ONE Welcomes Gayle Smith As New CEO

Gayle Smith, top advisor on development issues to two American presidents and one of the world’s leading experts on global development recently joined ONE as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Smith succeeds Michael Elliott, who passed away in July 2016, and Adrian Lovett, who has served as the interim CEO.

Gayle Smith, CEO, ONE Campaign

 Smith was chosen after a long, extensive worldwide search. She will bring her unparalleled expertise on development and democracy issues to ONE, in addition to a great network of relationships across the African continent and around the world. In her most recent role as administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Smith led a staff of more than 10,000 people working to end extreme poverty, foster sustained and inclusive economic growth, and promote resilient, democratic societies all over the world.

Gayle Smith

 In her words, “Never have there been greater challenges or opportunities on the road to sustainable and equitable development in Africa.” I’m thoroughly excited to work with the ONE team and our partners all over the world, particularly in Africa, to achieve the progress that is possible.”

ONE Co-founder, Bono of U2 expressed his excitement to have Smith join the ONE team. He stated that “She is a strong, savvy leader with deep expertise and decades of experience working to change the conditions that allow extreme poverty to thrive.”

We, at Save Our Needy wish a warm welcome to Gayle Smith! #StrongGirl

ONE Ambassadors Present Over 187,000 Signed Petitions to Nigerian Senate President

Congratulations to all of us who put in tremendous effort to push the #MakeNaijaStronger campaign with the aim of getting the Nigerian government to increase budget allocation to healthcare and reform the health sector. 187,240 signatures were presented to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, yesterday at Abuja by ONE Ambassadors, Waje, Desmond Elliot and Alli Nuhu.

ONE Ambassadors and ONE Africa Executive Director presenting the petitions to Nigerian Senate President

 This is a big step towards getting better health care for the hardest to reach people particularly women and girls.

This is no small feat as the Nigerian health sector has been in a deplorable state for several years now.
We have to continue working to make sure the government keeps their promises. The promises made mean that we are closer to getting other key parts of the Health Act like basic medical insurance.
Together, we can #MakeNaijaStronger

ONE Ambassador, Waje and Nachilala Nkombo, ONE Africa Executive Director (Interim)

 Kicked off early in 2016, the Make Naija Stronger Campaign has shed light on the deplorable state of healthcare in Nigeria while calling on the Federal Government to help save millions of lives and create a more healthy, prosperous and secure nation. The Townhall meeting was organised by ONE Campaign in partnership with Connected Development and The Wellbeing Foundation. 

Waje, Desmond Elliot and Toolz Attend ONE ''Make Naija Stronger'' PSA Campaign Launch in Lagos

Dateline: October 12th 2016.

The #MakeNaijaStronger Campaign got further push as ONE launched the PSA Campaign, "I AM IN...To Make Naija Stronger'' in Lagos and Abuja.
 

L-R: Dr. Francis, Toolz, Alli Nuhu, Nachilala Nkombo, Waje, Desmond Elliot

Nachilala Nkombo, ONE Deputy Director, Africa, was on hand to formally launch the campaign in Lagos. She made a beautiful speech urging Nigerians to put more pressure on the Nigerian government to increase investments in the health sector and increase budget allocation to health care. She stressed how distressing it is to note that millions of women and children are still dying in Nigeria yearly due to preventable diseases and lack of a befitting health sector for a great country like Nigeria.

Round-table discussion after launch with some ONE members

Celebrities and influential Nigerians like Desmond Elliot, Tolu Demuren (Toolz) and Alli Nuhu (face of Northern Nigeria) who recently joined the campaign also graced the event.

ONE ambassador, award-winning artiste and philanthropist, Waje, was very present at the event. She gave a very inspiring speech and participated at the round-table discussion after the launch.

Marvella Odili, (CEO, Save Our Needy) and ONE Ambassador, Waje

Nachilala Nkombo, ONE Deputy Director, Africa and Marvella Odili

Round-table discussion on the journey so far

Hon. Desmond Elliot

Marvella Odili and Toolz

Jerry Odili (Program Manager, Save Our Needy) in a selfie with Waje

Nigerian celebrities including Yemi Alade, Basketmouth and Kate Henshaw have all joined this very important campaign for better health care in Nigeria. You can lend your voice to the #MakeNaijaStronger campaign by signing the petition here:

https://www.one.org/africa/take-action/make-naija-stronger/

Kindly follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @SaveOurNeedy

ONE loses former CEO to cancer

Michael J. Elliott

Global campaign and advocacy organization co-founded by Bono, ONE, lost its former CEO, Michael J. Elliott, to cancer on July 14th 2016.

