Last night UK Prime Minister David Cameron issued a strong defense of UK aid and development policy during his Mansion House speech on foreign policy. In a wide-ranging address on “Foreign Policy in the National Interest” Cameron took on the “pessimists” who have called for Britain to pull back from its aid commitments:
“I believe in the moral argument for aid…that we have obligations to the poorest in the world but I also believe that it is in our national interest. Isn’t it better to help stop countries disintegrating – rather than end up dealing with the consequences for our own country: immigration, asylum, terrorism? Aid can help us avoid crises before they explode into violence, requiring immense military spending. And the answer to the legitimate concern that too much aid money gets wasted – isn’t to walk away. It’s to change the way we do development. By 2015 UK aid will secure schooling for more children than we educate in the UK but at one-fortieth of the cost. And we will help vaccinate more children against preventable diseases than there are people in the whole of England. That’s the kind of aid I believe in…”
Next week, the Senate will consider the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs appropriations bill which funds the State Department and US foreign assistance programs. Our senators have the opportunity to reaffirm American leadership in fighting poverty and preventable diseases around the world by protecting the Senate funding levels contained in the bill against any amendments which would cut such funding.
ONE members and staff have been out in Washington and across the nation meeting with their senators and staff, urging them to fund life-saving programs at the highest level possible. Although the Senate bill funds these programs at levels below the President’s ask, it would allow the critical programs we champion to continue saving lives and ensuring American leadership around the globe.
So many of us in DC are beginning to get a little too used to the grinding partisanship and divides that we often miss good news when it comes through. Yesterday morning, Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners and member of President Obama’s White House faith advisory committee, and Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention and former supporter of President George W. Bush, sat down on on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program to talk about the moral issues facing the 2012 election. Joe Scarborough opens up with a joke, expecting Rev. Wallis and Dr. Land to come into the studio wearing boxing gloves, since they disagree about a lot. But when it comes to fighting global poverty, both Wallis and Land agree: We must maintain our commitments to the world’s poorest people.
As shown by constantly improving infographics, social media updates and countless other innovative methods of reporting from the ground that have grown over the past few years, the nature of tracking development funding and foreign aid transparency is rapidly improving.
We often see our money at work; however, though we have previously used maps to track a number of other factors related to Africa’s development, visualizing the towns, villages and schools for which aid is destined often remains difficult. Without the opportunity to see exactly where our money ends up, it is harder to fully grasp the magnitude of need, as well as the impact that certain projects can have on communities in real time. However, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and AidData have recently published an interactive map that successfully combats this issue.
Please give a warm welcome to Suzane Muhereza, one of our new fall interns. She is working at the ONE office in London and will be assisting the policy team.
People taking control of their own development?
To coincide with its Annual Meetings, the World Bank recently published a report on Open Development, an idea whose time has come. The idea is best captured in the contribution by Rakesh Rajani –- a member of ONE’s Africa Policy Advisory Board and the head of Twaweza -– who explains that “the purpose of development should be not to create and apply expert solutions, but rather to help enrich the conditions in which people can do more of what they already do well. By making it easier to get, compare and share information; learn from each other and from outsiders how they have made things work; search, experiment with and craft solutions; and team up to get things done.” (See also Rakesh Rajani’s inspirational comments at the launch of the Open Government Partnership -– 52 minutes into the video. Or, see a transcript of the talk here.) I explore the concept of Open Development by answering three key questions.
Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Last week, the Senate voted on an amendment sponsored by Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., that proposed a nearly $7 billion cut from both State Department and USAID accounts to offset domestic disaster relief funding. Voted on within hours of its introduction, the amendment was a short-sighted attempt to address a funding problem, and would have undermined America’s support for helping those in need both at home and abroad.
Part of our job here at ONE is to show you the living proof that smart aid is working in the world’s poorest places. So, when we saw this op-ed in the Washington Post by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, we had to share it with you.
In her piece, President Johnson-Sirleaf commends the US’ support to Liberia and urges Congress to continue this aid in next year’s budget. She recognizes that the US is suffering from the global economic crisis, but reassures that US foreign aid is helping to save lives and increase productivity and political stability. And as the goodwill ambassador of WaterAid, she discusses the importance of clean water and sanitation in her efforts to lift Liberia out of poverty.
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.
People taking control of their own development?
Part of our job here at ONE is to show you the living proof that smart aid is working in the world’s poorest places. So, when we saw this 
