France

Four recommendations for the G20′s agriculture ministers

Jun 29th, 2011 6:27 PM UTC
By Sara Kianpour

Sara Kianpour from our ONE France office reports on the G20 Agriculture meeting in Paris.

G20 ministers of agriculture are in Paris this week to decide the fate of the entire world’s small holder farmers. These small farmers spend between 50 and 80 percent of their income on food, and in the 21st century, this fact is alarming.

At ONE, we hope that this data will give the G20 ministers of agriculture a good reason to find sustainable solutions to stop excessive speculation on commodities that affects the poorest.

Therefore, we recommend some concrete measures for the G20 Agriculture to be a success:

Fulfill L’Aquila commitments: Almost two years after the G8 Summit of L’Aquila in 2009, donors still have yet to declare precise when and how they are going to deliver their promises. Donors must urgently and rapidly fulfill their L’Aquila commitments on aid quality and quantity for agricultural development and food security. G8 and other L’Aquila Food Security Initiative contributors, including G20 members that endorsed the statement on the AFSI and had pledged to provide technical assistance, must clarify and deliver on these commitments.

Finance the GAFSP: New and existing donors should finance the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP). In less than a year it has quickly disbursed grants to well-developed, results-oriented country-owned plans.

Increase transparency and regulation in food commodity futures markets: The G20 should make more information on grain stocks publicly available and refrain from imposing export bans. This will help prevent extreme food price spikes and temper price volatility. Specifically, the G20 should agree to create position limits on OTC derivatives and index-fund food commodity futures trading; require that all derivatives of food commodities are subject to notification, clearing and monitoring by making position information publicly available; and establish a regulatory body, similar to the US CFTC for European and other market future trading

Develop agricultural risk management tools and social safety-nets: Investments in agricultural risk management and social safety-net programs can ease the impacts of prices spikes and build the resilience of poor countries and farmers to withstand price shocks when they occur.

The G20 Agriculture meeting has, for the first time ever, made agriculture a global topic. At ONE, we just hope that this world first will go down in history. Because a failure will have an impact on the poorest people.

Balance of the G8: The intentions are there, but what about concrete action?

May 28th, 2011 2:15 PM UTC
By Sara Kianpour

The G8 Summit ended yesterday and here’s a quick summary of what we learned:

For the first time, freedom and democracy are headlining and ONE welcomes them. However, we are concerned that the final statements are primarily statements of good intent.

We would like first to refresh the G8′s memory regarding the $14 billion to help sub-Saharan Africa that is still missing compared to the G8′s promises in 2005.

Agriculture gets barely any attention and it has hardly been discussed. It is needless to recall the grand promises made in L’Aquila in 2008 at the height of the last food crisis: $20 billion to be disbursed by next year. Yet less than $5 billion have been provided so far.

On health issues, particularly vaccines, the G8 has until next month – when the international conference of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) will be held in London – to lead by example. The final declaration stressed the importance of GAVI and calls for its funding. We welcome this support. However, regarding the amounts of contributions, for the moment, they are neither seen nor heard.

Transparency is the real champion of the summit. For the first time the G8 supports legislation to ensure transparency in the extractive industries. This is a very important step. President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and US President Barack Obama deserve to be applauded on this issue. At ONE, we will follow closely the detail of future legislation to ensure that these efforts will not be wasted.

To conclude, despite some positive steps, Deauville failed to deliver for Africa. So will we be waiting for the 2012 G8 Summit in the US for concrete action?

Image courtesy of the G8

From the G8: A mixed record on the first day

May 27th, 2011 11:41 AM UTC
By Sara Kianpour

Sara Kianpour from our ONE France office reports live from the G8 in Deauville.

The first elements of the final communique were revealed in the press. The Arab spring and democracy in North Africa placed high on the agenda. At ONE, we are delighted. However, we believe it is essential that the G8 efforts affect the whole continent, particularly sub-Saharan Africa.

For the first time, the existence of a joint declaration by the G8 countries and Africa was announced. That said, this text does not mention in any case how the G8 is planning to keep its aid promises. A regrettable “omission” ?

Another important element is missing from the communique: while we are only few weeks away from the international conference of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), there were no concrete commitments regarding the amounts to be allocated by rich countries to vaccination. Yet, these countries have 4 million good reasons to do so … to help save the lives of 4 million children in 5 years!