Born in Liverpool, England in 1951, Michael J. Elliott was a British journalist and executive. He was the president and chief executive officer of the anti-poverty advocacy organization, ONE. Awarded an OBE in 2003 for services to journalism, Elliott previously held senior executive positions at Time magazine, Newsweek, and The Economist.

Elliott, who attended Oxford University, became the President and CEO of ONE in 2011. He oversaw the organization's global operations.

In his five years leading the organization, Elliott recorded outstanding success as ONE increased its global footprint and saw its membership rise from 2 million to more than 7 million, of which 2.8 million are in Africa. Elliott also oversaw the successful merger of (RED) with ONE in 2012.

He died a few days ago at the age of 65 after living with cancer for more than two years, having moved on to become a Senior Strategic Advisor to ONE earlier in the year. He is much missed by his family, friends and colleagues around the world.

RIP Michael J. Elliott.

THE SUN newspaper features ''Light Up The Beach'' AIDS Memorial

Last May 15, Save Our Needy joined the rest of the world to mark the 33rd International AIDS Candlelight Memorial. The spectacular event was hosted in Lagos, Nigeria, under the theme ''Light Up The Beach.''

The event which aimed at honoring all those who have passed away from AIDS and raising awareness on HIV/AIDS, attracted participants from all walks of life particularly women and young people.

Nigeria's foremost newspaper, THE SUN, covered the event. Global advocacy organization, ONE, partnered the event. Other partners included Verdant Zeal, Stella Dimoko Korkus blog and Intellectual Magazine.

Read the full story here:
http://sunnewsonline.com/candlelight-memorial-for-aids-victims/

EDWIN IKHUORIA of ONE Grants Compelling Interview

Edwin Ikhuoria at a high profile health event

In this very insightful interview, Edwin Ikhuoria, ONE Country representative, Nigeria talks about his work, his views on attaining sustainable development for Nigeria, the core values of ONE Campaign as regards ending extreme poverty, the importance of achieving the SDGs in Africa by 2030 and the present health campaign launched by ONE in 2016.

Read excerpts of his interview with SustyVibes below:

Kindly introduce yourself  
My name is Edwin Ikhuoria and I am the Nigeria Country Representative for ONE Campaign.

What are your day to day activities like?
I manage all of ONE’s engagements in Nigeria including providing context for our campaigns as it affects the Nigerian market, developing compelling narratives to get the attention of Nigerian policy makers for the sectors we are interested in, mobilizing Nigerian citizens to understand and follow the issues of poverty eradication and to generate momentum on all the issues we want to push for poverty to be eradicated.

What are your thoughts on Sustainability in Nigeria?
Sustainability is getting the best out of today without compromising the future. Otherwise, if you get all your benefit from today and there is no future to get into, all efforts will amount to nothing. In Nigeria, we are beginning to see the effect of pushing our boundaries in getting the most out of today that we have begun to notice that our lifestyles as citizens is jeopardizing our future. Extreme weather conditions have begun to be regular occurrences and we cannot ignore these anymore.

What would you like to see change in the above?
As citizens we need to have a rethink on our current consumption patterns to check our over dependence on the environment for living the type of lives we want to live. No matter what we do, we should remember that it has implications for our future and the future of the planet. We must become conscious of this and change our attitude to living sustainable lifestyles. We must not live as though there is no tomorrow. Policy wise, we need to see conscious efforts made by policy makers to incentivize adaptation techniques in production and consumption patterns.

