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Meet Ben Palafox
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ONE’s recent screening of Invictus, the new film by Clint Eastwood (which recently bagged Oscar nominations for both its stars, Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon), was an opportunity to reflect on the huge opportunity that the upcoming football World Cup in South Africa presents to reinvigorate the global fight against poverty through the uniting power of sport. ONE member Ben Palafox was also there, having won our contest to attend the screening. Originally from Canada, Ben is currently a researcher at the London School of Hygiene working on malaria drug access. Ben has worked and travelled abroad extensively, most recently in Nigeria. Ben first became involved with ONE when researching Project (RED), ONE’s sister organisation. “I was attracted to the way ONE reaches out to people who aren’t necessarily activists and helps them to learn about important global issues. I’ve also seen the impact of ONE’s campaigns – the unique combination of high level celebrity endorsement combined with millions of supporters is a powerful combination.” Ben’s commitment to poverty and development issues comes originally from his experiences as a 1st generation Canadian coming from a Filipino family. “I was one of the lucky ones – my family emigrated from a developing nation to a first world nation and I feel I now have the opportunity to give back. ONE’s work helps generate awareness about development in a really important way – and I’m happy to be a part of it.” And what was his favourite part of the film itself? “The intimate portrait of Mandela – he’s not someone you think of needing to shave or brush his teeth!”
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Lost Kingdoms of Africa
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Presented by art historian Dr Gus Casely-Hayford, Lost Kingdoms of Africa explores the rich histories of Africa’s great civilisations - the kingdoms of West Africa, Great Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and the Nubia of Sudan. Casely-Hayford brings in-depth knowledge and great sympathy to his themes, looking at how these civilisations – far more advanced than their European contemporaries – have faded out of global history. I found the Nubia programme particularly fascinating with its pyramids and black pharaohs. There are only a few days left to see these superb programmes on BBC iplayer, so check them out on the BBC website. |
Invictus
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On Monday night ONE was lucky to host an advance screening in London of the new film Invictus, which opens this month in much of Europe. Directed by Clint Eastwood, Invictus tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) to help unite their country. Believing he could bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallied South Africa’s underdog rugby team as they made an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup final. As the world’s attention turns to the continent this year for the football world cup, it’s time to unite once again to celebrate the successes we’ve achieved, and renew our energies to go the distance to achieve the rest of the Millenium Development Goals by 2015. We were joined on the night by journalists, politicians, footballers, celebrities, and a lucky ONE member, Benjamin Palafox, who won our online contest. After the film ONE co-founder Bob Geldof and South African football captain Aaron Mokoena, spoke passionately about the importance of this 2010 for Africa and how the world cup can focus the eyes of the world, including the 3 billion or more who will watch the competition, on the good news that’s coming from the continent. Keep an eye on the ONE blog for video from the event, which we will be posting shortly. P.S. To find out more about Invictus visit the the official movie website. |
Field trip to ONE
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The ONE office in London had a visit this morning from a group of students from Driffield in the north of England, who are studying development before heading off to university. We had a great time telling them what all we do here at ONE, but I think the best bit was the discussion about what they can do to help influence decision makers. They came up with a clever idea: ahead of their 18th birthdays, send letters to their Members of Parliament and candidates, asking them to pitch their positions on development so that they’ll know who to vote for once they are able to vote. I’m looking forward to seeing what sort of actions they end up taking. Good luck guys! |
In Davos
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Met James Harding, editor of the Times, in the security line on the way in to main congress centre in Davos and we caught up. His paper is worried that the UK political parties aren’t having a straight conversation about the use of development aid, but the Times coverage is coming out as rather negative campaign about the UK’s Department for International Development, DFID. This is a shame as DFID is probably the world’s best development agency and something British taxpayers should know more about and be proud of. But James and the Times are partly right. It is the political season in the UK with elections coming up so the debate on aid is getting more politicised. The important thing is to support effective aid, and be constantly trying to improve its effectiveness, while knowing that aid is only part of the answer. Other things like good governance, investment and trade are all crucially important components of development. An effective UK development agency should be doing more on all these things whoever forms the next British government. Whoever that is, they must ensure the UK stays a global leader in development and keeps the word but also the spirit of the promise to spend 0.7% of national income on effective development assistance. Among the speeches I’ve listened to were Canadian PM Stephen Harper (Head of G8-G20 first half this year), Korean leader Lee (head of G20 second half this year) and President Sarkozy (G8/G20 head next year). All underlined how important development and fighting poverty are. This is reassuring but it’s also clear, as discussed in a session with Mike Froman of the White House and Indra Nooyi of Pepsi on reinvigorating the state, that the Millennium Development Goals can’t be achieved by governments alone. They need the support and creativity of the private sector and civil society. But the state must provide the backbone of the plan. This is why President Obama’s speech at the UN last September pledging to do all he can to end extreme poverty, and calling for a new global plan for the Millennium Goals must soon start some real global planning. We need to see key stakeholders from all walks of life getting round the table - to help give a boost to the drive to fight poverty. Finally I’ve been talking to anyone who will listen about ONE’s deep concern about the diversion or double counting of development funds as climate adaptation funds. We just commissioned a piece of research on this by the Overseas Development Institute. Bill Gates annual letter underlined the importance of this at the beginning of the week. It will be one of the very big issues to watch in 2010. |
Momentum builds to cancel Haiti’s debt
