Anne Batchelder, Midwest Field Organizer at DATA –
Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa will present:

From Charity to Policy: 

Supporting development in Africa through Western advocacy

The ONE Campaign works to build a constituency about international development issues.  While many people see the African development issues as something to deal with through charity, we hope to educate Americans around the issues and that they can see that they can help bring change through advocacy for fair trade, debt cancellation, and adding an additional 1% of the budget to international aid.

DATA and the ONE Campaign:

DATA aims to raise awareness about the crises swamping Africa: unpayable debts, uncontrolled spread of AIDS, and unfair trade rules which keep Africans poor.  The organization was founded in 2002 by Bono, the lead singer of U2, Bobby Shriver, and activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign.  At the core of DATA’s mission is a view that these issues are not about charity, but about equality and justice.

DATA calls on the governments of the world's wealthy nations - the United States, Europe, Canada and Japan – to put more resources towards Africa, and to adopt policy that helps rather than hinders Africa in achieving long-term prosperity. We also call on Africa's leaders to strengthen Democracy, Accountability and Transparency toward their own citizens- to make sure that support for African people goes where it's intended and makes a real difference.

The ONE Campaign is a new effort to rally Americans to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. Each ONE of us can make a difference. Together as ONE we can change the world.  We can beat: AIDS, Starvation, Extreme poverty. 

ONE billion people live on less than ONE dollar a day.  ONE by ONE, we can help them help themselves.

The ONE Declaration:  We believe that in the best American tradition of helping others help themselves, now is the time to join with other countries in a historic pact for compassion and justice to help the poorest people of the world overcome AIDS and extreme poverty. We recognize that a pact including such measures as fair trade, debt relief, fighting corruption and directing additional resources for basic needs – education, health, clean water, food, and care for orphans – would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the poorest countries, at a cost equal to just one percent more of the US budget. We commit ourselves - one person, one voice, one vote at a time - to make a better, safer world for all.”

Biography:

Anne Batchelder, Midwest Field Organizer at DATA – Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa, is a graduate of Boston College, where she studied sociology. While in college, she was very involved in organizing on various issues of global justice both on campus and in the Boston community. She spent half of her junior year studying culture and development in Kenya. Her senior year, she received a leadership award, as well as the Moakley Award for her commitment to international service and human rights. After graduating, Anne spent the following year volunteering with a community development project in Woe, Ghana, working on a social mapping of the community, as well as research on specific economic development projects for the community. An Omaha-native, Anne recently relocated to the Chicago area in order to work with DATA.  

Jack Sechrest
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