Jane Moyo, Head of media relations
Last night, BBC’s News at Ten reported the UK Minister of State for international development, Douglas Alexander, as planning to ramp up efforts to end corruption so that the people who need aid the most get it. The story was told via a village in Uganda where a local official says he estimates half of aid is lost to corruption - and then goes on to talk rightly about the need for more transparency.
ActionAid firmly believes that ending corruption means working with local people to root it out. But, worryingly, we’re seeing increasing signs that some opinion leaders in the UK think that all government-to-government aid should be stopped as a first rather than last resort, whenever the question of how to deal with corruption and waste comes up.
We know that government-to-government aid can be highly effective and think the UK government’s policy of giving aid directly to developing country governments should be applauded and not condemned. It’s one of the best means of helping to expand delivery of essential services such as clean water, healthcare and education. Aid can also help strengthen institutions in the fight against corruption such as improving the transparency and structure of national budgeting systems to make them more accountable to citizens - and as an important side effect, to donors as well.
Aid can and should be part of the story of ending corruption. And ActionAid works with people across the world to help them keep track of what their governments are doing and demand change. To do this we use tools such as transparency billboards and even pursue cases through local courts. Surely this is far better than walking away.
For information about ActionAid’s work in Uganda see my blog on Uganda's deadly mudslides of a couple of weeks ago or go to ActionAid UK's front page and look at the video of R&B singer Jamelia's visit to Uganda in support of our women's rights work.
Anjali Kwatra, Head of news
I’ve only just got round to finishing this great article from Wednesday’s Independent (I know, that’s a bad thing for a member of the news team to admit).
My only excuse was that it was spread over five pages of the paper and I wanted to give it the time to read properly – and it was worth it.
Entitled "A Special Dispatch" the piece explains how 69 per cent of marriages in Ethiopia begin with the abduction and rape of the bride-to-be. That means that seven out of 10 women – sometimes as young as eight - are raped by a stranger who then becomes their husband.
But Johann Hari explains how one woman has almost single-handedly started changing this. Boge Gebre set up an organisation which enables women to have more of an equal voice in their villages which has led to changes in people’s attitude to bride abduction and female circumcision.
It reminded me of Birknesh, a woman who stood up to her community by refusing to marry her husband-to-be because he was HIV-positive. Take a look at ActionAid’s Six Degrees project for more inspiring stories of how women are changing the world.
Asha Tharoor, Senior media officer (policy and campaigns)
The general election is fast approaching. All around Westminster are the usual mutterings of how to make the most of the rapidly diminishing yet crucial time before purdah begins.
There may be much debate on whether it's un PC to even use the word purdah today but Hugh Muir's recent comments in The Guardian show just how important it is still perceived to be. It literally means the use of a veil or curtain in some cultures to separate women from men or strangers. Here it refers to the period of time between the date an election is called and when the nation collectively leaves the sofa and goes to the polls. Governments cannot make any policy announcements at this time to gain advantage or influence. This may seem old fashioned in our more cynical age where our mistrust of all politicians has plummeted to new depths but there are even strict rules governing the purdah period issued by OfCom.
The challenge for international development charities like ActionAid is how to use this period wisely when we have slightly more room to manoeuvre than domestic NGOs even if that space is relatively small. The needs of over a billion people going hungry each night won't stop just because an election is coming but the question is how to convince policymakers to include this need in their ministerial aspirations and ensure the UK remains a global leader in the fight against poverty.
Jane Moyo, Head of media relations
It's International Children's Day on 1st June. But this Dan McDougal article in The Times on child workers in Madagascar who pick the vanilla pods that are used in our cakes, ice creams and sweets, makes you think that every day should be a child rights day.
Very sadly it's the children's parents who are putting them to work on their own farms.
The article is in fact a case study in how subsistance farmers are having to make their children work the land because the price of vanilla has fallen over the past few years and they can no longer make a living. Prices have plummeted from US$600 to US$20 a kilo, throwing whole communities into penury.
