International
ONE Members
60,000 and counting: ONE members call on Germany and France to keep their promise to the world’s poor
Many thanks to the more than 60,000 ONE members that have signed our petition calling on the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French President Nicolas Sarkozy to keep their promise to the world’s poor.
Earlier this month ONE members – and current interns – Anne and Katrin handed the long list of signatures (burnt on a CD) over to the Federal Chancellery and the FDP headquarters in Berlin.
You can see more photos on facebook.
Even though our petition continues we wanted to hand the signatures over before an important EU summit– in case the financial transactions tax (or FTT for short) was discussed.
It’s been a busy few weeks for the campaign. Prior to the summit President Sarkozy announced that France will charge a tax of 0.1% on financial transactions. German opposition leader Sigmar Gabriel demanded: “We need to see deeds.” According to a spokesperson of finance minister Schäuble, however, the government does not want to follow Sarkozy’s approach, at least not for now. Instead the existing proposal by the European Commission, which is more extensive, will be further examined. In fact, the President Sarkozy’s FTT allows certain exceptions, which is why some French NGOs consider the tax to be inadequate.
That means our French colleagues and the team here in Germany have to keep pushing for a FTT against poverty! The campaign continues – we’ll keep you up to date.
What’s ahead in 2012
2012 is a huge year in the fight against extreme poverty. There’s no other way to put it. And I wanted you to be the first to know our plans for the year.
You’re a core part of all that we do as ONE, and we’ll be in touch over the months ahead to ask for your support in:
- Fighting corruption and empowering African civil society, by supporting a European law forcing oil, gas, and mining companies to publish what they pay to governments in developing countries;
- Asking the UK government to keep their promise of spending just 0.7% of national income on international aid by 2013, and enshrine this in law;
- Making sure that our governments deliver on short and long-term solutions to help break the cycle of famine, and
- Stepping up our campaign to see the beginning of the end of AIDS by 2015.
Last year you helped persuade world leaders to fund vaccinations against two of the biggest killers of children under 5 – saving 4 million more children’s lives in 5 years.
Not only that, but G20 leaders heard your voices in calling for short and long-term agricultural solutions to help break the cycle of famine in the Horn of Africa. And that’s only some of what we achieved, together as ONE. Thank you.
Now in this even bigger year, you can do something today to help make our movement even stronger. Please watch our video, share it with friends online and invite them to join us too:
Thanks very much.
2011: A Year of Progress
As the end of 2011 fast approaches everything is winding down here at ONE. At this time of reflection, we wanted to take the opportunity to look back at 2011 and what we, but much more importantly YOU, have achieved in the fight against extreme poverty.
All the way back in January French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to lead the way in making oil, gas and mining companies operating in Africa more transparent in their financial reporting, and UK Chancellor George Osborne soon followed. Determined to make transparency a reality – you took action. 10,000 of you signed our petition and we delivered an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron on behalf of over 200 Ugandan civil society activists.
Fast forward to October and the campaign was given a HUGE boost by European Commission proposals for a new law guaranteeing all company payments to governments will be published. This is a big step forward – and YOU helped make it happen! Keep your eyes peeled for further developments in 2012 when we’ll be pushing to turn the proposals into legislation…
2011 has been the year for championing aid effectiveness and transparency. ONE launched a campaign to Make Aid Transparent, with our friends at Publish What You Fund In November, we presented your petition to governments meeting in South Korea demanding that they publish the details of the aid money they spend. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s keynote address at the forum in Busan, announced that the United States would be signing the International Aid Transparency Initiative – a fantastic result that YOU helped us achieve.
One of our biggest successes came in June when ONE members took action on the crucial issue of childhood vaccines.
More than 300,000 of you signed our petition. ONE members also sent hundreds of letters to members of parliament in the UK, and in the USA we swamped the Whitehouse with tweets. In South America ONE volunteers recruited thousands of new members who added to the weight of our international voice. In Australia ONE members called and emailed the foreign minister’s office, and in Germany the outstanding youth messengers were hard at work gathering support.
Because of your skill at advocacy, your hard work and a ton of determination, it worked. World leaders promised to commit $4.3 billion to vaccinate some of the world’s most vulnerable children against deadly diseases – saving an estimated 4 million lives in the next 5 years.
ONE members in the UK have been getting involved in another exciting project for us this year – our first UK student activist programme! Students & ONE for Africa Rising (SOAR) launched with two very successful training weekends in London and Leeds, and has already seen students promoting ONE’s World Aid’s Day campaign at their universities and recruiting other students to get in involved too. Keep SOARing, guys.
