Bono’s Antipoverty Groups Will Combine Efforts

Two antipoverty organizations co-founded by the rock star Bono — the ONE Campaign and DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa) — will merge in the United States to form a single organization called ONE to fight poverty, especially in Africa, reports Reuters. Outside the United States, DATA will keep its name and will focus on helping Africa reduce its debt and fight AIDS, among other things.

The ONE Campaign had previously focused on building citizen support to fight disease and extreme poverty. The new organization will be known as ONE and will work to battle poverty. Both groups will be headquartered in Washington, with offices in London, Los Angeles, Abuja, and Berlin. ONE will be led by president and chief executive David Lane, an executive with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

While the ONE Campaign and DATA have different missions, Tom Freston, who will chair the new group’s board, believes that the merger will be advantageous. “We will create an organization that is stronger than the sum of its parts and better positioned to put the issues related to global poverty, and voter support for those issues, front and center onto the agendas of the wealthiest nations,” he said.