Whilst ActionAid doesn't work in Madagascar, our campaign to make the developing world hunger free too often shows that small scale producers are being edged out of markets, shrinking their income and savings.
Giant multinationals, who purchase and process agricultural commodities, are undermining economic development in commodity-reliant developing countries by influencing the terms of trade in their own favour.
With market power concentrated in a few hands internationally, local African farmers find it hard to build up enough cash to diversify their crops when prices fall. And as this tragic Madagascan story illustrates, this can have a knock-on effect for an entire family.
For more information on ActionAid's view, read the report Commodity dependence and development. It makes interesting reading.
Sean Kenny, Senior media officer
The acres of rubble, the twisted buildings and the sprawling camps are the visible signs of the destructive power of Haiti’s earthquake. But the trauma that tens of thousands of Haitians are feeling lies just below the surface.
It emerges late at night under their makeshift tarpaulin, when people can’t sleep, or are woken by nightmares. It manifests itself when people suffer aches and pains for no obvious physical reason. It stops people dead in their tracks when they have to enter a concrete building – the structures which became graves for so many of their family, friends and neighbours. In its more extreme form the trauma turns into quarrels and violence.
Although it’s hard to tell exactly how many people are suffering trauma symptoms, ActionAid estimate around one family in six has someone suffering. That’s why it has trained 37 local volunteers to do psychosocial counselling work in the camps of Mariani where ActionAid works.
Now 12 of these volunteers have started work, with a further 25 available as a pool of trained helpers on hand as the programme expands. The volunteers, who were chosen for their social skills, openness and empathy, were trained in conducting community assessments and how to identify trauma. All volunteers come from the communities in which they work, which will give them a good understanding of the people’s troubles and what they are going through.
Group work is the first line of defence. It revolves around singing and prayers, which give people a comfortable space in which they can open up about their feelings. For the more expressive people it works well, and the volunteers are there to help the process along.
One-to-one sessions with the counsellors are for those suffering more serious symptoms, or people who are very quiet and don’t like the group activities. They go over the traumatic experience and have a chance to share what they have been through.
In amongst the crowded camps we have set up small shelters for people to sit and reflect upon their experiences, away from the noise and the bustle of camp life. With the help of the volunteer they can come to an awareness of their situation and an understanding of their behaviour, so hopefully they can approach the problem rationally.
The psychosocial work will continue for at least another two months. It’s very likely that ActionAid will expand the programme in April to cover more areas of Port-au-Prince.
Jane Moyo, Head of media relations
ActionAid's office in Kampala has just sent through a request for £50,000 to help families affected by deadly mudslides in Uganda. This follows weeks of heavy rain in the east of the country. For more details read this BBC account.
After the nearly £5 million ActionAid managed to raise for Haiti, £50,000 seems such a small amount, but we do have concerns about whether we will be able to find the funds. Emergencies money is almost inevitably ringfenced. We can't for example take a few thousand from the Haiti pot. For Uganda we're discussing if we can approach some of our major donors to see if they can help, or perhaps send a round-robin email to those supporters who sponsor children in the area.
Of course the numbers affected are much smaller than in Haiti, but there's still 400 missing presumed dead, 6,000 in immediate danger and at least half a million who may need to be relocated. And it's not only people facing imminent danger. Crops have been devastated and schools, clinics and infrastructure destroyed. There's also an increasingly high risk of waterbourne disease. Make no mistake about it, this is a major disaster for Uganda.
So what will ActionAid Uganda's request for £50,000 provide to reach up to 24,000 people?
1. Five safe and dry community centres for families: £2,000
2. Three months supply of food and cooking oil: £26,000
3. Restocking household items including blankets, clothes and plastic sheeting: £14,000
4. Giving guidance on sustainable land use, combating deforestation and helping local people influence local authorities to provide a more comprehensive solution: £3,000
5. Transport costs and warehouse facilities: £2,300
6. Communication and documentation: £2,000
7. Per diems for local volunteers: £1,000
8. Monitoring and evaluation: £700.
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