Committment to Global Food Security Sadly Lacking

Sphere: Related Content This post is made up from a number of sources provided by Avaaz, which sometime ago sent a request to join in the call urging world leaders to make good on their promises to tackle the world food crisis by delivering a strong agriculture and food security package for developing countries.

Zunia provided a link to E-Learning: Food Security Information for Action. The link leads to information on the work that the FAO and European Union are doing together on Food Security Information for Decision Making. The goal is the Linking Information and Decision Making to Improve Food Security. The program offers self-paced e-learning, developed by international experts to support capacity building and on-the-job Training and Workshops at national and local food security information systems and networks. You can try a sample lesson "What is Food Security?"

This is one of the times that the effort did not reach its goal either in numbers or in effect. World leaders who met in Rome in November of 2009 for the World Food Summit, backed out on a pledge to fund lifesaving food production. The countries of France, Germany, UK, Italy and Japan all backed out on a $20 billion promise made earlier this year. Only $3 billion or Only 15% of G8 pledge was new money, according to Reuters.

The BBC reports Global Hunger worsening, warns UN's annual report on global food security which confirms that more than one billion people - a sixth of the world's population - are undernourished. This is a scandal with literally millions facing life-threatening hunger especially when the economic crisis has only made the situation wors and billions were found to help out the banks. Although the world produces enough food to feed everyone, according to this report for World Food Day: There is enough food grown in the world for everyone (Op-ed), Oxfam International: chronic hunger across the planet has reached the record-high figure of 1 billion this year.

Change.org, even more recently shifted the focus back to the United States and President Obama with the message: Feed the Hungry Instead of Wall Street

Most of the time, broken promises from politicians barely raise an eyebrow.

But what if a broken promise condemned one sixth of the world's population to chronic hunger?

The world's most powerful leaders, including President Obama, did just that in November when they refused to even show up for the Food Security Summit in Rome.

And just four months after promising $22 billion to fight hunger, the G8 leaders still haven't spelled out how they will fund it.

Don't let world leaders get away with ignoring the problem of global hunger.

Ask President Obama to take the lead and demand world leaders make good on their promise >

- The Change.org Team in partnership with ActionAid

They are working with the anti-poverty organisation ActionAid, which brings over 30 years of knowledge and experience in fighting poverty by applying the following principles:

• Work together with poor people, local partners and organisations in combating poverty
• Focus on fighting against the causes of poverty, not just the results.

Their efforts are prioritized into five areas of work to make the most difference:

1. education,
2. hiv and aids,
3. food rights,
4. emergencies,
5. women and girls and
6. governance.
   

Here is ActionAid's HungerFREE Scorecard which sees small scale farming systems being critical in tackling hunger and poverty:

This is an in-depth investigation into what 50 governments (poor and rich) are doing to tackle the billion hungry. Giving them each scores based on their achievements and policies.

While some of the poorest countries in the world have been able to reduce the number of hungry people, many of the richest countries lag shockingly behind.

More information about ActionAid´s HungerFREE global campaign:

• # The ActionAid HungerFREE campaign aims to put the issue of hunger to the top of the political agenda. The right to food has been sidelined for too long!
• # We are a global campaign that lobbies governments to deliver on their commitment to halve world hunger by 2015.
• # We want to ensure that corporations are held accountable for abuses of the rights to food, water, land and seeds
• # We believe that low-impact farming by small-holder farmers is the best way to tackle hunger. A UN study found sustainable agriculture increased crop yields in Africa by an astonishing 116%.
• # We’re teaming up with hungry people and communities, individual farmers, farmers’ groups, supporters, celebrities, artists, influencers and sympathetic politicians – all with one thing in common – we are determined to end hunger.

There is growing evidence, like this article from Greenpeace, showing that intensive farming models are not only ineffectual in countering hunger, they have a highly damaging affect on our environment. However, as strange as it may sound to some, an argument could be made that it makes more sense to work with businesses than governments. UN meets with food businesses to discuss food security Reuters(11/12)

Private sector, governments, non-government organisations should work together to solve long-term problems in developing countries and eradicate hunger in the world, said Ertharin Cousin, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. food agencies in Rome.

