Enjoying Victories - Whether by Democrat or Republican - Whether by Activist or Slacktivist

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This blog endeavors to support the United Nations' Eight Goal Millennium Campaign by supporting the actions of a number of advocacy organizations including ONE. These actions often involve supporting the many different laws focused on the Millennium Development Goal to End Hunger.

Just before Thanksgiving, I sent in my comments urging my Congressional representative (Republican) to sign on to the Berman-Kirk letter requesting a robust International Affairs Budget. I was told that he would take it under advisement.

Well, whether he supported it or not (not), the overall Berman-Kirk FY2011 Budget Campaign was a Resounding Success and a bipartisan one.

A victory in the fight to "Upgrade Aid" occured when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 15-3 to pass the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act (S.1524) through their committee.

The bill we passed today…is the product of well over a year of research and analysis by Senators and their staffs. It has attracted the support of most development groups, led by the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network. It is co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of 19 Senators, twelve of whom are members of this Committee. This level of backing for a bill related to foreign assistance structure is extremely rare. It provides an opportunity to build something approaching a consensus on this issue.

Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Committee Ranking Member

This legislation demonstrates Congress’s commitment to strengthening the capacity, accountability and effectiveness of our foreign aid programs. With the U.S. facing critical foreign policy and development priorities worldwide, it is vital that we update our foreign aid programs to reflect the new challenges of the 21st century.

Senator John Kerry (D-MA)
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman

I’ve been able to see our foreign assistance dollars in action and am proud of the role we are playing in producing positive change in the lives of millions around the world, but at the same time, I share the frustration of many Americans that our foreign assistance efforts have often lacked transparency, coordination, monitoring and evaluation. This bill begins to reinvigorate USAID to improve the coordination, execution and efficiency of U.S. assistance so we can make each dollar go farther.

Senator Bob Corker (R-TN)
Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on International Development
and Foreign Assistance

This is one of the most significant pieces of foreign assistance legislation that has passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in decades. I am proud that this is truly a bi-partisan bill, developed in a collaborative manner and that it includes input from a wide range of voices. These programs are critical to millions of people around the world, they contribute to our mutual economic health, and are in the direct national security interests of the United States.

Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance

Over 47,000 ONE members signed the petition
19 senators signed on—
9 of these since the campaign was first launched.

Sheila Nix, the U.S. Executive Director, ONE.org tells us that the next step for aid reform will be the White House Presidential Study Directive on U.S. global development, which General Jim Jones and Dr. Larry Summers are working on right now. Stay tuned to the ONE Blog and your email for updates and opportunities to take further action.

The need for this effort is made clear by the testimony of Dr. Helene Gayle, president and CEO of CARE.

In the video she testifies in defense of Global Hunger and Food Security legislation, specifically the Global Food Security Act (HR3077) and the Roadmap to End Global Hunger Act (HR2817).

However, it seems that these bills are still languishing so the work still needs to continue.

UN Budget Shortfall Financial Industry Receives 10 Times More Money in 1 year than Poor Countries Receive in 49 Years

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I am back to posting to this blog, hopefully on a regular and more frequent basis. Although I raised a number of different aspects of the Millennium Development Goals that will need to be addressed to see their successful implantation, the most critical one is still funding, only things are getting worse. Two sources on the same subject, one from Change.org and the other from the Millennium Campaign.

Budget Shortfall from Change.org

It seems like everyone is facing a massive budget gap this year, and the United Nations is no different. Of the $9 billion that the UN was supposed to receive for humanitarian aid this year, the organization has only received half. And that's despite the fact that more people - some say upwards of 43 million people - are relying on UN aid than ever before. Humanitarian Relief blogger Michael Kleinman studies the budget shortfall at the UN and how this might impact humanitarian relief throughout the globe. Turns out that the problem is partly about a lack of money, and partly about a lack of political will. (Read More)

Directly from the United States Millennium Campaign which reported that on June 23, 2009 , the United Nations Millennium Campaign released an analysis showing that since the inception of aid (overseas development assistance) almost 50 years ago, donor countries have given some $2 trillion in aid. Yet over the past year, $18 trillion has been found globally to bail out banks and other financial institutions.

The stark contrast between the money dispersed to the world's desperately poor after 49 years of painstaking summits and negotiations and the staggering sums found virtually overnight to bail out the creators of the global economic crisis makes it impossible for governments to any longer claim that the world can't find the money to help the 50,000 people who are dying of extreme poverty every day," said Salil Shetty, Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign. "This is a straightforward question of political will. Rich countries' priorities will become crystal clear at this week's summit on the economic crisis, where we hope they will finally deliver on the aid they have repeatedly pledged but not delivered to those who need it most."

