RESULTS International (Australia)

RESULTS in Canberra

2012-02-27T13:06:00.000+11:00

RESULTS members on the steps of Parliament House today, February 26

We are here at Parliament House on a very important day.

It's not just about the Rudd and Gillard ballot.

We are ten people ready to meet with MPs and Senators on pressing global poverty issues such as threats to ongoing funding for the Global Fund – the largest global funder of TB and malaria programs, and the second largest funder of HIV programs.

Two RESULTS volunteers are on their first trip to Canberra and they had this to say so far:

Camilla from Sydney's Northern Beaches:

I am very excited to be here and already feel the gravity and importance of what we will do today.
I already feel that we have the potential to make a huge difference for poor people around the world.

Peter from Inner Sydney:

I am just delighted to be a part of the democratic process and be part of the RESULTS team here in Canberra. Having worked closely as an intern with RESULTS on the recently released education report I look forward to inspire MPs to take action to help more girls and children with disabilities to get into school.

Helping make poverty history this Christmas

2011-12-22T11:20:00.020+11:00

On Saturday November 17, 2011, Ella Pearse (daughter of RESULTS Northern Beaches member Melissa Pearse), and her two friends Edita and Sienna, held a small fundraising stall at a local shopping centre and raised a remarkable $120! Here's what they wrote:

We decided to raise for RESULTS because we wanted to help make poverty history and help save children and their families all round the world that aren’t as lucky as us.

Firstly, we had a meeting together to plan out what we were going to make, how much everything was to be and what we had to bring on the day.

We made the lucky dip, lolly bags and cards so they were ready for the stall.

On Sunday the 20^th we met at Edita’s house at 10.30am to make all of the food. At around 1:00pm we finally finished making the food and Edita’s mum drove us up to Elanora Top shops to set up our stall. We set up our stall in front of the Elanora Newsagent because it was closed.

When customers came to our stall or people were walking past we told them we were raising money for a group called results that is trying to make poverty history.

Although 50 per cent of the people didn’t buy anything, most of them donated money anyway. After an hour and a half Edita’s mum picked us up from our stall and we took everything back. After cleaning up and sorting everything out we counted up all of the money that we raised together which added up to $120!

We thank everyone that donated money for RESULTS to help end poverty!

From left to right: Ella Pearse (11yrs-old), Edita Grinsberg (10yrs-old), and Sienna Baker (11yrs-old).

2011 Global Microcredit Summit: Day 2

2011-11-16T13:03:00.001+11:00

Our National Manager, Maree Nutt, is in Spain this week for the 2011 Global Microcredit Summit.

Day 2:

YESTERDAY, November 15, I met Kirsten Hambly, First Secretary to the Australian Ambassador to Spain (Ms Zorikas McCarthy). We all agreed that on the whole microfinance initiatives are very useful and an important tool for poverty reduction.

There are many hundreds of institutions here at the summit doing great work, like the Grameen Bank, the BRAC in Bangladesh, Fonkoze in Haiti, Kashf in Pakistan, Jamii Bora in Kenya and many, many more.

We talked about the challenge in how to differentiate 'good' microfinance from the 'bad' microfinance that recently attracted media attention.

An expert panel is now working through The Summit Campaign and developing a 'Seal of Excellence', whereby microfinance institutions would be certified and easily recognised for their strong financial performance, protection of clients, and their strong focus on poverty reduction.

The Ambassador's representatives agreed to report on the importance of the summit, and agreed to include RESULTS' request to double aid for microfinance in her report to Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd.

2011 Global Microcredit Summit

2011-11-15T11:18:00.004+11:00

OUR National Manager, Maree Nutt is in Spain at the 2011 Global Microcredit Summit and has recently written about the opening ceremony:

QUEEN Sofia of Spain has just opened the Global Microcredit Summit in the beautiful city of Valladolid, two hours from Madrid.

She recounted, seeing with her own eyes, the positive impact of microfinance when she visited Grameen Bank over 16 years ago.

Queen Sofia has participated in every global summit since, and Spain can be proud of being the second-highest aid donor in microfinance programs, totalling almost $1 billion! We could do with such a champion in Australia.

Any suggestions?

Disappointingly, AusAID is not represented here, and the Australian Ambassador to Spain, who was due to representing Australia is sick with flu. Instead, I will meet with the Ambassador's First Secretary shortly...

Make sure you follow our blog for continual updates of Maree's visit to Spain.

Her Majesty Queen Sofía of Spain, is Honorary Co-Chair of the Microcredit Summit Campaign.

Pneumonia kills babies: To protect them - vaccinate!

2011-11-12T12:55:00.005+11:00

Dr. Kate O’Brien is pediatrician, epidemiologist, Deputy Director of the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA, and a winner of the 2011 US Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Read why she thinks World Pneumonia Day is so important:

I AM a pediatrician, an infectious disease pediatrician at that. We’re supposed to know what to do when a baby has pneumonia - apparently that’s not always true. I’ve treated hundreds of such cases - but this time was different.

When it’s your own infant none of that experience matters.

Jack looked at me with what seemed like panic in his eyes. Coughing, crying, breathing fast, sleeping in fits and spurts. Babies aren’t supposed to breath that fast. He lay beside me in bed. It was the day before Christmas and I just kept telling myself that we’d be better soon---apparently that’s not true either. We both had influenza, I’m sure of that. If you’ve had it you’ll know what I mean---I felt like hell, exhausted, muscle aches, every time I coughed it felt like sandpaper scraping over my trachea. But since I’m an infectious disease doc, of course we were vaccinated!---well, apparently that wasn’t true this year. I had every intention of getting that done weeks earlier, but life got in the way.

The middle of the night always makes things worse, or at least things seem worse. So, we became ‘that family’, calling our neighbors in the middle of the night to care for our two-year old while we drove to the hospital with Jack. So many times I was that doctor we were about to meet in the emergency room, scratching my head wondering, “Why did they wait the whole day at home and decide to finally come in at 2 in the morning?” Well, now I knew. Sometimes it doesn’t get better. He had pneumonia on the chest x-ray and needed antibiotics.

