aid

RECENT POSTS

March 1, 2012 | 11:36 AM | By

Gates Foundation calls for “wacky” new ways to say that aid works

Flickr, JSmith

Finding new ways to communicate

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation officially calls it the Grand Challenges Exploration program and it was initially launched to fund unorthodox — some might even say ‘wacky‘ — scientific research projects aimed at solving problems in global health and development.

They’ve funded research projects exploring how to use microwaves for treating malaria, make cell phones run on dirt, use gold particles to fight TB and other crazy-sounding things.

This week, the philanthropy is asking for a new round of proposals from all you creative types, including the standard calls to optimize crop yields and improve vaccines but this time adding a new not-so-technologically geeky category into the mix: Advocacy. Storytelling.

“We thought the timing was right for a call on aid effectiveness, said Tom Scott, head of global brand and innovation at the Gates Foundation. “It’s a tough economic environment and difficult choices need to be made.  At the same time, the story of aid and its effectiveness is not breaking through.  We hope that can change.”

Basically, the philanthropy wants to come up with some innovative ways to show that aid and development projects are succeeding and to counter the media’s tendency to do mostly “stories of corruption, waste and broken systems.”

They call this new Grand Challenge category of request for proposals Aid Works:

We want to find revolutionary ways to make these issues matter deeply to the global community. We’re inspired by projects that allow anyone– no matter where they live or what their background– to take part. We encourage projects that embrace the complexity of these issues. We admire work that surprises us with its emotional power, and that comes at the problem from entirely new angles.

Scott also posted further thoughts on Impatient Optimists, the Gates Foundation blog, explaining why they wish to emphasize success stories. In an email, he added:

“The idea of telling success stories is not new, but the need is more critical than ever.  The key for us is to encourage creativity and innovation in completely new and different ways.  I can’t wait to see what kind of ideas come in.”

The Gates Foundation will select up to 10 winning ideas, each of which will receive $100,000 and also be granted the opportunity to be further mentored by some French expert communicators known as the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. (I wonder if you can opt out of that part?)

Using prizes, contests and competitions to solve major social, political and economic problems is becoming very popular, notes Tina Rosenberg at the New York Times. It’s not a new idea, Rosenberg notes, but it’s gained steam lately:

The change has come in part because of a flood of new philanthropic money (a lot of it from the tech sector) wielded by people looking for different ways of doing things, and because of a growing impatience with the limitations of in-house research and development and giving grants. The world brain pool has also never been larger.

More important, prizes work where other methods do not.   A lot of problems aren’t new — someone has already solved them or has solved something similar. By casting a very wide net, prizes find these people.

FILED UNDER: Basics, aid, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, development, Grand Challenges Exploration, media, Tom Scott
February 21, 2012 | 10:01 AM | By

Kentaro Toyama, geek heretic, on “The Two Indias”

Kentaro Toyama

Kentaro Toyama is a Seattle man on a mission.

A computer and information scientist who co-founded and ran Microsoft Research in India, Toyama has become something of a ‘geek heretic‘ who is now devoted to fighting poverty and transforming our approach to aid and development. A big task but Toyama seems to be enjoying his new career.

Toyama provides a glimpse of that mission in an article he published this week in The Atlantic – The Two Indias: Astounding Poverty in the Backyard of Amazing Growth. Opening line:

“Incredible India” is the brand this country’s Ministry of Tourism has been pushing in a global marketing campaign launched in 2002, and it couldn’t be more fitting. Over the last decade, India has witnessed a stunning acceleration of rapid changes, both good and bad, that it began in the 1990s.

India’s economic growth over the past decade is second in the world only to China’s. The country which handles so many of our computer technical problems is widely perceived as on a path to prosperity and progress. But wait, look a bit deeper, says Toyama.