A Coalition of Advocates (and me) Supporting the Presidential Study Directive on U.S. Global Development Policy

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ONE is joining forces with the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN)—including:

• Bread for the World
• Women Thrive Worldwide
• Mercy Corps
• Center for American Progress
• Oxfam America
• Publish What You Fund
• RESULTS
• Save the Children
• American Jewish World Service
• CARE
• Americans for Informed Democracy and
• International Women's Health Coalition

They are combining efforts across the Aid Advocacy community to help elevate the call for development and foreign assistance reform for President Obama and his key advisors through the Presidential Study Directive on U.S. Global Development Policy.

Tom Hart, Director of Government Relations at ONE.org advised in an email:

Right now, President Obama and his senior advisors, led by National Security Advisor James Jones and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers, are preparing a Presidential Study Directive that will shape the future of U.S. efforts to alleviate poverty, fight disease, and create economic opportunity for the world's poorest people.

The petition they want us to sign, with my two cents added, reads:

Please create a U.S. global development strategy giving development a strong voice in foreign policy decisions and coordinating efforts to alleviate global poverty, fight disease, and create economic opportunity.

This would be the strongest message that you could send to the rest of world supporting the vision you put forth when accepting your Nobel Peace Prize. It would also be one of the most significant actions the United States could take in supporting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals especially to end poverty.

MFAN will deliver the petition to key White House contacts on December 18. They are looking to get 25,000 signature and so far they have 23,989 with 3,999 from California. So this time I am getting this out about a week early giving anyone who reads this an opportunity to add their voice so that they reach their goal.

Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009 (S. 1524)

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I got two thank you emails over the last couple of weeks, which I am now getting around to sharing. One of was from Tom Hart of ONE.org.

You and more than 28,000 ONE members have already signed on to tell your senators to Upgrade Aid, but with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee now set to discuss the bill on October 20, we have a little more time to build momentum around this important cause. Please forward the message below to your friends and ask them to join you in supporting an aid upgrade that will help make U.S. foreign aid better, smarter and stronger.

Thank you,

Tom Hart, ONE.org

I got it for supporting S. 1524 along with, at last count, 45,392 others. They've reached 90% of their NEW goal of 50,000 signers! S. 1524 will give USAID the tools and people it needs to better fight hunger and poverty around the world, but this bill critically needs more support to push it through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, now scheduled for November 10, 2009. Tell your senators to upgrade aid now.

Please strengthen U.S. foreign aid by cosponsoring the bipartisan Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009 (S. 1524).

Ultimately, it means better USAID programs to help the most difficult-to-reach farmers grow crops and feed more of Africa's 265 million hungry people. It means better support for treating 6.6 billion liters of water in Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia. And it also means better immunization, polio eradication, nutrition, diarrhea and pneumonia care, and maternal and neonatal healthcare through USAID programs across the African continent.

The other was from Senator Dianne Feinstein, United States Senator

Mr. Dowling

Thank you for writing to express your support for the "Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009" (S. 1524). I appreciate hearing from you regarding this legislation and welcome the opportunity to respond.

Like you, I want to help alleviate the suffering of people living in poverty worldwide, and believe that organizations such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) must be adequately funded and staffed, with robust congressional oversight to ensure transparency and accountability.

Indeed, it is important to examine ways in which the Federal agencies tasked with fighting global poverty, such as USAID, can be reformed and strengthened to better achieve their mission. As you may know, S. 1524 is designed to achieve this through such measures as directing the Administrator of USAID to develop a comprehensive workforce, human resources strategy, and a related task force to support the objective of promoting development and reducing global poverty. As you may know, this legislation is currently awaiting consideration by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, on which I do not serve. Be assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind should the full Senate have the opportunity to debate this bill.

Further, you may be interested to learn that the Senate Appropriations Committee, on which I serve, recently approved its version of the fiscal year 2010 State -Foreign Operations Appropriations Act (S. 1434), which includes $1.4 billion in funding for USAID to support programs such as the Development Leadership Initiative (DLI), which will provide an additional 350 USAID Foreign Service Officers. Please know that I read your comments with interest and will be sure to keep them in mind as I continue to examine U.S. foreign aid funding.

