Edith Fuyane, 76, is a widow who cares for her four young grandchildren. Current affairs in Zimbabwe have brought nothing but hardship to many doorsteps in her area—including her own.

Hers is a story that can be heard across the country, where poor harvests coupled with a generally hostile economy has seen many people going for days without a meal. The effect of these food shortages? Less than a fifth of children under 2 receive the recommended minimum acceptable diet for adequate nutrition, while 28 percent are stunted or have heights to low for their age.

Indeed, stunting, low birth weight, and wasting are common sights in rural Zimbabwe, where mothers struggle against a myriad of conditions to give their children the nutrients they need to live, learn, and grow. The recent effects of the worst El Nino storm to hit the country in 75 years left as many as 2.4 million people in need of food aid, the majority of whom are women and young children.

But with so few resources to go around, one increasingly popular way of fighting malnutrition is by empowering local people like Edith to produce their own nutritious food, which can both feed vulnerable mothers and children, and be sold on to provide them with an income.

Edith is one of more than 1,000 urban farmers in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, who have formed groups to support their own nutrition and that of the city as a whole.

Along with about 150 other community members—including people living with HIV and AIDS—from Tshabalala, Sizinda, and Tshabalala townships, Edith grows iron-rich foods like beetroot, spinach, onions, tomatoes, and cabbages.

In a country where almost 60 percent of children under 5 suffer from anaemia, the importance of access to fresh food cannot be overstated.

“This is certainly boosting not only our purses but most importantly nutrition,” says Edith. “The vegetables are fresh, unlike when we would buy them elsewhere.”

The farming project is just one of many that have been financed by the United Nations. Seeds and tools are provided, as well as a solar-powered borehole to ensure that the women can produce food all year round.

“We cannot afford to water our home gardens as the municipality imposes stiff penalties on excessive water use,” says Edith. “So this is indeed a lifesaver.”

Boosting nutrition is a major concern in a country where millions face food insecurity. Just last month, UNICEF said tens of thousands of children face malnutrition after countrywide crop failure.

However, these seemingly small contributions led by local citizens like Edith have become the vanguards in the campaign for healthy livelihoods for the most vulnerable.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation is promoting urban nutrition gardens, noting that vegetables have a short production cycle, and vegetable growers such as Edith have little or no transport, packaging, and storage costs. The ripple effect of communities having access to cheap, nutritious food has allowed many more children able to concentrate at school and avoid the worst effects of malnutrition.

Meanwhile, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has emphasised the role of women in improving the socio-economic conditions of millions in the continent, and the nutrition gardens led by women that are dotted around the city of Bulawayo are a big part of that quest for better livelihoods.

As Zimbabwe’s food crisis and economic challenges continue, it is community gardens and people like Edith who are providing hope for many.

If YOU want to help end child malnutrition, join ONE today to make a difference!

The post How this 76-year old grandmother is fighting food shortages in Zimbabwe appeared first on ONE.

We have handpicked 8 of the best #GlobalGoal busting startups that are gaining serious momentum:

DIYLaw (Nigeria)

This all-female startup is using digital technology to create easy access to legal services in Nigeria. “DIYLaw is making legal [assistance] one less challenge to grapple with. Our value propositions are transparency, simplicity, and affordability,” says co-founder and lead counsel Odunoluwa Longe.

The startup recently won the SME Empowerment Innovation Challenge for East and West Africa at the Innovating Justice Forum. It aims to be a one-stop hub for all things legal with a view to eventually providing the service across Africa. A fantastic way to the fight for justice at a grassroots level.

DIY Law team at the Innovating Justice Awards. Photo credit: DIYLaw

WeFarm (Kenya)

WeFarm is a free peer-to-peer service that enables farmers to share information via text, without the internet and without having to leave their farm. Farmers can ask questions and receive crowd-sourced answers from other farmers around the world in minutes, a super speedy solution to some of the issues affecting sustainable agriculture.

Their website states: “Smallholders have generations’ worth of farming knowledge to share. We believe that farmers are experts. Now, they have a way to share their expertise. The time has come to give farmers a voice instead of giving ‘top-down’ advice.”

Launched in November last year, WeFarm already has over 38,000 users and is targeting more than 500,000 active farmers by the end of 2016.

Vula Mobile (South Africa)

South African startup Vula Mobile connects general health workers in remote areas with specialists in hospitals via a mobile app. The startup is initially focusing on eye health.

The Vula Eye Health mobile app aims to change the way that primary health workers access information, carry out eye tests, connect with specialists and make referrals. It is the brainchild of South African doctor William Mapham, who saw the potential for technology to improve referral networks while working in a hospital in rural Swaziland.

https://youtu.be/QfRD3_ROv9s

BRCK (Kenya)

Tech communities are booming all over Africa, but it remains challenging to get and stay connected in a region with frequent blackouts and spotty internet hookups. So Juliana Rotich and her colleagues developed BRCK which offers resilient connectivity and is “the easiest, most reliable way to connect to the internet, anywhere in the world, even when you don’t have electricity.” It is essentially a rugged router that can hop from network to network seeking out signal to connect to the net.

Obami (South Africa)

Obami is a customisable and adaptable e-learning tool that is already present in over 400 schools. The platform allows for communication and collaboration within, and between schools – a social network where students, parents and teachers can discuss educational projects in a safe space.

Founder Barbara Mallinson has said: “Taking on the education system is a real challenge, so what we’ve decided to focus on going forward is changing the way we learn, as opposed to changing the education system.”

