Bob Geldof on ColaLife, Condoms and the Pope
April 2, 2009 by Simon Berry · 7 Comments
Simon Berry talks to Bob Geldof about Colalife.org, condoms and the Pope from Podnosh on Vimeo.
Thanks to Nick Booth’s (podnosh) journalistic instincts I was able to get in front of Bob Geldof and, rather nervously, explain the ColaLife campaign to him. He got it and had some interesting observations. It is clear we share a similar view on the Pope’s recent comments on condoms. See the original post with Nick’s commentary here.
This what happened immediately after my conversation. I got in just in time. After the conversation with Bob Geldof, I was interviewed by Associated Press . . . who know’s where that will end up.
Which way for bloggers?
April 2, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
We, the G20voice bloggers, have just arrived at the Press Centre at the G20 Summit and this was the first challenge that faced us. Which way should bloggers go?
I now realise how new this experience is. We are definitely NOT part of the mainstream and lots of traditions have been broken to get us here. Each country has a long double-sided bench equipped with an ethernet lead and phone (there’s WiFi too). Within this set-up G20voice is being treated as a country!
I’m off now to see if I can bump into Jon Snow!
ColaLife at the G20 Summit – G20 Voice – London - 2/4/09
March 31, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
I’ll be blogging here:
Tweeting here:
All blog posts and tweets with by tagged with g20voice
So far I’ve posted on:
- ColaLife is off to the G20 Summit!
- G20 Voice: Folding in the edges?
- Matthew Taylor on globalisation and the G20
- Keep an eye on those G20 Voice bloggers!
- Let’s mash it up at G20 Voice
- What are people in the G(n-20) countries thinking right now?
- An AidPod Made in Zambia
- Don’t forget the children plea
- Dame Barbara Stocking on ColaLife (video)
Over the next few days look out for:
- Gordon Brown on ColaLife (courtesy of Yoosk.com hopefully)
- Managing without growth
- Why innovation is needed to save children’s lives
PLUS a take on the other bits and pieces I pick up at the G20 Summit.
Dame Barbara Stocking on ColaLife
March 28, 2009 by Simon Berry · 1 Comment
I was asked to pop down to the headquarters of Oxfam GB today to put Yoosk.com users’ questions to Dame Barbara Stocking, Oxfam’s CEO, in the build up to the G20 Summit. While I was there I had to ask her for her views on ColaLife and the AidPod. Unfortunately, there was a technical clitch with the flip video (user error) and I missed the first part of her comments where she made the point that it is true that you can get a Coca-Cola in most places but access to simple medicines was more difficult.
Dame Barbara highlighted the ‘issues’ associated with the ColaLife idea which are very familiar to those of us who have been working on the campaign for 10 months. We have several red lines:
- The way ColaLife is implemented (or not) in any locality must be determined by local people and institutions. It should make these people and institions more effective;
- ColaLife must not undermine the existing Coca-Cola distribution system;
- ColaLife must have no detrimental effect on the incomes of those involved in Coca-Cola distribution and should preferably enhance it;
- ColaLife must not undermine local livelihoods;
- ColaLife must not undermine any system that is working!
You will note that at the end of the clip she says “Very exciting”.
Our thanks to Dame Barbara for allowing me to video (part!) of the convesation.
Don’t forget the children plea
March 27, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
. . . . from Save The Children (and me).
To put the staggering amounts spent to save the banks into context, the World Bank estimates that universal access to water and sanitation would cost $20-$30 billion and that not addressing the problem will cost roughly nine times as much. See 2006 Human Development Report: Beyond Scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis, humdev2006.pdf pp. 8, 14, 42.
What are people in the G(n-20) countries thinking right now?
March 23, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
Image credit: From J N Ruxon, Medical Hostory, 1994, 38: 363-397
Early one morning in 1988 I arrived early for a meeting in Chinsali, a small town in NE Zambia. I went into the dilapidated council chamber. There was no one else there and on the table was a copy of the Mining Mirror. It stood out because I’d never seen a copy before (Chinsali is miles away from Zambia’s copper belt, where the Mining Mirror is published) and it was printed to a very high quality which contrasted starkly with the dilapidated surroundings.