Baby Jack at 4 months.

Every day, of every year, millions of children get pneumonia and struggle to breath; more than a million of them don’t get the treatment they need and die. Every day of every year something unimaginable to the mothers we are, happens to mothers we don’t know, over 90 per cent of them living in poor countries in Africa and Asia ---their child dies in front of their eyes from pneumonia. It’s senseless. It’s inhuman.

Vaccines against the biggest pneumonia causing bacteria, Hib and pneumococcus, along with other simple strategies can prevent these deaths.

So, this year on World Pneumonia Day, look at your kids and remember to get them vaccinated, remember to get yourself vaccinated and remember that not every mother is so lucky….yet.

The GAVI Alliance is helping give those mothers the same opportunity for their kids, faster than ever before for any vaccine. At a time when the world seems to be more complicated than ever, this seems like a pretty sensible thing to do.

ACTION releases eye-opening report on children & TB

2011-09-27T16:00:00.003+10:00

THIS WEEK, RESULTS, as a partner in the ACTION Project, is calling attention to the neglect and has released a report, Children and Tuberculosis: Exposing a Hidden Epidemic.

TUBERCULOSIS (TB) remains among the top ten killers of children worldwide, yet virtually no public or political attention is paid to TB as a children’s health issue.

The world’s most vulnerable children are bearing the brunt of this neglect. In 2009, one million children became sick with TB and it is those who are malnourished, orphaned or living with HIV that are most likely to die from this entirely treatable and largely curable disease.

This week, ACTION is calling attention to the neglect and has released a report, Children and Tuberculosis: Exposing a Hidden Epidemic.

The report is a reminder that TB is not a disease of the past and remains a leading killer, especially of children whose underdeveloped immune systems leave them particularly susceptible.

According to Dr. Ben Marais, a leading TB specialist at The Children’s Hospital Westmead, the prevention, diagnosis and management of children with TB:

“(TB) remains a significant challenge in countries where the TB epidemic is poorly controlled. In these settings, TB is often a major unrecognized cause of disease and death in young children, while it is readily treatable. Greater awareness must be translated into more effective models of care, backed by local political commitment to make a difference.”

It is through this eye-opening report that RESULTS hopes to call attention to the immediate need to stop neglecting TB and increase funding and research for this deadly but preventable disease to save children’s lives.

Maiden MP visit achieves great RESULTS!

2011-09-13T11:30:00.002+10:00

Rachel Achterstraat is our ACTION Project Coordinator and recently went on her first Member of Parliament meeting in Canberra last Friday with RESULTS National Manager Maree Nutt. She wrote about her experience:

Today, I attended my first ever MP visit. In many ways this was my 'baptism by fire' because as it happens, my local Federal Member (of Warringah) is none other than Tony Abbott, Leader of the Opposition.

RESULTS National Manager Maree Nutt and I met with Mr. Abbott to discuss the premature closure of medical clinics in the Torres Strait Islands (TSI), which have been treating Papua New Guineans with tuberculosis (TB) for the past six years.

A recent decision made by the Australian Government to cut funding for these clinics has led to their forced closure.

The implications of this decision are far-reaching.

PNG patients who had previously received treatment through the TSI clinics will now be at high risk of developing Multi-Drug Resistant TB (a more vicious strain of the virus) and Australian citizens will be exposed to a significantly increased risk of cross-border transmission.

The Government has proposed that these funds should be diverted away from these life-saving clinics and funneled into a more broader health systems strentgthening approach to tackle the high rates of TB in PNG.

Whilst RESULTS is pleased that the Australian Government will be investing in health service delivery for our nearest neighbor, it is too early to tell if the proposed strategy will be of any effect.

It is also estimated that building the capacity of the PNG health system to cope with the national TB burden will take more than a decade, resulting in at least ten years of increased risk to a highly infectious and often fatal disease.

Having served previously as the Minister for Health and the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Mr. Abbott took interest in the issue. He was particularly concerned by the potential for TB to spread throughout the Australian Indigenous population in Northern Australia, and also the potential impact of increased TB transmission in a country with a high HIV/AIDS burden, such as PNG.

Mr. Abbott agreed that a short term and longer term strategy is required to address this issue and was dismayed at the shortsightedness of current plans to close the clinics.

Mr. Abbott suggested that he would write a Letter to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, outlining RESULTS recommendations and asking the Government to resume funding for the TSI Clinics. Mr. Abbott also suggested that his Minister for Indigenous Health could ask a Question of Notice to the Parliament at Question Time.

Despite first-time nerves and a few tongue-ties, I think my first MP visit was a success.

Having the ever-sharp Maree along with me was a huge support.

I believe we left with the promise of a concrete action from Mr. Abbott and the beginnings of an open dialogue with his team.

From Left to Right: National Manager Maree Nutt, ACTION Project Manager
Rachel Achterstraat, and Federal Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott.

RESULTS urges Federal Govt. to resume funding TB clinics in Torres Strait

2011-09-09T16:30:00.000+10:00

RESULTS International (Australia) is urging the Federal Government to resume funding for medical clinics in the Torres Strait Islands.

Without these clinics Papua New Guinea nationals will not receive critical care for tuberculosis (TB) and will likely increase the chances of this highly-infectious disease spreading within Australia.

In the past, these life-saving clinics have received funding from the Commonwealth and Queensland State Governments, however the Federal Government’s decision to withdraw funding for these services means that the closure of the clinics is imminent.

The Commonwealth has stated that it would instead send $43 million in AusAID funding to PNG-based health services.

“Whilst the increase in aid funding to improve health services for TB in Papua New Guinea is welcome, lasting sustainable improvements will take years to achieve.

“This means in the short term, keeping TB clinics open in the Torres Strait is imperative.” RESULTS International (Australia) National Manager Maree Nutt today said.

