Bread Blog

Track H.R. 2139 on Open Congress

OpenCongress.org is a great tool for tracking bills in Congress.  It allows you to subscribe using RSS to any bill moving through Congress.  You can also subscribe to a feed for your member of Congress and track their votes, co-sponsorship and introduction of new legislation.  It's a great tool for keeping our members of Congress accountable.  If you join the site, it has basic social networking features, like adding friends, casting your opinion on specific bills and commenting on actions by your members of Congress. 

You can subscribe to an RSS feed to track H.R. 2139 Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009 by clicking here.  Enjoy.

Movement on foreign aid reform

There is exciting news to report from Capitol Hill.  Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA-28), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL-10), introduced a bill last night, April 28, that is a good first step in making U.S. foreign assistance more effective, efficient and transparent in reducing hunger and poverty and fostering broad-based economic development.

The “Initiating the Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009”, H. R. 2139, requires President Obama to develop and implement a comprehensive national strategy for global development, improve evaluation of development programs, and increase the transparency of U.S. foreign assistance to developing countries.

Take Action

Call 1-800-826-3688 and ask YOUR representative to cosponsor the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009 (H.R. 2139).  Unsure of your rep? Click here.

This bill will make our efforts to end global poverty more effective.

When you call, here are some great points to make:

1) This is a great first step in making our foreign assistance more effective. I want you to cosponsor this bill.

2) This bill would require President Obama to develop and implement a strategy for global development.

3) In tough times, it is very important that we make our foreign assistance more effective and streamlined - this bill makes assistance more transparent so we know how our money is being spent.

THIS CANNOT HAPPEN WITHOUT YOUR CALL. Call 1-800-826-3688 by the end of the day on Monday, May 18th and ask YOUR representative to cosponsor the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009 (H.R. 2139).

Tell us how your call went! We want to hear about your efforts to advocate for foreign aid reform! Contact your regional office.

P.S. Don't know who your representative is? Well, click on this link so you know who to ask for when you call 1-800-826-3688.

Reforming Foreign Aid: We're All in this Together

I was gratified when I received an e-mail from another justice-oriented organization (Oxfam America) this week talking about an "impressive group of over 140 businesses, non-profits and former leaders from the government and military" who had signed a letter urging President Barack Obama and Congress to make modernization of our foreign assistance programs a priority.  It also urges that global development become a "co-equal pillar" of U.S. foreign policy alongside defense and diplomacy. 

Sound familiar?  Of course.  This is what we're urging congregations and groups around the country to write in their letters to Congress through our 2009 Offering of Letters.  

Listed among the more than 140 groups and individuals signing the letter is Bread for the World, represented by our president David Beckmann.  The group is actually part of a coalition known as the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN).

What is gratifying about this letter is that it is a reminder that we're not alone in this effort.  Many other organizations who have in the past joined with us in The ONE Campaign are also involved in MFAN and have signed this letter, including secular and denominational partners.  This letter could potentially give some of our denominational partners the opportunity to use the Bread for the World 2009 Offering of Letters to encourage their constituents participate in the effort to reform foreign aid.

With all these voices joining in the call to improve foreign assistance, I think we have a good chance of making it happen.

Flowers for my Fair (Trade) Valentine

How are you celebrating heart day?  Perhaps your sweetheart would appreciate a box of chocolates and a dozen roses.  But stop and consider this: Valentine's Day also provides you a great opportunity to put the concept of fair trade into practice.  When you make your purchase decision, make sure that the product has fair trade certification.  This primarily ensures that the grower of the cocoa, sugar and flowers were paid a fair price for their products.

So instead of buying the commercial brand of boxed chocolates, you might consider purchasing the special products offered on this day by these popular providers of fair trade chocolate Divine, Equal Exchange or SERRV.   

What about flowers? Most of us are already aware about fairly traded chocolates, coffee and tea, but fair-trade flowers are not as widely known.  Fair-trade flowers have only been available in the U.S. since August 2007, due primarily to the efforts of Transfair USA.

For flower farmers, fair trade certification means more than just a fair wage.  It requires that farms provide employee benefits including 12 weeks maternity leave and child care. Read more  about the growers.

But the wages are important too. Did you know that for every fair-trade flower sold by the Hoja Verde flower farm in Ecuador, the cooperative is able send one more child to school?  Most fair-trade flowers come from three countries: Ecuador, Colombia and Kenya.  See list of producers

Where can you buy Fair Trade flowers? Here is a partial list of online retailers and supermarket chains nationwide.

The concept of fair-trade flowers is catching on rapidly.  For Alaina Paradise, who owns Albuquerque-based One World Flowers, this was a very busy week.  "Valentine's Day has been absolutely outstanding for business," said Ms. Paradise, whose company ran out of inventory a few days before Feb. 14.

