Global weekly update January 18, 2010

Top Action 1: Your Help is Needed in Haiti

You have almost certainly seen and heard the reports of the devastation in Haiti, with loss of tens of thousands of lives, injury and displacement of massive numbers of people, and destruction of already overburdened and under-resourced services and infrastructure. The need for an immediate and sustained response is enormous. For those who want to make direct contributions to the relief and rebuilding efforts, two partner organizations in Haiti that we trust and respect immensely are on the front lines of the response and need your support now: Partners in Health, the medical organization founded by Paul Farmer, is on the front line of recovery efforts and will be critical to addressing the health crises in the aftermath of this disaster. Fonkoze, a full-service microfinance organization in Haiti, has been doing remarkable work to reach the very poor and has successfully helped families recover from prior natural disasters in Haiti. Please consider sending a donation for Haiti via either or both of these great organizations. Let’s help our brothers and sisters who are in need in Haiti.

Top Action 2: Schedule Face-to-Face Meetings with Your Members of Congress During an Upcoming Recess

We will ask your members of Congress to do many things in 2010. Now is the time to lay the groundwork and deepen your relationship with them. Schedule face-to-face meetings now for recesses in January, February, and March. Don’t wait until key actions are upon us to schedule these meetings. Do it now and prepare decision maker to support education legislation (to be released soon), submit appropriations requests, and feel moved to lead the way in ending poverty. Check out the January Action Sheet and January laser talk dialogue for tips on how to request and secure a meeting.

UNESCO Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report Released Today

Each year, UNESCO issues an EFA Global Monitoring Report, which analyzes the progress being made toward Education for All. The 2010 report, Reaching the marginalized, focuses on troubling disparities in education based on wealth, gender, location, ethnicity and other markers for disadvantage. There is particular focus given to how the global financial crisis has slowed possible advancements. Some quotes:

• . . . the world is not on track to meet the universal primary education goal. Current trends will leave some 56 million children out of school in 2015 — and there are worrying indications that the rate of progress towards universal primary education is slowing. Two-thirds of the total decline in out-of-school numbers since the Dakar conference took place from 2002 to 2004.
• This Report estimates it will cost US$16 billion a year to achieve universal primary education and wider Education for All goals by 2015. This price tag appears considerable, unless measured against the scale of resources mobilized to rescue ailing financial institutions. It represents about 2% of the amount mobilized to rescue just four major banks in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Top Action 3: Attend Media Training Call This Thursday at 9 pm ET

January: Group Planning

January 20, 2010: Release of UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report

January 21, 2010: 2 pm ET. Media Training Call: A Step by Step Approach to Engaging Your Editorial Writer. Call in at (712) 432-3100, passcode: 887871

February 11, 2010: 9 pm ET. Training Call: Engaging Your Community to Create the Political Will for a Global Fund for Education. Call in at (712) 432-3100, 887871

February 13, 2010: Global Conference Call. 2:00 pm ET. Call in at (888) 409-6709