ONE, an advocacy organization that raised awareness about global poverty during the 2008 U.S. presidential elections, accepted the 2008 Commitment to Development “Ideas in Action” Award, sponsored jointly by the Center for Global Development (CGD) and Foreign Policy magazine, at a packed event at the National Press Club last week. Tom Daschle, Cindy McCain, and three campaign volunteers joined ONE president and CEO David Lane in accepting the award.
Granted annually since 2003, the Commitment to Development Award honors an individual or organization from the rich world that has made a significant contribution to changing attitudes and policies toward the developing world. Through its ONE Vote ’08 initiative, ONE mobilized 2 million supporters to sign petitions, raise awareness in their communities, and encourage the presidential candidates to explain how they would improve U.S. policies that affect poor people in developing countries.
Since the election, ONE has pushed for President Obama and other newly elected officials to keep their commitments to the world’s poor in the face of the global financial crisis.
“CGD and Foreign Policy magazine are proud to bestow this award upon ONE for its innovative use of online tools and real-world events to raise awareness during the 2008 U.S. elections about how the United States can make it less difficult for poor people in developing countries to escape poverty,” said CGD President Nancy Birdsall. She explained that the award is paired with CGD’s Commitment to Development Index that ranks the 22 richest countries on the extent to which they are development-friendly, not only in terms of aid but also in policies related to trade, migration, investment, technology, security, and the global environment.
Foreign Policy Editor in Chief Moisés Naím said CGD and Foreign Policy magazine share the central idea that “what happens here matters there; we are all neighbors now.”
“The idea that you need to generate support and mobilize enthusiasm here in order to get very powerful initiatives going in developing countries may sound very obvious, but it is not,” Naím said. “Now it is obvious to millions of people, thanks to the ONE Campaign.”
Tom Daschle co-chaired the ONE Vote ’08 effort along with fellow former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Cindy McCain became involved with ONE during the presidential campaign and traveled with the organization in Rwanda last July to see how U.S.-supported efforts are improving and saving lives in the region.
“ONE’s presence on the campaign trail was noteworthy not only because of how many ONE members attended each and every town hall, but because of how smart, respectful, and effective those members were in talking to the candidates,” McCain said. “I can tell you firsthand that the candidates heard ONE’s message loud and clear, and I congratulate ONE on this great and well-deserved honor,” she told an audience that included her husband, former presidential candidate Senator John McCain.
“ONE helped secure extraordinary commitments on global health and poverty from the candidates, including President Obama and Secretary Clinton,” said Daschle. “Equally important, ONE brought together leaders from both sides of the aisle to forge a durable consensus on the importance of America’s global efforts.”
Lane said the award was “about the amazing and dedicated volunteers and grassroots advocates around the country who tried to give voice to the world’s poorest in this election.”
ONE volunteers Danielle DePas, a high school teacher from Florida, Michael Castaldo, a father of three and former marine from New Hampshire, and Matthew McAllister, a University of Colorado student, stood with Lane, Daschle, and McCain to accept the award. They then joined Liesl Hickey, ONE senior director of U.S. Campaigns, and CGD senior fellow Steve Radelet in a panel discussion chaired by CGD vice president Lawrence MacDonald.
Radelet said the challenge going forward is to make sure policymakers know how much Americans care about these issues, even though they are suffering economically and are rightly concerned about their neighbors and friends. “We’re big enough, we’re innovative enough, we’re enough of a world leader, that we can help our neighbors and friends at home while still giving the support that we need to give overseas,” Radelet said.
The same day, an open letter in Politico urged President Obama and Congress to “make global development a co-equal pillar of U.S. foreign policy alongside defense and diplomacy.” Radelet and ONE signed the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network letter along with 150 influential individuals and organizations including William H. Gates, Sr., former USAID administrator Brian Atwood, former Hewlett Packard president and CEO Carly Fiorina, and Walmart.
At the award event, Adam Taylor from Sojourners asked the ONE volunteers how they strike the right balance between advocacy for more and better aid and improvements in other U.S. policies. “It’s sometimes easier to grab people’s attention around the need to give more foreign assistance and much harder to grab people’s attention and explain issues that are somewhat more complex, like trade,” he said.
Castaldo, the former Marine, said he talks to his neighbors about the Millennium Challenge Account and explains “this program is breaking the cycle of indebtedness by providing grants to responsible governments that are demonstrating accountability.” He calls the idea “simple” and says his neighbors understand and support it.
McAllister, the Colorado college student, said he often gets into these “below the surface” conversations during rock concerts. (The upcoming U2 tour may provide ample opportunity for more such conversations!) McAllister recounted a ONE exercise where students were told to choose the most important Millennium Development Goal, only to realize it was a trick question. “They’re all equally important,” he said, “you have to have clean water, you have to work on HIV/AIDS, you have to work on trade issues; they’re all interconnected.”
Florida high school teacher DePas said “it’s not just more aid, we want better aid . . . we want to see long term change to really change people’s lives in these communities.”
For more on the award, see CGD’s Commitment to Development Award initiative.