Again, thank you for writing. I hope that you will keep in touch on issues of importance to you. If you have further questions or comments, please do not hesitate to call my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.

Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

Avaaz Wake Up Call WOW

Sphere: Related Content Here is the Avaaz take on the efforts for climate change across the globe last Monday. Some may question how much impact these efforts actually had, but one means of enhancing that impact is to reblog and mash these features into other outlets. I threw in the Gordon Brown interview from No 10.

Wow. Monday's Wake Up call was unbelievable - 2632 events in 134 countries, tens of thousands of phone calls crashing government lines, unbelievable creativity and diversity of events, directly reaching heads of state and cabinet ministers from Australia to Europe. Words can't describe it -- this video gets close:

Click here to learn more about the video.The Wake Up call was covered by hundreds of major news outlets and made the evening news everywhere from Germany to New Zealand. Europe's environment chief praised "the mobilisation of so many people by Avaaz.org", the UK Prime Minister became the first major world leader to agree to our demand to go to Copenhagen and said that with "the pressure that can brought by organizations like yours...what people think is impossible can become possible".

Different Paths to Saving the Climate - All Up Hill

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I was the 5,767th person to sign (click) the petition "Press Senate on Climate Legislation". They are at the time that this post is ready at 5,881. So they are beyond their modest goal of 5,000 signatures and should probably raise it to 10,000. My added two cents was taken liberally, in true slacktivist fashion, in large part from Millennium Development Goal No. 7. Environmental Sustainability,

We need to recognize that environmental sustainability is part of global economic and social well-being of our entire planet. We must stop the exploitation of natural resources such as forests, land, water, and fisheries-often by the powerful. Reducing poverty and achieving sustained development must be done in conjunction with a healthy planet in our natural world rather than continuing to harm the most vulnerable people in the world who depend on natural resources for their livelihood.

Though in my defense, I still believe that these issues need to be made main stream, which means getting the slacktivists and Internet onlookers on board. It also means linking up the worldwide concerns of the Millennium Development Goals and locally focused programs and actions. So, please take a moment to read about this important issue, and join me in signing the petition. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/588190272

They say that it takes just 30 seconds, but that it can truly make a difference, which is no doubt true. However, there appears to be two parallel paths that this process is taking. One is by governmental bodies which does not seem to be doing that well, despite the Obama administration's repenting of past practices by the United States. Still as they say petitions only succeed by word of mouth, and every signature makes a difference! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/588190272

Two stories from Global Warming by GinaMarie Cheeseman help explain the difficulty of making the "do as we say, not as we do" argument by the First World Nations. The first is U.S. Ranked Seven of Eight on Climate Change.

The U.S. is ranked seven in the G8 Climate Scorecard, in a recently released study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and global insurance company Allianz SE.

So we are not leading by example. The second was G8 Summit Talks on Climate Change a Bust.

Developing nations refused to agree to a global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction of 50 percent by 2050. The the G5 (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa) and Egypt met with G8 countries during the summit in L’Aquila, Italy. G8 nations agreed to an 80 percent reduction by 2050, but did not have specific plans for reducing GHG emissions.

Here is the Los Angeles Times story by Christi Parsons and Jim Tankersley July 9 2009cited in the post.

Climate impasse at G-8 summit leaves nations mired Developing countries refuse to back targets set by the Group of 8, which balk at any swift moves of their own.

Reporting from Washington and L'Aquila, Italy — Developing nations led by China and India refused Wednesday to back lofty but long-term targets proposed by the Group of 8 industrial nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions, balking at reluctance by leaders of the world's biggest economies to move more quickly on their own.

The other path is a more emergent path illuminated by Kosmos Journal Personal to Planetary Transformation and the work of Paul Hawken, who was cited in the post One of the Morally Urgent Questions of Our Moment.

