Our guest blogger today is Jennifer Abrahamson from the International Center for Research on Women. Susheela and her children. Photo: Jennifer Abrahamson / ICRW The Indian state of Haryana, a short drive from the capital New Delhi, is known for its social conservatism, a declining female population due to sex selection, and more recently, for a number of brutal rapes reported by the national media. As I would soon learn, life in rural India is full of contrasts and contradictions. The first...
ONE co-founder Bono made the case that eliminating extreme poverty is possible by 2030 during his speech at the 2013 TED Conference in Long Beach, California, yesterday. The 2005 TED Prize winner said that transparency, coupled with information technology, is helping to power the fight to the finish – and a new generation of fact-based activists, or “factivists,” could lead the way.  Bono encouraged the audience of changemakers to fight apathy, cynicism and inertia and use evidence and statistics to...
Say that your country is blessed with natural resources. Oil, gas, minerals – it has it all. The future looks good. But deep down you worry that the bonanza could turn into a bust – maybe you live in Africa and have seen how windfalls have been wasted before. How do you know that’s not going to happen now? Are there any tell-tale signs of sound management of “commodity wealth”? Marcelo Giugale, the World Bank’s Director of Economic Policy and...
The following is a guest blog from Dr. Allan Mayi who is a Senior Technical Advisor (ART) with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) and coordinates the EGPAF – Tunaweza Project based in Lodwar, Turkana County (Kenya). I have been working with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) for the last five years. Before that, I was with the Kenyan Ministry of Health for another five years. During these 10 years of working in the general health field...
Last week in London, the Omidyar Network, the UK Department for International Development, and WIRED magazine hosted a one-day conference on transparency and open government called Open Up!. You may have seen this post where we encouraged you all to send your ideas of how technology can help open government to #OpenUp12 on Twitter. One of the many impressive groups that presented their work at Open Up! was Digital Green. Digital Green is a technology-centric grassroots campaign focused on increasing...
In Kenya, the tiny tsetse fly is a big problem.  Its bite can transmit sleeping sickness to humans as well as the fatal animal disease Nagana to cattle.  The economic impact can be devastating.  But thanks to an EU-funded trial, farmers in Kenya are fighting back with a revolutionary repellent collar. The new must-have accessory for Kenyan cows that contributes to improve the welfare, food security and general prosperity of poor livestock keepers in Africa was developed by scientists at...
ONE Co-founder Bono gave a powerful speech on activism and global social movements to a crowd of 700 students at Georgetown University last night. His nearly hour-long speech received a standing ovation and praise on Twitter and Facebook. Many students walked away feeling inspired and uplifted. “Best speech ever,” one student remarked as he left the building. “This is going to be all over YouTube tomorrow,” another said.
Living in the UK I was aware of the television show Big Brother, but nothing quite prepared me for the African version, Big Brother Africa. Whereas the show in the rest of the world is a simple country specific affair, Big Brother Africa is different. Very different. It’s the first ever version to feature contestants from multiple countries and on a completely different scale. Now in its seventh season, the show is a continent wide phenomenon, screened 24 hours a day,...
ONE Global Policy Director Ben Leo offers his analysis on this year’s G8 Summit in Camp David. The G8 Summit in Camp David last weekend marked the three year anniversary of the 2009 L’Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI). It also previewed the expiration of most of the financial pledges by the end of 2012. With one of the worst droughts in 60 years in the Horn of Africa — which ravaged the livelihoods of more...