Push for US Foreign Aid Reform to Help Women and Communities

Foreign aid dollars aren't going where they are needed most. You can be part of the solution.

Right now, President Obama and his senior advisors are debating the future of US efforts to alleviate poverty, fight disease, and create economic opportunity for the world’s poorest people. The time is ripe to pressure the administration to reform international aid so that it reaches the poorest and helps to end cycles of poverty.

US international assistance has the potential to have an enormous impact on women and communities around the world. Over a billion people worldwide live in extreme poverty, struggling to survive on around $1 a day or less. The majority - 829 million - are women. This is a problem that affects all of humanity - when women are poor, entire communities suffer because they are not free to earn an income, feed their families, or protect themselves and their children from violence.

US foreign aid has had some great successes, but the system is outdated and has fallen short of its poverty alleviation goals. We need to hold the US government accountable so that foreign aid money can actually be transformative and lead to a better life for the world’s poor.

Women Thrive Worldwide has launched a campaign, along with the ONE Campaign, Bread for the World, Publish What You Fund, Save the Children, RESULTS, Mercy Corps, American Jewish World Service, Oxfam, and CARE to reform US international assistance. They need to collect 150,000 signatures to deliver to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by December 16.