According to the World Health Organisation, TB is a disease of poverty affecting mostly young adults, and in 2009 1.7 million people died from the airborne contagion worldwide.

There is also a recorded death every two hours in PNG from TB, according to the National Department of Health.  

“Let us not forget that tuberculosis is an airborne disease so it is a very real threat, not only to Torres Strait Islanders, but to Australians as well,” Ms Nutt added.

Coalition MPs such as Warren Entsch and Andrew Laming have also been outspoken on the issue, forecasting disastrous outcomes if Multi-Drug Resistant TB patients from PNG worked their way south, risking increased transmission to Australian citizens.

TAKE ACTION TODAY: Write a letter-to-the-editor to your local newspaper imploring the Federal Government to resume funding for medical clinics in the Torres Strait Islands.

RESULTS joins the call to end polio

2011-09-02T16:00:00.004+10:00

RESULTS, in partnership with the Global Poverty Project, is today calling for world leaders to secure resources for the US$590 million funding gap required to eradicate polio.

Full funding for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative would not only provide vaccines for hundreds of millions of the world's poorest children and support health workers to protect future generations from this debilitating disease.

The Weapon
RESULTS is committed to increasing political support and resources at the global level to improve the delivery of new and basic vaccines in countries with a high burden of vaccine-preventable deaths.

The protection that vaccines give against easily preventable diseases is often the difference between life and death. Vaccines are one of the most efficient, successful and cost-effective tools for saving children’s lives and as a key element of healthcare, immunization is also the right of every child.

The Background
Poliomyelitis (Polio) is a highly infectious viral disease that attacks the nervous system. In the 1950-60s, polio epidemics swept through Australia, America and Europe, causing fear and panic in communities around the world. Families barricaded themselves in their homes in an attempt to protect vulnerable children against the rapid spread of this potentially fatal disease.

Today, vaccination programs ensure that polio epidemics are a distant memory for most of the world. In fact, the number of polio cases reported annually has decreased by over 99 per cent – from 350,000 in 1988 to 1,606 cases in 2009.

However, as is usually the case, this devastating disease does continue to threaten children in our world’s poorest communities.

The Opportunity

In 1998, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) began spearheading an effort to support country governments to immunize every child against polio until transmission stops and the world is polio-free.

Since the GPEI’s momentous launch, nearly five million children, who otherwise would have been paralyzed and incapacitated by polio, are walking, able and symptoms-free. Right now, the total eradication of this vicious disease is within reach.

The Obstacle

In the final phase of its critical work to rid the world of Polio, GPEI is constrained by a funding gap of $590 million. We are asking Governments to commit to finish the job on polio eradication so its debilitating effects are never felt again, anywhere in the world.

A $50 million contribution from Australia – the announcement of which could coincide with World Polio Day and the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting being held in Perth in October – would be a huge step towards bridging this funding gap.

The Action

You can take action in the fight against polio by signing a petition that calls on world leaders to ensure full funding is secured for the critical work of the GPEI. Full funding for 2012-13 will provide vaccines for hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest children and support health workers to protect future generations from this debilitating disease.

For more information, and to join the call to eradicate the second human disease in history, go to: http://www.theendofpolio.com/home/

An act of injustice, not charity

2011-08-31T16:00:00.011+10:00

The Global Poverty Project has recently begun The End of Polio Campaign to rid the world of a disease which has disabled millions and pulled individuals further into poverty. Over the past 30 years the threat of polio has been reduced by 99 per cent over the past 30 years - it's end is in sight.

Sandra Opoku, from the Global Poverty Project, agrees:

THE Australian government recently announced increases in funding for immunisation, and with the recent momentum around the eradication of polio, we should reflect on the facts of the global importance and impact of immunisation coverage.

It is in our best interest to address global public health issues, and it is also affordable for us to do so. Health is an essential human right and is recognised as a global public good by all United Nations-member states.

The gap in immunisation coverage rates between developed and developing countries is growing as most developing countries cannot afford the newer and more expensive vaccines that are being introduced. Furthermore, support for vaccines from developed countries has actually fallen over the last few decades.

Traditionally the Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI) is a national responsibility, but most developing countries actually rely on external assistance for new vaccine implementation and for scaling up existing programmes. For developing countries national decision-making around public health involves opportunity costs, with limited resources and competing priorities. Without guaranteed sustainable funding for the long term most countries, within sub-Saharan Africa in particular, would not choose to implement new vaccines into the EPI.

Much of the funding for vaccine distribution relies on international donors and multilateral institutions. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) currently provides the bulk of sustainable resources for routine immunization. GAVI funding has allowed many developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, to reach important targets of access, utilization, quality, safety, and equity.

Despite these huge gains in terms of lives saved, many challenges to immunisation coverage still remain today. Global commitment for vaccines has not been sustained. Many deaths still occur today from measles, tetanus, and polio even though vaccines for these diseases were integrated into the EPI decades ago.

Roughly 30 per cent of children globally are not being reached by the EPI and over 70 per cent of deaths in children under-five are still caused by vaccine preventable diseases.

Importantly, if vaccines are not successfully delivered to target populations with necessary coverage rates then the impact of the vaccine, cost-effectiveness of the intervention and public health benefits are minimised.

Currently priorities do not accurately reflect disease burden or cost-effectiveness of known interventions. The World Bank has estimated that developing countries account for over 90 per cent of the global disease burden, yet only around 20 per cent of global income, and 10 per cent of global health expenditure. To demonstrate global priorities, only 10 per cent of medical research is focused on diseases that are responsible for 90 per cent of the global disease burden.

The economic, practical, and moral incentives for developed countries to support vaccine distribution are high. Vaccines are the most effective public health tool available.

The Copenhagen Consensus of 2008 listed the EPI as the fourth major solution to the world’s greatest challenges.

Furthermore, whilst it might sound crude, childhood vaccination saves the most lives per dollar invested than any other public health tool. Both the Diphtheria Tetanus and Pertussis, and the measles vaccine cost less than US$50 per life saved.