“I feel excited about Africa, particularly in terms of upliftment and development. We’re seeing amazing advances in technology adoption across the continent, which will boost access to information.”

Project Isizwe (South Africa)

Project Isizwe believe that internet access should not be determined by the socio-economic conditions of the individual, but be “based on the principles of social solidarity, equity and fairness”. Their aim is to facilitate the roll-out of free WiFi in public spaces for low-income communities.

They took home the “Best Connectivity Solution for Africa” award at AfricaCom 2015 in November. Chief Operating Officer Zahir Khan said in his acceptance speech: “A digital nation and continent will ensure Africa’s position as the continent with the most opportunity.”

Project Isizwe believes in connectivity for all – with a focus on access for the purposes of education. Photo credit: Project Isizwe

UpEnergy (Uganda / USA)

UpEnergy – like ONE – are concerned that inefficient and dangerous cooking and lighting methods are causing millions of premature deaths each year and that hundreds of millions of people across the world still lack access to clean water.

This is why they finance, build, and support distribution channels for high-efficiency stoves, water purification technologies and solar lights. Their model also uses a carbon crediting initiative which helps make these clean energy products affordable in the developing world.

Photo credit: UpEnergy

Skynotch Energy Africa (Kenya)

Skynotch addresses the issue that only 23% of Kenyans have access to electricity. They identify a need for clean energy in unconnected areas and thus provide renewable energy access solutions, solar lantern distribution, project development with small hydro and solar farms, and water pumping and purification initiatives.

Solar lamps change the lives of students by giving them more time to read. Photo credit: Skynotch Africa

These young companies are helping shape and transform the future of Africa. But YOU can play your part too.

JOIN ONE today to urge our leaders to tackle health, education, poverty, energy, justice, connectivity and so much more by making the #GlobalGoals a priority!

The post 8 African startups leading the way to ending poverty appeared first on ONE.

In 2016, we have the opportunity to accomplish so much, starting with the 17 Global Goals! Check out the difference that can be made in the world if we achieve these goals:

1. No Poverty

1 in 7 people live on less than $1.25 a day. But if we reach Global Goal #1…

2. Zero Hunger

1 in 9 people live with chronic hunger everyday. But if we eradicate hunger…

3. Good Health and Well-Being

Every minute, 219 children get life-saving vaccines, but 11 under the age of 5 still die- mostly from preventable causes. But if we achieve the good health and well-being goal…

4. Quality Education

The same number of girls are going to primary school in the UK, as those NOT going to primary school in Ethiopia. But if we can guarantee quality education for children everywhere…

5. Gender Equality

39,000 girls under the age of 18 become child brides everyday. That’s more than a whole classroom of girls every single minute. But if we can create a world where gender equality is a reality…

6. Clean Water and Sanitation

More people own a mobile phone than have access to a toilet. But if we can achieve the clean water and sanitation goal…

7. Affordable and Clean Energy

1 in 6 people on the planet don’t have access to electricity. That’s like more than the whole of Europe and Northern America living without power. But if we can provide affordable and clean energy to all parts of the world…

8. Decent Work and Economic Growth

There were 168 million child laborers worldwide in 2012, more than 10x the number of people who visited Disneyland in the same year. But if we can reach the decent work and economic growth goal, then…

9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

80% of household in developed countries have internet access, compared with just 7% of household in the least developed countries. But if we can achieve the industry, innovation, and infrastructure goal…

10. Reduced Inequalities

The richest 85 people in the world own as much as the poorest half of humanity. But if we reduced inequalities around the world, then…

11. Sustainable Cities and Communities

More than half the people in urban sub-Saharan Africa live in slums. But if we can create sustainable cities and communities, then…

12. Responsible Consumption

In 1900, the world produced 300,000 tons of rubbish a day. In 2000, the world produced 3 million tons of rubbish a day. But if we can become responsible consumers, then…

13. Climate Action

200 million people were hit by natural disasters every year between 2000-2012. That’s the same as every Instagram user having their lives turned upside down, year on year. But if we can become more environmentally responsible, then…

14. Life Below Water

There are more than 5 trillion plastic particles floating in the world’s oceans. Together they weigh more than a thousand blue whales. But if we can create cleaner and healthier oceans…

15. Life on Land

10,000 species are going extinct every year. Since 2000 we’ve lost the Yangtze river dolphin, the West African black rhino, and the Formosan clouded leopard. But if we achieve the life on land goal, then…

16. Peace and Justice

1.8 billion of the world’s poorest people were not registered at birth so do not legally exist. That’s like every young person in the world aged 10-24 suddenly disappearing. But if we could achieve peace and justice around the world, then…

17. Partnerships for the Goals

in 2014, 30% of all aid went to the poorest and most vulnerable countries. But if the world worked together to make the Global Goals a reality, then…

THIS is why the #GlobalGoals are so important. Make sure 2016 is the first of many years that work to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues. Get involved and take action TODAY!

The post 17 New Year’s resolutions for the world appeared first on ONE.

Here are the Global Goals to change the world:

Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere

You’ve seen the news, the global financial crisis, the global warming, the civil wars. HOW can we be anywhere near achieving this?! Well, did you know: since 1990 we’ve more than halved the number of people living in extreme poverty? Now we need to step up efforts to completely end it by 2030.

Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

The hunger/poverty cycle is a difficult one to break, but that is necessary if we want to live in a world where everyone has the ability to fulfil their potential. Did you know there are over 870 million people who are hungry in the world at this exact moment? The kind of hunger that stops a body being able to work the hours that it needs to, that stops a brain being able to concentrate in class, that stops a person living in poverty being able to lift themselves out of it. This goal will not only make sure everyone has enough food, but that we can make sure it is nutritious and sustainable to grow.

Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

To quote Martin Luther King Jr:  “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” That’s why access to healthcare and medicine is a top priority. Where you live should not be a barrier to the quality of healthcare you receive. Goal number 3 will also focus on drug rehabilitation and alcoholism as a way to tackle early mortality rates in developing countries.

Children at Mwangaza Tumaini School in Mukuru, Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: Morgana Wingard/ONE.

Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Education is key to driving progress in development, from agriculture to child mortality – for example, a mother who had completed primary education reduced the risk of stunting by 22 per cent in Bangladesh and 26 per cent in Indonesia. As part of our Poverty is Sexist campaign ONE has called for girls and women to be put at the heart of the development agenda, which is why we welcome the goal of gender parity for not only primary and secondary education, and equal access to vocational and university education.

Girls at school in Ghana. Photo: Morgana Wingard/ONE

Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

As President Barack Obama said on his recent trip to Kenya; “Any nation that fails to educate its girls or employ its women and allow them to maximize their potential is doomed to fall behind the global economy”. We couldn’t agree more. It’s been shown in a recent paper that female-headed households have seen faster poverty reduction than male-headed households, as they are more likely to re-invest their money in the family. This goal will ensure that we take everyone forward in our fight against extreme poverty.

Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

1 in 9 people lack access to safe water. More people have a mobile phone than a toilet. In 2015, it doesn’t seem like this should be the case. That’s why, by 2030, this goal will work to get access to safe and affordable drinking water for all. It will also work to provide access to sanitation and hygiene for everyone, specifically looking at the needs of women and girls. This could be amazing.

Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

600 million people in Africa don’t have access to reliable sources of energy. Achieving this would mean families don’t have to cook over open fires, moms don’t have to give birth in the dark and kids don’t have to try to do their homework beside a kerosene lamp. It won’t be an easy task, but through expanded infrastructure and upgraded technology, we can reach it. This goal will also encourage sustainable and efficient energy sources, contributing to a better world for everyone.

Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

This doesn’t just mean continued growth, but also full work for women and men, for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value. It also means taking immediate and effective measures to get rid of forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking, and, by 2025, end child labour for good. That’s HUGE.

Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

We’ve shared a lot of stories about innovators around the world who are changing our lives for the better. Sustainable infrastructure will support economic development and overall human well-being, including for small businesses. By 2030, more industries will be more sustainable by adopting clean and environmentally-friendly tools and processes. And the best part? This means better financial, technological and technical support to African countries, including access to the Internet.

Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries

Together we’re stronger – with men and women, and all countries working together, we can make this world a better place. This goal helps emphasize that hope. It covers everything from income growth to equal opportunities and inclusion of all – and it should lead to better representation of developing countries in the global conversation. It also encourages directing official development assistance to the people and places that need it the most: that’s a big deal.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Makes sense that people should be safe, right?! This goal will make sure people everywhere have access to safe and affordable housing and basic services, safe roads and transportation systems. It will also make sure people are protected in disasters and that cities are paying attention to their environmental impact.

Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

To achieve a better world, we have to take better care of our resources. This means more responsible and sustainable practices that will reduce our world’s waste by 2030. Pretty crazy, but it will take all of us to inform ourselves and those around us about the best way to take care of our earth.

Melting sea ice. Photo Credit: www.nasa.gov

Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

If the point of these 17 goals is to get us to a better world, then we can’t forget the planet we call home. We have to be more aware of what is damaging our environment and have better responses.

Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

Seventy per cent of our planet is covered by water, so it’s important to add oceans to the list. We have to work to reduce marine pollution and make sure we’re preventing future problems. It also requires us to protect and conserve marine life, so oceans continue to be healthy and productive.

Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

Want more nature adventures? Then this one’s for you. We have to make sure we are taking care of our forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands responsibly, which means no more reckless tearing down of forests. And we can’t forget the other species that we share this earth with – we have to make sure protected species are safe from harm.

Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

This is super important. We can’t live in a world where people’s lives are at risk or where institutions are dishonest. This goal makes sure there is equal access to justice for everyone, everywhere – and will work to make sure people are safe from abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence. If that wasn’t enough, it also calls for transparency from governments and other institutions to reduce corruption.

Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development Finance

This goal is making sure developed and developing countries are working together and that official development assistance targets are being met. You’ve helped us campaign on a lot of this before – telling world leaders to #DoWhatsRight and making sure our aid goes to those who need it. That’s what we need world leaders to continue to do, so that all countries can reach their potential.

THIS is why the #GlobalGoals are so important. Get involved & take action TODAY!

The post *Just announced* the U.N. adopts 17 #GlobalGoals appeared first on ONE.

A pivotal moment is set in the calendar in a few short weeks. In Addis Ababa on 13-16 July, leaders and Ministers from around the world will gather to discuss how to finance development, just before the new Global Goals – the sustainable development goals – are set to be launched in September. 2015 represents an opportunity for the world to end extreme poverty once and for all. The development of these new goals and the conversation about how to finance them is a critical first step in putting the needs of the poorest first.

It is timely then that Pope Francis just released an encyclical focused on climate change and the vast inequalities that exist in the world. The encyclical recognises how these inequalities are most devastating to the world’s extremely poor. As an organisation committed to seeing the end of extreme poverty, ONE is particularly encouraged by the Pope’s focus on the tremendous impact that access to energy and agricultural development can have on the lives of the poor.  

