President Obama and Members of Congress,

Time is running out, but it’s not too late. Now, more than ever, we need to make tangible policy changes towards ending extreme global poverty. We, the undersigned, ask that you uphold your commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals at the 2010 United Nations Summit in September.

Specifically, we ask that you commit to:

...a new US global development strategy incorporating the universally agreed Millennium Development Goals as its framework.

...helping to develop and support a Global Development Action Plan to achieve the MDGs by 2015, to be agreed at the UN Summit in September.

 

...GLOBAL EDUCATION by supporting the creation of a Global Fund for Education.

"Above all, we must do our part to see that all children have the basic right to learn. There is nothing more disappointing than a child denied the hope that comes with going to school, and there is nothing more dangerous than a child who is taught to distrust and then to destroy. That’s why the third commitment I’ll make is working to erase the global primary education gap by 2015. Every child — every boy, and every girl — should have the ability to go to school. To ensure that our nation does its part to meet that goal, we need to establish a two billion dollar Global Education Fund."

— Barack Obama, September 25, 2008

The world will fail to achieve the second Millennium Development Goal of Universal Primary Education if urgent action is not taken now.

Today, 75 million children, more than half of them girls, are out of primary school, and 776 million adults are illiterate. Additionally, 226 million adolescents will never attend secondary school. There remains a dramatic global divide not only in access to education, but also in learning achievement. International learning assessments reveal a major divide between richer and poorer countries. Two-thirds of all children arrive at primary school undernourished or with a disability that will likely impair their education achievement throughout their lives. Unless urgent action is taken, tentative progress made in the field of education over the last eight years will be undermined and another generation of children will not have the tools they need to participate fully in the global society.

The education aid architecture needs an improved, global, multi-partner mechanism to raise, coordinate, disburse, and monitor resources for basic education.

While there are several exciting international efforts to achieve the Education for All goals, there remain serious obstacles to getting every child in school. Among those challenges are ensuring adequate external resources are available to support scaling up education systems, improving donor coordination so aid flows are aligned to meet country needs, channeling flexible, predictable and quickly disbursed funds, and improving monitoring of education aid and its impact to ensure accountability for results. Current programs and partnerships provide a strong foundation for a new aid architecture for education, and we can build on what exists to ensure that U.S. foreign assistance is leveraged to bring children an education.

The Education for All Fast Track Initiative has galvanized donors to work together to fill the financing gaps for national education plans in 37 low-income countries — but it currently faces a $1.2 billion shortfall. The Fast Track Initiative has been able to pioneer effective ways for donors to support country-led education strategies, but the pace of donor contributions is not enough to keep up with the need for additional financing to fill the gaps in those education plans. Another problem is that almost 40 million children around the world are in conflict affected countries or fragile states; they continue to be out of reach of current efforts to provide safe schools and quality education. And international donors continue to neglect the most important investment needed to achieve Education for All: teachers — 18 million new teachers will need to be trained and hired between now and 2015 if all children are to complete a basic education.

Despite these needs, aid for education from rich countries and multilaterals like the World Bank appears to be stagnating at levels far below current estimates of the financing need. Out of the $16 billion annually required to provide 8–9 years of schooling for children in low-income countries, donors currently contribute, on average, around $4 billion a year.

President Obama has committed to creating a Global Fund for Education started with a $2 billion contribution.

During his Presidential Campaign, Barack Obama repeatedly promised to create a Global Fund for Education, capitalized with a $2 billion contribution. His Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, reaffirmed his commitment to creating a Global Fund for Education in her confirmation remarks as recently as January 2009.

Despite this promise, the president has so far only requested $981 million from Congress for basic education in FY 2010, just a $281 million increase in foreign assistance for education. While he continues to express the value of education — for girls, for peace-building, for economic recovery — he has yet to turn his words into action.*

….GLOBAL HEALTH continuing to fund the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and TB.

"It couldn't be more clear. [The Global Fund] is the most successful institution that we have in the world for addressing the most horrific epidemics the world faces. We have explicit policy pledges. We have validated national plans. We have a clear commitment that all valid plans will be fully funded. We've already broken that pledge to the world's poorest people. We're delaying programs. We have a massive gap, and it is the responsibility of world leaders to face up to this."

— economist Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University

AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria are preventable diseases that can be treated effectively. Yet, they were the cause of more than six million deaths in 2004. Relative to high-income countries, the burden of these diseases is thirty times greater in developing countries, resulting in tremendous economic loss, social disintegration, and political instability.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was created in 2002 to respond to this formidable challenge. It is an innovative multi-donor funding mechanism providing grants to 140 low- and middle-income countries. It provides two-thirds of all donor funding for TB and malaria. The Global Fund disburses grants with a minimum of red tape, but with safeguards to monitor program implementation, financial management, and health outcomes.

In 2008, the historic Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 was signed into law. Thanks to the efforts of activists, the bill authorized $48 billion over five years for life-saving programs, including authorization for U.S. contributions to the Global Fund.

The Fund is dependent on donor funding. The U.S. must provide our full one-third fair share (based on the size of our economy) to the Global Fund to continue to expand the fight against HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria. It is critical that activists continue to push for Congress to increase funding for the Global Fund in our annual appropriations (foreign aid spending) bill.*

….HAITI by creating a plan for long-term, sustainable development in the nation.

"But after the emergency passes, the work of recovery and reconstruction will remain. Since Hillary and I first traveled to Haiti in December 1975, I have been captivated by that country's promise and peril and by the persistence of hope among its people even in the face of abuse, neglect and poverty…As we clear the rubble, we will create better tomorrows by building Haiti back better: with stronger buildings, better schools and health care; with more manufacturing and less deforestation; with more sustainable agriculture and clean energy. Establishing this foundation for a better Haitian future will require assistance from governments, businesses and private citizens."

            --Former President Bill Clinton in the Washington Post, Jan. 14, 2010.

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. The extremely weakened state of the country’s infrastructure, environment and economy contributed greatly to the amount of destruction and devastation experienced in the wake of the earthquake on January 12th, 2010.

There is no doubt that Haiti needs immediate relief. However, what is also necessary is a long term plan for development. Ideally, this plan would be strengthened by empowering citizens to lead local efforts of development from the inside. In addition, promoting sustainable agricultural practices through programs and education – instead of merely “dumping” international food aid on Haitian citizens – would increase yield and promote job creation instead of essentially putting farmers out of work. While these are broad ideas for a future plan for Haiti, they provide a core framework that focuses on developing community and self-sufficiency. We eagerly await Obama’s current plan of action for the country.

By making these concrete commitments in our foreign policy, we can come closer to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and ending extreme poverty by the year 2025.

Sincerely,

 

 

*Source: RESULTS.org