In fact the estimated benefits of implementing known and effective interventions that would address all the major diseases would actually be 7-30 times the cost.

Combine all these facts and it seems clear that the support for increased immunisation in developing countries should be a major global priority. Health is an essential human right. Developing countries will need increased support in order to gain the potential global benefits of immunisation. Effective and affordable interventions already exist and it makes sense to implement the EPI at high coverage rates in all regions, specifically those with high disease burdens.

It might also be the ultimate answer to eradicating ancient and costly diseases.

This is an act of justice.

Tackling poverty is about more than money

2011-07-08T10:00:00.010+10:00

The Independent Review of Australia's Aid Program was recently released this week.
RESULTS International (Australia) will soon put out a media release on the review.

James Ensor, Oxfam Australia's director of public policy, believes that Australian aid needs to look at how it can make sure poor people have a greater role in their development. He recently wrote in the National Times:

Critically, the government's aid review also highlights the importance of people – rather than countries – as the focus of Australian aid. The welcome mandate for a re-energised Australian aid program is that the fundamental purpose of aid is to help people overcome poverty.

Australian aid needs to look at how it can make sure poor people have a greater role in their own development. This means giving them a chance to speak out with their own governments, and through local and national parliaments. Encouragingly, the government's response to the aid review acknowledges this and could provide a platform for poor communities and civil society in developing countries to more effectively have a say in decisions affecting them.

Increasing the accountability and transparency of Australian aid is another welcome feature of the aid review. A new Transparency Charter will enable the Australian public to have greater access to information about the effectiveness of our aid program, and a raft of measures designed to demonstrate the results of the aid program to Australian taxpayers will be implemented. In pursuing this agenda in Australia, we must not forget the importance of our aid program also being accountable to the people we are delivering aid to. This means providing accessible, meaningful information about the aid program to the people who stand to benefit from it.

Do you agree with Mr Ensor and the direction Australian aid is currently heading?
Take Action: Comment on the article 'Tackling poverty is about more than money' below in Post a Comment.

Countries pledge $4.3bn to save children's lives

2011-06-14T16:45:00.005+10:00

IN a massive boost in the fight against childhood diseases Australia will invest in $200 million over three years to support GAVI in it's efforts to help vaccinate children against preventable diseases.

RESULTS National Manager Maree Nutt attended the GAVI pledging conference hosted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron. The meeting convened ministers, leaders of UN agencies, private sector and senior civil society leaders from around the globe to make commitments to support GAVI's life-saving work.

The Australian Government made a commitment to ensure that over seven million children receive life saving vaccines through its pledge of $200 million over three years.

Read RESULTS' media release HERE.

Countries have pledged an unprecedented $4.3bn (£2.6bn) to help vaccinate children against preventable diseases like pneumonia.

The Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunisation says this funding milestone will save more than four million lives in the next four years.

The donations exceeded expectations - GAVI asked for $3.7bn.

The UK promised $1.3bn, and Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates said he would give $1bn to the campaign.

What Kevin Rudd said at the pledging conference:

Speaking at the opening of the GAVI 'Saving Children's Lives' conference in London, Mr Rudd said routine immunisation for preventable diseases is one of the most proven and cost-effective ways to save lives.

'Each year, rotavirus-related diarrheal disease alone takes the lives of more than half a million children under five years of age and is responsible for the hospitalisation of millions more.

'GAVI has achieved outstanding results in the past decade, immunising more than 288 million children in the developing world to help them survive into adulthood.

'Our increased support, along with other donors' pledges, is estimated to help GAVI save a further four million lives by 2015,' said Mr Rudd.

You can still TAKE ACTION today by:

Posting a comment on:
Rudd and Gates back vaccines for poor countries

Posting a comment at:

Rudd, Gates back vaccines to save children

2011 GAVI Alliance Pledging Conference: Making the case for vaccines

2011-06-10T16:10:00.006+10:00

ON Monday, June 13, RESULTS International (Australia) will be represented by its National Manager, Maree Nutt at the 2011 GAVI Alliance Pledging Conference.

In Australia, on average less than five children in every 1000 births die before they reach their fifth birthday. In the developing world, such as Sierra Leone for example, 163 out of 1000 babies die needlessly each year. Most of these deaths are preventable, purely because they haven't been inoculated from the curable diseases of pneumonia and diarrhoea.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd is to deliver a welcome speech on Sunday at the opening of the Saving Children's Lives conference in London, organised by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI).

It is estimated that some 500,000 children die each year from diarrhoea-related diseases, and while GAVI says the new vaccine will not provide a solution, it has the potential to save many lives.

Australia has already committed $A90 million directly to GAVI for 2006 to 2013, and made a further $A250 million commitment over 20 years through the alliance's investment branch, the International Finance Facility for Immunisation.

The facility is also supported by the governments of France, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, South Africa, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, along with private sponsorships from organisations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

And this:

Australia's commitment to curb global infant death rates will be tested this month when Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd faces requests for a fresh wave of funding...

...The $474 million allocation is equal to 0.35 per cent of gross national income (GNI) and Mr Rudd has said the government is committed to boosting that to 0.5 per cent of GNI by 2015/16.

While the majority of GAVI funding comes from the governments of developed nations, private groups such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, also contribute.

Mr Rudd's welcome speech will be delivered alongside that by a Gates Foundation representative.

To keep up on the developments on the GAVI's 'Saving Children's lives' conference follow this blog.

No problem so great it cannot be solved

2011-06-02T11:05:00.003+10:00

For Noble Peace laureate Desmond Tutu in today's National Times, 'World hunger is man-made and only we can end it' (2/6/2011), hunger is not a natural problem, it is a man-made tragedy.

Yet a lifetime of experience has taught me that there is no problem so great it cannot be solved, no injustice so deeply entrenched it cannot be overcome. And that includes hunger.