This has been an exciting year for progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS as momentum grows for ‘The Beginning of the End of AIDS’. Back in February over 250,000 of you signed our petition calling for ‘No Child Born with HIV by 2015’ which were delivered to world leaders You were heard. In November Hillary Clinton incredibly announced that welcoming in the first AIDS-free generation is now a policy priority of the US government for the first time in history!
Progress can and IS happening. On 1 December ONE and our sister organization (RED) hosted an inspirational World AIDS Day event in Washington to highlight the progress that has been made in the last 10 years in the fight against global AIDS. ONE members have been joining the fight in droves, getting creative and making panels for ONE and (RED)’s (2015)QUILT, a ground breaking digital tool that brings people from all over the world together to fight for an historic achievement – the beginning of the end of AIDS.
It is impossible to look back on 2011 without considering the situation in the Horn of Africa, where in just 3 months 30,000 children died. October saw the launch of our The F Word: Famine is the real obscenity video and our Hungry No More campaign. In total 409,000 people signed our petition urging G20 leaders to act. In the UK ONE members tweeted, emailed or met with MPs and 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. There is still much to be done but you ARE being listened to. 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.
This is just some of the things we at ONE and our fantastic members have been up to. We have also had Youth Messengers championing the cause in Germany, volunteers all over Europe recruiting at Maroon 5 shows, and have been presenting Living Proof to celebrate the incredible progress being achieved by some of the world’s poorest people.
There is still much to be done in the fight against extreme poverty, and it is often an uphill battle. But with inspirational people doing inspirational things like this, we at ONE believe with your help we can do it.
Bring on 2012!
ONE members meeting up in São Paulo
One of the great things about working at ONE is learning about all the amazing things that ONE members are doing around the globe.
And so it was great to hear from ONE members in Brazil, who recently held an event in São Paulo.
Here’s what they had to say:
“In order to finish this wonderful year, ONE members held a meeting in the Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo. It was in a hot and sunny 11 December, “summer” here in Brazil.
The meeting was a great way for people, who in any way contributed to the fight against extreme poverty, to get to know one another. And we also we shared ONE’s mission with the other visitors to the park and some fan club members who were there performing a benefit event.
In a very relaxed mood, while listening to U2 songs, we enjoyed a delicious picnic and exchanged ideas on volunteering, HIV/AIDS and political questions.
We are grateful to all the Brazilians who helped us during the day and who publicized and signed the petitions. We know that the real volunteer is one who donates the best of his or herself, without hope of anything as recompense. It is through the small actions and attitude, we acheive the bigger effective changes!
TOGETHER AS ONE”
A big thank you to all the ONE members who took part in the event!
You can find out more by checking our their blog and following them on Twitter.
Maroon 5 fans join the fight against extreme poverty
Many European fans of the band Maroon 5 will now be fighting extreme poverty while they ‘move like Jagger’ thanks to the hard work of our fantastic ONE members!
In the last couple of weeks ONE members in Finland, Denmark and Germany have been at Maroon 5 shows asking fans to join our movement of over 2.5 million people in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease.
Lead volunteer of the Denmark team Inger Kristensen gives us a glimpse into their evening in Copenhagen:
“It is a great privilege to be part of ONE and we were very happy to finally meet the Maroon 5 audience and proudly present ONE to them.
We managed to create a good atmosphere around the queues of people and tell them all about ONE. Everyone showed a great interest and concern about the fight against poverty and preventable diseases in the world. Since it was the day after World AIDS Day we also talked about how improved access to treatment can help bring about an AIDS Free Generation by 2015.
Lots of people signed up as ONE members before Maroon 5 hit the stage and turned up the volume to “Moves Like Jagger”!
As one young fan said while signing up, “Why don’t all people join ONE?”
There was plenty more success in Helsinki, as Anna-Riina Hakala explains:
“The Finnish fans we met were not very familiar with ONE at first, but we soon changed that! During the night we got over 300 new members, which made us very happy. As this shows, people had a positive reaction when we told them about ONE and they were very keen to learn more about ONE’s fight against extreme poverty. It is safe to say that the Maroon 5 show in Helsinki was a success for ONE – and the band of course!”
Although the last shows in Zurich, Rome, Milan and Vienna were postponed, we’ll continue to spread the word in 2012 when Maroon 5 hit the road again. Fighting extreme poverty is a serious business, but at ONE we like to have fun while we do it!
A big thank you to all of our amazing volunteers, and to Maroon 5 who gave us the opportunity to introduce ONE to their fans!