• Diigo tags: environmental, collaboration, innovation

  • Our World

    We are living in a time of whole system transition on a personal and planetary scale that affects every aspect of life as we know it. Patterns of possibility are emerging that have never before been available to all the earth’s people and to the whole planet. Two million organisations are working toward ecological sustainability and social justice, according to Paul Hawken. Millions of individuals are self-organising to make a better world in spite of the negative factors that threaten to destroy us. Technological innovations and collective wisdom have created unprecedented opportunities for change. The revolution in communication technologies and the Internet have made it possible to connect all people in the world for the first time in human history. The new science of consciousness is revolutionizing our attitudes and worldviews, and the interdependence of all life is now an established scientific fact.

Finally, a third path laid out by Al Gore. I do agree with the concept that sustainability, including environmental sustainability, is good for the bottom line of business.

Al Gore: 15 Ways to Avert a Climate Crisis

Al Gore lays out 15 ways to avert climate crisis through our personal and professional lives. He plays a brief slide show and provides examples of many of the ways that these steps are being used in action. Speaking to a business audience at the TED conference he also points out important steps that businesses can take to influence climate change. This talk is available on streaming video and MP3 download from the TED.com website.

Turns out that I have about 20 past posts, provided here, having something to do with MDG7.

Final of 8 days 8 Goals Personal Stories behind the Millennium Development Goals

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This video is the last of an incredible video series on the MDGs provided by the United Nations Millennium Campaign.

We hope that this series has given you a better understanding of not only the issues behind the goals, but more importantly the implications it has for individuals all around the world. We hope you have enjoyed the videos. Stay tuned for an exciting update this week..

The "first" day video is here. The second day video is here. Third day video here. Fourth day video here. Fifth day here. Sixth here. Seventh here.

UN Millennium Campaign Goal 8 Global Partnership

x

Somewhat Related Posts:

The Ledger of Human Development - Accounting For Change

Millennium Project on Trade Fair & Free

Obama best for the Globe according to Europe

Refugees Across the Globe - A Millennium Problem

Financial Fears * Global Challenges * Some Potential Answers

Update on the G20: Not Too Exciting, But It Could Have Been Worse

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I am one of millions watching, blogging over the last few posts, and waiting to see what the G20 would do in London. Thousands of mile away, I have made some slacktivist endeavors to encourage change on a multinational, billions dollar budget, global stage. Hopefully those other fellow millions put together helped make a difference. The EndPoverty2015 campaign, which was one of the impetuses for this blog, provided the following background leading up to the economic summit.

UN MILLENNIUM CAMPAIGN URGES WORLD LEADERS TO PRIORITIZE SOLUTIONS FOR THE POOR AT G-20 MEETING

As world leaders meet in London on 2 April to discuss plans to address the current economic crisis, the Millennium Campaign and our civil society partners are calling on the G20 leaders to prioritise solutions for the poor. The economic crisis threatens to push more than 50 million more people into poverty and reverse achievements made on the Millennium Development Goals.

This crisis, manufactured in rich countries cannot be used as an excuse for rich countries to renege on their aid commitments to poor countries, which are already bearing the brunt of the financial crisis. Read our four policy demands and check out additional background information.

Anita Sharma on G20 Summit in London
Click here and visit the U.N. EndPoverty2015 G20 onlinespecial

Change.org provided an update of the proceedings from Change.org Weekly March 30 - April 5:

The world's heads of state gathered in London at the G20 summit this week to talk about what to do about the economic crisis. Our own Humanitarian Relief blogger Michael Kleinman was there too as a credentialed blogger, reporting on the meetings, food options, and the treatment of the media (hint: it could be better).

After discussing the state of the planet, the world leaders basically promised to do what they'd already set out to do before: reaffirm foreign aid spending pledges, outline new funding for "social protection," and echo their commitment to address climate change. Not too exciting.

Obama best for the Globe according to Europe

Sphere: Related Content The following two articles from EurActiv.com are both from before the election, but they still indicate where we now stand in relation with Europe on the global stage. According to the first article, Obama seen as best to deal with global woes, "both Americans and Europeans agree that Barack Obama is better suited than his rival John McCain to addressing global issues such as the financial crisis and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a new study shows ahead of US presidential elections on 4 November."