The encyclical appropriately recognises the need for developing countries to increase energy production and access for their people; and calls on developed countries to help finance innovations in clean energy production. We also applaud the Pope’s commitment to ending extreme poverty through sustainable and diversified agriculture. As the encyclical states, “Agriculture in poorer regions can be improved through investment in rural infrastructures, a better organization of local or national markets, systems of irrigation, and the development of techniques of sustainable agriculture.” We fully agree that a “global consensus” could lead to planning for such improvements.

With this encyclical, Pope Francis joins a growing number of world leaders who recognize the devastating impact of poverty, hunger & malnutrition on the world’s poorest, and how climate change exacerbates that. Just last week G7 leaders announced a joint commitment with the African Union to install 10 GW of renewable energy in Africa, and declared their aim to bring 500 million people out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030. These are exactly the types of interventions we need to bring more electricity to those who currently do not have access, and the bold targets we need to have to reach zero hunger in the world.

Climate change hits the most vulnerable first and hardest by exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and reducing resilience to external shocks. The needs of the poorest must come first, with action on climate change matched by action on extreme poverty.

As Pope Francis says “Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combatting poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded and at the same time protecting nature.” If world leaders can take up Pope Francis’ call to action and make sustainable agriculture and energy a priority in their assistance to the world’s poorest, then that would truly be praiseworthy.

The post Pope Francis on the impact of the world’s inequalities appeared first on ONE.

Our Youth Ambassadors campaigning at this year’s G7 Summit.

As the G7 Summit concluded yesterday, leaders agreed to work for an end to extreme poverty and hunger by 2030. This is brilliant news, but we need to make sure that these commitments are kept!

Over the last few days, governments from the world’s richest countries have signed up to initiatives to; empower girls and women, which was what we called for with our Poverty is Sexist campaign, reduce the number of people living in hunger and malnutrition by 500 million, and learn the lessons of Ebola in order to respond faster to disease epidemics.

They also committed to reverse the decline in aid to the least developed countries and reconfirmed existing commitments including EU countries allocating 0.7% of national income to aid. One of our biggest asks this year was that the least developed countries started to receive a higher proportion of aid, so this is a great step in the right direction!

Our brilliant Youth Ambassadors campaigning in Munich this weekend – calling on G7 leaders to be #MoreThanHotAir!

These are all incredible outcomes and reflect an inspiring year of campaigning from ONE members around the world, but the fight is not over…

We’ve broken down the official G7 communiqué and pulled out the good, the not-so-good and the definitely-not-good:

Official Development Assistance

Our G7 ask for overseas aid.

Good: It’s the first time ever that the target to deliver 0.7% of national income in aid that binds several countries is mentioned in the main communiqué (and the first reference in any G7/G8 document since 2005). This is a welcome signal a month before world leaders meet in Ethiopia to agree their development spending for future years.

Not-so-good: The objective needs a credible and ambitious timeline, ideally with a deadline of 2020.

Good: The acknowledgement from the G7 that the trend of aid to the least developed countries declining since 2010 needs to be reversed is welcome.

Not-so-good: We are disappointed that they have not yet joined developing countries and others such as Belgium and Ireland in backing a concrete target: at least 50% of aid should be allocated to the least developed countries, at the latest by 2020.

Climate funding

What we wanted from the G7 Summit.

Good: We welcome the confirmation of the G7 to mobilise $100 billion jointly with other partners. Leaders must ensure that in delivering this, the very poorest countries are prioritised.

Not-so-good: We are concerned by the fact that the G7 does not mention the internationally agreed principle that this funding be new and additional to existing aid commitments.

Hunger and malnutrition

ONE’s policy objective on agriculture at the G7 Summit.

Good: If the G7 delivers on its promise to enable 500 million people to free themselves from hunger and malnutrition by 2030, they will have made a strong contribution to the end of hunger. This is likely to be one of the new ‘global goals’ and we are encouraged that Schloss Elmau has given it early momentum.

While the ambitious figure the G7 have put out today should encourage others, there is a lot of work for the G7 to do: in our experience, big G7 announcements are only worth as much as the accountability framework and the funding behind it. Development partners must mobilise $15bn every year if they want to meet the target of lifting 500 million people out of hunger and malnutrition.

Girls and women

We know #PovertyIsSexist and we are calling on the G7 to end that!

Good: For the first time ever, the G7 has agreed on an initiative supporting women and girls in G7 and also developing countries: with the increase of vocational training of women by a third, the G7 offers a trackable outcome target – though we believe that future summits must build on the ambition of this initiative. This initiative is a very welcome and long overdue step. The G7 needs to seize one more opportunity to this end this year: the conference Chancellor Merkel will organise in September.

Health

We want to make sure an atrocity like the Ebola outbreak last year is never repeated.

Good: Chancellor Merkel promised to make health and the lessons learned from Ebola one of the big priorities of her G7 presidency. The G7 commitment to assist at least 60 countries over the next five years to prevent future outbreaks from becoming epidemics is a tangible contribution, and the mention of the Global Finance Facility is welcome.

Not-so-good: The level of ambition and level of financial commitments to all health initiatives mentioned need fleshing out. These initiatives that the G7 has launched with other partners mean the world will be in a better position to fight an epidemic outbreak such as Ebola.

