{"id":167499,"date":"2026-04-24T18:47:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T18:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.one.org\/us\/?page_id=167499"},"modified":"2026-04-24T18:48:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T18:48:30","slug":"ones-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.one.org\/us\/ones-history\/","title":{"rendered":"ONE\u2019s History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"block_25bfc6708ccb4a9cd54d9827c41f385c\" class=\"oneorg-block oneorg-hero flush is-style-bottom  has-text-align-left has-image    has-overlay  \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<link rel=\"preload\" href=\"https:\/\/www.one.org\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Our_Story_Header-1640x800_-800x390.jpg\" as=\"image\" media=\"(max-width: 39.6875em)\">\n\t\t\t\t<link rel=\"preload\" href=\"https:\/\/www.one.org\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Our_Story_Header-1640x800_-1600x780.jpg\" as=\"image\" media=\"(min-width: 40.0625em)\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<style 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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfetchpriority=\"high\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/picture>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t    \n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"oneorg-hero__wrapper\">\n\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"oneorg-hero__inner\">   \n\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"oneorg-hero__content stack\" data-aos=\"fade-up\" data-aos-duration=\"1750\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n\n<p class=\"oneorg-section-title\">About<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-one-s-history-0\">ONE&#8217;s History<\/h1>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:13px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-our-movement-began\">How Our Movement Began&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 1980s, Bono and U2 performed at&nbsp;the&nbsp;Live Aid&nbsp;concerts in London and Philadelphia,&nbsp;organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in response to a devastating famine in Ethiopia. The concerts, along with singles like \u201cWe Are the World\u201d and \u201cBand Aid,\u201d raised more than $125 million for famine relief and brought global attention to the crisis.&nbsp;Bono and his wife Ali then volunteered in&nbsp;Ajibar,&nbsp;Ethiopia.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Around this time, artists, activists, and people&nbsp;around the world&nbsp;mobilized in support of the anti-apartheid movement,&nbsp;through student protests, faith-based organizing, and advocacy inspired by leaders like Archbishop Desmond Tutu.&nbsp;Bono&nbsp;participated&nbsp;in the \u201cAin\u2019t&nbsp;Gonna&nbsp;Play Sun City\u201d campaign, which&nbsp;brought together over 50 artists\u2014collectively named Artists United Against Apartheid\u2014to protest&nbsp;Apartheid&nbsp;in South Africa.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:9px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-jubilee-2000-and-the-nbsp-drop-the-nbsp-debt-nbsp-movement-nbsp-nbsp\">Jubilee 2000 and the&nbsp;\u2018Drop the&nbsp;Debt\u2019&nbsp;Movement&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the early 1990s, a global faith-based movement called for the cancellation of unpayable debts owed by the world\u2019s lowest-income countries, spurred by the success of the anti-apartheid movement.&nbsp;Leaders including Archbishop Desmond Tutu&nbsp;and Pope John Paul II&nbsp;called for the cancellation of unpayable debts. They&nbsp;invoked the biblical concept of a \u201cJubilee year\u201d&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;a time to reset.&nbsp;<strong>This movement became Jubilee 2000,&nbsp;a global coalition of organizations, theologians, and activists calling on high-income countries to cancel unfair debts.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1995,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.one.org\/us\/person\/jamie-drummond\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jamie Drummond<\/a>&nbsp;was in Ethiopia working on a BBC and MTV project marking the 10th anniversary of Live Aid. There, he learned that Ethiopia was repaying more in annual debt than the total raised by Live Aid, Band Aid, and \u201cWe Are the World\u201d combined. He coined the phrase \u201cDrop the Debt\u201d and shared this message with global figures including Bono, David Bowie, and Muhammad Ali.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Bono learned that African countries were paying&nbsp;roughly $200 million&nbsp;each week in debt&nbsp;repayments,&nbsp;he vowed&nbsp;to learn more about&nbsp;the structural causes of extreme poverty.&nbsp;Bono, alongside&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.one.org\/us\/person\/bobby-shriver\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bobby Shriver,<\/a>&nbsp;met with economists, politicians, and religious leaders to build momentum and influence world leaders directly.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This direct advocacy was combined with public activism.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/debtjustice.org.uk\/blog\/jubilee-2000-anniversary-call-photos-memories#:~:text=On%20the%2016th%20May%201998,global%20summit%20with%20world%20leaders.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Protesters gathered<\/a>&nbsp;at&nbsp;the&nbsp;G8 summits in&nbsp;Birmingham&nbsp;(1998) and&nbsp;in Cologne&nbsp;(1999)&nbsp;to call for debt cancellation&nbsp;\u2013 with&nbsp;Bono, Bob Geldof, Senegalese artist Youssou N&#8217;dour, and more&nbsp;helping draw global action.&nbsp;Jubilee 2000 still holds the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.guinnessworldrecords.com\/world-records\/74333-largest-petition-in-person\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">world&nbsp;record&nbsp;for the most signatures<\/a>:&nbsp;over&nbsp;24&nbsp;million&nbsp;from 166 countries.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jubilee 2000 and the \u201cDrop the Debt\u201d campaign worked:&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>$110 billion&nbsp;in debt was cancelled between 2000 and 2005.<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>The impact? Increased economic growth, improved investments in health, and millions more children in school.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:9px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-new-model-for-advocacy-is-born-nbsp-nbsp\">A New Model for Advocacy is Born&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Bono&nbsp;later&nbsp;described&nbsp;Jubilee 2000&nbsp;as a journey \u201cfrom charity to justice.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But health inequities and structural barriers threatened&nbsp;progress.&nbsp;HIV\/AIDS was devastating communities across sub-Saharan Africa, with life-saving medicines&nbsp;largely inaccessible.