Bono at the California Women's Conference...

Sharing this Youtube video of Bono at the California Women's Conference speaking about the importance of development assistance, and Keep Our Commitments Campaign to hold both presidential candidates accountable in the fight to end extreme poverty.

Georgia Crisis Update...

A handful of disabled children, unaware of the danger that could have befallen them may have saved the Senaki Institution they live in.

During the recent war in South Ossetia, Georgia, an attack helicopter passed through the Senaki Institute, a residential school for 105 mentally and physically disabled children abandoned by their parents. The helicopter was poised to shoot its missiles. Some of the children, unaware of the danger – went to a window facing the helicopter, made eye contact with the pilot and began waving to him. A moment later, the helicopter pilot left, abandoning the apparent mission he was supposed to accomplish.

UNICEF and its German National Committee raised hundreds of thousands of euros to help restore and maintain the institute. The sports equipment and school supplies UNICEF delivered to the Senaki Institute also helped distract the children from the turmoil of the war surrounding them.

Funding appeals and humanitarian action updates...

Sharing this article from UNICEF...

Funding appeals and humanitarian action updates...

Over one million people are in risk of food insecurity and floods up until the next harvest in April 2008 and consequently women and children under five will become more exposed to malnutrition and infections as well as to abuse and exploitation. Underlying a situation of food shortage are two mutually reinforcing causes of insecurity, namely a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and chronic poverty, which need to be addressed in tandem with food aid.

Approximately 200,000 women and children under five will be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2008. Recent weather forecasts by the Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Global Forecasting Centre for Southern Africa all indicate an enhanced likelihood of flooding in Malawi up until March 2008. Floods have already displaced many in neighboring Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia and the main commercial corridor from central Mozambique to landlocked Malawi has been cut and is causing delays in the transportation of food and fuel destined to Malawi, resulting in shortage of petrol. Cholera remains a major threat in rural and peri-urban areas in Malawi with recurrent outbreaks during the rainy season from November to April and is particularly a major risk factor in flood situations because of the possible and immediate break down of water and sanitation facilities. UNICEF is requesting US$ 2,487,750 to respond to the needs of children and women.


The humanitarian crisis in Malawi has a particularly serious impact on children and women, who are most vulnerable to food insecurity. More than one million children under the age of five, pregnant and lactating women are in need of humanitarian assistance. In November 2005, the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC) revised the initial number of people in need of food assistance until end of March 2006 to include some 4.9 million; an increase of some 700,000 people compared to the original estimates of 4.2 million in June 2005. The combination of HIV/AIDS, severe shortage of quality health staff and food insecurity has resulted in high mortality rates among children in Nutrition Rehabilitation Units.
UNICEF is requesting an additional US$ 4.5 million to respond to the urgent needs of children and women.


Maize prices are increasing beyond the reach of many. The high cost of fuel and dwindling Government stocks have accelerated the onset of the hungry season by up to three months. Admissions of severely malnourished children to Nutrition Rehabilitation Units (NRUs), already 30 percent higher than this time last year, are expected to triple the coming months. As the number of moderately malnourished children rises sharply, supplementary feeding programmes must be rapidly scaled up to prevent children becoming severely malnourished. Faced with this rapidly deteriorating situation, UNICEF requires US$ 13 million to support life saving interventions, in particular in the area of nutrition.

MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS...

Many are probably unaware that there was even such an event in 2000 like the "MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS." Continuous efforts are being done to this day by countries and cause-oriented organizations to help achieve these goals.

As a backgrounder, in September of 2000, 189 world leaders from Member States of the United Nations gathered for the Millennium Summit at United Nations headquarters in New York.

Though the Goals are for all humankind, priorities were focused on children for the following *reasons (*source: UNICEF):

Because six of the eight goals relate directly to children. Meeting the last two will also make critical improvements in their lives.

Because meeting the Goals is most critical for children. Children are most vulnerable when people lack essentials like food, water, sanitation and health care. They are the first to die when basic needs are not met.

Because children have rights. Each child is born with the right to survival, food and nutrition, health and shelter, an education, and to participation, equality and protection – rights agreed to, among others, in the 1989 international human rights treaty the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention has been ratified by 192 states, every country in the world except two. The Millennium Development Goals must be met for these basic human rights to be realized.

Because reducing poverty starts with children. Helping children reach their full potential is also investing in the very progress of humanity. For it is in the crucial first years that interventions make the biggest difference in a child’s physical, intellectual and emotional development. And investing in children means achieving development goals faster, as children constitute a large percentage of the world’s poor.

I have attached links to the 8 Millenium Development Goals that may be of interest to readers.

GOALS:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

Education for All...We Cannot Afford to Fail

“I didn’t know what else was in the world. I had never even seen paper until I was rescued four years ago, and it was then I first went to school. Now, I want to be able to read and write. I want to be a teacher when I grow up.”

