Today ONE has published new research that shows the impact UK aid spending will have on the lives of some of the poorest people in the world. The UK has committed to hit the UN target to spend 0.7% of national income on aid from 2013, something Chancellor George Osborne is expected to confirm when he delivers the annual budget on Wednesday.
Our report – “Small Change: Big Difference” – shows that by the government sticking to its commitments on...
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It’s been a good few days for Millennium Development Goals. Not one but two targets were reported as met last week, which means that we have reason to celebrate. First, the Economist reported on March 3 that global poverty in 2010 was half the level it was in 1990, meaning that in spite of the worldwide economic downturn, fewer people are living in absolute poverty. And on March 6, the United Nations reported that in 2010, 89...
Today Bill Gates addressed a meeting in Rome where he told the international agricultural community it had fallen short of delivering the help that small farmers in developing countries need, and that a better approach to supporting farming was needed to feed a billion hungry people.
“If you care about the poorest, you care about agriculture,” said Gates. “Investments in agriculture are the best weapons against hunger and poverty, and they have made life better for billions...
As you know ONE is running a massive campaign around agriculture, a topic that has become so important given the destructive famine in the Horn of Africa. To help get your motor running on all things ag (as we affectionately call it here at ONE) Kelly Hauser from our global policy team and I have teamed together to create our first graphic novel, Agriculture 101.
Each week, we’ll publish a new chapter of Agriculture 101,...
On a continent where approximately two-thirds of its citizens rely on agriculture as the main source of their livelihood, where new technological advances have been introduced, and where there is enough food available to feed the whole population, why is it that more than two-thirds of the population are experiencing moderate to high levels of undernourishment?
An important piece of the puzzle is technology.
Many of the kinds of technologies that are being introduced to African farmers are high-tech solutions. These...
For the first time in our lifetime, a wide range of African artists and global celebrities with a passion for Africa, have united in a call for action to break the recurring incidence of famine and extreme hunger in the Horn of Africa.
In an open letter addressed to African and world leaders, 58 artists are appealing for the implementation of a three-part plan to beat the famine in the Horn of Africa and invest in long-term solutions to avoid...
Elizabeth Wright of Concern Worldwide explains the way of life of pastoralist communities living in northern Kenya — and how they have been affected by the drought.
For pastoralist communities of Northern Kenya such as the Borana tribe, cattle and rain are as vital to human life as air. Their herds are not only their primary source of food, but also inseparable from centuries-old cultural traditions linked to marriage, health and the naming of children. Cattle are at the heart...
At the recent UN High Level Meeting on AIDS, world leaders made a critical step in the right direction with the launch of a global plan to eliminate new HIV infections among children by 2015 and to keep their mothers alive. Last year, ONE members tirelessly advocated for the Global Fund during our “No Child Born with HIV” campaign, and we’re pleased that this plan will help us work towards turning that goal into reality.
Tremendous gains have been...
The French news publication, Le Monde Diplomatique, recently published a map showing major infrastructure, particularly energy, in Africa:
The image shows how infrastructure in Africa is growing rapidly, but is still largely concentrated in coastal regions and those with large mineral deposits. This means that rural and isolated populations often do not have access to modern energy and the benefits that it can bring.
In fact, only 30.5% of the total sub-Saharan population and only 14.3% of the...
Thanks to good harvests, much of sub-Saharan Africa has been sheltered from the recent rise in world food prices. This is in sharp contrast to the food price spikes in 2007 to 2008, which resulted in a sharp increase in poverty and riots across many African cities. However, currently there are pockets where demand outstrips supply and poor families are feeling the crunch. In Nairobi, for example, supermarket prices for corn, wheat and cooking...