Quotes: EurActiv.com - Obama seen as best to deal with global woes

• Obama is seen as the better candidate, both by Americans and Europeans, to deal with the financial crisis and its impact on the economy, which both sides cite as the most urgent issues the new US president should address, ahead of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But Americans are far more concerned about their own economy (85%), while Europeans instead worry about the global situation. Read more »

One point of possible contention could be trade and globalization. I still lean towards globalization in my views but with Fair Trade policies enacted. Whether that is actually doable is another matter. It was some of Barack Obama's early perspectivies on Free Trade that sealed my support for him. He did change the rhetoric during the campaign, but as John Glenn of the German Marshall Fund told EurActiv in an interview, Barack Obama is unlikely to convert his protectionist rhetoric into concrete policies.

Quotes: EurActiv.com - Scholar: Obama protectionism mere 'election talk'

• But I think that it would be a mistake to see him as sort of traditional Democrat who is driven by concerns over, say, the vote of trade unions and would be dramatically different because I think that we are really talking about a different person than say, President Clinton, who really shifted the Democratic party in terms of trade. I think this is a difference of degree over a hardened approach to trade rather than a fundamental approach. Read more »

Refugees Across the Globe - A Millennium Problem

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The last few days have been filled with more learning, studying and research (as well as "real" life work) than in actually writing anything in either of my blogs. Today, however, is the 10th of November and I had committed to creating a post on Refugees on behalf of BloggersUnite. Their work is focusing on Refugees Unite. My post is going to tie this issue with that of the Millennium Development Goals.

There is the question of how many in the world are now refugees because the Millennium Goals have not, and in many of those countries more likely to have refugees populations, are not close to being met.

Refugees face all of the problems that the Millennium Development Goals endeavor to address. Those problems are made far worse because these families are without a country. Getting essential help to refugees is at a minimum difficult, because they are in remote and isolated locations often decimated by natural causes or war, and is in many cases dangerous.

I decided that for this post that I would see what was available from the resources I have connected to this blog. My research did find some successes as in this article from IRIN NEPAL: Bhutanese refugees find new life beyond the camps

Thousands of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal have been successfully resettled in seven countries, including the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and Canada, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

In other news from Business and Human Rights PricewaterhouseCoopers donates $4 million to educate Darfur's refugees. SciDev.Net cites the work of International Organisation for Migration

The IOM was established in 1951 as an intergovernmental organisation to resettle European displaced persons, refugees and migrants.

The news, however, is usually catastrophic as in this International Tribune story Congo refugee camp hit by cholera outbreak. Unlike many migrants in the world today, refugees did not make the choice to leave their homes, it was forced upon them. Sometimes by nature, but all too often by malignant force, IPS writes on the crimes against humanity including refugees by the Myanmar Junta.

An increasing number of refugees have been crossing over to northern Thailand from among the Karen ethnic community, the second largest ethnic group in Burma, or Myanmar. Many of them live in the mountainous Karen State, the territory where South-east Asia's longest --and largely ignored -- separatist conflict is being waged between Burmese troops and the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU).

''Myanmar's troops are overtly targeting civilians; they are actively avoiding KNU military installations. That is why we are describing the attacks as 'crimes against humanity','' says Benjamin Zawacki, South-east Asia researcher for Amnesty International (AI), the global rights lobby. ''The violations are widespread and systematic.''

We must also look to ourselves when blaming others for the blight of refugees. The Overseas Development Institute posted last year on the blight of Iraqi refugees.

The United Nations deals with these problems around the world. Thousands of refugees from Darfur remain along volatile border, Chad: UN distributes aid to refugees left homeless after camp, (more results from www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp), UNRWA: palestine refugees, or What's Going On?: Child Refugees in Tanzania are just a few examples.

There are dozens of more examples that could be found. What is made obvious is that these tragedies are prevalent across the globe and persistent in their nature. Unlike the Millennium Development Goals, which though consisting of 8 goals are seen interrelated and requiring comprehensive action, refugee crises seem to be seen as separate problems. If the world were a human body, the problem of refugees would be analogous to the symptoms of a disease such as cancer, but the challenges of the Millennium Development Goals would be analogous to the underlying disease itself. If you treat only the symptoms you will never address the underlying cause. If the Millennium Goals were now in place so that disasters and war were not as capable of pushing countries beyond the brink of disaster, then would that make the problem of refugees in the world so much easier to prevent and to address.