These were 11-year old, Devli Kumari's words when she spoke at the United Nation's event to launch the ‘Education for All’ campaign during the General Assembly session.

Devli spoke of her life and experience as a child laborer in India. The event was attended by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan, UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman, pop stars Bono and Bob Geldof, and other dignitaries.

She is a step closer to realzing her dream to be a teacher. As she spoke, a group of government and private-sector partners were making a pledge of $4.5 billion to help educate some 15 million children worldwide over the next three years. The partners are participants in, ‘Education for All: Class of 2015’, the campaign launched during the event. The pledge came from corporations such as Intel, Microsoft and Cisco, civic and sports associations such as FIFA, charities, faith groups and the Governments of Australia, France, Norway, Spain, Saudi Arabia, the European Union and the United Kingdom.

After the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, where world leaders pledged to ensure universal primary education by 2015, it still has not met its goal. UNICEF’s programmes focus on ensuring the right to quality education for all girls and boys, eliminating gender disparities in education, restoring learning in emergency situations and helping to rebuild education systems in post-crisis transition countries.

As Queen Rania of Jordan put it, “Schools don’t just build lives, they save lives. It is a test we cannot afford to fail.”

Just ONE Question...

The word "shocking" is very apt if one realizes that historically, since the Kennedy-Nixon presidential campaign to this date, only two questions were ever raised on poverty during presidential debates. Josh Peck and Chris Scott of the ONE Campaign have sent out e-mails making everyone aware on this. ONE Campaign is encouraging its members and their friends to spread awareness on the magnitude of poverty, by launching the “Just ONE Question” campaign to get the fight against global poverty asked at the 2008 presidential debates

Thinking about it, there were poor nations that have in the past, tried to hide the real plight of their less fortunate countrymen. I can still recall that when international events took place here, two administrations had built high concrete walls on main thoroughfares that the foreign guests were expected to pass through to hide the sorry state of many poor people. True, the image of poor shanties was unsightly, but it also gave an impression that the government was trying to hide the true situation of the nation....many were impoverished and something had to be done about it.

I posted Josh Peck's e-mail below and the link to the petition at http://www.one.org/debates to Jim Lehrer asking him to include issues in the first presidential debate next Friday.

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Dear ONE member,

Two. Only two questions about global poverty have been asked in the history of modern presidential debates, going back to Kennedy-Nixon in 1960. That’s less than 1% of all questions asked.

To change that shockingly low figure, ONE is launching a new campaign to get “Just ONE Question” about the fight against global poverty asked at the 2008 presidential debates.

The first debate at the University of Mississippi at Oxford, Mississippi, will focus on foreign policy and is only 10 days away. Take action now by sending the message below to debate moderator Jim Lehrer. Click the link and we’ll send your message to Mr. Lehrer, urging him to ask Just ONE Question on the fight against global poverty.

At the presidential debate, please ask John McCain and Barack Obama just ONE question about their plans to fight global poverty.

This first debate will happen just one day after world leaders gather at the United Nations in New York for an emergency meeting on the Millennium Development Goals – the global pledge made in 2000 to halve extreme poverty and global disease by 2015.

Meeting those goals will require unprecedented U.S. leadership during the next eight years. For at least four of those years, John McCain or Barack Obama will be our president. It’s up to us to make sure that the issues being discussed at the United Nations in New York are also being raised with Senators Obama and McCain at the debate in Mississippi.

We can’t afford to have another presidential debate that ignores extreme poverty and global disease. Please ask Jim Lehrer for Just ONE Question on global poverty, and we’ll deliver your message to him next week, right when he’s sitting down to decide what he’ll ask the next President of the United States:

Thank you for your voice,

Josh Peck, ONE.org

The G8 has made several promises to help eliminate global hunger and poverty. The Data Report 2008 details the promises of the G8 focusing on the eight key promises made by the 8 super powers in the world.Below are excerpts of what the G8 has promised from the Data Report 2008. Visit the ONE Campaign website for details on the G8, their promises and what has been done so far.

Key Promises Download full report PDF (963kb)

Development Assistance
Underlying all of the ambitious sectoral commitments made in 2005 was the commitment to mobilise an additional $25 billion in development assistance for Africa by 2010 and to spend this money effectively.

Debt
The 2005 commitment on debt was to cancel 100% of the multilateral debts owed to the IMF, World Bank and the African Development Bank (ADB) by Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs). The effort, known as the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), was designed to deliver multilateral cancellation in a manner that would ensure that the institutions would not lose financing capacity as a result.

Trade
Development assistance can help bridge unmet financial needs as countries strive to meet the MDGs, including the goals set out in the Gleneagles Communiqué, but in the long run countries want and need improved trade opportunities to fuel development and growth.

Health
The health commitments made by the G8 in 2005 were ambitious. The G8 committed to provide universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and care; to fully scale up efforts to fight TB; to reach 85% of those in need of malaria prevention and treatment; to fulfill the financing needs to eradicate polio; and to build health systems so as to fulfill basic child and maternal health access.