On page three, bottom right was a picture very similar to the one that accompanies this text except that it was an African mother and child and there was no medicine so the photo smacked of desperation not hope. Along with the photo was a caption that went something like this:
1 in 5 of our children don’t make it to their 5th birthday
When we’ve sorted out this human catastrophe
we’ll start looking into the AIDS issue
At that time this view was not unusual. AIDS was seen by many people in low income countries as a preoccupation of the rich world. It’s something we, in the rich world, could actually catch and die of - a direct threat to us. A child dying in Africa from diarrhoea evokes our sympathy but not our fear. Not so in Africa. Today, in Africa alone, 4 children die every minute from simple causes like dehydration from diarrhoea. That’s 5,500 a day, 2 million a year. And those statistics have not really changed significantly since that morning in Chinsali twenty years ago. Tragically, the figure for HIV/AIDS deaths is now very similar: 1 every 16 seconds.
I wonder what the poor in Africa are thinking right now about the credit crunch? What do you think?
Let’s mash it up at G20 Voice
March 20, 2009 by Simon Berry · 1 Comment
Image credit: Marcus Correa
I’ve gone through the elation phase after being nominated as one of the G20 Voice bloggers and now I feel a huge weight of responsibility on my shoulders.
Please help.
Post your thoughts and ideas. What issues are important to you? What should I blog about? Point to evidence to support your case if you can . . . . anxious not just to rant (too much)!
Comments please.
Keep an eye on those G20 Voice bloggers!
March 20, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
I’ve set up a Pageflakes page to help me keep a track of what’s going on amongst the G20 Voice bloggers and I’ve made in public. I will try and keep this up to date as new bloggers are announced. If you are a blogger and I’ve missed you, sorry! Please comment below and I will correct that.
Delicious bookmarks to the bloggers’ sites are also here: delicious.com/s1m0nb3rry/blogger+G20voice
Matthew Taylor on globalisation and the G20
March 16, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
I was honoured to be asked by David Wilcox and the folks at Yoosk.com to put the questions of Yoosk members to Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the RSA and ex political adviser to Tony Blair. That bit was easy . . . asking the questions again afterwards to an empty chair, to get the reverse angle shots, was more of a challenge. Paxman need not worry. His job is safe!
Here is Matthew on globalisation and the G20.
You can see all of the questions and answers on the Yoosk’s London Summit site or on Yoosk’s YouTube Channel.
After the interview I showed Matthew the ColaLife AidPod. He’d heard of ColaLife and is to put me into contact with one or two people he thinks can help. I am a fellow of the RSA and ColaLife is to be featured in the next issue of the RSA Journal which should be out at the end of March.
G20 Voice: Folding in the edges?
March 12, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
Ever since I heard the news that I was to be part of the G20voice team of bloggers, my head has been buzzing with ‘nearly ideas’ and questions.
Why do the powers that be want us there? Here’s one theory. I’m old enough to have seen pitifully slow progress in solving some of the planet’s injustices, like child mortality for example. This doesn’t mean that really dedicated people haven’t been working very hard and that there haven’t been some progress. It’s just that these efforts are not enough. Incremental improvements to existing practices are not satisfying the increasing demand for change.
If incremental improvement isn’t enough what options do we have? Well, we need new models, new ways of thinking, innovation. So where does innovation come from? Generally, it tends NOT to come from the core of established institutions. Does it? Innovation tends to happen at the edges of structures, or sectors or cultures and especially in the places where these edges overlap.
Now, we bloggers tend to be on the edge of things - still regarded by many as ‘a bit weird’. By inviting a bunch of edglings into the core of the formidable structure that is the G20, some amazing things might happen. That’s what I would regard as an ‘outcome’.
On the other hand, perhaps the G20voice people are simply being creative about how they use a bit of unused space . . . . just like ColaLife is trying to persuade Coca-Cola to do.
What others are saying about ColaLife- ColaLife on Flickr
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