However, the G7 seems to have learned only part of the lesson of Ebola. In addition to response capacities, there is the less glamourous task of strengthening local health systems. This is mentioned but not adequately addressed.  Health care workers are completely absent from the communiqué. The G7 can’t stop here on health, and the Global Fund Replenishment in 2016 will be an important test of the G7’s resolve to deliver.

Tax transparency

The best way to ensure financial accountability is to champion transparency.

Definitely-not-good: It has been two years since the G7 committed to include developing countries in the progress made against tax evasion. However, no concrete results have yet been delivered. None of the least developed countries are part of the new system of automatic exchange of tax information and no G7 country has agreed to give them access to the data crucial to investigate against fraud. The G7 also stopped short of fully disclosing the real owners of companies and trusts.  This is even more disappointing as the summit took place against the backdrop of the FIFA scandal that showed one more time how shell companies are used to launder dirty money – a process that robs the poorest countries of billions of dollars that could be used to fight poverty.

AU/G7 initiative on renewable energy

Our campaign to bring energy to Africa!

Good: The ONE Campaign applauds the announcement of the joint AU/ G7 commitment to install 10 GW of renewable energy in Africa.

Lack of access to electricity is a problem that plagues over 630 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, and undercuts progress on every development front.  The generation of new renewable energy will provide electricity that can improve access to quality health care, education, and economic opportunity that is necessary to see the end of extreme poverty.

All in all, the outcomes of the G7 feel very positive, but we need to keep up the pressure to ensure that that the new Sustainable Development Goals announced in September are good and famous enough!

The post What we thought of this year’s G7 Summit appeared first on ONE.

#Globalcitizens of the world unite – for this year we have an historic world leaders’ summit and a confluence of conferences. There have never been so many gatherings of the great and the good, but it’s all globaloney – without you.  World leaders will be deciding all our fates for us, so we need to #demandbetter from them, and remind them they work for us.

Here are the key movement moments when activists must be loud and clear. If we get each of these right, we could ensure 2015 becomes a powerful turning point. If we don’t, we will regret bad or absent decisions for a generation to come.

15th January: action/2015

Launch of the action/2015 movement – a new network of global citizens backed by ONE, Civicus, Save the Children and a thousand other groups and leaders like Malala and Melinda Gates. Together we’re dedicated to holding world leaders accountable in the fight against poverty, inequality and climate change. Read this open letter to world leaders published today.

21st January: World Economic Forum in Davos

ONE Cofounder Bono in a panel at the 2014 World Economic Forum at Davos. Photo credit: World Economic Forum.

As world leaders gather in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, listen carefully to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s speech about her G7 agenda, and pay heed to Bill Gates’ annual letter. This year Davos needs disrupting: as Pope Francis said, “Wealth must serve people – not the other way round”. ONE is also demanding that economic empowerment for women and girls is taken seriously this year – otherwise we will never end extreme poverty.

27th January: Gavi conference, Berlin

Mothers and babies at a health centre in Kenya. Photo: Morgana Wingard/ONE

Leaders must pledge at least $7.5bn for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to prove their seriousness in the fight against disease and poverty. And to ensure money to fight Ebola or climate change doesn’t come out of budgets for life-saving vaccines. There’s real jeopardy here – right now we might be $500m short, maybe more.

8th March: International Women’s Day

Princess Adeyeo, Monrovia, Liberia. Photo: Morgana Wingard

This year, women’s empowerment and gender justice groups will team up globally with anti-poverty activists as never before – watch this space.

April: IMF & World Bank meetings, Washington DC

Photo: Global Financial Integrity

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings are key opportunities for the world’s finance ministers to propose plans to finance the fight against extreme poverty for the next 15 years.  These plans must be finalised by July.

7th May: UK General Election

These are crucial elections when the UK’s aid and foreign policy will be hotly debated. The UK isn’t the only key election this year – Nigeria has a massive election in February, Canada and Tanzania in October.  40% of the citizens of African nations vote in 2015 – the largest number ever.

June: G7 Summit, Schloss Elmau, Germany

At this summit of the world’s seven biggest economies, and at a special meeting on women’s economic empowerment just after, Chancellor Merkel will make her case to the world’s leaders on the fight against extreme poverty, for sustainable development and for gender equality. It’s critically important that Germany secure agreement here to target 50% of aid to the very poorest countries (it’s less than a third now), and get agreement on transparency and accountability of all promises made.

June & July: African Union Summit

A few days after a woman hosts the G7, another woman – Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma – chairs the African Union summit on women’s economic empowerment. Taken together this can be a south-north breakthrough in women’s empowerment policy. It’s quite mad that in many regions of the world, women can’t inherit property, they can’t own land, they can’t open a bank account, and they can’t stay in school. This injustice must end.

July: Financing for Development

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Photo: Sam Affron, Flickr http://bit.ly/1DGqEDn

This meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is the uber-gathering for global poverty geeks. The nerdathon must agree the definitions of aid and the numbers needed to finance development for a better, safer planet for the next 15 years. The T word will be bandied around with gay abandon (Trillion). But key details for ONE will be whether there is agreement that half of aid goes to the very poorest nations, and whether we can clearly track all the promises made through dramatically improved open high-quality data, through a much needed data revolution. And then crucially whether the money within developing countries stays there and is not stolen through corrupt natural resource deals and secretive shell companies.

18th July: Mandela Day

Let’s always remind ourselves of the great man’s words: “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.”