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Momentum is really now building to cancel Haiti’s $1 billion debt and give the country a clean slate as it begins reconstruction efforts. Since we launched our campaign we’ve seen real progress, which is giving us hope that we can help score a success. According to reports, Venezuela now plans to cancel its share of the debt. As we’ve reported, Haiti’s debt to Venezuela is approximately $295 million. This is an enormous step forward in Haiti’s path to full debt cancellation. Announcing the cancellation, Venezuelan resident Hugo Chávez is reported to have said, “Haiti has no debt with Venezuela - on the contrary, it is Venezuela that has a historic debt with Haiti.” Adding to the increasing volume of calls asking world leaders to forgive Haiti’s debt, Canada’s Finance Minister Jim Flaherty yesterday argued that given Haiti’s current focus and priorities, the country should not be burdened by “liabilities of its past.” Flaherty specifically called on others to follow Canada’s lead of debt cancellation. All of this is very encouraging, but we still have much work to do. So our attention is now turning to governments directly, especially those attending the G7 Finance Ministers Meeting next week. Thank you to everyone who has taken action so far. With your help we really are making a difference. |
Delivering for Haiti
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Momentum continues to grow for cancelation of Haiti’s $1 billion in debts so that the country can have a clean slate upon which to rebuild. Yesterday evening ONE’s Tom Hart delivered the signatures of more than 150,000 ONE members calling for debt relief to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Of Haiti’s $1 billion debt, the IMF holds a relatively small amount, $165 million, but swift action by the IMF would increase momentum and pressure on all creditors. The IMF intends to move quickly to provide immediate financial assistance on the most favourable terms that it has at its disposal, zero-interest loans. This delivery is just the first of several that we’ll have to make and we’ll have to work to put pressure on some of the other large creditors. The response to the action has been incredible, and since we presented the petition to the IMF, almost 10,000 more people have signed, making our calls even stronger. But we still have much work to do, and need to show continued and growing interest in debt cancellation. So once you’ve signed, or if you’ve already done so, please do take a moment to ask 2-3 of your friends to join you in taking action. The more of us do it, the greater impact we’ll have when we hand over to the next of Haiti’s creditors. |
Africa a big loser if climate finance is not additional
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Africa will lose out if money pledged by rich countries at the Copenhagen climate change meeting last December does not come in addition to their existing aid promises. This is the stark message in a research paper from leading development think tank the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), commissioned by ONE. The report states that if finance for climate change adaptation were to come from existing and promised aid flows it would necessarily result in a money being taken away from health and education, and reallocated to sectors such as agriculture, coastal defence and water. While sub-Saharan Africa receives 38% of global aid, the World Bank estimates that their share of adaptation needs is 22% - in part because there is less expensive existing infrastructure to protect. ODI conclude that “It is crucial to underline the importance of additionality of climate finance to aid. If this is not explicitly stated and implemented, the possibility of aid diversion allocated according to adaptation needs is likely to lead to the neglect of aid to Africa.” The findings come just days after Bill Gates warned in his annual letter that health funding could be cut if the $100bn target set at Copenhagen took money out of other development priorities. “If just 1% of the $100bn goal came from vaccine funding, then 700,000 more children could die from preventable diseases” he wrote. If countries do not avoid this type of dangerous double counting, the already off track Millennium Development Goals will be dealt another heavy blow. The millions of people around the world who took action in the run-up to Copenhagen, including tens of thousands of ONE members, will now be needed more than ever as we attempt to make sure that vital work on climate does not come at the expense of the world’s poorest people. Read the report ‘Climate financing and Development - Friends or foes?’ Update: The Financial Times today published a letter from ONE’s co-founder and Executive Director Jamie Drummond on this important issue. Read the letter here. |
Win 2 free tickets to see Invictus in London
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ONE is hosting an exclusive preview screening in London of the film Invictus and we want to give you the chance to join us. We’re giving away 2 tickets to our event on the evening of 1 February ahead of the film’s national release. Directed by Clint Eastwood, Invictus tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) to help unite their country. Believing he could bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallied South Africa’s underdog rugby team as they made an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup final. Now, as South Africa prepares to host the first football World Cup in Africa this summer, it’s a timely tale of sport’s potential to change the world. To have a chance to win the tickets, all you have to do is recruit your friends to join you in taking action against extreme poverty by joining ONE. |
Help Haiti Today
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Since this disaster occurred last Tuesday, I have wanted nothing more than to go to Haiti to help, hold and comfort my family and other survivors. Knowing I can’t do that now, I am putting all my energies into helping Haitians rebuild their lives without the burden of debt. Like me you can’t go to Haiti today, but here is what we can do: we can convince global creditors to cancel Haiti’s $1 billion international debt. Please click here to sign ONE’s petition calling for cancellation of Haiti’s debts Petition text: As Haiti rebuilds from this disaster, please work to secure the immediate cancellation of Haiti’s $1 billion debt and ensure that any emergency earthquake assistance is provided in the form of grants, not debt-incurring loans. Haiti needs a sustained international effort as it seeks to recover from this earthquake. The current outpouring of support is encouraging, and now we need to cancel Haiti’s debt so the country can start its recovery without the burden of debts it won’t be able to pay. In addition we must be vigilant that new aid doesn’t come in the form of loans that would create new debt for Haiti. But here and now, there is a very clear goal: let’s get rid of this crippling debt. Keren Dongo P.S. Today we updated our petition text from our initial ask for $890 million worth of debt cancellation to $1 billion to reflect new information on further debt of which we were not previously aware. |
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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.
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TAGS: 2010 World Cup, ONE, ONE Members