Blog

Florence Daka is a healthy mother of four who lives in Lusaka, Zambia. She sees her children off to school every morning and works a full day cleaning offices. That may not sound extraordinary, but it is. It’s extraordinary because Florence is alive and well and living with HIV, thanks to the effective treatment that she takes.

July 9, 2012, marks the first anniversary of South Sudan’s independence. And, as expected, political analysts and experts are pointing out the challenges still plaguing the new nation. According to the International Monetary Fund, 47 percent of South Sudanese are undernourished.

As a child growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I watched my mother go to work each day, dedicated to running our local women’s health clinic. A staunch defender of reproductive rights, she was armed with more than a team of medical experts, but also the kindness and wisdom that patients—many of them young women—relied on to prepare for the rest of their lives.

As we get closer to the London Summit on Family Planning, people often ask me, “Why is family planning so important to you?” The simple answer is that it can mean everything to so many of the women and families I meet. It means the difference between being empowered and feeling powerless.

Last year, the world watched with hope as the Republic of South Sudan emerged as a new nation. At the time, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan E. Rice noted, “Today is a day of celebration for all South Sudanese, and a day of triumph for all who cherish the rights of all people to govern themselves in liberty and law.”

With the new school year coming up around the corner, Girl Up and our partner CLEAN & CLEAR® are excited to announce an exclusive deal at Target for back-to-school shoppers! Buy any two CLEAN & CLEAR® products at your neighborhood Target and receive a cute tote bag featuring the Girl Up campaign!

It’s been a big sports year for cities across the U.S. Some team from New York won the Super Bowl; Kentucky and Baylor won the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball championships, respectively; LA won the Stanley Cup; and those three stars in Miami won the NBA Championship. For sports fans across the country, there’s been some regional parity—a little something for everyone to cheer about.

Right before my mom Pauline Ann Middleton Allis passed away in May 2012 from a brain tumor, I promised her that I would work every day the rest of my life to be part of creating a better world. She taught me to think globally, read, and be smart financially. She gave me so much. Now I’m on a lifelong mission to connect with others working toward change and be a leader that makes a difference and gives a damn.

Last week, Rio+20 focused the world’s attention on sustainable development. Issues ranging from expanding access to energy to protecting the oceans to improving health care led the global conversation. While much of the attention surrounding the conference has focused on the outcome document – which is important and should be examined – we can’t measure Rio+20’s success based solely on text.

Two years ago, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said, “We need to work toward a world in which access to networks and information brings people closer together and expands the definition of the global community.” This week, I saw her call to action happening live, as a group of six Internet Freedom Fellows, brought together by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Mission in Geneva, sat down to break bread with UNESCO and the United Nations Foundation here in our Washington D.C. offices