Inspired by a recent meeting with USAID’s Raj Shah, Dr. Jill Biden and National Security Council Senior Director Gayle Smith, ONE MomAmy Graff shares why Americans should feel good about supporting foreign aid.
Elisa Morgan dances with a group of Village Reporters in Lwak, Kenya. Photo credit: Morgana Wingard
A family living in a mud hut at the end of a dusty trail in east Africa has less than you would ever imagine. No television. No toys. No running water. Certainly not a refrigerator filled with fresh food. Mom probably sleeps on a small rickety cot with a pile of brothers and sisters. Dad sleeps on the ground.
Tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m., ONE members of faith will have the opportunity to join a special call with USAID Administrator Raj Shah. The event will update our national network of churches, local faith groups and ONE members on the famine in the Horn of Africa and discuss FWD, USAID’s initiative to fight famine, war and drought. Michael Elliott, ONE’s new president and CEO, will also be joining us to give an update on ONE’s overall campaign on agriculture.
This call will also help formally launch our ONE Sabbath Thanksgiving campaign, “Fight the Famine, Feed the Future.” Throughout the entire month of November, faith communities across the country will call on world leaders to help break the cycle of famine. So far, 200 individuals and faith groups are participating — but of course, the more voices, the better. We hope you’ll join our call tomorrow afternoon! RSVP for our event here.
Today, USAID launches FWD, a public awareness campaign to elevate the profile of the crisis in the Horn of Africa. The title is an acronym for famine, war and drought — three devastating problems that are threatening millions of lives in Eastern Africa right now.
The concept of the campaign is simple: use social media to forward facts about the crisis to your online networks. Why? Because 52 percent of the general public say that they have not heard or seen anything about the famine in the Horn of Africa. It’s a shocking figure, but by sharing what we know with others, we can help bring this number down — and in turn, inspire more Americans to take action against this catastrophic situation.
Wondering how great an impact agricultural programs can have on the world’s poorest people? Take a look at Donata Kuchawo’s story to find out more, and make sure there are many more stories like hers by urging Congress to fully fund Feed the Future.
Another report from Malawi. On Sunday, we had an amazing visit to the Chitsanzo Milk Bulking Group (MBG), a USAID-funded, public-private partnership project with Land O’Lakes and General Mills that supports local dairy farmers in the rural area of Dedze.
In 2007, Land O’Lakes started working with the farmers to provide an initial investment of milking cows and a cooling tank. Their pass-on process requires farmers to give the first female calf born to another farmer (on a lengthy waiting list) as a form of loan repayment for the initial cow. Every day, members of the MBG deliver by bicycle 30 to 40 liters of fresh raw milk per day, and have it tested and placed in large cooling tanks where it is stored and picked up about every other day by Lilongwe Dairies Limited, which purchases the milk and processes it about 63 km away in Lilongwe.
Last week, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) board met and, among other decisions, approved changes to the selection criteria that it uses to assess candidate countries’ eligibility for MCC funding.
Women in Madagascar who have received land certificates with the help of the MCC.
USAID, the US government agency responsible for administering foreign aid, turns 50 this year.
To celebrate, ONE, along with PSI, PATH, FHI 360, World Vision and USAID, are hosting a “The Power of 1 Percent,” an event to highlight USAID’s accomplishments over the last five decades and discuss upcoming challenges, on Monday, October 3 from 3 to 5 p.m. It will be followed by expert panel discussions on the future of US investments in global health.
You don’t have to live in the nation’s capital or be a VIP to attend this event — you can watch and participate right from your computer. We’ll have a live webstream on our blog (look out for it on Monday), and our partners will be taking and responding to questions on Twitter using the #WhyForeignAid hashtag.
Elaine Kelley of the US Embassy Ouagadougou shares her experience visiting “self help” project sites in Burkina Faso. These projects are making a huge impact on the quality of life for many Burkinabé.
The US Embassy in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso will hold an Agreements Signing Ceremony in September for the 23 new micro-development projects it will support for small associations and communities in Burkina Faso. They plan to kick-off more than a dozen additional projects this month. These “self help” projects are a great example of how different US government agencies can work together to meet a common goal.
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.
Women in Madagascar who have received land certificates with the help of the MCC. 
