Vanity Fair Charity Issue Edited By Bono

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:35:36 -0000

Bono is putting his philanthropic energy into Vanity Fair’s July 2007 special issue about Africa. The issue has 20 different cover photos of high-profile individuals, all taken by renowned photographer Annie Liebowitz.

The magazine includes information about the issues and charities supported by actors, athletes, models, politicians, musicians, activists, and billionaire philanthropists, all of whom are using their celebrity status and the publicity they receive to bring attention to the complex set of problems faced by the inhabitants of Africa.

Africa is a continent with great need, and has been given a disproportionately low amount of attention and aid from wealthy nations. It is the first Vanity Fair issue to have a guest editor, and Bono’s highly publicized commitment to aiding Africa makes him an obvious choice for editor of this issue. In recent years, celebrities have used their status to bring a great deal of attention to Africa.

The covers of the Africa issue include portraits of: Bono, Barack Obama, Queen Rania, George Bush, Condaleeza Rice, Muhammad Ali, Desmond Tutu, Brad Pitt, Djimon Hounsou, Madonna, Maya Angelou, Chris Rock, Warren Buffett, Melinda & Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Iman, and Don Cheadle.

The issue features numerous in-depth articles about a variety of subjects concerning Africa, including: Kenya; Desmond Tutu and the fight for equality in South Africa and worldwide; Tunisia’s success and the threat of Islamic extremism; the role of China in fueling some of the conflict in Africa; Jeffrey Sachs dream of how to eradicate extreme poverty; the consumer-action strategy of (Product) Red to make miracle AIDS treatment drugs accessible to the millions who need them; the role of the Congo’s blacklisted airline pilots in keeping trade flowing; Bill Clinton’s stories of Nelson Mandela African music; Africans defying the status quo of poverty, disease, and corruption; suggestions for platform topics for the US 2008 presidential election; the genetic data that links all people on Earth to Africa; identifying the current literary talents of Africa; Princess Diana’s post-divorce charity work, in particular her mission to ban land mines; and the Africa connection of the high-profile individuals on Vanity Fair’s July 2007 issue covers.

The Vanity Fair website offers links and information about Africa, charities that benefit the continent, and full-text versions of some of the articles.

Sachs Appeal - Who is Jeffrey Sachs?

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 20:48:18 -0000

Written by Myrlia Purcell

Brad Pitt sang his praises at the ONE X ONE fundraiser, and George Soros donated $50 million to the program which he directs, the UN Millennium Project. Bono and Madonna are also big supporters, and Angelina Jolie has filmed an MTV special promoting his work.

So who is this man that so many stars are looking up to? Jeffrey Sachs is considered the leading economic advisor of his generation; he has been called “the most important economist in the world” by The New York Times Magazine. He is Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan regarding the Millennium Development Goals; has worked as an economic advisor to governments in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the former Yugoslavia, the former Soviet Union, Asia, and Africa; and has advised organizations such as the IMF, the World Bank, the OECD, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Development Programme. He is the Director of The Earth Institute, and President and Co-Founder of Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization aimed at ending extreme global poverty.

But what really has people talking is the Millennium Villages he is helping to create as part of the UN Millennium Project. In 2004 the project implemented a plan to greatly reduce poverty by using practical, affordable means and empowering the people most affected by the condition.

The most impoverished know what help they require, making the key principle for each Village community empowerment, participation and leadership. Together they aim to create an African Green Revolution working with the environment to increase food production to a secure level, so that the people can then focus on non-agricultural endeavors.

There are currently 12 Millennium Villages, with the hope of creating 66 more in the next year. The first Millennium Village began in Sauri,Kenya, with a village consisting of little more than 5,200 people with the strong desire to improve their own lives. The funding for the project came mostly from the Kenyan government and the village, with under half of the funds coming from international aid.

At the start of the project most of Sauri’s farmers were harvesting less than a ton of maize per hectare – not enough to feed a household from one season to the next – so two maize hybrids were introduced to the village by the UN Millennium Project Hunger Task Force. The villagers received fertilizer, were taught fallow farming techniques and shown how to use leguminous crops to help enrich the soil. This new knowledge combined with a season of good rains to create a bumper crop of four tons per hectare, four times what they had previously grown.

Producing food is just one step that the project has taken. It provides for improved food storage facilities, bed-nets to stop malaria-carrying mosquitoes, free clinics with AIDS antiretroviral therapies and vaccinations to fight diseases, agro-forestry education, sinking of wells for safe drinking water, and bringing in generators for village electricity. The cost per person is $110 per year.

All of this is hard to imagine, but a video of Angelina Jolie at the Sauri village available on YouTube clearly illustrates what is happening. In fact, Jolie is so impressed with what she has seen that she and Brad Pitt plan to build a Millennium Village in Cambodia.

Look To The Stars News: UN Millennium Project

Vanity Fair Charity Issue Edited By Bono

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