Ending on a positive note, ONE welcomes the G8 commitment to fight against corruption through increased transparency in the extractive sector. Nicolas Sarkozy committed to this in January, and this morning, President Barroso signaled the European Commission’s explicit support for such a project.

Photo courtesy of the G8

The e-G8 ended, but Africa still not connected

May 26th, 2011 8:42 PM UTC
By Sara Kianpour

During two days, Paris was the world capital of the internet with e-G8 bringing together the web elite – from Eric Schmidt (Google) to Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) to Rupert Murdoch in Tuileries park. The objective: discuss the online economy and how it is changing.

And for the first time, a discussion about the internet has been put on the agenda before the G8 in Deauville, which started today.

ONE has welcomed the holding of such a meeting. We have all witnessed the key role the internet played, in particular for the recent revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East. The web is an effective means to enforce rule of law, to increase transparency and to exit poverty.

Improving internet access and mobile connectivity in developing countries can allow farmers to consult market prices on their mobile phones, pupils and teachers to do distance learning, or civil society to use social networks to fight against electoral fraud or corruption.

But unfortunately, these questions have been relegated to the back seat, giving way to the predominance of some usual preoccupations : economic growth (ours), protection of children (ours), copyright (ours), etc.

This meeting could have been a historic moment for the people from the developing world, but we are far from there!

Despite this, an interesting conclusion on governance merits attention: neither governments nor entrepreneurs nor civil society will be able to resolve the challenges of good governance on their own.

At ONE, we believe that we urgently need a new partnership: web companies, governments and civil society should commit to work hand-in-hand in order to fight extreme poverty.

We can only hope for the leaders of the world’s richest countries finally act: as long as the most marginalized are forgotten, the promise of the internet will be unfulfilled.

G8 accountability report: read the small print

May 20th, 2011 10:34 AM UTC
By Friederike Röder

Following the tradition started last year at the G8 in Canada, this year’s French presidency prepared an accountability report together with the other G8 countries, which outlines the state of delivery and results of the G8’s commitments on fighting extreme poverty.

Let’s start with the positives: it is commendable that the G8 continues with preparing such reports. Great promises are one thing, but keeping them and proving to have kept them is equally important. This is exactly what ONE has been saying for years (and showing the example for) with the DATA report.

It is also good to draw attention to the commitments on food security and maternal health, the focus of this year’s report. The report has the merit of establishing a baseline for the different commitments, reporting back on disbursements already made and giving a time line for outstanding disbursements.  So far, so good.  But…

There is a massive “but”. The G8 have found an artful way to embellish their performance. The report puts the spotlight on figures in today’s prices and tracks progress against them. It is a major issue, because current prices cannot be compared properly across years. This is why the OECD recommends using constant prices, prices that take into account changes in exchange rates and inflation from year to year and give an honest picture of the real efforts that were made. To put it simply $1 in 2010 doesn’t buy as much as $1 in 2005.

The result of tracking progress in current prices? Forgetting inflation suddenly makes the G8 look much better than it really is. Gleneagles’ targets are missed, but only by a “little” $1.27bn. Great success. Pat on the back. Except that taking inflation into account shows a very different picture. The G8 shortfall is in fact $19bn!

Careful readers will notice that the report also mentions the $19bn shortfall. Very careful readers, in fact. The figure is dropped in passing, immersed in a sea of data and tables all in current prices. Predictably, it is a blessing for countries that haven’t performed well and can conveniently quote the report to avoid facing their failure. Take Germany. The Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development issued a press release yesterday, which selectively quotes the report to give itself a pass, when Germany’s under performance is in reality costing $ 4bn to the developing world.

As ONE’s Executive Director, Jamie Drummond, said yesterday:

“We cannot allow countries who are breaking promises to the world’s poor to hide behind misleading figures. When the G8 leaders gather in France next week they must acknowledge that accountability is more than just a PR exercise.”

This year’s G8 meeting on Africa (with the African Union and founding members of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development – NEPAD) will also examine the first accountability report prepared by the African side. We can only hope that Africa will have the courage to look shortfalls in the eyes.

Homeward bound

Apr 7th, 2011 2:37 PM UTC
By Roxane Philson

How to sum up the last three days in Europe?

Stamina.

