Campaign overview: Global Equity & Impact

Our goal: Congress demanding equity and impact in the fight against global poverty

RESULTS grassroots started the year securing record-high U.S. government funding for the fight against global poverty. Now we’ll close the year making sure funding gets put to the best possible use, with equity at the center.

How is funding delivered? Does it reach the most marginalized communities? What are the priorities? Who is accountable for results? We will be pushing Congress to shape the right answers to these questions.

Some of this work is already underway, with bold new legislation to require equity and impact in U.S. government funding for global tuberculosis and education. This fall, we’ll add a second stream to this advocacy – pushing Congress to use its influence on the World Bank.

What we need from U.S. policymakers:

• New legislation signed into law, enshrining more impact and equity in the U.S. government’s global education and tuberculosis programs
• A clear message to the World Bank to improve the equity and impact of its funding for countries

Key grassroots advocacy strategies:

1. Securing bipartisan co-sponsors for TB & education bills, and getting them signed into law
2. Rallying members of Congress onto a bipartisan letter to World Bank leadership
3. Building champions in Congress, through media, briefings, community organizing, and more

Part I: Legislating equity & impact in U.S. government programs

In 2022, RESULTS volunteers led the way on three bold new pieces of legislation, all focused on equity and impact. Grassroots advocacy helped bring members of Congress together from both parties as cosponsors, and to pass the bills in the key committees.

We got the first bill – focused on nutrition – signed into law. It has already shifted USAID’s nutrition strategy to be more locally-led, more focused on the highest-impact interventions, and better aligned to a clear set of goals.

Sadly the clock ran out at year end before the other two bills could be passed by both chambers. This year, we’re determined to get these bills to the president’s desk.

These two bills – focused on tuberculosis and education globally – share the same building blocks as the one focused on nutrition.

• Bold, clear, and measurable goals focused on equity
• Accountability and transparency at all levels
• Priority for the lowest income communities and marginalized groups
• Partnership – not paternalism – with directly affected communities and countries
• Following the evidence: listening to local leaders and using the latest science

Why these bills matter:

Tuberculosis –

We’ve known how to prevent, treat, and cure tuberculosis (TB) for decades, but it was still the world’s biggest infectious killer before COVID-19. World leaders are gathering at the UN this year to make new pledges in the fight. The same systems are needed both to tackle this age old pandemic, and protect against pandemics of the future.

Education –

Virtually every child on earth faced disruptions to their education in the pandemic, but kids in the most marginalized communities – especially young girls – have faced many of the harshest consequences. Millions of children, even if they make it to school, are still denied the quality learning that is their right.  

Part II: Sending a clear message to the World Bank

The World Bank has the single largest pot of funding on the planet for the fight against poverty. But its track record on impact, equity, and accountability is mixed.

We’ll work with Congress this fall to make sure the World Bank prioritizes the highest-impact health, nutrition, and education, focused on communities facing the biggest barriers.

The eyes of many policymakers are on the World Bank right now. Extreme poverty is on the rise for the first time in decades, and many countries have been pushed into debt traps, alongside the colliding crises of climate, the pandemic, and conflict. Meanwhile, there’s a brand new World Bank president, and calls for World Bank reform from countries at every income level.

There is (rightly!) lots of focus on generating more money to tackle the world’s biggest challenges. But for real impact, we have to also look beyond just how much money, to also ask for what? The World Bank’s focus hasn’t always been aligned to what’s most needed.

When the World Bank comes to Congress looking for more money, we want to make sure it’s spent in a way that prioritizes equity, that listens to local and country leaders, and that supports the building blocks of health, education, and nutrition.

We’ll work with Congress and partners around the world to send a clear message to the World Bank to:

• Prioritize the lowest-income communities and countries
• Put core needs like education, health, and nutrition at the center
• Make transparency and decision-making more equitable
• Play a key role in debt relief

RESULTS has pressured the World Bank over many years to improve its policies and spend its money in better ways. Working alongside Congress and partners around the world, we haven’t shied away when we see chances for the Bank to improve – whether that’s increasing the share of its funding to health and education, reversing harmful policies like school fees, or ensuring that private sector approaches don’t undermine public systems.

In October of this year, world leaders will gather in Morocco for the annual meetings of the World Bank group – the first time this event has returned to the African continent in half a century. Members of parliament, ministers of finance, and country leaders from around the world will be there, and we want to make sure the U.S. does its part as well – showing up with the backing of members of Congress from both parties, calling for the focus on equity and impact that’s needed for the future.