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How your support made a difference at the G20

Nov 10th, 2011 1:04 PM UTC
By Adrian Lovett

Last week, I was in Cannes at the G20 summit.  As you know, media coverage of the meeting was full of the eurozone and Greece, and you might be forgiven for thinking that’s all they discussed. But behind the headlines, something else really important happened.  G20 leaders heard your voice, and the voices of more than 400,000 others who backed our Hungry No More campaign.

What’s more, they committed themselves to a number of the short and long-term agricultural solutions we’ve been pushing for to break the cycle of famine. With over 13 million people still in crisis in the Horn of Africa, I wanted to let you know what the G20 have pledged, how you helped achieve this, and what we need to do next.

In their final declaration, the G20 agreed that there is an urgent need to strengthen emergency and long-term responses to food insecurity and that responsible investment in long-term agricultural solutions in the poorest countries is “essential to promote food security and foster sustainable economic growth,” especially when focused on smallholder farmers.

They also pledged to reduce the dangerous impacts of food price volatility and improve the transparency of agricultural commodity markets. That could make a world of difference. Some of the poorest families have to spend as much as 80% of their household budgets on food, so sudden price rises mean real hardship.

More good news is that President Calderon of Mexico – the next Chair of the G20 – announced in Cannes that food security will be one of the G20’s major priorities in 2012. The G20 has made a good start on a framework to fight poverty through agriculture, and now is the time for countries to step up and turn it into reality.

As a ONE member, you are one of our strongest advocates, and we owe you a big thank you. This campaign was just 30 days long, and here’s a snapshot of what you helped achieve globally:

• 409,000 people signed our petition urging G20 leaders to act, and more than 700,000 viewed our ‘F-word’ TV ad on YouTube
• In just one week in the UK, nearly 500 members searched for their Member of Parliament using our new toolkit, leading to a burst of tweets, personalised emails and meetings with MPs. A few members also represented ONE at Downing Street, and handed in our petition
• ONE members in France joined our Paris team to project our campaign videos and a list of petition signers’ names onto the face of the historic Hôtel de Ville
• In Germany, members’ tweets provoked a response from a Government spokesperson assuring that they considered agriculture, food prices and food security important at the G20
• ONE members in the US handed in our petition on Capitol Hill, taking our message right to the heart of the US government.

But this isn’t the end of our Hungry No More campaign. Although we saw progress, the G20 still have a long way to go to make sure these promises are more than just warm words. We didn’t hear enough urgency or commitment to implementation, and the focus could too easily move away from this crucial issue.

Our job is to stop that from happening, and keep up the pressure. So when the smaller G8 meet in Chicago next year, and when the G20 gather again in Mexico, we will need your support to push for concrete results that make world leaders accountable to their commitments.

We’ll be in touch to let you know how you can help, but for now I simply wanted to say: thank you.

Together as ONE, we are making a difference.

PS. If you haven’t seen our Tigray: Then and Now documentary, then please do take a look and share. This is what your support is helping work towards.

ONE members’ voices resonated around Paris to call on G20 leaders to break the cycle of famine

Nov 1st, 2011 5:48 PM UTC
By Sara Kianpour

The “F-word” resonated loudly last night in Paris as anti-poverty campaign group ONE teamed up with the City of Paris to send a shocking message to G20 leaders, who are meeting later this week in Cannes. The square of the Paris Town Hall was plunged in complete darkness while ONE’s “F-Famine” and “A future without famine” videos were projected onto the wall of the Town Hall.

On the eve of the G20 summit in Cannes, hundreds of members of ONE, along with a few celebrities including Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Friedreric Diefenthal, gathered on the steps of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris to recall on world leaders that if the drought is an act of nature, famine is man-made.

With the exceptional support of the City of Paris, the latest clips of ONE, called “F-Word: Famine is the real obscenity” and “A future without famine” were projected onto the walls of City Hall, first in their French version and the English version.

The names of over 400,000 ONE members who have signed the petition calling on G20 leaders to break the cycle of famine were also projected on the building in the center of Paris. This exceptional mobilization was living proof of all ONE Members’ voices calling our leaders to make sure people are hungry no more.

As Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, said : “Today we are reach 7 billion worldwide. The challenges of population growth are numerous but one that is particularly urgent is food. A few days before the G20 I seize on this occasion to call for global mobilization against hunger…”

At ONE, we hope that the voice of all our members will be heard and strong commitments will be taken and actions implemented by the G20 leaders.

It’s not to late to add your voice to the 400,000 people who have signed the Hunger no More petition

Win a chance to shape ONE’s campaigning

Oct 27th, 2011 3:21 PM UTC
By Stuart McWilliam

Would you like to help decide what ONE does in the future? I’m delighted to announce the first in a series of competitions to win a place on ONE’s new European campaign advisory group.

We’re setting this up to recognise that the success of ONE is built on our members – a growing movement of 2.5 million people from around the world raising their voices to demand action. The advisory group will include several members, whose valuable input will help shape our future campaign activities.