Not mine, but Bill Gates’… It’s unreal. He flew in overnight on Sunday, and in just two and a half days travelled to three cities, delivered three powerful Living Proof presentations, lobbied Presidents, Chancellors, and Ministers, gave numerous media interviews and rallied activists. He is a testament to the ability of a committed person to change the world. Of course, he has a few more resources at his disposal than most – but all the more impressive to think he could just be sat on a yacht sipping down piña coladas.

As I expect he himself would say however, Bill Gates isn’t what the trip should be about. What’s important is the impact, did we make a difference? Well, there have already been impressive outcomes from this visit, including France, Germany and the European Commission pledging to increase their funding for vital vaccines. This extra support will save thousands of children’s lives and free up health systems in developing countries to build healthier, more productive communities.

However, the news yesterday on broken promises shows us how fragile our gains can be and reminds me why this is just the start of our Living Proof campaign…

So, if there is one thing you do today please pass on some Living Proof to a friend, colleague, politician, or loved one (you can find plenty of food for thought on our new website), or simply use the widget below, and encourage them to do the same.

As my grandmother always said you catch more bees with honey than you do with vinegar…

Sometimes it’s the unexpected things that are the most powerful

Apr 5th, 2011 7:22 PM UTC
By Roxane Philson

Last night ONE hosted a Living Proof event in Paris event aimed at convincing French politicians that development is worth their investment, and that they should stick to their promise of reaching 0.7% of Gross National Income on development assistance by 2015.

As I mentioned in my first blog in this series, if Living Proof is to succeed it needs to touch both the head and the heart. Bill Gates and prominent economist Esther Dufflo both made powerful arguments – one of the most interesting was about whether by saving lives we contribute to overpopulation. Bill himself had questioned this when he first got in to development work and after researching the issue came up with some surprising findings.

He found evidence to support the view that when families know their children have a better chance of surviving they choose to have fewer children. This was illustrated on a visual by the graphical and global health guru Hans Rosling (see his TED Talks), which you can see here in an earlier presentation:

You’ll see that as life expectancy goes up, family size goes down…

And so to matters of the heart…If a good hour of facts and figures hadn’t won you over then cue Mamadou Touré a softly spoken man from Cameroon and head of the Africa 2.0 initiative (which mobilizes young African leaders to create change from within). Mamadou stood up to ask a question, and as he did explained that part of the reason he was there and creating his own change was thanks to the opportunities afforded to him thanks in part to aid – he said he himself was ‘Living Proof’.

Sometimes it’s the unexpected things that are the most powerful.

Monday in Paris

Apr 4th, 2011 8:46 PM UTC
By Roxane Philson

As a ONE member, you can never be sure what you’ll be doing in the name of fighting extreme poverty – it can have some funny twists… One day you might be calling your government to stop proposed budget cuts and the next you might be working with Bill Gates in Paris to promote action on vaccines. Ok, it doesn’t happen THAT often, but for a few of our French members today, that was their experience…

We met up this very bracing Monday morning at the Trocadero in Paris.  ONE members were there to support Bill Gates in the first of a series artwork unveilings taking place over the next few days in Europe, and to get the message out. They also attempted to hold back the photographers fighting for the best spot (note to self: brush up on karate skills and never wear ballet flats to such events…).

Bill Gates used the unveiling to stress the need to finally put an end to Polio.  For many of us it might come as a surprise that this disease still exists – in fact, since 1988, this vaccine, which only costs 13 cents,  has been provided to billions of children and the number of cases is down more than 99%.  But as with smallpox, they key is to eradicate this disease completely so that it can’t keep coming back. 13 cents to save a life… It gives me some perspective…I don’t think anyone can argue with that as a good investment.

Tonight is different again – an event with French politicians to persuade them their investments are worth it…

More to come…

Can France lead where others failed?

Mar 8th, 2011 5:32 PM UTC
By Jessica Gomez-Duran

Earlier this month Bob Geldof, ONE advisor and advocate, wrote the following article for the French newspaper Libération, which is well worth reading:

On Tuesday, my fellow members of the Africa Progress Panel and I met with President Sarkozy to urge him to put Africa’s development at the centre of his G8 and G20 presidencies. The need for doing so is still as compelling as it was six years ago when, prompted by the massed global ranks of the Make Poverty History movement, the G8 signed up to a series of historic commitments to tackle poverty in Africa.