September:  United Nations

Photo: Huffington Post

Around the 26^th September, all the leaders of the world will agree great inspiring goals – such as eradicating extreme poverty by 2030 and ensuring access to justice for women and decent education for all girls. This new global compact between everyone on the planet, must be shared with everyone on the planet, so they know about the promises just made and can then hold leaders accountable. Remember: politicians only keep their promises when they are made to do so.

November: G20, Turkey

Emerging nations like Turkey, Brazil, India, China, all members of the group of 20 largest economies, or G20, must step up and be great global citizens too. This means ensuring their companies aren’t corrupt when securing contracts with developing countries to extract natural resources, and improving transparency. We will not eradicate extreme poverty if the world’s resources are plundered through corrupt deals, then the stolen funds hidden through secretive offshore companies.

20th November – 11th December: Climate Summit, Paris

Farm in western Kenya. Photo: C. Schubert (CCAFS), Flickr http://bit.ly/1DGtdW4

At this summit, we must see a deal which helps the poorest fight climate change. The poorest smallholder farmers in drought-prone regions in Africa are already the worst hit. It would be a travesty if deals struck take funds away from those on the front line.

1st December: World AIDS Day

Funding for the fight against HIV/AIDS is a great marker of progress in the fight against poverty and diseases. Our colleagues at (RED) will be big again on this day, drawing more people in and driving them towards action and, by 2030, the virtual elimination of deaths from HIV/AIDS.

1st January 2016: Happy New Year!

New Year’s fireworks in San Francisco. Photo: Peter Thoeny, Flickr http://bit.ly/1DGvctu

Huh? The biggest date of 2015 is really in 2016. On one-one day 2016, we will be able to look back on the year that just was and decide: did world leaders agree great inspiring goals? Did they promise to fully finance them? Did they make the promises clear and transparent so people can follow whether they happened, backed up by decent open data?

Did we build a bigger, stronger movement of effective, informed global citizens, that brought millions more people in? Is this movement now armed with a smart global scorecard with which citizens the world over can hold leaders accountable? Well, whether this has all happened depends on the first 14 moments.

We’re going to need your voice like never before this year. Join us on this great great journey of justice – start by making your personal pledge to do more and #demandbetter from our leaders.

The post 15 moments that could change the world in 2015 appeared first on ONE.

Every year, the Tech Awards recognises individuals and organisations that are doing just that – significantly improving human conditions in the categories of environment, education, health and economic development through tech. Some of these technologies are completely new inventions, and others are innovative uses of existing technologies.

Here are 10 of the best innovations of 2014 who will be honoured in the Tech Awards’ Gala on November 13.

1. Inventive Power – Reducing CO2 emissions through solar thermal energy collectors

Inventive Power’s specially designed solar panels. Photo credit: Inventive Power.

The problem:  Natural gas is the most common fuel source for generating industrial thermal energy, but many Latin American countries don’t have widespread natural gas distribution systems. Both natural gas and a common alternative, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), are fossil fuels whose combustion generates CO2, contributing to global climate change.

The solution: Inventive Power created a specially designed solar thermal energy collector, to generate high temperature steam for electrical power production. The system can fit on the roof of most industrial facilities, and reduces fossil fuel consumption by up to 80%.

Impact: For the average customer, an installed system will reduce LPG consumption by more than 50,000 tons over the next 5 years – saving millions of dollars – and reduce CO2 emissions by over 130,000 tons over the same time period.

2. Source International – Fighting pollution through community training

Community members look at the dangerous block of sulfite in their town. Photo credit: Source International.

The problem: Extractive industries (e.g. mining and drilling) have greatly increased activities in low-income countries in Latin America in recent decades. Communities and indigenous peoples living near mines and drilling sites often suffer severely from pollution, but may have limited tools to demonstrate that contaminants such as heavy metals are present in their water, air, and soil and are responsible for their health problems.

The solution: Source International offers poor communities a suite of scientifically-validated testing technologies to examine their water, air, and soil for a variety of chemical contaminants. Community members have the sampling and data analysis they need to seek justice from polluters.

Impact: To date, Source International has worked with 15 communities in Mexico and Latin America. Successes have included changes to mining laws in Honduras, implementation of clean-up plans in the Peruvian Amazon, and millions of dollars in compensation for community members in Carrizalillo, Mexico.

3. Worldreader – Increasing literacy through e-readers

Problem: Although literacy rates are improving, 781 million adults in the world cannot read or write.

Solution: Worldreader uses inexpensive e-readers with extended battery life to provide books to children and young people. The program support the e-readers with extensive training and capacity building for teachers, facilitators, and librarians, and features fun activity plans that are designed to nurture a love for reading.

Impact: To date the project has reached more than 200,000 people in 27 countries, providing them with more than 5,000 book titles in 23 languages.

4. Gooru – ‘Personalising’ the K-12 classroom

Customizing education for efficient learning. Photo credit: Gooru.

Problem: K-12 teachers often have little flexibility in addressing each student’s needs within the school day, and are forced to adjust their instruction to the “average” student in their classroom. Technology makes it possible for teachers to personalise learning tools, but finding the right tools from the vast number of resources now available online can be intimidating or overwhelming.

Solution: Gooru provides a free learning facilitator for teachers to easily customise instructional content using digital collections from a catalogue of educator-vetted, standards-aligned content. Students are more engaged by personalised learning experiences, and teachers are able to track their progress through data analytics.

Impact: Gooru has been adopted by educators in over 140 countries.

5. PAK-Energy Solution – Bringing clean fuel to homes in Pakistan

Setting up a biogas tank. Photo credit: PAK-Energy Solution.