Hunger is not a natural phenomenon. It is a man-made tragedy. People do not go hungry because there is not enough food to eat. They go hungry because the system that delivers food from the fields to our plates is broken. And now in this new age of crisis — with increasingly severe and extreme weather and dwindling natural resources – feeding the world will get harder still.

But the future is not set – it is ours to shape. For example this week Oxfam launched its new global Grow campaign for a world without hunger. This is not based on the utopian musing of do-gooders and day dreamers. It is a very real plan based on the real achievements of forward thinking governments, companies and communities – for example the government and people of Brazil who together cut the number of hungry people by a half in just 15 years.

TAKE ACTION and comment on the article.

Jeremy Lives Below the Line - Final Day

2011-05-20T16:30:00.000+10:00

Watch Jeremy on his last day on the Live Below the Line challenge:

Jeremy Lives Below the Line - Day 4

2011-05-20T12:50:00.000+10:00

Jeremy on Day 4:

The Clarke's Live Below the Line

2011-05-19T09:39:00.005+10:00

UPDATE

We are all surviving. A little hungry at times, and missing the choices and variety of diet.

This morning I went up to the chicken cope to get the eggs (we have 2 chickens), and as usual, one of them had pecked into the eggs, so no egg for me.

We have one egg left and two days to go so not sure who in the family will be eating that?!

It was a reality check that this is what would happen out there in a village if the chickens didn’t perform.

Brian did suggest we could kill one and have it for the last supper, but the kids are not keen!

So I hope my stern words to them help them lay tomorrow!

Enjoying the challenge - it's a real eye opener to experience how 1.4 billion live every week!

UPDATE (from Maree Nutt, National Manager of RESULTS)

As you know you have already exceeded the $4,000 target. Congratulations!

This funding will enable at least 4 RESULTS people to be trained as Global Poverty Project presenters in the near future.

And hopefully, this will lead to greater awareness and action (esp. with RESULTS) to end extreme poverty in our lifetime.

Jeremy Lives Below the Line - Day 3

2011-05-19T09:21:00.000+10:00

Jeremy on Day 3:

Jeremy Lives Below the Line - Day 2

2011-05-18T13:25:00.001+10:00

Check out how RESULTS' Outreach Coordinator, Jeremy Picone, is travelling on his second day on the Live Below the Line challenge.

Jeremy Lives Below the Line

2011-05-16T20:14:00.000+10:00

RESULTS' Outreach Coordinator, Jeremy Picone, describes his experience on his first day in his challenge on living on just $2 a day.

Live Below the Line

2011-05-16T17:44:00.017+10:00

Today marks the first day of the Live Below the Line Campaign, where RESULTS members will be spending just $2 a day each on food to experience, and raise awareness first-hand the effects of extreme poverty.

Live Below the Line is an incredible new awareness and fundraising campaign that's making a huge difference in the fight against extreme poverty.

Quite simply, it allows thousands of Australians to better understand the daily challenges faced by those trapped in the cycle of extreme poverty, and builds a movement of passionate people willing and able to make a meaningful difference for those who need it most.

The week of Live Below the Line is a week like no other. From May 16th - 20th, thousands of Australians will spend just $2 each day on food, and use their daily experiences to bring extreme poverty to the centre of conversation in homes around Australia. We'll all be challenged, we'll struggle without caffeine, and have a faint feeling of being not quite full for the whole week.

FYI: The UN Human Poverty Index (HPI) for 2006 only has a ranking for 18 of the 21 countries with the highest Human Development Index. In the report, Australia is ranked 14th in the OECD, with a HPI of 12.8.

THIS WEEK a group of RESULTS members will be taking part in the Live Below the Line campaign in an effort to raise awareness in the fight against extreme poverty.

Christine Clarke, RESULTS' Fundraising Coordinator, and her family are all getting involved this year to better understand the daily challenges faced by those trapped in the cycle of extreme poverty.

Christine Clarke:

I’m doing this because I want to try and appreciate what it would be like to have few choices about what I eat and yet try and stay well and give my family a nutritious diet so they grow and survive childhood and develop as they should.

I am not looking forward to going without my glass or wine or maybe a chocolate with a cup of tea at the end of a busy day with Brian, but I believe we will not go hungry!

I am inspired by my children for being prepared and enthusiastic about doing this with us, and willing to experience some small hardships, and possibly be questioned at school next week from friends and peers who may question: “Why wouldn't you do that?"!

Tess Clarke (12-yrs-old):

I am doing this because I want to raise awareness to others about the Global Poverty Project and show people that no matter how young you are you can make a difference.

I am not looking forward to eating pumpkin soup with no cream and porridge for breakfast.

I'm inspired by my mother and RESULTS. I mean they were the ones that told me about it, but it all started when I watched a video clip 'The Girl Effect' and it impacted on me and made me want to do more for others.

Ally Goodwin:

I'm doing this because I want to understand, at least in part, what it's actually like living life where every tiny choice affects whether or not you or your family can eat next time you're hungry.

I also hope that my taking part will help raise awareness of what life's like for so many people everywhere, which can so often seem so far away when we are indeed the minority.

I'm not looking forward to going to work (in a cafe) and taking everyone's meals to them, which I know at the time will seem luxurious and gigantic!

I'm inspired by the people who live harder than this every day and who I have never heard complain.

UPDATE
Watch the Clarke family (at the link below) explain their reasons why they're taking on the Live Below the Line Challenge on Channel 10's current affairs program 'George Negus at 6.30' last Friday.

The Clarke's Living Below the Line Challenge

Foreign Aid Budget boosted

2011-05-12T13:32:00.000+10:00

The foreign aid budget was announced yesterday.

We will see an increase in the aid program of nearly half-a-billion dollars compared to 2010-11.

Our aid level will increase to 0.35 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI), and Australia remains on track to reach an aid level of 0.5 per cent of GNI by 2015.

This is positive news to be recognised.

