Ritu Sharma, Women Thrive's President and Co-founder, speaks along side the President and leaders from Washington and around the world at the White House Summit on International Development.
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| On October 21, 2008 Ritu Sharma, Women Thrive's President and Co-founder, spoke on the "Reducing Poverty through Economic Growth" panel at the U.S. President's White House Summit on International Development. Attended by President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, musician and activist Bob Geldof, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and other public and private-sector leaders, the Summit focused on "the Administration's core principles that have transformed the U.S. approach to international development |
How smart advocacy saved programs for girls empowerment and food production in one of the poorest countries in the world.
On July 14, 2008 the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. aid program that works to end poverty in developing countries for the long-term, signed a much-anticipated compact with Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countreis in Africa and in the world. The agreement will provide approximately $480 million for food production, education, and girls empowerment. The signing is a testament to the power of advocacy to transform lives.
In May, the Senate proposed to cut the budget of the MCC by one third in order to pay for emergency relief for Burma and Jordan. With the cuts, the MCC wouldn't have been able to go through with it's agreement with Burkina Faso, which
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Over the past year global food prices have soared making even the most basic foods - such as rice and corn - too expensive for the world's poor. The result? Millions of families are enduring extreme hunger or starvation. As is all too often the case in times of crisis, women and children are suffering the most.
Read More - Download our Fact Sheet on Women and the Food Crisis
Why Do Food Prices Matter So Much'
Most Americans have noticed an increase in milk, bread and egg prices. What many people don't realize is that spikes in food prices can plunge households in developing countries even deeper into extreme poverty. This is because they spend an average of 70 percent of their incomes on food, compared to the 15 to 18 percent that households in industrialized countries spend. Over the
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