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Sydney Smith

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Henry Northover, WaterAid

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Monthly actions

Action packs are created every month for RESULTS activists and are used as a focus for monthly conference calls and Briefing and Action meetings. Please feel free to take this action separately.

February 2010

Education for All?: How the international aid architecture should help conflict-affected fragile states

Last week UNESCO announced that 72 million primary-school-aged children are still out of school in the world. While much progress has been made, a cohort of the most marginalised children are being left behind: girls, disabled children, ethnic and linguistic minorities, and crucially those who live in states affected by conflict.

The current international aid system struggles to deliver aid to education in these states. Reform is currently underway at the Fast Track Initiative, which is currently the best mechanism we have for coordinating aid to education, but remains unable to support many conflict-affected states. We must ensure that this reform is swift and effective.

Listen to the conference call guest, Janice Dolan of CfBT Education Trust (download 3.73MB mp3 file, 33 minutes)

January 2010

The Robin Hood Tax: revitalising global efforts towards the Millennium Development Goals

This action is currently under embargo until early February. We are therefore currently unable to publish the action sheets or conference call recording on this page. If you are a RESULTS activist and would like to receive either the action sheets or the recording of the call please contact julia@results-uk.org 


As the new decade begins we look back on progress that has been made towards the Millennium Development Goals since 2000. Greater commitment is needed if we are to reach the goals by the target date of 2015.

A new proposal for a broad financial transaction tax could raise $400 billion every year. With a percentage of this sum going to efforts to reach the MDGs we would have a secure, sustainable source of funding for human development in the world's poorer countries, allowing governments to plan long-term investment in services such as health and education.

December 2009

A life-saving tax? - how a currency transaction levy could help meet the health MDGs

1st December is World Aids Day. To mark the occasion RESULTS activists will be writing to their MPs about the potential for a currency transaction levy to raise vital additional funds for global health, and to help to meet the $28-37 billion funding gap for meeting the health-related Millennium Development Goals.

Momentum is building in the campaign to establish the on the foreign exchange market, which would apply at the tiny rate of 0.005% but could raise $33.4 billion annually. Recent votes of support have come from Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, while Gordon Brown added his support just a few days ago.

It is vital that we capitalise on this opportunity to ensure that more of the world's poor do not pay the ultimate price for our collective failure to put enough resources toward tackling health issues such as HIV/AIDS and TB.  

Listen to the conference call guest, David Hillman of Stamp Out Poverty (download 19MB mp3 file, 43 minutes or for a slow connection download 10MB file, 43 minutes)

November 2009

Forgotten issues in child health: How to save a million lives

This month RESULTS activists will be speaking to community groups across the UK about the importance of sanitation and hygiene for child survival, and asking them to take action. This action will be to send a card with a personal message to Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada and Chair of the G8 in 2010, to ask him to use his international prominence next year to launch a child survival initiative that has sanitation and hygiene as a top priority.

Nearly 3 million children die every year as a direct result of their lack of access to sanitation. For too long global efforts to save children’s lives have ignored water and sanitation, meaning that these entirely preventable deaths have continued.

Listen to the conference call guest, Dr Rhona MacDonald of The Lancet (download 4.1MB mp3 file, 45 minutes)

October 2009

Global handwashing day: Clean hands save lives

This month we will be writing to the media to highlight Global Handwashing Day.

Handwashing with soap is one of the most effective measures we have to tackle the two leading killers of children: pneumonia and diarrhoea. Although it’s such a basic intervention, handwashing has so far not been sufficiently prioritised either by country governments or by donors.

It is estimated that universal handwashing with soap could save a million lives every year. We will be calling for the UK to scale up its investment in this essential intervention to match the promise it holds.

Listen to the conference call guest, Dr Val Curtis of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (download 3.45MB mp3 file, 38 minutes)

September 2009

User fees: time for action

We have a unique opportunity to make a difference on this decades-old issue – in early August the Guardian reported that Gordon Brown had written to the heads of several developing countries to offer the UK’s support to remove user fees for basic healthcare.