Actions you can take:

1) Respond to a short article in The Sydney Morning Herald 'Boost to Neighbours'

2) Make a comment on more general Budget articles in any newspaper. For example:

Not tough but definitely responsible
(Comment on the responsibility by working towards the targeted aid level of 0.5 per cent)

Rudd's legacy as PM slashed in search of savings

(Comment on increasing aid as an example of Rudd's 'legacy')

RESULTS hopes to provide its own analysis of the Budget by tomorrow in terms of our Current Campaigns.

In the meantime, you can review the analysis of the Budget by the Australian Council for International Development here:

ACFID Budget round up

Aid Promise: On Track to Save Thousands of Lives

Marc Purcell, Executive Director of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID): "This is a responsible move. 18 out of our 20 closest neighbours are developing countries. Some of them rank amongst the poorest nations in the world. It is the right thing for Australia to build a more secure, peaceful neighbourhood through the aid program."

ACFID applauds the increase in core funding to health in the aid budget, moving from 14 to 17% of total Australian aid. “Australian aid saves lives. It helps to inoculate children against life-threatening diseases and saves mothers from death during childbirth," Mr Purcell said.

Finally, and belatedly, an article 'Helping those beyond our shores is good business', from May 9, by Australian of the Year, Simon McKeon, in support of increasing our aid:

...I've also had the opportunity to see what a difference the aid provided by our federal government makes in some of the poorest countries in the world.

Given this generosity, it is both disappointing and perplexing that our government's overseas aid program is not well recognised.

Contrary to widespread belief, our federal government spending on overseas aid is not the most generous in the world. Notwithstanding our relative economic prosperity, we currently rank only 15th out of the 23 OECD countries...

Budget 2011: Aid Budget

2011-05-10T16:30:00.003+10:00

The Federal Aid Budget will be released later tonight.

It is likely that this is one of the areas that will fair well in the budget.

This is because there is a bilateral commitment to achieve an aid level of 0.5% by 2015.

However, there still might be some negativity in the media on this issue.

RESULTS encourages you to write online comments and letters-to-the-editors in support of an increasing aid program.

See the below post of a recent Editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald, and yesterday's piece in The Age: Gates calls for more foreign aid

BILLIONAIRE philanthropist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates has weighed in to Australia's budget debate, urging the Gillard government to hold firm on its plan to double Australia's foreign aid in the next five years.

"We're having to remind them that the needs of the poorest are not the way people should balance their budgets," he said.

Both the government and opposition are committed to increasing Australia's foreign aid to 0.5 per cent of gross national income (GNI), or more than $8 billion a year, by 2015-16.

"The Netherlands, Sweden, Norway … have been above [0.7] per cent for quite some time. The United Kingdom, who of course has had a 10 per cent budget deficit, amazingly will get to [0.7] per cent by 2013."

Australia donates at less than half that rate. This year's aid budget is 0.33 per cent of GNI.

UPDATE
A slight increase, but it looks like Australia is on its way of sticking to its commitment to increase foreign aid to 0.5 per cent by 2015-16.

Here's the breakdown:

Foreign aid boosted by almost half-a-billion dollars to $4.84b.
Foreign aid will now account for 0.35 per cent of national income.
Gov't aims to raise it to 0.5 per cent of national income by 2015/16.
The govt will spend $1.9b on new aid measures over the next four years.

Budget 2011: High hopes for aid revamp

2011-05-10T15:00:00.003+10:00

Aid groups are hoping that in tonight's budget will shake up the priorities of Australia's multi-billion dollar foreign aid program, shifting money away from programs to improve governance in developing countries and education initiatives.

At present, governance takes more than one-fifth of the $4.3 billion aid budget - more than any other area. World Vision Australia's chief executive, Tim Costello, said: "Health and education getting more weight in the AusAID budget is really important." The executive director of the Australian Council for International Development, Marc Purcell, said he wanted ''at least 20 per cent of the budget directed towards health systems in developing countries, and a similar proportion towards education''.

Poor can still bank on micro-credit

2011-04-11T14:33:00.016+10:00

Microfinance is an industry that has fallen on hard times itself, since the controversial sacking of the Grameen Bank founder, Muhammad Yunus. However, microfinance has proven to be a powerful tool to help the world's poorest people to lift themselves out of poverty, and improve their entire family's nutrition, education and housing.

The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign 2011 report indicates that 128 million of the world's poorest families had current loans at the end of 2009, demonstrating good progress towards reaching 175 million of the poorest families by 2015. This target is still very much achievable if micro-credit is properly managed, and not hijacked by the likes of loan sharks and profiteers.

Below Maree Nutt advocates for a more sensible and reasonable approach in utilising microfinance as a proven tool in the fight against poverty:

But Maree Nutt, the Australian national manager of the anti-poverty group Results, said micro-credit, carefully managed, benefited families, particularly as almost all borrowers are women.

''It's been proven more effective when that money goes to women, because women spend it more directly on benefiting the family, on what the family eat, on whether the kids go to school.''

Results has called for AusAid to more than double its micro-credit aid to $45 million a year by 2013.

('Poor can no longer bank on micro-credit', The Sydney Morning Herald, Ben Doherty, 9/4/2011)

Read some of the letters by some of our RESULTS members, backing microfinance, that have recently been published in the newspapers HERE.

Microcredit at the Crossroads

2011-04-07T17:00:00.009+10:00

Noble Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, the grandfather of microcredit, has had his appeal, over his controversial sacking from the Grameen Bank, dismissed by Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The man who pioneered microcredit in Third World countries with tiny loans to poor Bangladeshi villagers says the industry has lost its way.

Forced to step down from the grassroots bank he founded nearly three decades ago, Muhammad Yunus says the industry has been corrupted by racketeers.

''Unfortunately, not everyone who uses the word 'microcredit' is dedicated to serving the needs of the poor,'' the Nobel Peace Laureate said after his dismissal.

These are just some of the headlines that have appeared in today's newspapers across Australia:

Court ruling ends microcredit pioneer's career

Microcredit has lost its way, says creator

RESULTS needs you to send a letter-to-the-editor of either newspaper (or your local newspaper) commenting on the situation.

