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$93 billion needed for African infrastructure
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Investing in infrastructure is essential for the development and growth of a society. For example, by connecting farmers with local and regional markets, and providing access to school and health care facilities, infrastructure enables communities to prosper. However, a recent World Bank report, Africa’s Infrastructure: a Time for Transformation revealed that although Africa has made significant progress in developing infrastructure, additional efforts are still needed. The study, which was conducted in 24 countries across the continent, found that inadequate infrastructure, including poor electricity, water, roads, and information and communications technology (ICT), can shrink national economic growth by two percent every year and can decrease productivity by up to 40 percent. In the report, the World Bank estimates that Africa will need to spend $93 billion annually to elevate African infrastructure to the level of other countries, meet the Millennium Development Goals, and achieve national development goals within 10 years. This figure doubles earlier estimates. According to the report, Africa is already spending $45 billion a year on infrastructure. The report suggests that using this money and other existing resources more efficiently would free up $17.4 billion in annual spending for infrastructure every year. The report notes, however, that even with this additional spending, African countries would still be $31 billion short of the estimated need of $93 billion. The report urged the international community to invest to help fill the $31 billion infrastructure gap, underscoring the significance of infrastructure development for long-term economic growth and poverty alleviation: “Modern infrastructure is the backbone of an economy and the lack of it inhibits economic growth,” said Obiageli Ezekwesili, President for the Africa Region at the World Bank. “This report shows that investing more funds without tackling inefficiencies would be like pouring water into a leaking bucket. Africa can plug those leaks through reforms and policy improvements which will serve as a signal to investors that Africa is ready for business.” |
Senate Confirms Daniel Yohannes to head MCC
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Yesterday the US Senate confirmed Daniel W. Yohannes to be the new CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. During his confirmation, Yohannes stated his confidence that “MCC’s anti-poverty partnerships worldwide will generate sustainable economic growth and opportunity.” You can read the MCC’s statement here. |
#FollowFriday @ONECampaign
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Here’s today’s round-up: #FF Check out a video from @water of co-founders Gary White and Matt Damon visiting water projects in Ethiopia: http://bit.ly/774FZW #FF It’s a hopeful trend: this video of the month from @aglimmerofhope highlights life today in Ethiopian villages. http://bit.ly/4E3gDk #FF @RefugeesIntl asks MONUC to speak up in DR Congo: http://bit.ly/2DW1kI #FF @interactionorg peers into the future of development assistance: http://www.interaction.org/md/sample-articles-september-2009-monday-developments |
Where Do ONE’s T-shirts Come From?
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We’ve just wrapped up ONE’s Next Top T-shirt Challenge and are very excited about the winning design submitted by ONE member Valerie Strecker. We hope these T-shirts can play a part in spreading the word about ONE and the great work ONE members are doing to fight poverty and disease. A few of you have asked to know more about the T-shirts themselves and their story is definitely worth telling. The cotton used in the making of the T-shirts is grown in Northern Uganda, by subsistence farmers, who each have approximately five acres of land on which they grow both food and cash crops. The cotton used in the ONE tee’s was harvested from a group of approximately 16,000 certified organic farmers, many of whom lived for years in IDP Camps (internally displaced peoples camps) as a result of the war, and who have only returned to their homes and fields in the past few years. Cotton is planted between May and June and harvesting takes place between December and February. The cotton is hand-picked by the farmers and then delivered to local store-rooms for later delivery to the ginnery where the seeds and any trash is removed and the remaining fibre is baled. Baled cotton is transported to Kampala, Uganda where it is processed in a factory owned by Phenix Logistics into yarn and then fabric. There are approximately 63 people employed full-time in the spinning, knitting and dyeing sections of the factory. 10 tonnes of fabric (about enough to make 40,000 tees) takes about 2 weeks to produce. Fabric is delivered to a nearby garment factory where approximately 260 workers produce up to 1000 tee-shirts per day. This factory would be able to employ approximately 1800 people and produce 120,000 tee’s per month if it could secure orders for these volumes, reminding us of the importance of working to expand trade and investment opportunities in the developing world. Both the textile mill and the garment factory have worked hard to improve worker conditions, both have undergone social compliance pre-audits and are due to be audited for WRAP certification by the end of this year. Apart from fair wages, both factories offer other benefits such as :
We’re proud of our T-shirts and we hope you’ll be that much more excited about getting yours from the ONE Store knowing that they not only look great and help fund ONE’s advocacy activities, but also represent an investment in sustainable agriculture and industry in Africa. |
“So many positives” in Cape Verde
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The US Ambassador to Cape Verde, Marianne M. Myles, has a piece in the Providence Journal reporting on the many positives coming out of the country. She attributes this to country’s willingness to “put policies and programs in place that deliver for its people and their prosperity” and practicing “good governance with a stable democratic system.” She also mentions Secretary Clinton’s visit to the country in August, and writes at length about the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s work in Cape Verde. Excerpts below, full piece here
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Sub-Saharan Africa still faces corruption
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On Tuesday, Transparency International (TI) released their 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), revealing that many sub-Saharan African countries remain among the most corrupt world-wide. The annually-released index ranks how corrupt governments are perceived to be, according to international institutions such as the World Economic Forum, the World Bank and the African Development Bank. The 2009 CPI ranked 180 countries on perceived levels of domestic public sector corruption based on up to 13 independent surveys per country. The countries are ranked on a scale of 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 10 (perceived to have low levels of corruption). Somalia was ranked as the most corrupt nation in the index, followed by other conflict-ridden and fragile states, such as Sudan and Chad. The vast majority of sub-Saharan African countries ranked in the bottom of the index, demonstrating that much of the region is still plagued by poor governance and corrupt practices. Patrick Berg, program coordinator for TI, explained the link between poverty and corruption: “Where you find poverty, corruption usually hits people the hardest,” he said. However, the news is not all bad: Berg said that countries who have made consistent efforts to improve their governance, such as Botswana, Mauritius and Cape Verde, have improved their rankings. Huguette Labelle, chair of TI maintains that countries at the bottom of the index should not be left out of development efforts. The poor rankings indicate, rather, that there is a need to strengthen country institutions. “Stemming corruption requires strong oversight by parliaments, a well performing judiciary, independent and properly resourced audit and anti-corruption agencies, vigorous law enforcement, transparency in public budgets, revenue and aid flows, as well as space for independent media and a vibrant civil society,” said Labelle. “The international community must find efficient ways to help war-torn countries to develop and sustain their own institutions.” Check out this interactive map to see how countries scored in this year’s CPI. |