It is exciting to see Britain taking an active stance on the issue, and we must capitalise on the moment to ensure that the World Bank, which has dragged its feet on this issue for decades, follows the UK’s lead.

Listen to the conference call guest, Rob Yates of the Department for International Development (download 3.99MB mp3 file, 44 minutes)

August 2009

Microinsurance for climate change: Creating a climate change deal that reaches the poor

In December, delegates from over 180 countries will gather in Copenhagen to create a new climate change deal. We must ensure that this deal benefits those who need it most: the poor in developing countries who are already seeing climate change destroy their homes and livelihoods.

This month we will be writing to our MPs to ask them to push for a climate change deal that really reaches the poorest through the innovative technique of microinsurance.

Microinsurance is the provision of affordable insurance premiums to the unbanked poor. If funding for this mechanism is included in the Copenhagen deal we will not only see poor farmers becoming more resilient to climate disasters, but also achieving greater financial stability.

Listen to the conference call guests, Dr Koko Warner of the United Nations University and MCII and Aaron Oxley of MicroEnsure (download 7MB mp3 file, 43 minutes)

July 2009

A new global compact on Education for All: An open letter to the G8 

Over the past few years, RESULTS has been pushing donors to fully fund the Fast Track Initiative (FTI), a partnership designed to ensure that aid to basic education is co-ordinated and supports comprehensive education plans developed by the recipient country.

The FTI has had some notable successes, but it faces a funding deficit and is struggling to reach many of the world's most vulnerable children. 

This month we will be writing to the media to ask Gordon Brown - a major supporter of education in developing countries - to support a call for the G8 to establish a Global Fund for Education. This will build on the successes of the FTI, making it possible to reach the 75 million children who are still denied a basic education. 

June 2009

The missing millions: Education for the world's disabled children

Over one third of the primary-school aged children who are out-of-school in the world are estimated to be disabled, but the challenge of getting them into the classroom remains ignored by governments and multilateral institutions.

This month's action looks at the barriers that prevent action on this vital issue. We will be writing to the Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics to ask him to lead a global effort to monitor progress.

Listen to the conference call guest, Philippa Lei of World Vision UK (download 8.59MB mp3 file, 37 minutes)

 May 2009

The clock is tickingEuropean Parliament elections: Keeping development on the agenda

The clock is ticking for the European Elections in June 2009. The EU is the biggest aid donor in the world, so it's crucial that our representatives in the European Parliament support the scaling-up of aid to tackle global poverty. We can't let the recession push millions back into misery.

 April 2009

IMF: Time for change

For too long IMF policies have had a devastating impact on health and education in developing countries. With IMF reform high on the political agenda it is a good time to speak out to ensure that these harmful policies are abandoned.

March 2009

Crunch time for TB?

There are growing concerns that the current global economic downturn may have serious implications for global health spending. As World TB day approaches we must let people know that now is NOT the time to cut back on health spending. 

February 2009

Microcredit crunch?    

In these uncertain times, microfinance initiatives offer hope and opportunity to millions of the world’s poorest people and we must continue to promote it as a proven and effective method of empowering people to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

Our action this month will be to meet with our MPs to make sure that they are aware of the positive impact that microfinance can make to development as well as to inform them of the recent news that over 100 million of the world’s poorest now have access to microfinance services.

January 2009                     

Microcredit, macro impact

This month we celebrate an important milestone in the expansion of microcredit: 100 million of the world’s poorest people now have access to microfinance services.

This month we will be writing to the media to highlight this imprtant achievment. 

December 2008

Living with HIV, dying of TB

TB is the leading infectious killer of HIV positive people in the developing world, and responsible for the deaths of one-third of HIV/AIDS patients worldwide.

Our action this month is to urge the Global Fund to do more to help countries scale up their fight against TB-HIV.

