Global Weekly Update May 21, 2012
Want to Achieve a Media Hit on Child Survival? Join Us Tonight to Strategize!
Mark Tuesday, May 22 on your calendar and join RESULTS staff and other grassroots volunteers for a brainstorming session on our child survival media work. We’ll discuss overall goals for the campaign, brainstorm ways you can make this global story locally relevant and, ultimately, “pitchable” to editors, and more. Join the call at 9:00 pm ET by dialing (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262. We know that we might be one of few organizations mobilizing to bring attention to this issue through the media, so we are encouraging every group to (further) develop their relationship with their paper’s editorial staff and bring them a powerful story they likely won’t hear from anyone else. U.S. leadership will notice our work.
We hope to hear you on the line on Tuesday!
Seven Ways to Advocate for Child Survival
Did you know that there are still 7.6 million children every year who don’t reach their fifth birthday? But there is a plan to change this: June 14 and 15, the US, India, Ethiopia, and UNICEF are convening a two-day Child Survival Call to Action meeting in Washington, DC. The goal of the meeting will be to create a roadmap for ending preventable child deaths in our lifetime. Leading up to the Call to Action, the convenors want to engage the public and others through their “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday” campaign.
Our role now is to bring attention to both this campaign and the June meeting. We need to to let the media, our communities, and our members of Congress know that ending child deaths is now possible. Engaging them now will help us generate the political and public will necessary to follow the child survival roadmap that comes out of the meeting. Just imagine how we could eliminate the suffering experienced by parents needlessly losing their babies!
Here’s what you can do next:
1. Learn more by reading this inspiring blog entry by our founder, Sam Daley-Harris, on our legacy of work in child survival.
2. Use our latest editorial packet titled “Saving the Other Half: How the World Can End Preventable Child Deaths” and our latest laser talk to pitch the idea of a June child survival editorial to your local paper. The “Child Survival: Call to Action” two-day meeting in June will be a powerful moment for our campaign to save children’s lives, and we don’t want our local media to miss the opportunity to cover it. We know that we might be one of few organizations mobilizing to bring attention to this issue through the media, so we are encouraging every group to (further) develop their relationship with their paper’s editorial staff and bring them a powerful story they likely won’t hear from anyone else. US leadership at the summit will notice our work. Let us know if you need support making this request. You can find a list of your local papers here.
3. Join RESULTS staff and other grassroots tonight (May 22) for a brainstorming session on our child survival media work. We’ll discuss overall goals for the campaign, brainstorm ways you can make this global story locally relevant and, ultimately, “pitchable” to editors, and more. Join the call at 9:00 pm ET by dialing (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262.
4. Invite RESULTS group members, friends, and colleagues to tune in to a bit of the webcasted portions of the Child Survival Call to Action meeting being held June 14 and 15. If there is an opportunity to make online comments, a chance to gather for coffee or at your RESULTS group’s next meeting to discuss, or fire off a letter to the editor in response to what you heard, do so and encourage your invited friends to do the same!
5. Plan on gathering your group and/or other friends and allies for the Saturday, June 9 conference call at 2:00 pm ET (Dial (888) 409-6709 a few minutes before the call), when we will welcome guest speaker Caryl M. Stern, President and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Ms. Stern has held this position with UNICEF since 2007, and we will benefit from hearing her perspective on the gathering global strategy to achieve our child survival goals.
6. Use our May action sheet to write a letter to the editor about saving the lives of babies. Share the action with others.
7. Check out USAID’s “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday” campaign leading up to the “Child Survival: Call to Action” two-day meeting in mid-June and post your age-five photo! This site is a fun, creative way to share the importance of child survival advocacy with family and friends. Have you considered asking your member of Congress to post his or her picture? They can join other senators, representatives, and other notables!
Candles and Cake: Bringing Child Survival and Fundraising Together
“Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday” not only great media hook, but a wonderful theme for a fundraiser of any size. Who doesn’t love a kid’s birthday theme with balloons, candles, and wishes? RESULTS Houston will be throwing a big blowout birthday party for hundreds to attend, but this is a great idea for a house party, too. It can make poverty-fighting fun and connect your donors with the reasons we do our work. It’s also a way to invite your local press in for an story about your event. Contact Cindy Levin to talk about how to bring this fundraising idea to life for your group.
The International Conference: It’s For You!
1. We are already breaking registration records for recent previous International Conferences. Our registration number is hovering at around 270, and we are ready to get those final 130 folks registered. Who can you still invite? Who might be looking for an opportunity just like this one? Ask them using one of these sample laser talks!
2. Customizable letters are now available so you can begin inviting your members of Congress to our spectacular conference reception!
3. You can also begin scheduling your Lobby Day meetings and letting us know the details online!
4. Use our IC preparation checklist, as well as our official conference hashtag, #RESULTSConf (search for it on Twitter), to keep track of and contribute to the buzz before, during, and after the conference!
5. Check out our RESULTS blog for a great entry on money-saving tips for the conference.
“Every woman, whoever she is, wherever she lives, should be able to give birth without the fear she’s going to lose her baby or that her baby will lose her mother.”
– Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, on USAID’s “Every Child Deserves at 5th Birthday” website.
May 22: Child survival media work brainstorming call. 9 pm ET. Join RESULTS staff and other grassroots for a brainstorming session on our child survival media work. We’ll discuss overall goals for the media push, brainstorm ways you can make this global story locally relevant and, ultimately, “pitchable” to editors, and more. Join the call at 9 pm ET by dialing (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262.
June 6: RESULTS Introductory Call. 9 pm ET. Contact us with any questions and RSVP for the call.
June 9: National grassroots conference call for global campaigns. 2 pm ET. Dial (888) 409-6709 a few minutes before the call. Join us for a terrific call featuring Caryl M. Stern, President and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. She will offer her perspective on the gathering global momentum for the achievement of child survival. (Check out our conference call archive, too!)
June 15: RESULTS Introductory Call. 1 pm ET. Contact us with any questions and RSVP for the call.
June 18: RESULTS Free Agents call. 8 pm ET. Dial (218) 486-1611, passcode 7378587 (RESULTS) to join. Are you a RESULTS activist with our global poverty campaigns, living in a town with no RESULTS group? You are alone no more! Contact Lisa Marchal for more information on this monthly support call.
July 21–24: RESULTS International Conference in Washington, DC
August: Next New Activist Orientation. Contact Lisa Marchal for more information.
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