To launch this initiative, we are inviting UK and German members to take action with our Hungry No More campaign aimed at your government, and then post what you did in the comments section below. Those taking the most actions, who get the best response from a campaign target, or think of the most interesting advocacy idea and can explain what you did, could win a place on our advisory group.

Take action now at: www.one.org/international/actnow/mptoolkit

Good luck and don’t forget to let us know what action you took and what response you got. I’m really looking forward to seeing your results!

ONE on the road in Brisbane

Dec 13th, 2010 11:00 AM UTC
By Maura Daley

Brisbane, our second stop on the Australian leg of the U2 360° Tour, was yet another success. The rain moved out, the sun came out, the humidity rose along with the number of new ONE members! Over the course of the shows, 55 dedicated ONE’rs came out to recruit new advocates in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease. Those 55 superstar ONE’rs were able to sign-up just shy of 6,000 new members….an amazing job!

ONE members in Brisbane

ONE members, Ben Lynskey and Angela Leco-De-Latombel, shared their thoughts on why they joined ONE and how they were spreading awareness at the U2 shows. Here’s what they had to say…

Thank you again to each and every ONE member who came out to the shows and dedicated an entire day’s work to help fight for the world’s poorest people. Each of you are an inspiration!

Making it happen in Melbourne

Dec 7th, 2010 10:00 AM UTC
By Maura Daley

The U2 360° shows in Melbourne have come and gone and what a great start to the Australian portion of the tour. Over the course of the 2 shows, we had 41 dedicated ONE members who were able to recruit roughly 5,000 new Members. What an awesome job they did.

ONE volunteers at the U2 show in Melbourne

One of my favourite things to do at the end of the “work day” is to talk to ONE members and get their feelings on how the day went. Just getting an understanding if their experiences… talking about ONE, our mission, what it’s like to be a ONE member, and how it was getting new folks to join. Hearing their stories and experiences gives me great joy and I’m proud to be associated with each of them. So I thought I’d include excerpts from 3 ONE members, post volunteering at the Melbourne shows.

I would just like to thank you so much for such a wonderful experience. I awoke this morning with a smile on my face and it made my day that much extra special. So some 24 hours have passed and I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am that my life crossed paths directly with yours and the team from ONE. Love and a big hug to you.
Trevor Field

Thank you for the opportunity to work with not only yourself but all the other people involved with ONE. It is something I will take to my grave with me. I have been inspired by the people on Wednesday and by your enthusiasm and work you do for ONE.
Nick Koutroumanis

Thanks Maura…it was unreal and exhausting day. It was an awesome experience. As usual U2 fans were on the whole great. it was a fantastic experience and it was great meeting the other volunteers as well as Maura and the other tour staff. Tips I have for others…

• Listen to Maura’s instructions
• Be prepared for the weather
• Be outgoing
• Read up on ONE (I studied the night before)
• Tell people you just need their voice/electronic signature…they will not be spammed
• Respect and thank people who have signed even if not with you
• Respect those who say no
• Read the one blog…there’s tips on there too
• Have fun

Isobel Cassidy

I want to thank all the members in Melbourne who came out in support of ONE. The work they did was outstanding and they should be proud. I also want to thank each and every new ONE member that signed up at the shows. We look forward to working together with you in the future!

One last push for Pakistan

Nov 9th, 2010 5:21 PM UTC
By Weldon Kennedy

Pakistan is still reeling from the massive floods earlier this year, but there is a very simple thing we can all do to help: push for a freeze on Pakistan’s debt payments.

For the last couple of months, we’ve been advocating for a freeze that would enable Pakistan to spend more of its resources over next two years on rebuilding. If you’re not one of the 55,000 + people who have signed the petition, please do so because at the end of this week, we’re joining Avaaz, Jubilee Debt Coalition, and Oxfam to deliver the petition at an important meeting of world leaders in Pakistan who will be discussing how to help the country rebuild.

This delivery will come on the heels of the Senate of Pakistan issuing a call last week for a reprieve from debt payments – so it couldn’t come at a better time. It also comes at a time where the slow pace of recovery is starting to sting as there have been outbreaks of dengue fever and cholera among flood victims.

For a bit of a reminder why Pakistan needs this reprieve, I highly recommend taking a look at two sets of photos put together by the Big Picture blog (here and here) capturing a sense of the scale of devastation.

While you’re having a look at those pictures, also keep this map from the BBC in mind to understand just how much of the country was impacted by these floods. To me it makes it clear as can be that we must do what we can to help in the face of such a challenge.

Result!

Apr 13th, 2010 5:40 PM UTC
By Weldon Kennedy

We got them. The 3 UK party leaders are now On the Record about their plans to fight extreme poverty. Thousands of you asked them to do it, and here are the results:

Gordon Brown David Cameron
Nick Clegg

Now that we’ve got the answers, it’s time to make them really count. Please take the time to go through the results and compare the parties’ positions.