You can send your letters to either letters@smh.com.au OR letters@theage.com.au

You can also use our most recent Fact & Action Sheet - Maintaining Growth in Microfinance and Ensuring Benefits for the Poor - to call for a greater role for aid programs in the light of the controversy surrounding the commercialisation of microcredit.

WRITE TODAY!

Also watch out for another article in Saturday's newspapers: "Microcredit at the Crossroads"

To catch up on the situation as it as been happening read our other blog Microfinance Under Fire

Microfinance Under Fire

2011-03-22T21:00:00.028+11:00

Microfinance has bored the brunt of some harsh criticism recently, most notably from Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheik Hasina Wazed, and his attacks on 2006 Noble Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus. An opinion article on Yunus' unwarranted plight appeared in The New York Times on Monday, March 21:

Anyone who cares about international development, microfinance or social entrepreneurship should pay attention. The Grameen Bank is not just the largest microlender in the world, with 8.4 million borrowers (most of them women villagers) who received more than $1 billion in loans last year, it is the flagship enterprise in an industry that, in 2009, served 128 million of the world’s poorest families. It is also a leading example and inspiration for millions of citizen-led organisations that have been established in recent decades to address social problems that governments have failed to solve.

The Problem: (Bangladeshi) Government officials initially seized on a Norwegian documentary that accused Yunus of improperly diverting funds in 1996 that had been donated by the country’s aid agency. The Norwegian government investigated and found that, while funds were transferred internally from one Grameen-owned affiliate to another, there was no indication that the funds were misused. Since then, government officials have engaged in attacks against Yunus and challenged the work of all microlenders in Bangladesh.

Some of these attacks, mind you, have been nasty, vile and wholly undeserved.

a Nobel Prize winner for his work on poverty alleviation has now been called a "blood-sucker" and his life-long work described as mere entrapment of the poor towards greater indebtedness. In a virulent attack on the man who captured the imagination of the world with his model of collateral-free banking that gives small loans to the rural poor, making illiterate women recipients of 95 per cent of his loans. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last December accused Prof. Mohammad Yunus of deception, of doing business with the lives of the poor, of treating GB as his personal property, and of misleading the government about his activities.

Earlier this month Yunus was forced out of the bank he founded. He has since taken the case to the Bangladeshi Supreme Court.

On March 15, the Bangladeshi Supreme Court postponed ruling on Yunus’s case for two weeks. Hopefully, common sense will win the day and a solution will be reached so that this vital institution — and the millions of villagers who depend upon it for their livelihoods — are not jeopardised.

UPDATE

Bangladesh's Supreme Court adjourned a hearing Tuesday on whether Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who has fallen out with the government, was illegally removed from his pioneering microfinance bank.

Yunus, who won the Nobel Prize in 2006 for his concept of small cash loans to help tackle poverty, did not attend the hearing, at which he is appealing against a central bank order which sacked him from Grameen Bank.

"Our legal team sought more time to prepare our case and to allow discussions to continue," his lawyer Tamin Husain Shawan told AFP.

"The hearing has been adjourned until April 4. We were seeking a four-week deferment but the Supreme Court turned this down."

The United States warned last week that ties with Bangladesh could be affected if a solution was not found to the clash between the government and Yunus, who is celebrated worldwide for his work helping the poor.

Yunus, 70, was dismissed as managing director of Dhaka-based Grameen Bank last month in what his supporters said was the culmination of a political vendetta against him.

He has defied the central bank order, returning to work at Grameen's headquarters and lodging the appeal contesting his dismissal.

Supporters of Yunus claim the economist was ousted from the helm of his own bank after falling out with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina when he set up a short-lived political party in 2007.

RESULTS walks the halls of power

2011-03-17T15:00:00.005+11:00

On Monday, February 28 and Tuesday, March 1, members of RESULTS undertook a two day lobbying trip to Canberra to highlight two pressing issues:

Tuberculosis in the lead up to World TB Day on March 24
Microfinance as it is since a year the new strategy was released

Taniele Gofers, a RESULTS member from Sydney, took part of the journey to the halls of power of Canberra's Parliament House, and recounts her experiences:

I arrived in Canberra on Sunday afternoon, on February 28, for my first trip to to the nation's capital as part of a RESULTS delegation. I was nervous, and excited, but knowing that I was going to be supported (in a way only RESULTS members know how to support each other!) by experienced stalwarts, like Ian Sansom and Maree Nutt, put my mind at ease.

Sunday night was spent planning and practicing our Members of Parliament introductions, and getting to know some of the RESULTS Australia members I hadn't met before. Unfortunately, Jeremy Picone, who had organised many of the meetings, wasn't able to make it after a last-minute illness. In my first year of involvement with RESULTS, I have heard much about Jeremy, and heard his voice on National Conference Calls - but am yet to actually meet him. As a budding conspiracy theorist, my imagination, when he didn't show up in Canberra, was again running wild.

Conspiracy theories aside, Monday morning arrived, and it was time to put our best 'parliamentary' clothes on, and face up to some friendly members of parliament. Walking into Parliament House, as part of a delegation - as part of a group of people who were going to be listened to by our representatives was a powerful experience. It just got better from there!

The meetings over Monday and Tuesday were, on the whole, a roaring success. Many of the parliamentarians agreed to wear a Stop TB badge on World Tuberculosis Day (March 24) and were interested in, and passionate about many of the issues we spoke to them about. Our particular focus was on securing the 0.5 per cent of GNI for international aid, and educating our MP's about a revolutionary new diagnostic tool for TB called Xpert.

The MPs were interested and enthuisastic about our issues - some even agreed to raise a motion in parliament on World TB Day. Going about this process is long and convuluted, but hopefully this will go ahead!

Fingers crossed, on World TB Day, some members of parliament will speak in support of increased aid for tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment in our region. Knowing that I played some small part in this effort is an empowering experience.