November 10th, Bloggers Unite for Refugees

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I received the following e-mail from the folks at blogcatalog.

This Nov. 10, all eyes will be on BlogCatalog members and bloggers who participate in Bloggers Unite For Refugees. Will you be one of them?

Ever since we started helping bloggers unite for different causes, we've proven that a little good can go a long way in making the world a better place.

This time, because of our work to increase human rights awareness, many members chose to go one step further to raise awareness for refugees — people who are impacted by these issues. So, on Nov. 10, thousands of bloggers will write about the various challenges faced by the 11 million people who have no country to call home and the 40 million more who have been displaced because of war and natural disasters.

*YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE*

By writing just one post for this cause, you can help raise awareness about refugees and help our partner, Refugees United, connect with local non-government organizations (NGOs) to help refugees in their search for lost loved ones. Their goal is to reunite children with parents, husbands with wives, and family members with friends.

Participating is easy and you can learn more about this event at http://unite.blogcatalog.com. There, you will find action badges, source material for blog posts, and more information about these people who have no country to call home.

With you help, I know we can encourage thousands of more bloggers to get involved and make Bloggers Unite For Refugees as successful as our last event with Amnesty International. It's one of those events that even if we reunite just one family, then we have made an immeasurable impact on the world. Thanks so much for your continued support! We really look forward to reading your posts and the posts of your friends on Nov. 10!

Thanks,
The BlogCatalog Team

-------------------

P.S. We are launching a whole new Bloggers Unite in the coming weeks, make sure to stop by http://www.bloggersunite.org/ and sign up to be notified when it launches!

The site also offers some good resources.

• Learn more about this global problem

  Below are some great links and resouces to help get you started blogging.

  UK Refugee Services
  

  Lutheran Refugee Services
  

  Aotearoa-New Zealand Refugee Services
  

  United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrant Children
  

  Church World Service Immigrant & Refugee Program
  

  Women's Commission for Refugee Women & Children
  

  Additional Links/Resources
  http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/protect?id=3b8265c7a
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statelessness
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/road_to_refuge/default.stm

• On November 10th get the word out and blog about Refugees.

• Spread the love, share your post in the Bloggers Unite Group.

Using the Web to take action is Change

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The outreach of the web as a tool for change is undeniable. What could be questioned is its effectiveness. What seems to insure effectiveness is, like any other political action, is the number who participate. Worrying if my particular post is going to change the world is not useful, but participating even with a small voice in a greater cause does have efficacy.

Being relatively new to this endeavor, I continue to find new resources for engagement. The latest is Avaaz.

Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Sydney and Geneva.

My first action with them was to sign the petition The Poverty Promise Breakers.

This week world leaders gather at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Here, all focus is on a multi billion dollar bailouts of financial institutions and the real untold scandal -- global poverty -- risks being forgotten. France, Canada, and Italy are threatening to slash their development aid budgets and break their promise to assign a mere 0.7 % of national income to the world's poorest. If these countries retract on commitments, others may follow --

Petition to President Sarkozy, Prime Minister Berlusconi and Prime Minister Harper:

As concerned global citizens, we urge you to honour your pledge to deliver 0.7% of GDP to development aid. This aid is vital to lift the world’s most vulnerable people out of extreme poverty. Keep your promise so that the potential of the world’s poorest communities can be unleashed and our common future can be built.

They are looking to reach 150,000 signatures. They were at 136,726 when I wrote this. I grabbed to petition off of the Avaaz site under the belief that people are more likely to sign if they see it immediately as opposed to going to another window. I am taking it for granted that Avaaz won't mind.

clipped from www.avaaz.org

Sign the Petition

Already Avaaz member? Enter your email address and hit "Send".

First time here? Please fill out the form below.