How your support made a difference at the G20
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.
SOARing in the UK
Last weekend was a real first for ONE here in the UK as we launched our first student activist programme, SOAR.
Students & ONE for Africa Rising will see 100 students championing ONE’s campaigns at their universities, getting other students involved, getting noticed, sharing the success stories of aid & development and talking to their MPs about how they can help end extreme poverty.
This is going to be quite something.
After being introduced to ONE and our issues, London students took part in a range of workshops led by ONE staff including: using social media to promote campaigns, tips on how to lobby their MP, backing up campaigns with policy and how to get their content noticed in the media.
Our African themed social at Shaka Zulu in Camden was a great chance for SOAR members to get to know us and each other better, and exciting plans started to come together for the months ahead. We’ve already seen SOAR Twitter accounts and blogs popping up just a day later!
We’ll be supporting our students throughout the 6 months of their campaigns, and hope that you will too as part of the wider ONE community here on the ONE blog.
Those who SOAR the highest will also be given the chance to be centre stage of our campaigns, and even contribute to ONE’s campaign planning.
All of us at ONE really enjoyed the weekend, finally putting faces to names, and starting a new chapter in ONE’s story here in the UK.
Thank you to all of you who joined us, and we’re really looking forward to seeing your campaigns leading the way in the months ahead.
Our second weekend training and social event will be held in Leeds 26-27 November and you still have until this Friday 4 November to apply if you’d like to join us: http://one.org/students
Progress – Thanks to you
Thanks to the action you took on fighting famine in the Horn of Africa, world leaders are responding to public pressure and coming forward to help stop the starving.
220,000 supporters who signed our petition calling on governments to provide full, immediate funding to the food crisis. Since our campaign launch two months ago, an additional $700 million has been committed for the crisis, and a further $970m promised, including increases from Australia, Germany, the European Union, African countries and others.
This past Saturday, our CEO addressed the UN Emergency Summit and submitted the petition you signed. “While drought may be act of nature, famine is not. More than 200,000 of our members have added their voices to a global petition calling for world leaders to act now,” he declared.
(ONE CEO Michael Elliott addresses the United Nations meeting)
But we cannot lose momentum. ONE will continue to campaign on this vital issue. We’ll increase our pressure on leaders of wealthy countries when they meet at the G-20 Summit, demanding that they keep their promises to ensure people across Africa are hungry no more. Watch out for this new phase of the campaign being launched next week with some high profile supporters.
We’re holding 100 places for students
I’m excited to announce the launch of ONE’s first student activist programme here in the UK. ‘SOAR’ (Students & ONE for Africa Rising) is an amazing opportunity for 100 students to be trained in campaigning and advocacy skills, and to run your own campaigns on campus for ONE.
Whether you’re interested in a future career in international development, feel passionate about fighting extreme poverty, or just want to help make a difference, this could be right for you.
We are looking for 100 committed students to take part. If you think you could be one, register your interest in participating in our new student programme, or helping out on ONE’s stall at your Freshers’ Fayre.
SOAR will be launched at a free weekend training and social event on 29th October in London, followed by another session in Leeds. ONE staff and key speakers will lead exclusive sessions ranging from holding meetings with MPs and getting your campaigns into local media to public speaking tips and how best to promote campaigns online.
This programme is a great chance to gain experience in creating and leading campaigns, and be a part of the solution. We hope you’ll join us.
Click here to register your interest in ONE’s new student programme, or to help us promote our programme at your Fresher’s Fayre, and we’ll be in touch shortly
Horn of Africa conference call
On 10 August ONE held an exclusive conference call with Kristalina Georgieva, who is responsible for driving the European Commission’s response to the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa, and Maulid Aden Warfa, Emergency Specialist for UNICEF Central and Southern Somalia.
The call was an important opportunity to hear first hand stories from the affected areas in the region but also a chance to hear directly from the decision makers in the European Commission.
ONE members from across Europe joined the call and we had an amazing response with a queue full of questions for both speakers.
Click here to listen to the conference call
Julia Modern, a ONE member from the United Kingdom said afterwards:
This is a fantastic conference call and I really got the sense of the challenge that is out there. I really support everything that Europe can do for the immediate aid to those affected but also to build up the resilience of communities in the long term.
Please leave your comments below on what you thought of the call and if you have any messages you have for the EU commission.
- Previous Posts Older Entries
- Next Posts
 |
 |
 |
About the Blog
The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE. 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.
TAGS: European Union, Financial transaction tax, France, Germany, ONE Members