th.)

The U2 360 spaceship has landed in North America, and we’re off to a rockin’ start. Matt (who’ll be running the tour for most of the North American tour) met me in Chicago and we ran around town gathering T-shirts, wristbands, and our new tabling set up. Everything was in perfect order, including the weather. I’m told the odds of 4 September days of 72 degree sunny weather is an near impossibility in Chicago, but that’s what we got.

Our 30 volunteers were in good form, recruiting new members by the thousands. The biggest obsticale they ran into was that many of the fans were already ONE members. Not a bad problem to have!

I’m in Toronto now, and ready to get rolling on another two shows. I hope to see you at a show soon!

-Weldon Kennedy

There’s been a lot of great momentum lately about providing clean water for the nearly one billion people in the world without it. In 2005, Congress passed the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act, and from 2007 to 2008, US funding for water, sanitation, and hygiene programs went up 45%.

So what’s missing from this picture, you ask? The system to implement it. If we want to make a difference in helping poor families around the world access clean water, we need a modern and efficient aid agency to deliver on our promises. USAID needs an overall plan for fighting poverty in order to get the most out of this amazing infusion of resources for providing clean water. The best way to make a long-term difference in water and sanitation is to integrate water – and all other the other life-saving assistance that ONE members fight for – into a single strategy for fighting global poverty.

The current system is broken. There’s not even a single place in the US government to find out what the US is currently spending on water & sanitation and in what countries. In the Water for the Poor Act of 2005, Congress mandated an annual report on the government’s progress. But because there are fifteen different US agencies implementing water or sanitation programs overseas, the report does not capture all our efforts. The Millennium Challenge Corporation provided $429 million to help countries upgrade their water delivery systems and connect more households to clean water last year. But that investment is not even reflected in the Water for the Poor Act Report country data, which only reports USAID and State Department activities.

A scattered bureaucracy may not sound like such an urgent problem, but lives hang in the balance: without a clear direction, our water and sanitation assistance simply isn’t going where it’s needed the most. In 2008,

• Jordan received over $41 million from USAID for water and sanitation programs in FY 2008, even though 98% of its population already has access to improved drinking water.
• Niger, where only 42% of the population has access to improved drinking water, received only one-fiftieth that amount.

Learn more about why lending your voice to the fight for foreign assistance reform can also mean improving access to clean drinking water and improved sanitation for the world’s poorest.

-Porter McConnell, Aid Reform Campaign, Oxfam America

We just launched a new campaign today to convince the G20 – a group made up of twenty developed and developing countries – to hold an upcoming summit in Africa.

The host country for a G20 summit plays an important role in setting the agenda, and bringing the G20 to Africa would allow world leaders to see for themselves the potential this continent of 1 billion people has to be part of the global economic recovery.

The G20 is actually gathering in Pittsburgh for a summit September 24 and 25 to discuss that global economic recovery and ONE will be there to deliver our petition. It’s going to be a pretty impressive delivery, stay tuned for the details

Click here to join the campaign and add your name to our call to the G20 to go to Africa.

-Aaron Banks

This Monday in Chicago, ONE held a rally at The Field Museum’s Water Exhibit to celebrate the Paul Simon Water for the World Act. The event featured US Senator Richard Durbin, an original cosponsor of the Water for the World Act, and we were joined by many ONE members, local guests and partner organizations.

Before the event started, I caught up with Shayne Moore, a ONE member since inception. Shayne and I talked about the power of “Moms” in the world and the important role that women play both in ONE and in global development. Shayne even told me some of her work with partner groups and how as a mother of three, she felt strongly about supporting the life saving work of the Global Fund.

Sheila Nix, ONE’s executive director, opened up the event by talking about the lack of clean water in many parts of the developing world and just how crucial clean water is to global health issues. She went on to highlight the importance of the Water for the World Act and the potential it has to help usher in clean water to millions of lives around the world. Sheila also highlighted the prominent role that many of ONE’s partner groups play both on the ground in Africa, and in advocacy here in the US. Before she introduced Senator Durbin, she highlighted his efforts on the Water for the World Act, and his greater role in many other essential programs and for being one of the earliest and strongest backers of the Global Fund.

Senator Durbin then spoke about how ONE’s petition around Water for All put a growing bi-partisan force behind the legislation, saying that when it was first introduced, only a few other senators had signed on, but after ONE members across the country weighed in, alongside many other individuals and organizations, the list of co-sponsors is growing and Senator Durbin even noted Senator Isakson’s support from across the political aisle. Senator Durbin even singled out Water Advocates and noted Matt Damon’s special taped message to ONE members.

After the event, we took a quick tour of the water exhibit and after a few ONE members and guests were able to speak with Senator Durbin and thank him for his participation in the event, and for his actions in the Congress to help bring clean water to the world’s poorest people. I even had the chance to thank him for the chance meeting back in New Hampshire when I spotted him in a ONE shirt.

No matter where you live, clean water is one of the most crucial tenants to a healthy life. And no matter where you live in the US, your voice can help bring clean water to millions around the world when you take action with ONE.

-Matthew Bartlett

Throughout the month of August, ONE members across the country attended meetings at their senators’ local offices. We’ve had a great response, with almost 4,000 ONE members across the country signing up to attend a meeting and advocate for the world’s poorest people. So far, we’ve had almost 100 meeting requests put in to Senate offices, and to date 45 meetings have been confirmed. Not bad, for a month’s work!

But we’re not done yet. We’re extending our push for ONE members to meet with senators and their staff through September so we can reach as many offices as possible. We will continue to follow up with the offices where we have submitted meeting requests, and do a fresh push to put in requests with the remaining senators so ONE members in all 50 states can have their voices heard in the fight against extreme poverty. While Congress’ August recess is an excellent opportunity to reach your senators, meeting with their staff throughout the year is just as important. We are excited to see what September brings for ONE members across the country.

If you haven’t already signed up to attend a meeting with your senator, it’s not too late and you can do so here. For everyone who already signed up to attend a meeting, we will be in touch soon about next steps for your September Senate meetings.

-Kim Smith

In April, ONE members from around the world urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to use profits from a proposed gold sale to help the world’s poorest countries weather the financial storm brought on by the global financial crisis .

And last week, the IMF came through with a package of new assistance for low-income countries (LICs) that goes a long way towards fulfilling what we asked for from world leaders. Leaders at the IMF and the US Treasury Department even credited ONE with being the driving force behind this victory for the world’s poor!

Beginning at the London G20 Summit, there was favorable language for this effort in the communiqué. Then, prior to the IMF Spring Meeting, ONE’s Bob Geldof and the organization Jubilee worked closely with House Financial Services Chair Barney Frank and the US Treasury in delivering on the G20 communique’s promise – to leverage IMF resources for the poorest countries, particularly by leveraging the planned sale of a small portion of the IMF’s gold reserves.

Building on intense negotiations and campaigning from ONE members, Bob Geldof met with IMF head Dominque Strauss-Kahn in late April to make the case and brought along petition signatures from more than 50,000 ONE members, a day he described in this video.

The resulting initiative increases IMF’s concessional lending capacity to poor countries to $17b through 2014, $8b of which will be available in the first 2 years. All loans (including current loans) to LICs will be 0% interest for 2 ½ years (through 2011). And the IMF will permanently lower interest rates thereafter.

It’s not a perfect deal and we remain concerned about LICs re-accumulating debt burdens that ONE members and other advocates have worked so hard to relieve. But there is heavy demand for this financing from across the developing world and this deal makes those funds available at very reasonable terms.

-Aaron Banks