Education
Education is another sector in which the G8 committed to work with African governments towards a lofty but achievable goal - to ensure that all children complete a full course of primary schooling.

Water and Sanitation
The commitments made to water and sanitation at the Gleneagles Summit were not as robust as commitments made to other sectors. In the Gleneagles Communiqué, the G8 committed to increasing aid to the sector and referenced a 2003 pledge to prioritise water and sanitation as part of their overall ODA allocation.

Governance and Security
Good governance and security are critical preconditions for achieving meaningful poverty reduction in Africa and must be front and centre in G8 and African efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

Progress in Africa
In this year’s report, in addition to monitoring the governance and security commitments made by African governments, DATA has tried to present some of the key sectoral commitments made by African leaders on health, education, water and sanitation and trade.

Peace One Day...

The number of artists advocating for a cause is increasing. That's indeed good to know.

In Kabul,, Afghanistan, British actor and Peace One Day envoy Jude Law and Jeremy Gilley, film director and founder of Peace One Day campaign, travelled to Afghanistan for a two-day mission. While there, they screened a new documentary, ‘The Day After Peace’, about the efforts of ordinary Afghans in support of peace.

Both asked all parties involved in the conflict to observe Peace Day again on September 21. The peace documentary focused on activities that took place throughout Afghanistan in September 2007. It also highlights support from UNICEF and the World Health Organization for the peaceful immunization of 1.4 million children against polio in insecure areas.

The Septemebr 21 Peace One Day will be celebrated with a special concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London featuring Annie Lennox and other well known musicians. The concert will feature videos and appearances by Mr. Law, UNICEF UK Goodwill Ambassador for Emergencies Martin Bell and other activists and celebrities.

For more details on the Peace One Day activities, visit the UNICEF site.

Somalia..."A Forgotten Crisis"

With so many crises going on around the world, many countries surrounded by so much violence and poverty are in dire need of attention and assistance. But because of the gravity of the situation and to safeguard the welfare of media people, there are no press coverages to show the real situation.

Somalia is one such forgotten nation. The UNICEF has exerted much effort to try and bring aid to people there. It's quite shocking to read that a report by the Food Security Analysis Unit of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization noted that over the next 12 months, 3.6 million people – one-half of the population – will be totally dependent on food aid and emergency assistance.

Feeding clinics have been established by UNICEF and its partners to assist severely malnourished children. Though it would be ideal for the adults to be taught self-sufficiency to be able to sustain and support themselves, the escalation of violence in certain parts of the region has added to the difficulty in giving aid to the already impoverished nation.

However, UNICEF Representative in Somalia Mr. Christian Balslev-Olesen said, there are no journalists reporting from Somalia for security reasons. So the outside world does not get to see the real situation. Somalia "is a forgotten crisis.”

Gates Foundation Promises $17.6-Million in Emergency Food Grants

I'd like to share this good news from the Chronicle of Philanthropy. I first read this bit of news from the ONE Campaign Blog. It's a good feeling to know that there are people who can generously share their wealth to the less fortunate...

August 14, 2008

Gates Foundation Promises $17.6-Million in Emergency Food Grants
By Caroline Preston

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation says it will donate $17.6-million to help people who have been affected by rising food prices worldwide.

An estimated 950 million people are at risk of hunger and malnutrition worldwide because of high food and fuel prices, according to the United Nations. Young children and women are suffering the most, while small farmers have been particularly hard hit by increases in fertilizer and transportation costs.

The largest grant, $10-million, will help the U.N. World Food Program feed young children and mothers in Niger, Cote d’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso.

The additional money will be split among Catholic Relief Services, Mercy Corps, and Oxfam America to provide food, jobs, and assistance to farmers in poor countries.

Short and Long Term

While the grants announced Thursday focus on immediate needs, the Seattle foundation is also supporting efforts to improve farm production.

“The current global food crisis requires immediate action to feed people most at risk,” said Sylvia Mathews Burwell, president of the foundation’s Global Development Program, in a statement.

“In the longer term,” she said, “since agriculture and the needs of small-scale farmers in the developing world have been increasingly neglected in recent decades, we need a significant reinvestment in agricultural development from donors and developing countries
that focuses on helping small farmers boost their yields and increase their incomes.”

Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, in Boston, said the $2-million grant to his charity will expand its hunger-relief efforts in Ethiopia, where more than 225,000 people have been affected by drought. The grant will be used to provide food aid to children and help communities reduce their risk of future droughts, among other efforts.

“This funding comes at a critical time, when people worldwide are striving to save the lives, and the livelihoods, of millions who are suffering,” he said. “Malnutrition continues to grow as global food prices for rice, wheat, and corn have risen 83 percent worldwide over the past three years.”