In the full glare of the world’s media, the eight most powerful men on the planet made a solemn pledge to the weakest. The resultant debt cancellation and additional aid resources have contributed to five solid years of progress in Africa. Across the continent, we can see the living proof of this progress. Millions vaccinated, millions receiving access to life-saving AIDS treatment, millions protected from malaria and millions more in school. There has also been strong economic growth across Africa. Arguably, debt cancellation has allowed African countries some of the fiscal space needed to ride the storm of the economic crisis better than was feared. Thanks to the entrepreneurialism of African citizens and the generosity of the G8, the continent is on the move.

However, not all is rosy. It is a sad fact that the G8 is nowhere near fulfilling the majority of its commitments. Last year, its members did not even deliver one third of the promised increase in aid. Reasons range from the lack of political leadership and a credible and effective accountability mechanism, to the global economic crisis and the diminishing importance of the G8 and corresponding rise of the G20. The big question is now whether the latter will be a more effective body.

This year’s G20 meeting in Cannes is President Sarkozy’s opportunity to rehabilitate some of France’s lost reputation on Africa, and to show the kind of leadership the UK demonstrated in 2005. Indeed, will this be when France takes the lead where others have failed? Two topics deserve particular attention, and the first of these is governance. Africa has vast mineral wealth, much of it undiscovered, but little of the revenues generated are shared with the people of the continent. Instead, as so often in the past, profits are siphoned off by discreet and illegal partnerships with foreign companies in opaque and secret deals. The G20 must move the odds in the citizen’s favour by insisting on transparency in deal-making, and adopting legally binding measures at least as good as the legislation recently agreed in the US at the behest of senators Cardin and Lugar. As chair of the G20 anti-corruption working group, France can lead on this issue as well as in the fight against kleptocracy and in work to repatriate assets looted from African state banks by corrupt officials.

The second issue the G20 needs to address is the challenge of supporting sustainable and equitable growth in Africa. A package of trade support and investment can build on the continent’s great potential and give some rocket fuel to its legion of skilled managers and entrepreneurs. It should focus on regional integration in Africa, and the disastrous reality that only 10 per cent of the average African country’s trade is with other African countries. It should also harness the continent’s vast agricultural and renewable-energy potential. Africa has the means not just to lift itself out of need, but to help deal with some of the rest of the world’s needs for food and fuel.

The agreement on food security reached at L’Aquila must not be forgotten. Food crises have the potential to affect our world radically, by accelerating inflation and so impeding a return to growth, while increasing social unrest in developing regions. The G20 in Seoul started a decent process on this issue, but France is better placed to deliver on those plans.

The partnership most exciting for some, and threatening for others, is the evolving South–South relationship between the emerging powers of China, Brazil and India, and the developing power of Africa. Europe and America will grow only in irrelevance if we do not harness ourselves to these engines, and as we do so, we must impart values of transparency and accountability, rather than narrow interests and parochial concerns. The best way to share our values is to demonstrate them in our actions. Competition with China today should not mean that we copy their worst practices, but that we share the best of ours. We also need to improve African representation at the G20. Excluding one billion men, women, children, producers and consumers from global decision-making is ridiculous, self-defeating and wrong.

If President Sarkozy can begin to deliver on these concerns, then his G20 presidency will be judged a success.

Bob Geldof

President Sarkozy pledges to lead on transparency

Jan 31st, 2011 4:01 PM UTC
By Joseph Powell

Ever since the US passed legislation last July ensuring that all oil, gas and mining companies would have to be far more transparent in their financial reporting, we have been pushing hard for similar action in Europe. We want all extractive companies around the world to publish what they pay the governments of the countries where the operate – therefore empowering local anti-corruption groups with the information they need to hold their leaders accountable for revenue received.

This campaign received a big boost on the weekend with the publication of a letter from President Sarkozy of France to ONE co-founder Bono announcing that he was prepared to show leadership on the issue. Bono had previously written an op-ed for Le Monde calling for exactly that.

The English text of the letter says:

“In your article, you bring up the need for transparency in the area of natural resources’ extraction in Africa. I completely agree with you. France is organising an experts’ conference on this issue in March in Paris. As of now, I have decided to ask the European Union to adopt, as speedily as possible, legislation to compel industries in the extractive sector to disclose their payments to all countries in which they operate.”

So congratulations to President Sarkozy and his team for championing such an important issue. Transparency campaigners across Africa will now be looking to you to carry this forward – and ensure that the wave of transparency reform does not lose momentum.