Global Weekly Update October 6, 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!
Important 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 am 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.
October Action Sheet on the Way!
Stay tuned for the October Action Sheet, which will be shared and also posted on our website, designed to help you ask your representatives and senators to write the Obama Administration directly about supporting Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We will offer you tips on how to make the request, alongside a draft letter your legislators can use, so that a chorus of voices across Congress are asking for a pledge to Gavi of $1 billion over four years at the January 2015 replenishment conference.
Next Actions You Can Take During the Congressional Recess
Remember 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? Unfortunately, the terrible Ebola scourge is filling the headlines and illuminating the need for strong health systems and health solutions. We know one proven health solution: vaccines for preventable, poverty-related diseases that jeopardize the lives of children. So, 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), which is still very alive and relevant, 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.
- Take a look at our events calendar. Lots of training call opportunities to be had!
- 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! Also, find great printable resources for your RESULTS table on our website.
- 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 upcoming training/support calls. Dial in to any call at (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262.
- October 14, 8 pm ET – Clearing the First Hurdle with Community Grasstops
- October 15, 11 am ET – Finding and Connecting with Grasstops
- October 22, 7 pm ET and (repeated) 8 pm PT – Grasstops Celebration Party
- Build your local action network. Help more people on the edge of your group to take action and understand their personal power. Contact Lisa Marchal for training and support. (Find great info online, too.)
Raising Funds, Saving Lives = Fall Frenzy!
Some of our groups have events coming up in the next 30+ days, or have already kicked off their Friends and Family Campaigns for the fall, and we want to thank them for hosting either an actual, or virtual, event to support our mission. You can click on the links below to offer your own support if you choose – or simply use them as a guide on how to kick off your own event or campaign:
Columbus (OH) event – October 19
Santa Fe (NM) event – November 9
Detroit (MI) event – November 16
Houston (TX) event – November 21
Austin (TX) event – November 22
RESULTS Dallas – Virtual Thanksgiving Feast
RESULTS DC – Virtual Thanksgiving Feast
Lisa Marchal's Birthday Page
Bloomington (IN) Friends and Family Campaign
Cindy Levin's Race to End Poverty
Working with partners, I’m optimistic that together we will one day live in a world free of vaccine-preventable diseases.
-Trevor Mundel, president of global health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
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 14, 8 pm ET. Training Call: Clearing the First Hurdle with Community Grasstops – Connecting Global-Local Poverty Efforts. Dial (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262. Are you postponing a call to a potential grasstops champion because you are unsure how the two of you can work together? Join this 30-minute call to help identify how to take meaningful actions with your grasstops champions.
October 15, 11 am ET. Encore Training Call: Finding and Connecting with the Grasstops. Dial in to (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262. This is a repeat of a call that took place earlier in the year! If you are new to RESULTS or just having a hard time finding or getting your grasstops champions (community influencers) to be in action with your group, this 30-minute call is for you! Join us as we learn how to discover grasstops champions; connect our global campaigns with local concerns; make your first introduction(s) successful; and utilize both active listening and good follow-up tactics.
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 22, 7 pm ET and 8 pm PT. Grasstops Celebration Party. Dial in to (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262. Everyone is invited to the party! Join us as we share little or grand grasstops successes! This is a great time to be inspired by the work of RESULTS activists from across the country as we all reach out to our grasstops champions. As at every party, there will be opportunities for you to network and discover new grasstops groups to reach out to in your community. Come as you are and leave inspired. (Bring your own snacks and beverages!)
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 am 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.