Listen to the conference call guest, Tony Harries of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (download 10.4MB mp3 file, 31 minutes)

November 2008

Unclogging the sanitation crisis

2.6 billion people – that’s two in every five people around the world – lack access to safe basic toilet facilities, with hugely detrimental consequences for health, the environment, social development and human dignity. It is estimated that the Millennium Development Goal on sanitation is one of those least likely to be met.

This month's action is to write to the media around World Toilet Day (19 November) to put the spotlight on this neglected global scandal.

Listen to the conference call guest, Henry Northover of WaterAid (download 8.6MB mp3 file, 25 minutes), and the laser talk on this issue (download 281kb mp3 file, 1 minute)

October 2008

Must try harder

Education is key to development, but halfway to the 2015 target of achieving universal primary education, 72 million children are still denied the chance to go to school.

RESULTS UK's new report ‘Must try harder: the challenges that remain in achieving education for all’ analyses the reasons behind this failure and outlines what should be done to reach the target on time. This month's action is to ask MPs to take the report's recommendations to the government.

Listen to the conference call with guest speaker Nicola Cadbury of ActionAid (download 9.8MB mp3 file, 39 minutes)

September 2008

Back to school?

With only seven years to go until the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, there are still 72 million children being denied the opportunity to go to school. The largest proportion of this group – more than half the number – live in states affected by conflict.

There are immense challenges in providing education in conflict-zones, but the international community has been slow to give adequate support and funding to educating children there. This month our action is to raise awareness of this situation by writing letters to the media.

Listen to the conference call guest, Janice Dolan of Save the Children (download 6.5MB mp3 file) and the laser talk on this topic (download 226kb mp3 file)

See some of the published letters here.

August 2008

Two diseases attacking as one

The global community is gradually recognising the need to have an integrated approach to tackling TB and HIV, two of the world's most deadly infectious diseases.

This month's action follows up on this welcome recent progress. We need to challenge the government to put flesh on their commitments, and develop effective plans that will save millions of lives.

Listen to the conference call guest, Dr Paul Nunn of the World Health Organization (download 6.7MB mp3 file) and the laser talk on this topic (download 1.4MB mp3 file)

July 2008

Give credit where it's due

Microfinance is a revolutionary tool that has opened up opportunities for many of the world’s poorest people to earn a living over the last three decades.

However, there is evidence that the neediest people – those living on less than 50p a day – are not benefiting from its current popularity and growth. Development institutions like the World Bank should be playing a key role in ensuring microfinance reaches the poorest communities.

June 2008

Time to tackle TB & HIV

This month we will be writing to Gillian Merron, International Development Minister, to urge the UN Global Leaders' Forum on TB-HIV on 9 June to make a serious commitment to tackle the TB-HIV co-epidemic.

TB and HIV/AIDS are together responsible for more than five million deaths every year. The forum presents a unique opportunity for the international community to recognise the true magnitude of the TB-HIV co-epidemic and respond accordingly. We are calling for the meeting to show strong leadership and make bold commitments to action.

Read Gillian Merron's response here.

May 2008

The ‘silent tsunami’

This month we will be contacting our MPs to urge a stronger UK response to the humanitarian crisis threatened by rising global food prices.

The situation is now so severe that the health and well-being of up to 100 million people are at risk. Both immediate and long-term action is required to prevent widespread famine, and to ensure that progress towards the Millennium Development Goals is not threatened.

April 2008

TB crisis in Europe

This month we will write to our MEPs to highlight the growing problem, stressing the urgent need for immediate action to tackle the growing crisis.

The high incidence of TB in many countries in the European Region, the high level of multidrug-resistant TB, the appearance of extensively drug-resistant TB, the TB outbreaks in the growing pool of people living with HIV, and the increasing mobility of people, make TB a Europe wide regional emergency that calls for effective Region-wide control.

March 2008

Invest in women

This month we continue with February's theme of gender equality and development, but with a particular focus on the potential of microcredit to help women – and through them, whole communities – to escape poverty.

