A great post-mortem, and thanks for your kind words about the Dutch EA community—it was really inspirational to see you in action!
Your line, “Spending aid money to prevent migration is a vote winner, vaccinating needy kids in Africa is not” made me think of the Make Poverty History campaign, timed to coincide with the UK’s hosting of the G8 in 2005.
According to Wikipedia, these were the main health and development agreements from that summit:
US$50 billion pledged (some of it previously announced) in aid to developing countries by 2010, of which US$25 billion for Africa, on top of the ministerial-level agreement to forgive debt to Highly Indebted Poor Countries
Universal access to anti-HIV drugs in Africa by 2010
G8 members from the European Union committed to a collective foreign aid target of 0.56% of GDP by 2010, and 0.7% by 2015
Stated commitment to reduce subsidies and tariffs that inhibit trade
Also, from memory, I think most UK political parties committed to the target of spending 0.7% of national income on aid and, although this was rolled back for a bit under Johnson, the next Labour government have pledged to reinstate it.
I think there’s an argument to be made that these agreements were heavily influenced by the campaign.
Blair, chair of the summit, notes the following in his biography:
“On Africa, I knew that without real figures it was going to be another ‘poor Africa, we care so much about you’ load of old rubbish in a communiqué that wasn’t going to fool anyone. Bob, Bono and the NGO alliance had mounted an effective campaign, essentially going to each main nation in turn and trying to frighten the pants off the leadership by demonstrating the breadth of public support for action on Africa. It was done cleverly, with them always giving enough praise to the leaders to encourage them. With Bob and Bono at the helm, there would be a sensible debate. If we delivered, they’d say we’d delivered. If not, they would condemn us. Fair enough.”
Of course, this was a huge campaign: a global audience of approximately 3 billion for Live 8, millions of people wearing the campaign’s white band, a quarter of a million people marching on Edinburgh, and a brand recognition that leapt from zero to 90% in just six months. It would be a huge undertaking.[1] And one could argue that, 20 years on, the effects have died out.
But then again, maybe not. I was 13 years old when I attended the march in Edinburgh, but it’s one of my more vivid memories from that time. This early exposure likely contributed to my ongoing support for GHD through my donations and my work today, and I suspect it’s the same for many other people.
A great post-mortem, and thanks for your kind words about the Dutch EA community—it was really inspirational to see you in action!
Your line, “Spending aid money to prevent migration is a vote winner, vaccinating needy kids in Africa is not” made me think of the Make Poverty History campaign, timed to coincide with the UK’s hosting of the G8 in 2005.
According to Wikipedia, these were the main health and development agreements from that summit:
US$50 billion pledged (some of it previously announced) in aid to developing countries by 2010, of which US$25 billion for Africa, on top of the ministerial-level agreement to forgive debt to Highly Indebted Poor Countries
Universal access to anti-HIV drugs in Africa by 2010
G8 members from the European Union committed to a collective foreign aid target of 0.56% of GDP by 2010, and 0.7% by 2015
Stated commitment to reduce subsidies and tariffs that inhibit trade
Also, from memory, I think most UK political parties committed to the target of spending 0.7% of national income on aid and, although this was rolled back for a bit under Johnson, the next Labour government have pledged to reinstate it.
I think there’s an argument to be made that these agreements were heavily influenced by the campaign.
Blair, chair of the summit, notes the following in his biography:
Of course, this was a huge campaign: a global audience of approximately 3 billion for Live 8, millions of people wearing the campaign’s white band, a quarter of a million people marching on Edinburgh, and a brand recognition that leapt from zero to 90% in just six months. It would be a huge undertaking.[1] And one could argue that, 20 years on, the effects have died out.
But then again, maybe not. I was 13 years old when I attended the march in Edinburgh, but it’s one of my more vivid memories from that time. This early exposure likely contributed to my ongoing support for GHD through my donations and my work today, and I suspect it’s the same for many other people.
I asked Claude to produce a BOTEC for the cost and it arrived at $120 million