Outside of music, Bono has is
enthusiastic about global issue and he used his celebrity to generate awareness
about many global problems. Over the years, he has met with world leaders and
many U.S. politicians to discuss such issues as debt relief for developing
countries, world poverty and AIDS. Bono has also lobbied tirelessly on behalf
of many causes, including two he helped create. DATA, which stands for Debt
AIDS Trade Africa, is dedicated to fighting AIDS and ending poverty in Africa.
Bono found ONE Campaign in May 2004 with the
motto “Action Speak Louder” is an
international, nonpartisan, non-profit, advocacy and campaigning organisation that
fights extreme
poverty and
preventable disease, particularly in Africa, by raising public
awareness and pressuring political leaders to support ineffective policies and
programmes that are saving lives and improving futures.
ONE was originally founded by a coalition of 11
non-profit humanitarian and advocacy organizations, including DATA, World Vision, Oxfam America,
and Bread for the
World, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In
2007, ONE announced that it would be merging with DATA.
The name ONE was inspired by the belief that one
voice, coming together with many others — the political left and right,
business leaders, activists, faith leaders and students — can change the world
for the better. It is a
membership organisation of over 7 million people worldwide.
Method Used
ONE uses a number of highly visible methods to
reach out to the general public, promote its message, and encourage advocacy
actions. ONE does not ask for public donations, stating: "We're not asking
for your money. We're asking for your voice."[26]
Celebrity
spokespeople are used to speak to the media and undertake trips abroad
televised visits to areas suffering from poverty in order to illustrate the
issues ONE is attempting to solve. ONE also uses its celebrity supporters for
video ads that are released on YouTube.
ONE is
a largely Internet-based campaign
and therefore has multiple online communities throughout cyberspace. As well as
using YouTube, ONE has a significant presence on Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram and Flickr,[27] and uses Facebook for its campus organizing.[28]
ONE
also has field organizers around the United States to support grassroots mobilization and
advocacy. The field staff works with more than 200 local ONE groups[that
sponsor educational events, organize community awareness events, and lobby
their members of Congress.
ONE was
founded by 11 organizations: Bread for the
World, CARE, DATA, International
Medical Corps, International
Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, OxfamAmerica, Plan
USA, Save the Children U.S., World Concern, World Vision.
The
official launch rally was held on May 16, 2004, at Liberty Mall in Philadelphia. About 2,000
people attended, including Bono, Dikembe Mutombo, Michael W. Smith, Richard
Stearns (president of World Vision), and David
Beckmann (president of Bread for the
World).[6]
In
December 2004, ONE announced a $3 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[7] Corresponding with this announcement, Mark McKinnon, an adviser
to United States president Bush, and Mike McCurry,
an adviser to the Kerry Campaign, appeared in CNN's Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff in support of ONE.[8]
In 2008
ONE merged with DATA. The merged entity was run by CEO David J. Lane[9] until his departure in early 2011 to
join the Obama
administration.[10] ONE's current leadership team includes
former editor of Time magazine, CEO Michael Elliott, co-founder and
executive director Jamie Drummond, and U.S. executive director Tom Hart.[11]
In 2010
ONE and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Living Proof campaign,[15] with Bill and Melinda Gates hosting
events in Washington DC, London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels.
In 2011
ONE and (RED) partnered for World AIDS Day and brought together U.S. President Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Tanzanian
PresidentKikwete, and others at an
event in Washington, D.C. In 2012 ONE acquired (RED) as a division of ONE.
ONE has
a focus on ‘Factivism’ (fact-based activism), as referenced in Bono’s 2013 TED
talk and as such much of their attention is currently placed on the bad-data at
the heart of development that makes progress difficult to track.
In 2015
ONE collected signatures for an open letter was addressed to Angela Merkel and Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma, urging them to focus on women as they serve as the
head of the G7 in Germany and the AU in South Africa respectively, which will
start to set the priorities in development funding before a main UN summit in
September 2015 that will establish new development goals for the generation.[16] The following people signed the open
letter: Ali Hewson, Angellah Kairuki,Angelique Kidjo, Ann
Cairns (president, international markets, MasterCard), Beyoncé, Charlize Theron, Christy
Turlington, Cindi Leive (editor-in-chief, Glamour magazine, Danai Gurira, Gesine Schwan, Helene Gayle, Jude Kelly, Jutta
Allmendinger (president of the German social science institute,
Wissenschaftszentrum),Karen
Kornbluh, Karen Ruimy, Lady Gaga, Lauren Bush, Mabel van Oranje, Dr. Maria Furtwangler, Marian Salzman, Mariella Frostrup, Meryl Streep, Michele
Sullivan (president of the Caterpillar Foundation, director of Corporate Social
Innovation), Mimi Alemayehou, Monica
Musonda (CEO and founder of Java Foods (Zambia)), Mpule Kwelagobe, Naisula
Lesuuda (senator, Kenya), Rita Wilson, Rosamund Pike, Sabine
Christiansen, Sarah Silverman, Sheryl Sandberg, Sheryl WuDunn, Susan Shabangu, and Yvonne Chaka
Chaka.[16]
In
March 2015 ONE launched a report titled "Poverty is Sexist", which
details the ways in which women and girls are most seriously affected by
poverty.[17] The promotion of this report included
the release of the song and accompanying video ‘Strong Girl’ which featured
leading female musicians from seven African countries including Kenya's Victoria Kimani, South
Africa's Judith Sephuma and Mozambique's Gambela, alongside
Nigerian actress Omotola
Jalade Ekeinde.[18] It was nominated for ‘Best African
Collaboration’ in the All Africa
Music Awards.[19]
The
‘Poverty is Sexist’ campaign also encouraged women around the world to pose for
a ‘#Strengthie’ - a selfie in the pose of Rosie the Riveter, face of the famous
"We Can Do It" poster, and post it online in support of girls and
women.Teenage activist and ONE campaign associate Malala Yousafzai posted a #strengthie from the Malala
Campaign twitter to show her support.[18]
On World AIDS Day, December
1, 2015, ONE and (RED) hosted a night of music at Carnegie Hall in New York to celebrate the 15
million people currently on life-saving anti-retroviral drugs compared to
700,000 in 2000, and to encourage the world to keep its focus on eradicating
HIV/AIDS and other preventable diseases by 2030 as one of the Sustainable
Development Goals. The event, which also marked ONE’s 10 year
anniversary, was hosted by The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah and featured performances from Miley Cyrus, Hozier, Jessie J, Bono and The Edge.[20]
During
2015, ONE worked with partners at Action/2015 and Project Everyone to promote the
new Global Goals
for Sustainable Development around
the world so citizens can hold leaders to account in delivering them by 2030.[21]
On International
Women’s Day 2016, ONE
relaunched their Poverty is Sexist campaign, featuring an updated report
including new figures, such as the fact that in 2016 half a billion women still
cannot read, 62 million girls are denied the right to education and that girls
account for 74% of all new HIV infections among adolescents across Africa.[22] It also lists the 20 worst countries
to be a girl, based on a number of factors including the number of years a girl
attends school, the proportion of women who have a paid job relative to men and
the likelihood of a woman dying during childbirth.[
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