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It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little. Do what you can.

Sydney Smith

 

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.

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.

Let us know if you've taken the action by clicking here.

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.

Let us know if you've taken the action by clicking 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. 

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.