&nbsp;And structural barriers&nbsp;like&nbsp;unfair trade rules&nbsp;limited&nbsp;long-term economic independence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In response, Bono, Bobby Shriver, Jamie Drummond, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.one.org\/us\/person\/lucy-matthews\/\">Lucy Matthew<\/a>&nbsp;built&nbsp;a new kind of organization: one that combined policy&nbsp;expertise&nbsp;with public advocacy to address systemic causes of&nbsp;inequality.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In 2002, they launched&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/DATA\">DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa)<\/a> \u2014 a policy-focused organization designed to turn research into political action.<\/strong>&nbsp;In 2004, DATA helped co-found and later merged with the ONE Campaign.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ONE worked to mobilize citizens to influence governments,&nbsp;bringing together public pressure (\u201coutside organizing\u201d) and direct engagement with policymakers (\u201cinside influencing\u201d)<\/strong>&nbsp;to drive change across multiple countries at once.&nbsp;In&nbsp;partnership&nbsp;with&nbsp;organizations advancing transparency, fighting corruption, and promoting a \u201cdata revolution\u201d&nbsp;ONE&nbsp;helped&nbsp;citizens&nbsp;hold governments accountable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ONE has always been strictly nonpartisan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>At ONE, we believe that politicians don\u2019t have to agree on everything\u2014they can agree on just one thing, if that one thing is important enough.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;&#8211; <em>Bono<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:9px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-red-is-created-nbsp\">(RED) is created&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While ONE focused on influencing government policy and public investment, another gap remained: private sector engagement. Governments and&nbsp;advocates&nbsp;were unhappy&nbsp;with&nbsp;the&nbsp;lack&nbsp;of&nbsp;private&nbsp;sector&nbsp;contribution.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In response,&nbsp;<strong>Bono and&nbsp;Bobby Shriver <a href=\"https:\/\/www.red.org\/\">launched (RED)&nbsp;in 2006&nbsp;to bring major global brands<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;such as Apple, Bank of America, and later Fiat&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;into the&nbsp;fight for global health.<\/strong>&nbsp;(RED) raises money and awareness for the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobalfund.org\/en\/\">Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 which&nbsp;was created in 2002 as a public-private venture.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now in its&nbsp;second decade of impact, (RED) has generated more than $800 million for the Global Fund, while ONE has helped secure&nbsp;$60\u201380 billion in public sector funding for the same cause.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:9px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-one-s-nbsp-impact-nbsp-20-years-of-effective-advocacy-nbsp\">ONE&#8217;s&nbsp;Impact:&nbsp;20 years of effective advocacy&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2004,&nbsp;ONE has&nbsp;helped secure&nbsp;<strong>over&nbsp;$1 trillion&nbsp;in new investments for economic opportunities and healthy lives&nbsp;<\/strong>that build a safer, more prosperous world.&nbsp;Our&nbsp;advocates have taken&nbsp;<strong>over 25 million actions<\/strong>&nbsp;to create more economic opportunities and support programs that have saved millions of lives from preventable diseases like HIV\/AIDS.&nbsp;ONE played a key role in the success of major programs including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.one.org\/what-we-do\/impact\/pepfar\/\">PEPFAR<\/a>&nbsp;(President\u2019s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobalfund.org\/en\/\">the Global Fund<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gavi.org\/\">Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance<\/a>.&nbsp;And&nbsp;ONE&nbsp;successfully&nbsp;pushed for&nbsp;<strong>Africa\u2019s fair seat at the global decision-making table<\/strong>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.one.org\/what-we-do\/our-impact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">our&nbsp;impact<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:9px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-one-s-nbsp-work-today-nbsp\">ONE&#8217;s&nbsp;Work Today&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ONE\u2019s strategy continues to evolve in response to today\u2019s global challenges.&nbsp;<\/strong>As international aid budgets shrink, geopolitical tensions rise, and technology reshapes economies,&nbsp;ONE&#8217;s&nbsp;mission and work to demand the investments needed to create economic opportunities and healthier lives in Africa has never been more relevant.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why Africa?&nbsp;<\/strong>Africa is where some of the world\u2019s greatest challenges \u2014 and greatest opportunities \u2014 converge. The continent faces high rates of preventable disease, growing debt pressures, and the impacts of climate change. But it is also home to the world\u2019s fastest-growing youth population, emerging economies, and resources critical for the global energy transition.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the right investments, Africa can drive inclusive, sustainable growth that&nbsp;benefits&nbsp;the entire world.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Our&nbsp;belief endures<\/strong>. Grounded in&nbsp;our&nbsp;origins \u2014 from debt relief to systemic reform \u2014 ONE continues to build on a simple idea: When people come together and raise their voices, change is possible.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ONE\u2019s&nbsp;work is not about charity,&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;about justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"buffer\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How Our Movement Began&nbsp; In the 1980s, Bono and U2 performed at&nbsp;the&nbsp;Live Aid&nbsp;concerts in London and Philadelphia,&nbsp;organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in response to a devastating famine in Ethiopia. The concerts, along with singles like \u201cWe Are the World\u201d and \u201cBand Aid,\u201d raised more than $125 million for famine relief and brought global [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":167500,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"163673,163771,163581,164246,164358,163818","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-167499","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - 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