Ms. Paradise, who started her local operation in March 2008 as a licensee of Transfair, offers a wide variety of bouquets and other products to her customers. 

"We're excited because this holiday is making such an impact on the farms," she said. "When the farms are doing well, they're able to employ more people and sustain the fair-trade business model.

So as you consider what to give your sweetheart this Valentine's day, also keep in mind the countless workers who labored growing the products that the two of you will enjoy together on this special day.

Parade Magazine and Foreign Aid

We often find good resources for our anti-hunger advocacy work in the Sunday newspaper.  Often those resources come in the form of an Op-Ed column in the opinion page or a feature on page 6 or 7 or 8 of the front section.  This Sunday I found that great resource in a chart published by Parade magazine. 

Since many of the Sunday newspapers around the country carry Parade (buried in the mass of glossy advertisements), you might have already seen the chart.   It's in the section called Intelligence Report on page 8, with a big headline above the chart entitled Who Gets U.S. Foreign Aid. 

As many of us already know, our 2009 Offering of Letters is going to push for a reform of foreign aid. Our effort is going to place an emphasis on making U.S. foreign aid more effective and getting assistance to those who need it the most. 

We don't know yet what approach our Bread government relations and organizing staff is going to ask us to take when contacting our members of Congress. But it's very useful to know a bit of background on what policies our country has followed in regards to foreign until now.  This is where the chart is very instructive.  It lists the top six recipients of foreign aid (Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Kenya and South Africa) and the purpose for which the aid is used.  In the case of the first four countries, the words "weapons" and "security" are prominent.  In the next two, Kenya and South Africa, the key word is HIV/AIDS.  If you view the online version of the chart (by clicking on the title), you can get links from the U.S. State Department to information on the next four countries: Mexico, Colombia, Nigeria and Sudan. 

I found this chart very interesting.  I already knew the basic trends, but I didn't have many of these figures handy.  I know that it's going to be very useful background in my Bread for the World advocacy work in 2009.

World AIDS Day

Today, December 1, 2008, marks the 20th Anniversary of World Aids Day.  From a red glowing space needle in Seattle, Washington, to a prayer walk in Mbarara, Uganda, millions of people will spend the day bringing awareness to and taking action on an epidemic that does not discriminate by age, gender, class nor does it have borders.

Since the 1980’s, the global community has done much to combat HIV/AIDS, but the number of those infected continues to rise with over 33 million people today living with the disease.  Many of those who live with the HIV virus live in the developing world with inadequate access to medical care and life saving treatments, as well as lack of comprehensive education on how to prevent the spread of AIDS.

The U.S. has been a leader in the global fight against AIDS and in 2003 launched the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).   In July of this year Congress reauthorized PEPFAR, with overwhelming support from the American people who wrote letters and made phone calls to their Congressional members.

But still we need to do more!  Hunger and AIDS in the developing world go hand and hand.  Those who suffer from AIDS in the developing world need more than just medicine.  They need nutritious food as well.  AIDS affects more than those who live with the disease but leaves in its wake, millions of orphaned children.    This is why when the world’s countries adopted 8 goals that address the root causes of  poverty, HIV/AIDS made the list as number six (The Millennium Development Goals).  AIDS, poverty and hunger are all intertwined.  We must take a holistic approach at the global problems of today for long term and effective solutions tomorrow.

What's art got to do with poverty?

Thursday, October 16 is World Food Day and this weekend many groups around the world are putting together events as part of the international campaign Stand Up Against Poverty (October 17-19). 

Stand Up is a global mobilization to end poverty and inequality and to raise awareness for the Millennium Development Goals.  The ongoing hunger crisis and economic downturn brings new challenges to progress on achieving these goals.  Every day, 50,000 people die as a result of extreme poverty and the gap between rich and poor people is increasing.  Nearly half the world’s population live in poverty, 70% are women.  We have the power to change this.

Here in Portland, Oregon we are using art as a form of advocacy to mobilize and educate our community about the realities of hunger in the developing world.  Portland State University students have been rallied together by one passionate student, Carrie Stiles, who believes people can and must make a difference.  The event she is directing has pulled together politicians, anti-hunger advocates, global poverty experts and artists.  Artists are not usually the main attraction at a hunger awareness event, but Carrie is one of those people who can think outside the box.

Who better can tell a visual or auditory story through pictures, dance or music that connects us to our compassion but artists?  Artists live in the heart often more than the mind.  Art is a compelling form of advocacy that has been used throughout the ages.  Think of the wood engravings of Fritz Eichenberg during the depression that portrayed the long soup lines (see above image).  Eichenberg used his gift to call for peace and justice in this world throughout his life.