A wealth of statistics and stories demonstrate that women and children bear the brunt of extreme poverty. Women often have the most limited resources, but show tremendous resourcefulness in looking after their families. Microfinance initiatives tap into this resourcefulness, and through providing tiny loans have given millions of women the start they need to begin working their way out of poverty. Microcredit is a really exciting, practical and positive example of sustainable development in action.

February 2008

En route to gender equality?

This month we will write to the media to draw their attention to the huge gender inequalities that continue to exist throughout the world. We will also explain how these inequalities impede global efforts at alleviating poverty and promoting development.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of gender equality. It is not a matter of mere political correctness; it is about ensuring that all of humanity is afforded the same dignity, opportunity and respect that we ourselves have come to expect and demand.

Women around the world are more likely to live in poverty, simply because they are women. Their unequal position in society means they have less power, money, protection from violence and access to education and healthcare. Such injustices must be dealt with swiftly if we are to ever consign poverty to the pages of history.

January 2008

Dear Gordon: A personal plea to the Prime Minister

This month we will write personal letters to the Prime Minister to remind him of his past commitments to global education. He has on many occasions talked passionately about the need to provide universal education and has backed up his rhetoric with an almost unprecedented pledge of £8.5 billion over a ten year period.

This significant and welcome pledge was made back in April 2006 and since then very few details have surfaced as to how this money will actually be spent. We need to urge him to make strenuous and sustained efforts to ensure that this money is used in the most effective way possible. This money could and should make a real difference in global efforts to achieve universal primary education, but its focus should also be on improving the quality of education provided.

Education really is the best development tool that we have available to us, Gordon Brown has shown great leadership in the past, we must encourage him to stick firmly to his commitments and really step up a gear so that the UK can be at the forefront of global efforts to ensure universal primary education.

December 2007

TB and HIV: 'A combination made in hell.'

All advances in the treatment of HIV and TB to date have the potential to be undermined, or worse, reversed, by the widespread failure to respond to the dual TB/HIV co-epidemic in a coordinated and integrated way. Despite the link between HIV and TB being almost universally acknowledged, TB and HIV programmes remain overwhelmingly independent of one another, an oversight that continues to cost countless lives.

By taking this report to our MPs we can hope to impress upon them the urgent need for greater collaborative action to tackle the two diseases. We can also offer them practical recommendations for ensuring that the UK helps lead the fight against the co-epidemic in a coordinated and effective manner. By gaining their support we can hope to move the TB/HIV crisis higher up the political agenda, giving it the political exposure that it has so far lacked.

November 2007

Education for All by 2015 - removing the barriers

Despite some succeses in reducing the number of children out of school, there is still much to be done before we realise the dream of universal basic education for all.If we are to achieve this aim there are certain barriers that must be overcome. These barriers include the continued existence of schoolfees, lack of trained teachers and wage ceilings imposed by external bodies making it difficult for governments to employ enough teachers.

By writing to our local MPs we can encourage them to take action to ensure that the UK plays a role in helping to remove these barriers to education once and for all

October 2007: Education for All by 2015 - A dream within reach?

Education has been described by some as a ‘silver bullet'. Study after study shows that basic education – especially for girls and women – is simply one of the best development investments that can be made. Education plays a pivotal role in the fight against poverty, maternal and infant mortality, ill-health, and especially against HIV/AIDS. This reality was acknowledged in 2000, when not one, but two, of the EFA targets were incorporated into the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – completion of primary schooling for all children, and elimination of gender inequality at all levels of education.

By urgently writing to the media we can help to highlight the importance of education as a key tool in the fight against poverty. Though great progress has been made we must highlight the fact that there is much left to be done. It will only be through a far greater, sustained and concerted effort that the dream of Education for All by 2015 will become a reality. 

