Global Weekly Update September 29, 2014

October National Grassroots Conference Call on Gavi with Dr. Namala Mkopi

Dr. Namala Mkopi, an attending pediatrician at Muhimbili National Hospital, is currently on a U.S. media tour with RESULTS in the U.S. and will remain in the U.S. to be our October 11 national grassroots conference call guest. Gather your RESULTS partners, friends, neighbors, colleagues to join you for the call at 2 pm ET on Saturday, October 11. Dial (888) 409-6709 to join.

Dr. Mkopi is a leading advocate for child health and access to vaccines in his home country of Tanzania where he currently serves as the Secretary General for the Pediatric Association of Tanzania and is the immediate past president of  the Medical Association of Tanzania. He has deep expertise in clinical pediatric medicine, research, and community-based child health issues. Dr. Mkopi is a prominent voice for child health in Tanzania, where vaccines for three top child killers – measles, pneumococcal, and rotavirus – have all been introduced since 2012, saving thousands of lives. Take a look at this short interview with Dr. Mkopti, then get excited for the call!

Note: International Webinar, with Special Time, on November 8. We will welcome many advocates from our international affiliates to a webinar-style call on Saturday, November 8 (in lieu of our usual national conference call). Mark your calendars for an 11:30 a.m. ET start time for the webinar. Our special guest will be Geoff Adlide, ‎Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. More information is forthcoming.
 

Top Action: Keep Going! Support Child Vaccines/Gavi Through Cosponsors and Media

Our goal: To get the United States to pledge $1 billion over four years at the Gavi replenishment conference in January of 2015. The U.S. pledge will support Gavi in raising $7.5 billion to vaccinating 300 million children from 2016 through 2020, saving over 5 million lives.

Got 2 minutes? Use our online action to ask your representative to cosponsor House Resolution 688 in support of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We currently have 50 cosponsors on the resolution – 15 Republicans and 35 Democrats. This is a fantastic bipartisan show of support, and you can use the current recess to contact your representative and make sure he/she becomes a cosponsor when Congress is back in session after the November elections. If your representative is already a cosponsor of the resolution, thank him/her and ask them to invite other representatives to cosponsor. You can call your representative's office through the Capitol Switchboard, (202) 224-3121, or you can look up your representative's direct contact information on our website.

Got 5 minutes? Pitch our new Gavi editorial packet to your editor! You can use elements of our new media toolkit to make it happen in 1, 2, 3!

• Editorial packet
• Sample pitches to your editor
• Laser talk to help you follow up on your pitch a week later

Got 10 minutes? Call your representative's office and request a face-to-face meeting with your representative. (Get tips online on how to do this.) When you meet, ask that your representative please cosponsor House Resolution 688 in support of Gavi's effort to save millions of children's lives using vaccinations. If your representative is already a cosponsor, thank him/her and ask them to invite other representatives to cosponsor. You can call your representative's office through the Capitol Switchboard, (202) 224-3121, or you can look up your representative's direct contact information on our website.

Got 20 minutes? Use our September Action Sheet (also in PDF format) to write a letter to the editor on the power of vaccinations. The action sheet contains everything you need, including a sample letter. You can find contact information for your local media outlets on our website.

More about our Gavi Campaign

• Comprehensive help. Check out our resource page.
• Gavi Resolution in the Senate. Leaders on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee plan to introduce a bipartisan companion resolution to H.Res. 688 in support of Gavi, the Vaccines Alliance, and global immunization; after the recess, we'll have information on this so you can help gather cosponsors, and we'll have details on other ways Congress can voice support for Gavi.
• Organize a great community outreach meeting. Use our outreach guide!
• Media help. Got a question on how you or your group can land Gavi media? Contact Allison Gallaher.
• Develop grasstops relationships. Contact Teresa Rugg for training and support, and check out her powerhouse blog post chock-full of great ideas for cultivating people of influence in your community to become great RESULTS partners.
• Build your local action network. Help more people take action and understand their personal power. Contact Lisa Marchal for training and support, including more information on an upcoming support call on Friday, October 3 at 11 am ET. This will be a repeat of the support call held September 19. Dial in to (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 for a great 30-minute call. Time spent cultivating folks who have shown interest in RESULTS and your group is time invested well. Get some quick tips on how to engage these visitors to become more deeply enrolled in the work of RESULTS! (Find great info online, too.)
• October 1. Pre-Election Bird-Dogging: Getting Poverty Issues on the Radar, 9 pm ET. Register at: https://www.fuzemeeting.com/webinar/register/1029466. Want to know how to get candidates to make a public commitment on Gavi)? Join us to talk about great bird-dogging techniques, useful as you attend town hall meetings and seek to get our issues talked about in the run-up to the election. To join the webinar via conference call, dial (201) 479-4595, passcode 25949862.