We understand you have a passion to eradicate poverty in Nigeria, kindly shed more light on this.
The obvious fact is that more than 80 million Nigerian live on less than N200 a day. This includes all the money they spend on food, clothes, shelter, education, health, etc. what this means is that many Nigerians, majority of them being Women and girls cannot live a decent life and their children are not likely to live decent lives if something is not done about it. To this end, ONE Campaign is focused globally on ensuring that the right policies are in place and that resources are focused on the right sectors that will push more people out of poverty. We have campaigned for several years on mobilizing resources for the poorest people all over the world. We have campaigned for donor countries to give more money to poorer countries and forgive their indebtedness to them. Now, we are also working to see that developing countries implement policies that will maximize the countries’ resources for the poorest so that they get a chance at living a decent life and their children can have better access to opportunities which will in turn break the cycle of poverty.

Your recent open letter to Mr President on the health budget went viral, what has been the impact so far?
We have been able to gain the attention of the current administration and mobilized a significant core of the civil society movement working on health reform to focus on resource mobilization for the sector as a critical step to addressing the challenges of the health sector. While we await the passing of the budget, wee can report quick victories because when the minister of health officially withdrew the health budget from the national assembly, some of our concerns were addressed in the resubmitted health budget. We celebrate those changes we have seen already and continue to call attention to the challenges of maternal and child health so that further action is taken in this regard.

What are some of the exciting projects we are most likely to see from ONE in 2016?
We are focused on mobilizing domestic resources for specific sectors that will enable us achieve the SDGs. For this, look out for an exciting shock campaign on the health sector which we believe has a major implication for women and children.

Tell us about the Make Naija Stronger Campaign
Because Nigeria accounts for one in every eight child deaths globally. Every single day our country loses more than 2,000 children under-five to several diseases, while 158 Nigerian women die from pregnancy or childbirth related illnesses. We believe that President Buhari and the Nigerian government have the power to change this and so we are asking that the government ensures implementation of the National Health Act and better spending to ensure all Nigerians, including the poorest, are able to access health care. 

Do you think the SDGs are achievable by 2030 (in Africa) and why? 
 I am very positive that in 2030, our continent would have been transformed significantly through the race to achieve the SDGs. Since the whole world would be looking at Africa and measuring the progress together, serious efforts will be made by African governments to achieve the SDGs and this in turn will help to lift millions out of poverty. Whether all the countries will achieve all the goals,  that may be another challenge. I am at least positive that most of the goals that affect the lives of the poorest people will be achieved.

What is your advice for young people interested in joining ONE Nigeria?
Any person who is tired of the current situation of poverty and deprivation in Nigeria should join a global platform that will give life to their voices. ONE campaign is giving this opportunity to be heard, respected and ask questions that affect your life. Nobody should blame anybody for their situation if they are not asking questions from their leaders. I advise all young people to join the ONE campaign through www.one.org to engage on the important issues that will bring an end to extreme poverty.


Read full interview here:
http://sustyvibes.com/susty-person-week-edwin-ikhuoria/

''Light Up The Beach'' AIDS Memorial event

Save Our Needy joined the rest of the world on Sunday, May 15th, to mark the 33rd International AIDS Candlelight Memorial under the theme "Light Up The Beach."

Motunrayo Adebayo, facilitator from Lagos State AIDS Control Agency, interacting with participants

The event which held at Elegushi Beach, Lagos (Eden Bar), was an opportunity to honor all those who have passed away from AIDS. In a relaxed ambience, participants were better educated and informed about basic facts of HIV/AIDS by Mr. Motunrayo Adebayo, a facilitator from the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA).

Awareness raising on HIV/AIDS was also done at the event

One of the high points of the event was the interactive session with Chioma, who discovered her HIV status at the age of 15. She had unfortunately been subjected to contaminated blood transfusion at the age of 3! She relived her experiences which induced gasps from everyone present. It was indeed eye opening.

A ONE Champion was also on hand to shed more light on the current sad state of the Nigerian health system and the need for drastic reform and investments in the sector. He explained to participants the need to sign the petition on the one.org website urging the Nigerian government to increase budget allocation to the health sector under the theme "Make Naija Stronger.

At the end of the event, participants lit candles as a symbol of respect for all those who have died from AIDS.

Juwon of Mimer's Art thrilled participants at the event

Save Our Needy Program Manager, Jerry Odili, with Juwon of Mimer's Art

The CEO of Save Our Needy, Marvella Odili, expressed her satisfaction at the successful hosting of the event despite the heavy downpour..

From left: CEO, Save Our Needy, Marvella Odili, ONE members, Richard Emerenwa (middle), ONE Champion