Global Weekly Update August 13, 2012

Top Action: Ask Your Rep. to Sign the GPE Letter to Sec. Clinton

Representative Jan Schakowsky is circulating a letter to Secretary of State Clinton requesting that the U.S. invest $125 million of our global education dollars into the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). GPE wants to put 25 million children in school and train 600,000 teachers in the next three years, and given they get the resources they need, they can deliver on this. Currently the U.S. only invests 2.5% of our global education investment into GPE. We must do more. Ask your Rep. to sign on to this letter, which will remain open through August. See if your Rep. has signed on on our GPE blog post.

Take Action in 5 minutes: Call your representative’s office and use the following EPIC laser talk to make your request to whoever answers the phone. You can find the name of your Rep. here, and use the Capitol Switchboard number to make your call: (202) 224-3121.

• Engage: I’m calling to make a request for of the representative. Can you see that he/she gets it? I’m calling because 61 million children around the globe lack the opportunity to go to school — no reading, writing, arithmetic. This number has been the same since 2008.
• Problem: It’s great that the U.S. invests in global education, but we should be investing more of these dollars ensuring that all children receive a quality basic education.
• Inform: One way we could do this would be to invest more in the Global Partnership for Education, or GPE. GPE aims to get 25 million kids in school over the next three years, and train 600,000 new teachers. GPE is an effective organization.
• Call to Action: Representative Jan Schakowsky is circulating a sign-on letter to Secretary of State Clinton requesting that the U.S. use $125 million of our global education investment (last year it was $800 million) for GPE. Will the Rep. sign on to this letter? I can send you a copy of the letter if you like.

Take Action in 15 minutes: Read our August Global Monthly Action and then call and ask for the FOREIGN POLICY AIDE in your Rep’s office and have the same conversation.

Get Many to Take Action in 1 hour: Bring friends together and use the August Global Monthly Action as a tool to help others learn about GPE and make phone calls or write letters.

Important Action #2: Ask Your Rep. and Senators to Make a Statement About Grameen Bank

The women owners of Grameen Bank are under attach by the Bangldeshi Government. See our Grameen blog post for the latest information and actions you can take. Here is an excerpt:

“Last week the Government of Bangladesh escalated its efforts to take control of the Grameen Bank, the Nobel Prize winning microfinance institution founded by Professor Muhammad Yunus. We are dismayed by this latest development, which further undermines the independence and vitality of one of the most innovative anti-poverty institutions in the world.”

Take Action: Ask your Representative and Senators to make a statement on the takeover of Grameen Bank. See our Grameen blog post for sample statements from RESULTS Executive Director Joanne Carter, the U.S. State Department, and Senator Boxer. Ask that they release their own statements to keep the pressure on the Bangladesh government.

How Was the RESULTS International Conference for You? Take the Survey

Please follow up on your meetings with mebers of Congress and their aides — reiterate requests and get commitments, provide information you promised, send thank you notes. Following up will insure that your requests get the attention they need and will deepen your relationships with decision makers. 

Other Important Follow Up Items and Opportunities for August:

• Take our International Conference Survey and let us know what you liked and what we could improve.
• Report your lobby meetings. Here is a link to see which meetings have already been reported:http://tinyurl.com/RESULTSLobbyReportData
• Write a letter to the editor. Us our on line action to send a letter to your local paper about participating in our democracy.
• Schedule in-district recess meetings with members of Congress. Most members of Congress are in district/state to see constituents in August, so take advantage of this. Request meetings in their offices and attend public events happening during this election cycle. Also try to meet candidates who are not yet in office. 
• Schedule a casual outreach event to share about your experience at the IC. 
• Invite new people to our upcoming trainings. We have one more Introduction to RESULTS call scheduled this month on August 17 at 1 pm, and we have a New Activist Orientation (the training takes place over several weeks including 2 training calls. Training starts on August 6 with the second call on August 20 at 9 pm ET: Dial in to (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262. If someone would still like to join the 8/20 call, please have them contact Ken Patterson so they can catch up.
• Send a note to your donor network. Thank them for their support and encouragement and let them know that their support helped RESULTS take our message of hope and action to Congress. Send them an email with some pictures and give them an opportunity to contribute to our ongoing work atour results.org donation page. Here’s a Sample post-IC thank you to donors from RESULTS Chicago.

Join our Social Media Rapid Response team!

Online advocacy is a quick, easy, and important way to take action and spread the word about the issues we care about. That’s why we’re starting the RESULTS Social Media Rapid Response team. To further RESULTS’ reach and impact, the Rapid Response Team – comprised of grassroots volunteers like you – will receive guidance on how to take quick, strategic actions each week via platforms like Twitter and Facebook to spread our message about upcoming legislation and priorities.

Never used social media before? That’s okay! We’ll help you get started and build your skills to share important news and resources online and help you become as strong an advocate online as you are offline.

Join us for an intro training call Wednesday, August 29th at 9pm ET. Dial (866) 503-7713, Conference code: 4091413579. Please RSVP to Laura Ochoa at [email protected].

“Despite significant gains over the past several decades, there are still 61 million primary school aged children not in school. The majority of these out-­‐of-­‐school children – about 35 million – are girls. Although access to education has improved, the international community continues to struggle to ensure that, once enrolled, students stay in school, and that pupils receive a quality education that gives them basic reading, writing, and numeracy skills. Despite some progress, in the lowest-­‐income countries about fifty percent of children cannot read anything at all at the end of grade 2.”

–from Rep. Jan Schakowky’s sign-on letter to Secretary of State Clinton on the Global Partnership for Education (GPE)

 

• August 17, September 5 & 21: Introduction to RESULTS Calls are August 17 at 1 pm; Sept. 5 at 9 pm; Sept. 21 at 1 pm. The call is 30 minutes and gives participants the information and inspiration they need to take the next step in joining us.  Sign up here.
• August 20: New Activist Orientation is to prepare those ready to become RESULTS advocates. Training takes several weeks and includes the two calls. Between calls new activists will receive support to learn about the issues and take action. Contact Ken Patterson at [email protected] to join. We will even take people who missed the 8/6 call.
• August 29: Social Media Rapid Response Call – Dial in on August 29 at 9 pm ET. Dial (866) 503-7713, Conference code: 4091413579. Please RSVP to Laura Ochoa at [email protected].
• September 8: Global National Conference Call. Dial (888) 409-6709.