Global Weekly Update January 25, 2010
Is the IMF backtracking on Haiti?
Amidst the outpouring of support for Haiti, one offer of assistance was met with suspicion by many debt cancellation advocates. The IMF announced an emergency $100 million loan to Haiti to aid in earthquake recovery and reconstruction. While funding for recovery and reconstruction is sorely needed, loans that create additional debt (rather than grants, which do not have to be repaid) are an unacceptable response to this humanitarian disaster. Read more about this situation and how you can take action with your member of Congress.
It’s Time for Group Planning and Goal Setting
As part of your planning, consider applying for our REF Global Health Mini Grant Program. The Mini Grant Program will support groups to plan and carry out enhanced global health programming in your communities. Also see the new Grassroots Job Descriptions on the Grassroots Resource and Admin page. Some descriptions are still being updated, so check back for newer versions next week.
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 with them and to 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 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.
President Preval and I have been working closely during this past year on plans for the future — for sustainable growth, for new opportunities. These plans, which are a very solid foundation, will, of course, be revised and rethought, but they will not be abandoned. Haiti will need not only the talent and grit of her people, including the Haitian diaspora, but it will need all of us, partners and friends who are committed not just in the immediate aftermath of this terrible earthquake but for the duration.
— Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a statement on the earthquake in Haiti, 20 January 2010
January: Group Planning
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