Apart from the meetings, I enjoyed attending question time and wandering around Parliament House. In the week of the debate about the carbon tax, it was endlessly amusing to see Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard go toe to toe on microscopic points of obscure parliamentary 'points of order.' I have watched question time many times on television, but it is definitely more interesting in person - and I think a real eye-opener for some members of the group who perhaps don't spend their days watching ABC Question Time from 2pm till 3pm!

All in all, going to Canberra was a wonderful experience. It was, as usual, great to have such a wonderful and supportive group of people their for my first MP visit.
Can't wait for the next one!

Don't let the ALP back down on its promise!

2011-02-09T12:30:00.000+11:00

As Federal Parliament resumed today, Tim Costello, CEO of World Vision Australia, has just recently announced that the Australian Labor Party is considering backing down from its pledge of $210 million to The Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria by 2015.

It was considered as part of the flood levy response to delay the target date to 2017.

While this was widely rejected, Labor sources are saying that this is still a real threat.

Leading NGOs met last Friday to strategise a response.

NGOs agreed to get as many people as possible to make some noise and express their support for aid to our politicians.

At this stage it is thought that the focus should be on MPs/Senators and NOT THE MEDIA.

(The consensus is that this is not a mainstream issue, and a mainstream media debate on "Should we cut aid?", may not be altogether helpful right now.)

Please do the following:

Share this message to your group members and others who you feel will take action!
Ask them to email/write to/phone their MPs and Senators (from ANY political party) ASAP!

(This can also be incorporated into letters from our latest Fact and Action sheet.)

Contacting your MP/Senator is particularly important if:

Your MP/Senator is from the ALP
If your MP or Senator is a senior member of the Government
You are from Queensland
Your MP is one of the Independents (Windsor, Oakshott, Wilkie, Katter) or Green MP Adam Bandt.

Attached are some dot points (developed by World Vision) highlighting the importance of maintaining our commitment to aid: click here.

Keep in mind that there are millions of the world's poorest people who also have to face the overwhelming effects of natural disasters minus the resources we have here in Australia.

RESULTS achievements in 2010

2011-02-08T09:30:00.000+11:00

RESULTS International (Australia) had an extremely successful year tackling poverty in 2010. It not only brought about monumental changes in our world, and our country, but also to our great organisation, RESULTS.

Our list of results in the fight to end poverty is quite impressive and can also be used as a great reference for discussion when talking about RESULTS to people who have not heard about what we do.

Below is a list of just some of RESULTS' achievements in 2010:

Organisational:

Moved into our first office for over 15 years in Sydney
Gold sponsor VMAC contributed a generous $10,000
New coporate sponsor Eli Lilly contributed a grateful $6,000
Secured grant funding from RESULTS US for 2 major projects: RESULTS' UN Workshop and ongoing research for Education for All Campaign
Created a new brochure, newsletter, stationary, conference banners, website and social media sites
Largest RESULTS fundraising effort occurred in Hobart, Tasmania
Sen. Bob McMullan (Ret.) awarded the 2010 RESULTS Leadership Award
Updated RESULTS' Constitution
Changed our official name from RESULTS Australia to RESULTS International (Australia)

Grassroots:

3 new RESULTS Groups in Launceston, Burnie, Brisbane, and a restart in Sydney City
Group training (Mackay & Sydney)
RESULTS membership growth; 76 members, up from 35 in June (including 3 new Life Members by the end of 2010)
2010 RESULTS National Conference with international guest speakers held in Melbourne
Successful parliamentary visits in Canberra in March 2010; which included
8 RESULTS delegates
13 strong RESULTS delegation at UN Global Health conference in Melbourne in August, which included a groundbreaking workshop on women and tuberculosis
42 letters-to-the-editor and online comments published
3 newspaper articles, 3 radio interviews and 1 current affairs piece aired on television
4 media releases prepared and circulated
Around 200 letters written to various MPs around Australia
A further 25 MP visits were conducted
Co-signed letters (with ACFID) on Australia's contribution to The Global Fund sent to
Kevin Rudd
Provided input to ACFID's pre-budget submission and aid review
Met with Australian Executive of the World Bank, Jim Hagan, in Washington D.C.
2 RESULTS delegates sponsored to annual ACTION meetings in the United Kingdom

Campaigns:

Helped see an increase in microfinance funding in 2010-11 to $21 million (in 2009-10 figure was $16.5 million)
Pushed for AusAID's first microfinance strategy, which was released in March
Advocated for the finalisation of the Debt2Health Agreement with Indonesia, which will see $37 million go towards tuberculosis inoculation programs
Contributed to the partial success in Australia's contribution to The Global Fund (Australia's contribution of $210 million represented a 55 per cent increase since its last donation)
Submitted a bilateral TB proposal, that will see $55 million committed over 5 years, for a roll-out of new state-of-the-art TB-diagnostic tool in Indonesia
Assisted with UNESCO's Education for All Campaign:
- Contributed to research on the opportunities for basic education for all children, youth and adults covering the Asia-Pacific region
- Invited to participate in an Australian Coalition

Parliament:

In March, saw a RESULTS influenced speech in parliament on World TB Day (Sen. Clare Moore)
Made a motion on The Global Fund in November 2010

RESULTS has many new projects in the pipeline for 2011, including a lobbying trip to Canberra in March. RESULTS will also publish its latest research report on education in the first half of the year, as well as set up new groups across the country, beginning with a new group in Canberra on Saturday, February 26 (in 3 weeks).

There'll also be plenty of grassroots action on tuberculosis, children's health, microfinance and more.

The Power to End Poverty

2011-02-07T10:00:00.001+11:00

Along with RESULTS' ongoing development of its new website in 2011, RESULTS' 'Power to End Poverty' Blog will be used as another instrument in RESULTS' arsenal to empower everyday Australians to be extraordinary voices for the end poverty.

This blog will act as a forum for RESULTS members to share their views, concerns, personal experiences and opinions on poverty and its many underlying issues.

To get your opinion or inspiring experience published on our blog please email your post to newsalert@results.org.au.