The Campaign is therefore calling on donor countries to immediately and unconditionally do the following:

• Agree to a timetable to accelerate delivery of their aid commitments.
• Make rapid progress toward achieving the Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda to simplify and streamline aid, including a clear timetable for implementation of existing commitments.
• Reduce and/or eliminate all trade-distorting agricultural subsidies.
• Ensure that poor countries are fully represented in all decision making bodies and in the restructuring of the global financial infrastructure.

Millennium Campaign is calling on poor countries to immediately do the following:

• that national development policies and plans are pro-poor and focused on women and excluded groups.
• Prioritize expenditures on the Millennium Development Goals.
• Ensure accountability and transparency in the management of public money.
• Prioritize domestic resource mobilization.

Go to www.youtube.com/mcampaign to watch the videoclip.

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World Leaders Pledge $1.1 Trillion for Crisis

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The New York Times has an article today in INTERNATIONAL / EUROPE | April 03, 2009 World Leaders Pledge $1.1 Trillion for Crisis By MARK LANDLER and DAVID E. SANGER.

Their focus is on President Obama. I was interested more in the measures proposed by the Group of 20 that would reverse the global downturn and address issues of concern to this blog. Though I have quoted from the news article, the links go directly to the IMF webpages.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain, host of the Group of 20 summit meeting called to fight the crisis, announced at its conclusion that the leaders had committed to $1.1 trillion in new funds that would greatly increase the capital available to the International Monetary Fund.

“This is the day the world came together to fight against the global recession. Our message today is clear and certain: we believe that global problems require global solutions.” Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister

This is not the same, in my view, as the long term and sustainable solutions proposed by the Millennium Development Goals themselves. It is a quick and necessary fix.

China is expected to contribute $40 billion. Japan and the European Union each pledged $100 billion. The United States has said it will contribute $100 billion, too, though that requires Congressional approval.

So the next action I would expect from Change.org and Avaaz would be to get Congress to fund the $100 billion. What I have to wonder is if we had a world that had fully funded the Millennium Development Goals in a timely manner, would we have found our selves in this mess.

Accession of African Activists. A DIY approach to the MDGs

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The last post talked of the failure of developing countries to met their promise of the Millennium Development Goals. This post deals with those taking on the responsibility themselves. They may not speak of the Millennium Development Goals but they are working to fulfill its promise. These, and more, are all from TED Talks Africa, The Next Chapter, which can be found at the right-hand column under Learning More About the Issues.

Ory Okolloh: The making of an African activist
Ory Okolloh tells the story of her life and her family -- and how she came to do her heroic work reporting on the doings of Kenya's parliament. Watch this talk >>

Elene Gabre-Madhin on Ethiopian economics.

Happiness is not just a privilege for the lucky few, but a fundamental human right for all, and what is happiness? Happiness is the freedom of choice. Freedom to choice where to live, what to do, what to buy, what to sell, from whom, to whom, when and how. Where does choice come from and who gets to express it? And how do we express it? Well one way to express it is the market. Well functioning markets provide choices and ultimately the ability to express one's pursuit for happiness.

Euvin Naidoo on investing in Africa

About this talk

South African investment banker Euvin Naidoo explains why investing in Africa can make great business sense.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on aid versus trade

About this talk

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former finance minister of Nigeria, sums up four days of intense discussion on aid versus trade on the closing day of TEDGlobal 2007, and shares a personal story explaining her own commitment to this cause.

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.

Big business can and should make ethical investments

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Back on 7/20/08 the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre wrote Big business can and should make ethical investments.

Many people think ethical investments are a worthy but inconsequential sideline away from the business of making big money an indulgence for do-gooders. But the example of the second largest sovereign wealth fund (SWF) in the world, after Abu Dhabi's, may give them food for thought. Norway's Government Pension Fund, worth a dizzying 203bn, frequently flexes its ethical muscles. [refers to Wal-Mart, BAE Systems]

They got their story from the Gwladys Fouché's article in the Guardian on Sunday July 20 2008. Her statement that big businesses can and should make ethical investments is an "ought" statement not a "true/false" statement. I not sure I count the Norway's Government Pension Fund, as big business per se. More like a "big business" watchdog populated it would seem by those with an activist's mindset. That should not be surprising as Norway is one of only five countries meeting the basic funding goal for the millennium development goals. The article does raise the question and possibility of ethical investment by businesses. She links to the article on Understanding ethical investment by By David Elms Chief executive, Unbiased.co.uk.