Election raises concerns about suppression of rights – Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, is set to win another term Tuesday in an election marred by killings, a lack of credible political opponents and censorship. Critics are calling the leader the continent’s latest strongman, suppressing human rights to deepen his grip on power. (Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post)
American leadership crucial at MDG Summit – President of Bread for the World, Rev. David Beckmann, argues that by showing leadership on foreign assistance reform at the upcoming Millennium Development Goals Summit, President Obama will “attach actions to his words on development“ and hopefully lead others to empower the world’s poorest people to realize a brighter future. (Huffington Post)
U.S. plan fails to end Africa’s trade isolation – Ten years after the U.S. adopted the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) – a program that boldly proclaimed it would help end Africa’s isolation from world trade – American officials are being candid about its failures, emphasizing its modest results despite “the highest of hopes.” (Alan Beattie, Financial Times)
Sierra Leone taking initiative for maternal health – Health advocate, Mary Robinson, highlights the major steps Sierra Leone has taken in promoting maternal health and gender equality, both for its people and globally as a model of leadership and initiative in this critical area. She calls for other nations to look to Sierra Leone as an example as we move toward review of the Millennium Development Goals.
Rotavirus vaccines save poorest children, say reports – Trials in Asia and Africa show rotavirus vaccines can prevent between 39 to 48 percent of infections among children in some of the poorest countries in the world, with new reports urging governments of developing nations to make the vaccines a priority. (Maggie Fox, Reuters)
Flynn Coleman is one of this year’s winners for Concern Worldwide’s annual creative writing competition. The following is an excerpt based on her award-winning essay, which urges President Obama to support the Millennium Development Goals for the sake of gender equality.
What if just one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — achieving significant progress toward gender equality by 2015 — met its target, and in the process ensured that other MDGs would be realized as well?
In the developing world, women are gatekeepers and influencers in their villages. They have deep knowledge of local eco-systems and are the primary water gatherers, cooks, domestic organizers and healing agents for their families. When a mother is given a malaria bed net or attends a course on sexual education, she shares the net with her babies and an understanding of HIV and AIDS transmission with her partner and her friends.
Armed with a voice in community discussions, political decisions and leadership roles, women will rise above their poverty and pain. Most importantly, they will bring their children, husbands, brothers, mothers and friends with them. Women will apply the skills they learn in business school back to their hometowns and local communities.
Women will teach their children about sustainable living, ensuring environmental protection for the next generation. They will send their children to school, making sure they are wearing shoes and carrying pencils.
What if I told you that I know who holds the key to a future free from the torture of hunger, the lack of schooling, the isolation of discrimination, the grief of infant death, the confusion of sparse pre-natal care, the agony of disease, the devastation of environmental degradation and the pain of systemic injustice in the developing world?
What if I told you, that it was your daughter?
- Flynn Coleman, legal advocate for human, animal and environmental rights
We’re still in the process of looking through it, but we’ll have some analysis for you after the weekend. In the meantime, you can check out the plan here.
Oxfam America’s Porter McConnell shares her analysis of the White House’s Millennium Development Goals action plan.
The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Summit is coming up in September. World leaders will discuss how to end hunger, send kids to school, keep mothers and their babies healthy, stop HIV/AIDS from becoming a death sentence, and all kinds of other poverty-fighting goals.
It’s a tall order. So President Obama asked USAID to produce a plan for doing the United States’ share to meet the MDGs. Today, the White House releases that MDG action plan.
A plan to fight the MDGs is a great stepping stone in fighting global poverty, but it’s not the whole story. If the US is committed to fighting global poverty, President Obama needs to deliver a global development strategy at the upcoming MDG Summit.
I’m happy to report that the MDG action plan mentions a new “development policy” coming out soon. Why is it so important that the US come up with a plan to fight poverty? Until the US has some kind of mission statement, all of these piecemeal reform efforts are like a ship without a compass. Why bother investing in “game changing innovations” if we don’t know what destination we’re trying to get to? Which innovations? To do what? How do we know when we’ve succeeded?
In the wake of the G8 in Canada, during which wealthy nations gathered to discuss and pledge their commitments to maternal, newborn, and child health, African leaders met this week in Uganda for the 15th African Union Summit. Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, Africa regional director of Partners in Population & Development, gives us his take on the Summit’s discussions and how he sees momentum from the Summit carrying forward into this fall’s MDG Summit in New York City and beyond.
