As part of our malaria blog series, Roz Hunt, Media & Communications Manager at Malaria No More UK, discusses an exciting partnership and how you can share your story.
One of our priorities at Malaria No More UK is to make malaria an issue that people that know and care about. To do this we use real life stories on malaria to show the human impact of this preventable disease. Malaria claims the life of a child every 45 seconds; Over 90% of all malaria deaths occur in Africa and it costs the African economy some £8 billion a year in lost productivity. We’d love you to be moved and inspired to act by these numbers but let’s face it numbers by themselves can be rather dry. This is why we’re always looking out for and using personal stories on malaria.
Personal stories are a feature in the 1.4 Billion Reasons University Tour we are currently doing with the Global Poverty Project. We hope as you read this you’ll be encouraged to share your story with us. For example here’s a recent story thanks to Elisha London, UK Country Director of the Global Poverty Project. Elisha contracted malaria in Uganda in 2006, then 2008 and then suffered again with a relapses in 2009 and 2011. Read Elisha’s blog here. 1.4 Billion Reasons tour is a powerful illustration of how the detail of someone’s life can speak to a bigger issue and the positive change we can all be a part of.
To raise awareness and funds we also explore and create new angles to link malaria with everyday life in the UK. These include weaving malaria into themes of popular culture, such as sport, fashion, world music and entertainment. A key project for us right now is the mass awareness and fundraising partnership we have with ITV’s I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!
I’m A Celebrity returned to TV screens last Sunday. It’s the third year that Malaria No More UK is the beneficiary charity, with 15p from every phone vote being donated to help save lives in Ghana, where the whole population is at risk of malaria. Funds raised from this year’s show will build on support from previous years, which helped deliver of 2.5 million mosquito nets to protect up to five million people from malaria. This year, our partnership is supporting Ghana’s goal to ensure that its entire population of 24 million has access to mosquito nets by the end of 2012.
Last week, Sarah Kline, our Executive Director, and I had an early morning start and Q&A session with this year’s celebrity contestants in a secret location in Australia, hours before they left for jungle! It was fascinating and encouraging to hear their ideas on how they want to support our work and they shared their own stories on malaria. Some of the contestants have suffered from the disease and others have seen its impact through living and travelling in Africa. Several celebrities also offered ingenious ideas to prevent bites! We’ll be sharing their stories in the next three weeks - watch this space!
Let me tell you a story about poverty and prosperity.
It begins with a natural resource. A massive opportunity buried, beneath the ground, with the ability to bring huge wealth into a country and allow citizens to secure their own future and fight poverty.
However, too often the wealth generated by the natural resources doesn’t go towards improving the lives of the citizens. Instead meetings take place behind closed doors, and decisions are made out of sight meaning the money goes to only a few, leaving many worse off than before.
If governments and companies operated openly, this would allow the people they represent to hold them to account. The money brought in could create jobs, hospitals, schools. We could create a fairer world.
Equatorial Guinea is an example of the problem that exists. It had the 12th highest gross domestic product in the world in 2008, with more than $30,000 per capita.
It also ranked 121st out of 177 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index (a composite of life expectancy, educational attainment and income measurements that attempt to show a more accurate portrayal of someone’s life).
On 25 October, the US Department of Justice filed an asset forfeiture claim against a $30m Malibu house, a $38.5 million Gulfstream jet and other assets owned by Teodorin Obiang, the son of the Equatorial Guinea’s leader, who as a government minister was earning a reported salary of just US$4,000 a month. This sent a clear statement that “the United States will not be a hiding place for the ill-gotten riches of the world’s corrupt leaders”. However, we need to put laws in place to avoid this kind of corruption from occurring in the first place rather than react after the corruption has occurred.
The returns from the ownership of natural resources in Africa are over $400bn/year, whereas aid to Africa is less than $50bn/year. So this money represents a huge opportunity for ordinary citizens to secure their own future. That opportunity will be missed if they don't have the ability to hold their leaders to account for how that money is spent.