Problem: More than 16 million rural families in Pakistan do not have access to clean-burning fuels for cooking and heating, resulting in health problems for women and infants, environmental degradation and increased poverty.

Solution: PAK-Energy, headed by Ali Raza in Lahore, Pakistan, has developed a small, sustainable domestic biogas unit that generates sufficient biogas to satisfy a family’s cooking and heating needs, while reducing or eliminating fuel purchases (thus saving money), reducing waste production, and producing non-toxic organic residues that can be sold as fertiliser.

Impact: PAK-Energy has installed seven pilot projects in Lahore, and has plans to scale to more than 25,000 units in 5 years.

6. Nanoly – Making vaccines easier to deliver

Traveling through rough roads to bring vaccines to rural parts of Haiti. Photo credit: Living Proof.

Problem: Last year, nearly 20 million children did not receive immunisations and close to 2 million people died from vaccine preventable diseases. One factor contributing to this is the need to refrigerate most vaccines, which is not only expensive, but difficult to maintain in remote rural areas.

Solution: Nanoly is developing a biomaterial that encapsulates and protects thermally-sensitive biologics during storage. Nanoly’s primary customers will include pharmaceutical companies and non-profit vaccine distributors such as UNICEF.

Impact:The hydrogel product is expected to go on the market in 2017.

7. Operation ASHA – Tracking TB treatments more accurately

An Operation ASHA outpost. Photo credit: Operation ASHA.

Problem: Tuberculosis (TB) is a global health problem focused on the poorest people of the world. TB is difficult to treat effectively in this population, given limited access to healthcare and the long course of antibiotics necessary to cure the infection.

Solution: Operation ASHA created the eCompliance project to combine biometric technology, deployed by community health workers to ensure continuous and effective delivery of antibiotics to TB patients in India. Fingerprint log-ins allow nurses and health workers to accurately identify every patient, and record their ongoing compliance with treatment.

Impact: OpASHA has facilitated treatment of more than 30,000 TB patients to date, with over 5,000 patients currently under care through 159 clinics in India.

8. Gradian Health Systems – Making hospital equipment that works everywhere

Photo credit: Gradian Health.

Problem: More than 2 billion people in low to middle income countries have limited access to safe surgical services. Unreliable electrical power, poor equipment maintenance, and a lack of compressed oxygen can render safe anesthesia delivery impossible using equipment designed for wealthier countries.

Solution: The Universal Anesthesia Machine (UAM) is a robust delivery system able to operate when necessary without compressed oxygen or continuous grid power. The UAM is easier to use and much less expensive than conventional anesthesia delivery systems, and has been rigorously validated in healthcare settings from the UK to Sierra Leone.

Impact: More than 80 UAM’s are currently in use in hospitals and clinics in 18 countries, with 400 clinicians and technicians trained in their use.

9. myAgro – Helping small farmers in West Africa save up for seed and fertiliser

Photo credit: myAgro.

Problem: Approximately 75% of the population of West Africa are rural subsistence farmers. Banks and microfinance institutions focus on urban clients and have strict lending requirements. With only 7% of the population having access to a regular bank account, it is very difficult for most farmers to save money for fertiliser and seed in preparation for the planting season.

Solution: The myAgro technology platform enables farmers to enroll at harvest time, plan how many hectares they want to plant the following season, and open a mobile savings layaway account to save up to buy enough fertiliser and seed to meet those goals. Because myAgro buys high-quality seed and fertiliser in bulk, farmers pay less for their inputs. They also get access to expert advisors.

Impact: myAgro currently has 5100 farmers enrolled in Mali and Senegal. Using their unique client ID, farmers in remote villages can add money to their account at any time simply by sending an SMS message from a mobile phone.

10. Sanergy – Making sanitation accessible and affordable

Children line up to use a Sanergy toilet. Photo credit: Sanergy.

Problem: In Kenya, 8 million slum residents lack access to adequate sanitation. Diarrheal diseases alone, spread by poor sanitation, kill nearly 1.6 million children each year worldwide.

Solution: Sanergy builds and franchises a network of small-scale, high-quality sanitation centers featuring their innovative “Fresh Life Toilets”. These centers are run by local entrepreneurs and receive ongoing operational support. Waste from the toilets is sealed into 30L cartridges, collected, and delivered to processing centers that convert the material into higher-value products: biogas (sold as cooking fuel) and organic fertiliser for farmers.

Impact: Since launching in 2011, Sanergy has opened 387 franchises in the Mukuru slum in Nairobi, providing more than 15,000 residents with access to sanitary toilets

Which innovation impressed you the most? Tell us in a comment below.

Tune into a live stream of the Tech Awards Gala 2014 on November 13, 7:40 PM ET, to see these incredible innovations being honoured for their contributions to humanity. 

The post 10 incredible tech innovations that will benefit humanity appeared first on ONE.

You probably haven’t heard about it, but this week decisions are being taken that could mean the difference between poverty and dignity for millions of people.  Diplomats from UN member states are finalising a draft blueprint for the post 2015 development agenda and the stakes could not be higher.

Today, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Malala Yousafzai, Graca Machel, Bono, Mo Ibrahim and Muhammed Yunus have joined forces to sound a warning that 2015 is a year of huge opportunity, but also of huge risk.

In a strongly worded open letter, they are calling on world leaders to make next year a transformative year in the fight against poverty, inequality and climate change. Next year, the UN’s development framework – known as the Millennium Development Goals will reach its deadline and be replaced. A new climate treaty will also be agreed.  Together, these two processes could determine what kind of world we live in in 2030. They write:

What is at stake here could not be greater, for it is not less than the future of our human family and the world upon which we all depend.