Name:
Email:
Cell/Mobile (optional):
Country:	AfghanistanAlbaniaAlgeriaAmerican SamoaAndorraAngolaAnguillaAntigua and BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaArubaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBermudaBhutanBoliviaBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswanaBrazilBritish Virgin IslandsBruneiBulgariaBurkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroonCanadaCape VerdeCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaColombiaComorosCongo, The Democratic Republic ofCongo, The Republic ofCook IslandsCosta RicaCôte d'IvoireCroatiaCubaCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican RepublicEast TimorEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial GuineaEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFalkland IslandsFaroe IslandsFijiFinlandFranceFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaGabonGambiaGeorgiaGermanyGhanaGibraltarGreeceGreenlandGrenadaGuadeloupeGuamGuatemalaGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHondurasHong KongHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIranIraqIrelandIsraelItalyJamaicaJapanJordanKazakhstanKenyaKiribatiKorea, NorthKorea, SouthKuwaitKyrgistanLaosLatviaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMacauMacedonia (FYROM)MadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMarshall IslandsMartiniqueMauritaniaMauritiusMexicoMicronesiaMoldovaMonacoMongoliaMontenegroMontserratMoroccoMozambiqueMyanmarNamibiaNauruNepalNetherlandsNetherlands AntillesNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNorthern IrelandNorthern Mariana IslandsNorwayOmanOtherPakistanPalauPalestinePanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPolandPortugalPuerto RicoQatarRomaniaRussiaRwandaSamoaSan MarinoSão Tomé and PrincipeSaudi ArabiaScotlandSenegalSerbiaSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSlovakiaSloveniaSolomon IslandsSomaliaSouth AfricaSpainSri LankaSt. HelenaSt. Kitts-NevisSt. LuciaSt. Pierre and MiquelonSt. Vincent and the GrenadinesSudanSurinameSwazilandSwedenSwitzerlandSyriaTaiwanTajikistanTanzaniaThailandTogoTongaTrinidad and TobagoTunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUnited States of AmericaUruguayUS Virgin IslandsUzbekistanVanuatuVaticanVenezuelaVietnamWalesWallis and FortunaWestern SaharaYemenZambiaZimbabwe
Postcode:
Avaaz.org will protect your privacy and keep you posted about this and similar campaigns.

Get Clipmarks - The easiest way to email text, images and videos you find on the web.

Second action with Avaaz.

Report for the World's efforts on mdgs: What we did last week

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According to the Oasis California News Blog the U.N. declares MDG event 'exceeded our most optimistic expectations'.

[T]he U.N. announced new contributions and commitments that it said could amount to $16 billion or more. That total included $4.5 billion to get 24 million more children in school by 2010 by way of the Education for All campaign, $1.6 billion to foster food security, $3 billion to launch the Malaria Action Plan, and almost half a billion dollars in new pledges to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, $2 billion related to child mortality and maternal health, and as well as pledges to support national health plans and access to clean water and sanitation, and education.

The complete list of the pledges, which come from government, private sector, non-governmental organizations and other advocacy groups, is available here

Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation held a World MDG Blogging Day on 25 September 2008. They endeavored to be collaborative. In the last week 43 videos were upload to the In My Name YouTube site. In My Name is an ongoing collaborative effort.

The United Nations Blog on High Level Event MDGs came to an end.

Where do we go from here? That's a question I have been asking myself. We have heard well intended platitudes and promises from governmental officials before. There was little mainstream news coverage on the "High Level" event. The issue did not warrant a question in the first presidential debate. There is still Blogging Day and the Stand Up event coming up next month.

The cause did show some ability to organize a response in a short period of time, but despite all the promise of Web 2.0 these efforts still seem somewhat fragmented and unfocused. I have more to read and think about. Did find another mdg blogger :::the:::mdgs::: . As far as where the United Nations are heading:

No other formal statement was issued at the end of the day, but there appeared to be support for Ban's proposal to hold a MDG review summit in 2010.

General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann announced the start of a consultation process to develop a resolution to outline the process for that meeting, according to a U.N. news release.

In the meantime, I can learn more, write more and connect more.