In October 2011, the European Commission made proposals for updating the EU legislation to require greater transparency by oil, gas and mineral companies.
This legislation would be a crucial step forwards in fighting corruption, but getting this legislation passed is a tough job. The European Parliament alone consists of 736 MEPs from the 27 member countries. There are lobby groups from the extractive industries pushing hard for the legislation to be watered down.
And then there's us.
We, the people they represent, need to use our voices in support of the legislation and to let the MEPs know that we support greater transparency in natural resource industries.
Join us in our campaign for justice by writing to your MEP to find out their position on the proposed legislation and help citizens of these countries to secure their own future.
Can the high street really meet the demands of fast fashion, ever–changing and disposable as it is, whilst maintaining ethical sourcing practices?
For many the answer seems to be a resounding “NO.” We continue to read blogs and articles from all manner of informed people who genuinely believe we cannot make clothing ethically without it costing the earth. But take a look at ActionAid’s extensive living wage investigations and the truth is clear. If Asda paid just a further 2pence on a £4 t–shirt it would mean the difference between extreme poverty and a living wage for their workers in India. Wouldn’t we all happily pay the extra 2pence and make it an even £4.02?
Yet a larger majority (one I used to fit into myself not so long ago) seem happy to be diverted by mischievous greenwash - a form of spin in which green marketing is used deceptively whilst core business practices are often anything but. It can be a great first step, but needs to be followed through in the company values. All too often we the consumer choose to ignore the glaring problem of workers being paid below the minimum wage, denied the right to union representation and being forced to work hours that would make a hedge fund manager whimper.
Greenwash has become such a massive issue that guides are even being written on how to use green marketing effectively, i.e. for profit.
Take Topshop’s recent collaboration with famed wool designer Izzy Lane; premium wool coats made from her own sheep sanctuary in the Yorkshire Dales.
Well not the easiest solution to replicate but definitely press-worthy. What we need to do is take a look at the real problems – such as why Arcadia owned brands such as Topshop are just about the only major high street players left still refusing to sign up to the Ethical Trading Initiative.
Perhaps a more sustainable angle would be to tackle why a business that paid dividends to the tune of £1.2 billion in 2005 can’t devote a small amount of its funds to ensuring a living wage for the people creating its wares.
Topshop unfortunately are just one of many culprits on the British high street. Benetton demonstrates the art of greenwash here.
Benetton could be applauded for positioning its brand around equality and unity for all human kind. However, this week Ethical Consumer launched their 2011 high street buying guide and illustrated Benetton as one of 9 brands failing to demonstrate any adequate policies in place to protect worker’s rights.
And who could beat this classic example from TK Maxx, fantastically creating these Fairtrade tees for Comic Relief. Yet why did they not provide any comment on Ethical Consumer’s report that places them in the least ethical retailer of the year nominations?
I, myself having spent most of my career as a fashion buyer for one of the leading high street fashion retailers, had come to believe that sweatshops were a thing of the past. I now realise that as buyers we are unaware of the exact origins of our product, whose hands are touching it and what wage they are being paid. Wages don’t actually factor on the negotiating landscape, as compared with raw material and transport costs they pale into insignificance.
Ethical fashion is quintessentially about honesty and integrity. If we’re going to go to the effort of creating campaigns, why not put that effort into battling the discrepancies between the image we communicate to the public and the actual truth of our contribution to this insidious yet solvable travesty?
Accountability and transparency are what is required. It might not make the headlines of Grazia, but it will bring us closer to the eradication of extreme poverty. And if an old school high street giant like Marks and Spencer can manage it, then surely there’s no reason why this can’t be the norm across the high street.
Yes we can forgive ourselves for thinking a solution is impossible – after all we have been deceived and manipulated for far too long. Now is the time to start thinking for ourselves. If people power can launch an Arab spring, then can’t we also overthrow the dictatorship of high street fashion?
[Have your say…Do you have any examples of green wash to add to this list? We want to hear about them – post them here…]
What is your response to suggestions that Fairtrade is "not so fair" - making Fairtrade farmers dependent on the premiums from a relatively small western market.