And, most importantly, click the little Twitter and Facebook share buttons next to each of the party leader videos. We need to get the word out there about where the UK parties stand on the fight against extreme poverty, and this is our best chance.

And it’s thanks to you.

Thank you for making a difference!

Investing in Africa

Mar 15th, 2010 1:11 PM UTC
By Papa Ndiaye

ONE is embarking on a listening and learning trip to Senegal, Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya with members of our board and other supporters. Check out this guest post from Papa Madiaw Ndiaye, CEO and founding partner of Advanced Finance & Investment Group (AFIG). In 2004, he was selected as a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum of Davos and then as one of the ‘’Frontier 100 CEOs’’ of the Initiative for Global Development in 2009. Be sure to scroll to the bottom for a short video of Papa discussing foreign investment in Africa:

There are great companies across Africa with huge potential for growth and expansion. With the right capital investment and strategic support they will prosper not only in their national and regional markets, but globally. It is not unreasonable for people who invest their money in Africa today to aspire to substantial returns of as much as 30% per annum over a few years.

This was the message my partners and I shared with a delegation of ONE board members who yesterday visited the Dakar offices of the private equity firm I founded in 2005 – AFIG which stands for Advanced Finance & Investment Group. Our maiden fund – the Atlantic Coast Regional Fund – focuses primarily on West and Central Africa and has a target capitalization of $100M, of which three-quarters has already been raised. Our aim is simple – to pick winning companies and help them grow. To execute our plan, I brought together a team of African professionals with broad financial and operational experience as well as deep knowledge of the markets we cover.

So why should an advocacy organization like ONE be interested in a private equity firm like ourselves? I think there are two main reasons. The first is that the most tried and tested route out of poverty is employment. The successful home-grown African companies we invest in provide good jobs and contribute to wealth creation in the economy more generally. If these companies are helped to grow further, then the developmental benefits are clear.

The second reason is that the sectors we focus on are strategically critical for any country to cut poverty and promote economic development. Agribusiness, the energy sector, infrastructure, light manufacturing, and financial services are all areas where Africa lags behind much of the world and where the upside is huge. Investment in those sectors not only has the promise of good returns for our investors but also for the local economy.

There are of course challenges to running a company like AFIG. I spent many years working on Wall Street and I know the perception of many institutional investors has been that Africa is too risky, too dangerous and too alien a business environment for them to put their money in. This is a misconception that needs to be challenged, not simply for the sake of our business, but for the success of the African private sector as a whole. Good investment and development go hand in hand. We hope ONE can play its role in spreading the word.

What do we want from Copenhagen?

Nov 9th, 2009 11:03 AM UTC
By Joseph Powell

As policy makers prepare to meet to negotiate a global climate deal next month in Copenhagen everyone at ONE will be doing their upmost to ensure the best possible deal for the world’s poorest communities, especially in Africa.

In advance of the meeting ONE has released a new policy paper ‘Africa and the Global Climate Deal’ that outlines the key elements of ‘good’ deal for Africa.

We believe that the developed world need to commit to deep and binding emissions cuts of at least 20% of 1990 CO2 levels by 2020 in order to mitigate against a rise in global average temperature of over 20C (the amount above which climate scientists agree will cause lasting, irreversible damage to the planet).

On helping developing countries cope with the effects of climate change, we agree that at least the World Bank estimate that between $75-100 billion will be needed annually. This should come from a mixture of private and public finance sources, with contributing countries ensuring that the money is truly additional to pledges that have already been made on development assistance.

In short, climate change is not a crisis of Africa’s making, yet it is Africans, especially the poorest, who will suffer the first and the worst. Not only does it add yet another challenge for those struggling to combat extreme poverty and disease by exacerbating the conditions of poverty, but it threatens to erode the gains that have been made in recent years.

We need the negotiators at Copenhagen to simply know that they cannot afford to fail.

Ethiopia: 25 years on

Oct 23rd, 2009 11:02 AM UTC
By Helen Palmer

It’s now 25 years since the world learned of the famine in Ethiopia that was to leave a million people dead and millions more destitute.

In October 1984, the BBC reports of Michael Buerk and Mohamed Amin brought images of biblical suffering into living rooms across the world.

A massive international response was launched. ONE advisor Bob Geldof formed the group ‘Band Aid’ whose single topped the charts from its release in November 1984, and was followed by the ‘Live Aid’ concerts in July 1985. Together these efforts raised £150 million for emergency relief.

The famine touched a generation and laid the ground for the future anti poverty campaigns in the UK and beyond.

A quarter of a century on, hunger is still stalking the Horn of Africa. More than six million people are now in urgent need of food aid in Ethiopia; 23 million in the region as a whole.

And yet, the crisis is nowhere near the scale of 1984-85. Much has changed for the better in Ethiopia, although new threats – especially the effects of climate change – threaten to derail this progress.

In coming weeks ONE will be looking at the causes of enduring hunger in the Horn of Africa, but also the progress that has taken place and potential solutions for the future.

Read our Questions and Answers to find out more.