It is fitting that on Mandela Day these Nobel laureates, moral and religious leaders and campaigners are urging our politicians to be ambitious. They are demanding goals that will build on the dramatic progress we have seen in some areas and guide us on a path that gives people everywhere a chance to live a life of dignity.

2015 is an historic opportunity for change. A focused package of ambitious but achievable development goals can really empower grassroots citizens of the global south – and those globally who campaign in solidarity with them – to demand and receive vital life-saving and life-changing health, education and infrastructure services from governments.

A global movement is taking shape to call for urgent action, justice and for leaders to seize this chance to secure a better, safer world for all. ONE’s 6 million members will be campaigning alongside activists from hundreds of organisations worldwide who care about justice.  The letter says:

If decision makers get this wrong, the real risk is that progress is lost, we see higher levels of poverty, hunger and more armed conflicts.  Eradicating the injustice of extreme poverty is within our grasp – we can’t and we won’t let this opportunity slip.

Read the full letter and share their message

The post Bono, Malala & Desmond Tutu send stark warning to world leaders appeared first on ONE.

Eight hundred thousand.  That’s the most remarkable number to emerge in reports from the typhoon-hit Philippines in the last few days.  In a story of lives lost, homes destroyed and people uprooted, 800,000 people were reportedly moved by the authorities to safe shelters as the storm approached. 

It’s an extraordinary achievement and one that could easily be forgotten.  As that country counts the awful cost of all it has lost, one thing seems clear: it could have been even worse.  The country’s disaster preparedness system saved many lives.

But not every dimension of the disaster could be predicted.  ‘We were ready for the wind, but not the wall of water,’ the president’s adviser said this week.  That wall of water was estimated at 40 feet high. How do you prepare for that?

In my ten years working with Oxfam and Save the Children, who are both playing a big part in the emergency operation in the Philippines right now (in the UK as part of the Disasters Emergencies Committee), I came to realise two things: first, that most disasters involve both predictable and unpredictable elements, and the challenge is to prepare equally for both; and second, that emergency humanitarian response and long-term development work are intimately related.

In one way or another, most development activity seeks to increase people’s resilience in the face of a range of threats, so that when disaster strikes – whether through the loss of a family breadwinner, a failed harvest, an economic recession, an outbreak of conflict or the bite of a mosquito – the damage is limited.

Wealthy countries have all sorts of tools of resilience – from tidal barrages to social security systems.  People in developing countries are not so lucky – but increasingly their investments in resilience, often backed by international aid, are enabling them to weather the storms that block their path to self-sufficiency and prosperity.

Take Ethiopia’s experience of drought and hunger.  As Owen Barder smartly explained in his appearance on BBC Newsnight this week, the devastating impact of the crisis of 1984/5 was in stark contrast to what happened 24 years later, when Ethiopia survived another extreme food crisis even as parts of neighbouring Somalia descended into outright famine.  Ethiopia’s determined building of food stocks, early warning systems, agricultural techniques and programmes to bolster livelihoods meant the difference, for many, between life and death.

Around the world the dominant response to the Philippines disaster has been one of generosity, compassion and a determination to act.  Millions of pounds are pouring into the Disasters Emergencies Committee appeal in the UK, ensuring that British charities can respond quickly and in a coordinated way to the disaster.  And the UK government has been quick to respond too, with more than £20 million committed from Britain’s aid budget at the time of writing.  Across Europe, North America and beyond, citizens and their governments are responding.

Governments, of course, can only do this with the consent of their people, through aid budgets that allow emergency resources to be found quickly.  For those who campaigned successfully for the UK to invest 0.7% of its national income in support to developing countries, Britain’s response to the typhoon is further evidence of the difference those campaigners have made.  A small but vocal minority has argued for the closure of Britain’s aid programme.  If they had won, what would we be saying to the people of the Philippines now?

Even this week, a few are using the Philippines emergency to question the wisdom of long-term development aid.  The argument put forward, for example by Ross Clark in the Times, is that if we could “rein in” spending on long-term development projects, there would be more to spend in humanitarian emergencies.

This is barely more sensible than saying we should cut spending on counter-terrorism in order to spend more clearing up in the aftermath of a suicide attack.

In fact the types of projects Ross Clark labels “of dubious value” are among the very things that are needed to build resilience.  His hit list – small loans to people trying to work their way out of poverty, support to people to help them secure rights to land, promotion of gender equality in Afghanistan and so on – sounds like exactly what we need more of, not less.

Last week I was in Addis Ababa and visited the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange. With its traders in brightly coloured jackets and electronic ticker on the wall, it could be in any great financial city in the world.  International aid supported its creation.  And it has had a profound effect in ensuring Ethiopian coffee farmers can get a fair price and a predictable market for their products, which in turn is transforming the fortunes of the country.

Ethiopia has halved extreme poverty since 1990 and can now see a path to virtually eliminating it altogether.  It’s hard to imagine a better investment than that.

So as we dig deep to help the people of the Philippines, let’s remember that immediate humanitarian response and long-term development investments do not compete with each other.  At their best, they work hand-in-hand.  And the more we can build long-term resilience, the better the chances of weathering the next storm – whatever form it takes.

Support the emergency response in the Philippines by donating to the UK Disasters Emergencies Committee or this list of US/international agencies.

And support the long term resilience of people fighting poverty by joining ONE.

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