We’ve done a lot of research into the impact of Fairtrade – working with institutions like University of Greenwich Natural Resources Institute, and the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University to conduct independent assessments. These studies are really helpful in showing what is working and what needs to be changed or improved.
Groups that have been able to sell a reasonable amount on Fairtrade terms have been able to make some really good progress in tackling some of the problems they face – whether that’s community services like schools, health centres, clean water, or business improvements like getting more expert farming advice, or buying new equipment to improve product quality. In many cases, farmers groups have been able to get matched funding for their projects, combining Fairtrade premiums with government or other business funding.
One issue that producer groups do face is what happens if their sales on Fairtrade terms fall – so for example, a lot of companies have switched their sourcing from West African cotton to Indian cotton, partly because it is easier to process. We’re looking at that problem and trying to find solutions, working with the businesses and the producers. But ultimately we need people to keep asking for Fairtrade products, and demanding that companies do more to ensure their business is fighting poverty too.
The future doesn’t just lie in Western markets like the UK. We’re working to build new markets – both in the North, in places like Korea or Poland, and in the South. There’s now a Fairtrade label in South Africa, and Kenya has its first Fairtrade products. In the future we’re hoping to see more South-South trade open up – in Brazil, India, East Africa and the Caribbean.
Fairtrade is sometimes described as good idea but its impact is far too small to fight poverty – is it more than just a few extra pennies?
There’s a great African proverb that says “If you ever think you’re too small to make a difference, you’ve clearly never spent a night in a room with a mosquito.” My view is that we shouldn’t underestimate the small stuff - if a few individuals hadn’t gone out to fight for the first Fairtrade products all those years ago, we’d never be where we are today. And what might seem like a very small thing to us, can be quite a big thing for people on the other end of a supply chain.
A good example for me was last year in Ghana last year when I visited a group of women in the Akoma Cooperative – they produce shea butter. It’s quite a feat – it takes several days and about 10 different processes to get from the shea nut on the tree to the final butter but by working together, the women had turned it from a solitary into a social process. They had just received their Fairtrade premium payment for their first sales – it wasn’t much, less than $1000 in total I think. But with that money they had enrolled every woman in the cooperative into a health insurance programme – this is a massive change as often families don’t visit the clinic because they know they can’t afford the medical costs. On top of the health insurance, they had bulk bought materials to make a school uniform for one child in the family of every member, so that they could start the new school year.
These are small but meaningful changes we make by choosing Fairtrade products. But you are right that we need to tackle the bigger issues – the causes of poverty. Fairtrade isn’t just about shopping – it’s also about campaigning for wider change in the way trade is done. That’s why for the last year we’ve been campaigning about the shocking US and European cotton subsidies which are keeping West African cotton producers poor and Traidcraft and the Fairtrade Foundation are launching a campaign action to Ed Davey, the Trade Minister on the importance of keeping up promises on trade made as part of the Doha round.
Tell us about some of the exciting things that Fairtrade has in store for 2012?
We’re going to kick of a whole Year of Fairtrade in 2012 - getting people in the UK to take 1.5 million steps for Fairtrade – that’s one for every farmer and worker currently involved in the Fairtrade system. We’ve made huge progress, but we’ve worked out that still the average household only spends about £1 per week on Fairtrade products – not even the cost of a cup of coffee. If we can get people just to double that to £2 on average, we could double the impact we’re having for farmers and workers.
It can be a small step, like switching one more thing you buy to Fairtrade – so if you already buy Fairtrade bananas, but not tea, then buy tea. Or rice. Or nuts. It can be a big step – like getting everyone in your workplace or college to do something for Fairtrade. Or organising an event. Or writing to your MP on an issue of trade justice. We’re going to have loads of suggestions all through the year and The Take A Step Campaign is kicking off with Fairtrade Fortnight, 27 February – 11 March.
We’re also going to be doing more for World Fair Trade Day on 12 May, and join with people all around the world in having a Big Fairtrade Breakfast. There’ll be ideas for taking steps for Fairtrade at summer fetes and festivals too. And of course, there’s London 2012 Games which has made a commitment that all coffee, tea, sugar and bananas should be Fairtrade – we want to make sure all the companies deliver on that.
