“Africa Does Not Have to Starve”

May 3rd, 2008 at 10:40 pm

Norman Bourlas (left), winner of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize, and Andrew Nastios (right), former Director of USAID, recently co-authored an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal arguing to untie some of U.S. food assistance.

Read it here.

Time ONE Hundred

May 3rd, 2008 at 10:24 pm

Time Magazine released its Time 100 list of “the world’s most influential people.” In previous years ONE co-founder Bono and development economist have made the list, so it should be no suprise a few members made the list for their commitment to fighting poverty. Excerpts follow below:

Mo Ihrahim

“When he started a mobile-phone company, Celtel, in 1998 to work exclusively in Africa, there were just 2 million cell phones on the continent. When he sold it seven years later, there were more than 100 million. . . . To pursue his vision of a better Africa, Ibrahim, 61, set up a foundation in his name to rate countries on their quality of governance. This annual country index shames governments into bettering their ratings and provides a nuanced picture of the continent’s institutions to non-Africans, who tend to see Africa’s problems as insurmountable.”

George W. Bush

“He was above all a President who felt the moral obligation that the leading nation of the free world must carry. My thoughts return again to that G-8 summit, where Italy had brought to the top of the agenda the fate of the world’s poorest nations. And Bush was an early and enthusiastic supporter of our initiative to establish a fund for combating endemic illnesses.”

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

“As a team, actors Brad Pitt, 44, and Angelina Jolie, 32, have served as our goodwill ambassadors worldwide. . . . They have tended to the poor and sick in Africa. And they’ve raised global awareness—and contributed $1 million of their own money—for the victims of atrocities in Darfur.”

Larry Brilliant, CEO of Google.org

“A physician and epidemiologist, Brilliant, 64, has earned this opportunity through his record of concern for social good and his ability to convert ideas into action. He was a key player in the World Health Organization’s eradication of smallpox and has worked with the U.N. to combat blindness in the developing world.”

Check out the poll results which included a number of people who stood up agaisnt poverty last year from Bill Gates to Mike Huckabee.