September 2007

The Global Fund: making sure the UK pays its full and fair share

This month we write to our local MPs to urge them to do all they can to ensure that the UK makes a pledge of at least £703 million over a three year period to the Global Fund at the Berlin replenishment meeting, 26 th -28 th September, 2007.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria is the foremost mechanism at the international community's disposal to tackle three of the most devastating diseases afflicting our world today. To date the Fund is thought to have saved at least 1.8 million lives. With more funding there are no limits to what the Fund could potentially achieve. This month represents an important juncture in the history of the Fund as leading donor nations from around the world meet in Berlin to decide how much money to commit to the fund over the next three years.

By urgently writing to our MPs and asking them to personally raise the issue with the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for International Development we can hope to impress upon them the importance of the Global Fund and the need to make a sizable pledge at this month's replenishment meeting in Berlin.

ACTION RESPONSE: click here when you've taken the action

August 2007

The Millennium Development Goals: Are we on track?

This month we write to the media to create greater awareness of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the symbolically important half-way stage to their target completion date.

At present the vast majority of these goals look unlikely to be met.

With seven years remaining before the deadline is reached it remains possible that the MDGs can be put back on track.

The Goals are fundamentally achievable; the World has the resources, the skills and the technical know-how necessary to reach the targets by 2015- what we lack at present is the global political will to do so.

The recent political changes in the UK provide a good opportunity to generate greater impetus for achieving the MDGs. This is why it is so important for us to create both the public and the political will to follow through on our commitments.

By writing to the media we will help to raise awareness of the MDGs, encouraging greater and speedier action to ensure that they are met.

July 2007

The World Bank and sanitation

This month we take action to encourage the World Bank to step-up its efforts to improve sanitation in the developing world in the face of what has been described as a ‘silent humanitarian crisis'. The World Bank is one of the few International Institutions that has both the influence and the resources to make a real and substantial contribution to tackling this crisis. We must therefore continue to exert pressure on the Bank to fulfil its existing obligations and encourage it to expand and improve its current activities relating to sanitation.

Now would appear to be a particularly opportune time to act - in the run up to 2008 which has been declared the UN International Year of Sanitation. By writing to the United Kingdom's Alternate Executive Director at the World Bank, with specific recommendations, we will help to ensure that the issue of Sanitation remains at the forefront of the Bank's agenda.

June 2007

Health worker crisis - African bearing the 'brain drain' burden

This month we take action on the growing health worker crisis and look particularly at its heavy impact in Africa. As the continent facing the greatest struggle to meet the Millennium Development Goals, developing and donor governments must act now to ensure that Africa can train and retain a strong enough health workforce to tackle the diseases of poverty.

By writing to our Secretaries of State for International Development and Health, with specific recommendations, we will be sending a strong message that the UK must take action to reduce and reverse the flow of health workers from developing countries. By focusing health development aid on both strengthening health systems and rolling-out programmes to tackle specific diseases the UK can help to ensure that African countries are better prepared to tackle HIV, AIDS and malaria and stand a more realistic chance of progressing towards the Millennium Development Goals.

May 2007

Tackling accountability and transparency

This month we take action to hold the UK government to account for its expenditure – urging it to report back on the amount, direction, and most importantly, the impact, of its development assistance on Child Survival, Malaria and TB.

In early June there will be a meeting of senior Statisticians from each donor country to decide whether they will report back on how and where they spend their aid on these three key development areas. This meeting, held at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) represents a key opportunity for the UK to improve its transparency on tackling the diseases of poverty and the ways in which it is focusing on cutting child mortality.

By committing to make its spending on Malaria, TB and Child Survival public, the UK government will encourage others to do the same, creating a more open and transparent donor community and greater awareness of the value and impact of its interventions.

April 2007

Save more lives – Push for the optimum fund size

The next month is of vital importance in deciding what size the Global Fund will be able to grow to by 2010, and effectively, how many more lives it will be able to save. Before the 15th Global Fund Board meeting in the last week of April, donors will be making decisions on the size the Fund will reach by 2010. A larger Fund will require more resources, so donors are currently reluctant to acknowledge the need for the size of the Global Fund to significantly increase.

