2012 RESULTS International Conference

THE RESULTS International Conference is held every year in Washington DC for RESULTS national and international delegates. With six of us from Australia, this was our largest delegation ever!

Because the conference also coincided with the biannual International AIDS conference, the speaker list at the conference was most impressive and included spiritual leader and best selling author, Marianne Williamson, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs (arguably the most influential economist in the world), Dr Mphu Rametlapeng (former Health Minister of Lesotho and current Vice Chair of the Global Fund to Fight AID, TB and Malaria)

(Click to view the full-agenda of the conference)

Some of the highlights for our Australian delegates were:

From Angela Cole, Hobart: 

I was totally inspired by Karen Sichinga from Zambia who said of women in Zambia, "Although HIV is her disease, she is plagued by a greater sickness - poverty. It is this which will kill her. Poverty cannot be treated with bandaids".

From David Bailey, Canberra:

How to describe the presentation at the RESULTS International Conference by Dr Jeffrey Sachs arguably the world's most influential economist?

It  was inspirational and dare I say it’s the best Sachs I have ever had!

From Lili Koch, Sydney: 

I was in a session where The Hon. Bob Bennett (a second generation US Senator from Utah, retired) said that 'RESULTS lobbyists are by far the best and most effective lobbyists in our political system'

This was livery nice to hear, especially when the U.S. spend over THREE BILLION DOLLARS every year on lobbyists and RESULT members do it for FREE!

From Mark Rice Brisbane:
"Overall, the Conference provided a reminder of how much respect the RESULTS Internationalpartnership has from development experts and parliamentarians from different countries.  A favourite session was hearing from first-term parliamentarians from the UK and Canada, who are taking advantage of the freedom of a backbench position to take action (which could also be an inspiration for Australian MPs!)"

Rachel Achterstraat, Sydney: 

The opportunity to connect with different people from all over the globe was an amazing thread woven through the entire International Conference and AIDS Conference.

We met with and heard from seasoned advocates, policy-makers and MP's, people affected by TB and HIV, an African pop-princess and world-renowned academics, all who shared our vision to end poverty and beat TB and HIV, together. 

As I hurried from a meeting at the World Bank to a street mobilisation of thousands of passionate community activists, I was reminded of the universality of our goal and that we must all play our unique part in the fight to end poverty. 

From Maree Nutt, Sydney:

It’s always fabulous to connect with the amazing RESULTS volunteers and staff from around the US and the world.  It’s a great reminder that our work here in Australia is so much stronger because we work together with our RESULTS and ACTION partners from places like Canada, Japan, the UK, Mexico, Zambia, France, India, Kenya and the US.

RESULTS advocates in the US