No more excuses. That was the main message coming out of Kampala this past week after the 15th African Union Summit brought African leaders and high-ranking ministers together under the auspices of “maternal, infant and child health and development in Africa.”
In a debate session that lasted more than twice the allotted time, African leaders discussed the critical role of maternal health in moving the African continent forward. Leaders also agreed to renew the Maputo Plan of Action (PDF), a critical framework that ensures the rights and health of women and girls on issues of education, safe abortion, family planning and economic opportunity. Having it signed, in place and ready to be actualized is absolutely imperative.
No more excuses — we must address maternal health and women’s rights issues in Africa. While there has been outstanding leadership on these issues from all over the continent, our maternal health indicators continue to dwindle at the utmost bottom, globally. The vastness of the African continent, coupled with the severity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the levels of poverty in many parts of our countries mean that the road to improving maternal health could not be harder.
MTV doesn’t need to create The Real World: Lusaka or Tanzania Shore to effectively reach African audiences. Instead the network known for its reality TV shows has found a hit in the recent docu-drama Shuga.
Set in Nairobi, Kenya, MTV’s three-part miniseries tells the story of six college friends chasing after sex, money, and love. The story focuses on Ayira – a girl who can’t choose between her soul mate and a wealthy older man. But the drama is more than a narrative of the hopes and fears of its cast – it is a poignant commentary on the effects of a dangerous lifestyle in a society plagued by the threat of HIV and AIDS.
MTV’s Georgia Arnold calls the show’s underlying educational messages about HIV “almost subliminal,” but partners UNICEF and PEPFAR (the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) confirm the well-concealed communication. The partners hoped Ayira’s story would educate African youth about the need to be tested for HIV, the effects of having multiple sexual partners and the importance of openly talking about HIV in order to combat the stigma associated with the virus.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore say the messaging worked. Results of the researchers’ survey found that 60 percent of Kenyan youths identified the main lessons of the show. Nearly half of the interviewed groups reported talking about the show’s characters and its messaging with family and friends. An estimated 90 percent of Kenyan viewers and 60 percent of Zambian viewers reported the show impacted their thinking.
Although researchers cannot measure the number of actions prevented after viewing Shuga, UNICEF and PEPFAR agree people are already overcoming one of the biggest obstacles – talking openly about HIV. The more they talk, the more likely they are to practice safe sex.
Talk of Shuga grew so much in fact, that the partnering organizations barely needed to promote the series. African youth themselves used social networks to publicize the show.
Considering Shuga’s success, MTV, UNICEF and PEPFAR are already planning a sequel.
In September of 2000, leaders of the 191 United Nations member countries met in New York City and formulated a plan to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Unanimously, these leaders agreed upon eight comprehensive, holistic, and attainable goals, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). If fulfilled, the MDGs will provide the poorest 17% of the world, who live on less than a dollar a day, with the opportunity to attend primary school, access to clean water, better child and maternal healthcare, and a sustainable future.
Since 2002, the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has saved more than five million lives. However, there remains a $1.2 billion dollar shortfall in funding for these life-saving programs. We have a significant amount of ground to cover within the next five years.
As citizens of the United States, we must unite our voices and push our leaders to fulfill the promises they have already made. Thousands of Americans have already stepped up to take action—musician and humanitarian John Legend affirms his commitment to the MDGs here:
Be among those to lend their voice.
Commit in September is a grassroots movement demonstrating young Americans’ passion for global education, health, development in Haiti, and achievement of the UN MDGs. The campaign has been led by students calling out to peers, non-profits, and celebrities. The ONE Campaign, Water.org, Malaria No More, Rainn Wilson, Olivia Wilde, 30 Student Body Presidents and so many others are using their voices on Facebook and Twitter to help spread the word today and through the end of the month.
We know the MDGs are achievable. The most pressing question that remains is whether or not we as Americans will take small steps within our own means, to stand up and do something to end poverty in our time. Will you?
Add your name to grow the youth movement for sutainable international development: www.commitinseptember.com. Thanks for your voice.
Right now, some of the world's biggest oil companies are fighting to keep some of their deals with foreign governments secret. Let's tell big oil we won't be bullied.
Cuts to poverty-fighting programs won't balance the budget, but they will set back progress on Canada's development priorities and risk jeopardizing existing investments.
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.