World Food Summit Wraps
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Wednesday wrapped up the World Summit on Food Security in Rome. Just to recap in case you missed the last post, the Summit was intended to bring together heads of state and food security institutions, like the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP), to further the global agenda on eradicating hunger and pursuing global food security. The Summit attendees released a declaration that reinforces their commitment to fully realizing the first Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger and poverty by 2015. The declaration also commits to promoting better coordination of food security efforts at local, regional, and national levels, as well as reversing the decline in funding for food security, and addressing the challenges of climate change as they impact food security, including adaptation of and mitigation in the agriculture sector. The declaration did not adopt the FAO’s ask of $44 billion annually for food security initiatives, or the goal of eradicating global hunger by 2025. The group did use the communiqué to outline the Five Rome Principles for Sustainable Global Food Security which form a basis for this work. The principles reflect the five principles proposed by the U.S. at the L’Aquila G8 Summit, which were reiterated by the leaders of the G20 at their meeting in Pittsburgh in September. If implemented, the principles—investing in country-owned, country-led plans; coordinating at national, regional, and global levels; investing in short-, medium-, and long-term initiatives to address hunger and food insecurity; providing a role for the multilateral system; and ensuring sustained and substantial commitments—will go a long way to ensuring that development assistance for agriculture and food security is effective. Two countries did take forward steps at the Summit as well: Canada reiterated their commitments to the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative and their country plan which will coordinate Canada’s food security strategy. If you missed our post about Canada’s announcement, you can read it here. Germany also publicly announced their share of L’Aquila commitment: they will provide €700 million or about $1 billion over three years for food security initiatives. $300 million will be new money that is not already in the pipeline, and this pledge does not include emergency assistance. These clarifications are important next steps in constructing a global system that works for food security. We are eager to see further clarification of funding from these and other countries. |
The Designer Behind the T-shirt
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Valerie Strecker, the winner of ONE’s Next Top T-shirt Challenge, was nice enough to tell us a little bit more about herself and her design philosophy in the email below. You can also learn more about Valerie’s work on her website: http://www.flyingfishart.com and become a fan on her Facebook page.
Around age 17, I started airbrushing pixels with Windows Paint ‘95. A friend then introduced me to Adobe Photoshop 5 and said “this is the magic wand tool”, “those are crawly ants” and “here’s the paint bucket”… now go for it! I had no idea of the “fun” that lay ahead, but stuck with it! I’ve endured all of the “fun” aspects of maxing out 3 computers (now on computer no. 4, “Big Mac”) and at 25 I’m enjoying a successful art career as a graphic designer. My passion is working with bands to create their image – from album covers to graphic tees, starting my own clothing line, designing surfboard graphics, developing company logos and branding, and working with organizations that affect positive change in the world – both humanitarian & environmental. I found out about ONE’s tee challenge through my friend Mike. I remembered ONE’s commercials inviting everyone to unite as one in the fight against extreme poverty and knew I wanted to take part in getting the message out. I researched ONE’s organization, their mission and their goals to see how I could best a design that would be informative and visually striking. The “newsprint” allowed me to bring awareness to the critical issues and highlight ONE’s goals attained and yet to be achieved. -Valerie Strecker |
I grew up in Louisiana enjoying the rich cultural experiences of great food, nature, and family. Coming from an artsy family, mother & brother-artist and father-musician, provided me with an environment to imagine and create. My mom helped in teaching me design, composition, typography and the “hands on” art. As for the cg…that was self-taught!2011 Is Sooner Than You Think
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The object of our action is a letter from Representatives Berman, Kirk, and so far 59 other members of Congress, which will go directly to President Obama to request a robust 2011 International Affairs Budget. The International Affairs Budget is the foundation of funding for almost every anti-poverty and disease program we work for as ONE members. 59 representatives may seem like a lot, but it’s nowhere near our goal of 170 signers in the House. That’s how many we need to get the President’s attention. If your representative hasn’t signed on yet (you can find that out here), please let him or her know the International Affairs Budget is important to you. Sign our petition before midnight on Sunday so we can deliver your signature on Monday, giving your representative enough time to sign on to the Berman-Kirk letter before the Wednesday deadline. |
What We’re Reading 11/20/09
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The Economist: How to Feed the World The Globe and Mail: The urban poor are going hungry The Los Angeles Times: Homophobia and AIDS funding can’t coexist (Op-Ed) Associated Press: 20 years after UN pact, many children still suffer Vanguard (Nigeria): HIV/AIDS : US increases funding in Africa AllAfrica.com: Africa: Consequences of Less Funding for Aids – Living With Aids # 413 AllAfrica.com: Africa: Women’s Rights – Looking Back Or Moving Forward? (Op-Ed) |
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About the Blog
The ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with frequent contributions from volunteers, members and partner organizations.
The ONE Blog updates readers daily with the latest in global development news and analysis and what ONE members and our partners are doing around the world to influence world leaders in the fight against global poverty.
The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE or ONE Action. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any post expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
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