News and Notes

1. "A World of Dignity: Education at the Heart of Sustainable Development." From arts to politics, this week has turned global attention towards education and its centrality to ending poverty, realizing human rights, and preserving the planet. The 2014 UN General Assembly in New York offered a series of unprecedented events and announcements that placed education at the center of the global conversation. Read more about this uplifting time, from the perspective of Tony Baker, Education for All Campaign Manager.

2. International Conference 2015 Dates Have Been Set! Mark your calendars for July 18-21, 2015. That's the date when the RESULTS advocates and allies from all over the world will gather at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, DC for our annual International Conference and will help us all celebrate RESULTS' 35th birthday. More details soon; save the date!

3. Welcome new RESULTS advocates! RESULTS Topeka had a successful group start on September 17, RESULTS UGA (Atens) had a successful student group start on September 22, and RESULTS Photnix had their first group meeting on September 24. Glad to have you in the RESULTS network! We are looking forward to the October 4 advocacy training workshop in Madison (WI) (which you can register for online) and the Lawrence (KS) group start on Sunday, October 19th, 1-3 pm local time, Lawrence Creates Makerspace, 512 E 9th St.

4. Ever Thought About Becoming a Regional Coordinator? Regional Coordinators are the backbone of the RESULTS grassroots support structure that makes us so powerful and effective. If you are ready for a leadership experience that empowers other people and changes the world, consider applying to become a Regional Coordinator.

Autumn is Here . . . So is Fundraising!

Fundraising event season is getting into full swing!  We wanted to thank the following groups for putting their events on the calendar before the end of 2014 and let you all know there is still time to get an event planned before we move into 2015.

• Columbus, Ohio – Sunday, October 19
• Santa Fe, New Mexico – Sunday, November 9
• Detroit, Michigan – Sunday, November 16
• Houston, TX – Friday, November 21
• Austin, TX – Saturday, November 22
• Seattle, WA – Monday, December 15

If you don't feel you can manage an actual event before December 31, why not a virtual event instead?  You could have your group host a Virtual Thanksgiving Feast!  You can set your campaign up as a team page and collectively utilize our Friends & Family campaign to raise funds as a group, without ever leaving home.  ​
 

"Vaccines are among the most extraordinary contributions to human welfare . . . "

-Dr. Prabhat Ja, Central for Global Health Research

October 1. Pre-Election Bird-Dogging: Getting Poverty Issues on the Radar, 9 pm ET. Register at: https://www.fuzemeeting.com/webinar/register/1029466. Want to know how to get candidates to make a public commitment on your issue (aka bird-dogging)? Join us to talk about great bird-dogging techniques, useful as you attend town hall meetings and seek to get our issues talked about in the run-up to the election. To join the webinar via conference call, dial (201) 479-4595, passcode: 25949862.

October 3, 11 am ET. Building and Maintaining Your Action Network. Dial in to (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262. Time spent cultivating folks who have shown interest in RESULTS and your group is time invested well. On this 30-minute call, get some quick tips on how to engage these visitors to become more deeply enrolled in the work of RESULTS! This is a repeat of the support call held on September 19.

October 8, 9 pm ET. RESULTS Introductory Call. Heard of RESULTS and want to know more? Join us for this 30-minute introductory call. Contact us with any questions and RSVP for the call. Dial (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 to join.

October 11, 2 PM ET. National Grassroots Conference Call for Global Campaigns. Mark your calendars for the traditional 2nd Saturday national grassroots conference call. Dial (888) 409-6709 a few minutes before the hour to join, and remember that we post audio files of our calls, as well as the companion PowerPoint presentations, on our conference call recording webpage. This month's guest speaking about child vaccines and our current campaign will be Dr. Namala Mkopi, an attending pediatrician at Muhimbili National Hospital.

October 20, 8 pm ET. RESULTS Free Agents Call for Global Poverty Advocates. Dial (605) 475-6777, passcode 7378587. 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, Senior Global Grassroots Associate, for more information on this monthly group call.

October 31, 1 pm ET. RESULTS Introductory Call. Heard of RESULTS and want to know more? Join us for this 30-minute introductory call. Contact us with any questions and RSVP for the call. Dial (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 to join.

November 8, 11:30 a.m. ET. Special International Webinar (at special time). In lieu of our normal monthly national grassroots conference call, we'll join with advocates worldwide for a enlightening webinar related to our Gavi campaign. We'll welcome Geoff Adlide, Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. More information soon.