One Question To Change The World

Sphere: Related Content Another change-agent action from Change.org. When I signed up they were at 69,705 trying to reach 100,000.

1. Featured Action: Get a Question about Global Poverty Asked at the First Presidential Debate

Only two questions about global poverty have been asked in the history of modern presidential debates - a shockingly low figure. In 2008, voters need to know what Barack Obama and John McCain will do to end the most extreme suffering in our increasingly interconnected world. You can help make sure that changes by signing a petition to debate moderator Jim Lehrer urging him to ask "Just ONE Question" on global poverty at the first presidential debate, September 26th in Oxford, Mississippi. Go to http://www.one.org/debates/ and sign the petition now!

Have a great weekend!

- The Change.org Team

The "business" of delivering global health services

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The Millennium Development Goal No. 6. Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases is a major logistical challenge even if the Millennium Project promises are kept.

I lean toward favoring systematic approaches to the challenge of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. A primary resource for creating both the systems and the personnel to run those systems is MIT. I have posted on this previously. MIT goes beyond the narrow focus of individual disciplines and combines them into effective change-agent entities . One combination is is the Sloan School of Business Management and Global Health Care.

GHD Blog » “MIT G-Lab: Global Health Delivery” to provide technical and counseling support to organizations in Africa

MIT Sloan School, GHD Project and MIT teams have made great progress in defining ways to work together to improve health care delivery, including training the cadre of leaders in the field.

The Global Entrepreneurship Lab: Global Health Delivery (G-Lab GHD), the new version of MIT Sloan’s flagship international course, epitomizes the value of this collaboration as it brings together the expertise of MIT faculty with GHD’s experience in implementation.

There is also the need to find creative ways to work with limited resources to make them go further. Below are two doctors, both featured in TED talks, telling of their experiences of dealing with health care issues in the developing countries. Dr. Ernest Madu, talking about the creative tactics he uses to bring good health care to poor communities in Jamaica.

Dr. Ernest Madu: Creative ways to bring health care to the poorest
Dr. Ernest Madu runs the Heart Institute of the Caribbean in Jamaica, where he proves that -- with smart design and creative technical choices -- it's possible to offer world-class health care in the developing world. And it takes nothing more than re-imagining the hospital. Watch this talk >>

#Dr. Seyi Oyesola: Rich hospital, poor hospital
Dr. Seyi Oyesola takes a searing look at health care in underdeveloped countries. His photo tour of a Nigerian teaching hospital -- all low-tech hacks and donated supplies -- drives home the challenge of doing basic health care in poor countries. Watch this talk >>

Diigo tags: glab, MIT, global health, mdg, millennium development goals entrepreneurship, MIT, global

Ending World Poverty Through Entrepreneurial Efforts

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My progressive side just wrote about the efforts of Norway's Government Pension fund to flex its ethical muscles against big businesses such as Wal-Mart. I should make clear though that I see still see a free enterprise as the best, though not only means, of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Now I am not referring to the United Nations reports, but to the on-the-ground changes in the countries where they matter. I am also definitely not a Milton Freidman unfettered free marketer either. I have gained a great deal of respect for the discipline, innovation and inspiration of business people and believe that they should be incorporated into the efforts of social-entrepreneurs. I need to do a more expanded post on social-entrepreneurship some time soon.

One particular resource combining a no-nonsense business mindset with social ideals has been The Entrepreneurial Mind. Dr. Jeff Cornwall's latest contribution in this particular area was on 7/23/08 Entrepreneurship as Tool to End World Poverty. I am paraphrasing his post here.

The Social Equity Venture Fund (SEVEN), funded through a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, just launched a competition offering $50,000 in funds awarded for the best ideas to develop new indicators and models for investment in emerging market small and medium-sized enterprises. This competition, and its results, are one concrete step in demonstrating the power of entrepreneurship, and business, as a sustainable solution to world poverty. Here is a link to the submission site. which is up until November 15. The second phase of wiki-based collaboration takes place between November 16 and December 15.

Small world, Ayesha Lakhani, who was one of those who introduced me to the Endpoverty by 2015 in India project, left a comment.