Another exciting thing is that we hope 2012 will be the year we see the first Fairtrade seafood – we’ve been working on the global standards for some time now. For example, a lot of the shrimp we buy comes from Asia or Latin America, and whilst there are some eco-standards out there, there isn’t one that is specifically supporting small scale fisheries, ensuring that there are sustainable fishing practices and fair trading relationships involved.
Want more? For up to date information on Fairtrade campaigns, news and actions for making a difference click here.
This is a guest blog by dotHIV, an initiative to fight HIV and AIDS using the power of the Internet.
A revolution is upon us!
The Internet is about to change: Soon, the ICANN (an authority which oversees all online-name rights) will open an application window for new top-level-domains. Only during this short time span, applications for new domain-endings like .canon or .berlin can be handed in. We want to use this opportunity for a groundbreaking form of social business - and submit an application for the domain-ending .hiv
Why a domain-ending?
Because a global problem needs a global solution. AIDS kills more than 2 million people every year – but 2 billion people use the Internet every day. We want to use the power of the Internet to bring the virus back into the mind of the people and create a completely new way of generating donations by selling the domain-ending .hiv as an interesting product. Our goal is to create a new and unique form of non-profit business rather than a conventional charity.
So how does .hiv work?
It works similar to the 'normal' red ribbon: A company buys the domain-ending '.hiv' to show solidarity with the fight against the virus. But whereas the red ribbon is a conventional charity-item, .hiv is a new form of social business: The donated money fills a pool of funds and with every click on a .hiv-website, the Internet users redirect a small amount of money to a charity of their choice. Of course the content of the site remains the same: google.com and google.hiv will not differ.
The donations are distributed on a website, where initiatives and organizations from all over the world can gather support by presenting their work. Transparency and expediency are ensured, because the Internet community decides, which projects should be supported. An independent board of experts will supervise the process.
Why do we need your pledges?
The ICANN will only open the application window for 2 months and once it closes, it will not open again for years. Now is our chance! Since we are a social business start-up, we need your help to get funding money: Approximately $200.000 are necessary to cover the application fee and technical operations. Once the application is approved and enough .hiv-domains are sold within one year, we expect to be able to pay back ten times the amount through donations to HIV-projects all over the world.
Who is behind .hiv?
We are a small team and have been working hard on getting our idea started for one year now. Some of us work in an advertising agency in Hamburg/Germany, others have worked in the non-profit-sector or in online-fundraising.
What can you do?
By establishing .hiv, we want to anchor the awareness for and the fight against HIV and AIDS in the cornerstones of the Internet and create a never seen form of social business. If you want to become a part of this idea which could change the world pledge to this cause and help us establish an innovative and completely new channel for generating donations for the fight against HIV and AIDS.
• Visit our website and facebook page and support us with your vote
• We are also sourcing funds for the application process on the crowd-sourcing platform IndieGoGo
• Please use any form of communication and help us spread the message to make this idea become reality
Thanks for your support!
We tried to explain a big idea in a few words. If you have questions or want to give us your feedback, check our website dothiv.org or write us an email to mail@dothiv.org. Or you can just leave us a comment on facebook.com/dothiv.
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Equatorial Guinea is an example of the problem that exists. It had the 12th highest gross domestic product in the world in 2008, with more than $30,000 per capita.
These are small but meaningful changes we make by choosing Fairtrade products. But you are right that we need to tackle the bigger issues – the causes of poverty. Fairtrade isn’t just about shopping – it’s also about campaigning for wider change in the way trade is done. That’s why for the last year we’ve been campaigning about the shocking 
having a Big Fairtrade Breakfast. There’ll be ideas for taking steps for Fairtrade at summer fetes and festivals too. And of course, there’s London 2012 Games which has made a commitment that all coffee, tea, sugar and bananas should be Fairtrade – we want to make sure all the companies deliver on that.