The Global Fund is currently operating at $2 billion per year. Advocates are pushing donors to increase this figure by at least four-fold, creating an aspirational but achievable target, in line with the growing global need to prevent and treat AIDS, TB and Malaria.

This month we will be writing to Dr Carole Presern, UK Global Fund Board Member. Dr. Presern will be attending the Board Meeting at the end of April and will be responsible for presenting the UK government's decision on what size of the Global Fund it is willing to support. Dr Presern will be in constant conversation with the Secretary of State for International Development and key staff at DfID, so it is imperative that we take action now to try and influence her position.

By writing, and sending our letters without delay we will be encouraging the UK government to continue its leadership at the Global Fund, by recognising and supporting the need for the Fund to dramatically scale-up its size by 2010.

March 2007

Speak out on World TB Day - Holding the World Bank to account

On March 24, World TB Day will remind us that through unified action on all levels, we can work towards a world that is finally free from TB. Across the world, communities will be mobilising, raising awareness, engaging with governments and encouraging donors to invest in TB control. At the heart of this work lies a collective political will to end this preventable and curable disease.

As the theme for this year's World TB Day reminds us, TB anywhere is TB everywhere. This airborne killer is a global problem and no one is immune from it. Help educate your MP about the TB emergency and create the needed political will to do more to address TB everywhere.

February 2007

Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund

In March 2005, in the lead-up to the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, the Commission for Africa Report was launched. A weighty tome, with numerous recommendations for African development, it attracted much media and political attention. And then there was silence. Most of the recommendations were not followed-up, with governments not willing to take responsibility for turning words into action.

To promote enterprise in Africa there was a specific recommendation that: developed countries should set up a $100 million AECF. This focused on small enterprise development, new partnerships (with the private sector) and increasing entrepreneurial opportunities for women and young people.

The UK government's Department for International Development (DfID) has remained true to their word, planning to launch the AECF in summer 2007. This seven year initiative can have a positive and sustainable impact on enterprise development in Africa. But to ensure that its potential is maximised we need to take action whilst it is still in its design phase.

January 2007

Sanitation: Break the Taboo

Over the past hundred years more lives have been lost to unclean water and poor sanitation than any other cause.

But despite rising wealth and improving health across the developed world almost half the world's population - 2.6 billion people - still lack access to adequate sanitation. This is wholly unacceptable and unjustifiable in the twenty-first century.

We are now approaching the half-way point to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The sanitation target (of halving the number of people without access to decent sanitation) remains the most ‘off-track' of all; to reach the target will require 120 million people to gain access to sanitation every year until 2015.

The British government must support the drafting and implementation of national plans (as its own Global Action Plan recommends) to ensure that the human right to water (and sanitation) is not violated for want of some serious practical action.

December 2006

Stop the traffik

Prjua and Ajay are just two of the 1.2 million children estimated to be trafficked each year. That's 1.2 million children who, against their will, are spending this holiday season without family or friends and with little or nothing to celebrate.

This cannot be allowed to continue.

The United Nations describes trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion… for the purpose of exploitation”.

Children and young women are particularly vulnerable to the trap of trafficking. Unwilling and/or unknowing, they are victims of an international slave trade which continues unabated almost 200 years since the Trans-Atlantic slave trade was abolished.

November 2006

Milestone moment: Global Microcredit Summit 2006

Microcredit is making headlines this month – and rightly so. Not only have Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank, which he established in the mid 1970s, been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but the Global Microcredit Summit is taking place.

The first Global Microcredit Summit in 1997, organised by RESULTS Education Fund, set the ambitious goal of reaching 100 million of the world's poorest families with microcredit by 2005.

The data has now been collected and the progress is demonstrable:

Microfinance is an investment in human potential, capacity and capital. By encouraging governments and civil society to work towards the new goals of the Microcredit Summit Campaign millions more people will be given the opportunity to move out of poverty, through their own efforts.