Last Friday, the PSU Stand Up artists gathered together in a local studio and created a web of advocacy by passing around a ball of yarn.  We looked at how advocating for one issue is connected to another.  For example advocating for orphans was connected to nearly every MDG.  Without help to care for themselves, orphans are connected to extreme poverty and often malnourished.  Further, lack of a proper education for an orphan in the developing world (where few get an education with meager government funds to invest in schools) limits their resources later in life.  Many orphans also find themselves in their precarious situation in areas like Sub-Sahara Africa because they lost their parents to HIV/AIDS.  The list can go on and on.

As we have lately seen, our world economies are interconnected.  Our world food system is also interconnected.   Our simple exercise in passing a ball of yarn showed us the connections between each of the Millennium Development Goals.  The root causes of global poverty are complex, but the MDGs are a comprehensive road map to at least cut extreme hunger in half by the year 2015. We just need the political will to follow the path.   I’m excited to see what our artists will come up with outside the usual box of advocacy on Friday.

Social Networking to End Hunger

Beth Kanter, social networking guru, recently posted about ways to take action on the issue of hunger.  She pledging to lose 10 pounds and she is encouraging her friends to sponsor her efforts.  All the proceeds will benefit the Austin Foodbank.  She is using her skills as a saavy social networker to generate awareness through Twitter and Tyson Food's blog.  Be sure to check it out.

Wendy Wetzel, pastor from the Oregon coast, posted on her blog about our financial priorities in our nation and the current economic bailout.  She recently signed the ONE Campaign's petition to ask ONE question of the presidential candidates about extreme poverty in our world.  She writes:

And as America turns to the standard bearers of our major political parties for some confidence, some direction, some vision for the future of our country, I will be listening to what they say about our world and hoping for Just ONE Question on global poverty in our increasingly interconnected world. I hope they both say yes, we'll find the money, because that's important to us.

Although it's easy to forget, that's important to me.

Save the economy? Yes. Then, please, let's do what we can to save the world.

Bread for the World is using social networking tools to generate political advocacy to end hunger. Are you part of our Facebook group?  Check it out.  We're also providing new ways for people to hear about our work through our monthly podcast - Breadcast. Discover new artists.  Learn more about hunger advocacy.

What are some of your favorite blogs or social networking sites that encourage you to get involved in a specific cause?

 

PENNY WARS

Before we can advocate for the poor and hungry, we need to educate.  Raising awareness in youth will create a whole new generation of activist.  The July/August edition of Hunger Sunday highlights the Munsey Memorial United Methodist Church in Johnson City, Tennessee where the middle school and high school group engaged in Penny Wars and raised over $400 for Bread for the World.  The youth also led two worship services around the theme of “Be the Change.” 

Bread for the World Sunday is coming up in October.  It is a time when many churches around the nation will give THANKS for God’s gift of abundant food, REFLECT on our responsibilities in a time of growing hunger, PRAY for those who are hungry, and RENEW our commitment to share abundance with others.  As Munsey Memorial has shown, there are many creative ways to involve our youth in hunger awareness activities and advocacy.

Foreign Aid, Farms and Poverty Reduction

“He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”  ISAIAH 2:4

Recently Bread for the World Institute came out with a new policy paper titled, “Reforming Foreign Aid.”  The Institute is the branch of Bread for the World that provides analysis on hunger and strategies to end it.  They look at the big picture issues and not surprisingly have come to the conclusion that responding to the global crises requires, “establishing long-term development goals, especially increasing agricultural productivity in poor countries.”  The key to getting there is through reforming a foreign aid system that has not been substantially changed since the 1960’s.

When you give a person a fish, says the old adage, they eat for a day but teach a person to fish and they eat for life.  We must look at the assistance we give to our brothers and sisters in the developing world in terms of long term development and the ability to build up their agricultural systems that were stymied by farm policies .  When people in developing countries have the knowledge and the tools they can grow their own food.  Evidence shows small rural farms are essential in developing economic systems and poverty reduction.  Climate change, infrastructure, knowledge, technology and market viability are all important contributors to an economically successful rural agriculture.  It requires a wide angle lens to develop a system that will decrease and perhaps eliminate poverty in years to come.

When people have the basic resources to live, they are less likely to search for alternative and sometimes violent means to feed their children.  As pointed out in the briefing paper, “enabling people in poor countries to acquire the skills and opportunities to break the cycle of poverty is not only the right thing to do, but will serve the U.S. national interest by creating a more secure and stable world.”  Recently 84% of retired military officers polled agreed with that assessment.  Robert Gates, the Secretary of Defense, has also called for non-military foreign affairs programs to combat instability and he understands we live in a closely connected and interdependent world today that requires “far-sighted actions with long term benefits.”

With the global food crises creating more instability, starvation and increased poverty, now is the time to think about long term solutions to complex and immediate problems.  With a Congress that thinks in terms of election years, it requires that the American public weigh in on discussions of policy to ensure any substantial change where swords are turned into plowshares.

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Robin Stephenson is a field organizer based in Portland, Oregon for Bread for the World