Though theoretically a democracy, India’s governance has resembled something of a feudal system in practice. Politicians and bureaucrats often act like dukes and barons with term limits. They routinely apply a corrupt layer of graft for their personal benefit…. (and) Though rates of poverty are declining, in 2005 the World Bank estimated that 42% of India’s population still lived at under $1.25 a day (PPP), and nearly twice as many under $2. Thus, 800-900 million Indians live in conditions that most developed-world citizens would consider destitution.

Kentaro’s article in The Atlantic is brief, but worth a read. And worth reading between the lines to follow his thinking. There’s a warning here, against assuming overall economic growth is an accurate measure of progress against poverty — and against business as usual.

FILED UNDER: Basics, aid, development, India, Kentaro Toyama
January 2, 2012 | 9:37 AM | By

Tales from the Hood takes up my holiday challenge

I’m still on holiday break but I wanted to publish this guest post from “Tales from the Hood,” an aid worker-blogger who has provided many of us with great insights and perspective from inside the humanitarian industry.

“Tales” was posted anonymously, in part to avoid causing trouble for his organization or himself. But this was also because he cares about promoting knowledge and understanding more than his personal brand.

Tales is now moving on to new things, putting the blog to bed. I’m not alone in seeing this as a loss and so I hope to convince him to continue posting here on Humanosphere.

For a start, here’s his answer to my holiday query in which I ask if we are entering a new phase for humanity in which the concept of “charity” needs to be reconfigured and if we need some new lingo for these folks we call philanthropists, humanitarians or, worse, do-gooders.

————————————————————————————————————————————–

Tales from the Hood:

Three things I wish more “ordinary people” understood about humanitarian aid:

1) It’s possible to do aid wrong. There’s always some woman at the Christmas party who, once she discovers what I do for a living, wants to talk my ear off about some awful idea she has about how to help poor children in El Salvador or Cambodia. She’s watched the Brian Williams “Make A Difference” segments, maybe Googled a few things, and now she’s got it all figured out. Then she gets somewhere between hurt and mad when I tell her that her idea won’t work. It’s clearly come as a surprise for her to learn that it’s possible to do aid wrong. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Basics, aid, aid workers, development, Tales from the Hood
August 19, 2011 | 10:30 AM | By

World Concern delivering aid to drought- and famine-stricken Horn of Africa

Derek Sciba/World Concern photo

12 million people at risk of starvation

News on the 12 million people facing starvation in the Horn of Africa drought today is focusing on the Turkish prime minister’s visit to Mogadishu, Somalia, the first visit to the war-torn capital in nearly two decades.

According to a report in Al Jazeera, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit “follows Wednesday’s meeting in Istanbul by members of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC), who pledged to donate $350 million to assist the drought- and famine-stricken Somalis.”

Meanwhile, humanitarian agencies continue to rush aid to the region.

Here is an update from Derek Sciba, in Kenya near the Somalia border. Derek is marketing director of World Concern, a Seattle-based, non-profit humanitarian organization providing community development and disaster response:

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Health, Africa, aid, famine, Somalia, United Nations
August 11, 2011 | 10:36 AM | By

Millions still facing starvation in Horn of Africa, some blame U.N.

By Oxfam East Africa, Wikimedia Creative Commons photo

Women and children refugees of the famine waiting to enter Dadaab camp in Kenya.

Today, relief agencies are saying there are some 12 million people in the Horn of Africa in danger of starving as a result of drought, exacerbated by conflict in Somalia.

As the famine crisis continues to worsen, it’s hard to know where to begin with its story. The U.S. today announced $17 million in new U.S. aid for the region, over 1,000 Somali refugees per day continue to arrive at Kenya camps, piracy is hampering delivery of relief supplies to Somalia and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon talked with rock star Bono about the need for increased aid efforts.

Another interesting, and revealing, story angle comes from the Inter Press Service News Agency, pointing much of the blame for the famine at the United Nations for not putting more effort into long-term development programs across the region.

Gustavo Capdevila, writing for IPS, described a bleak situation:

(See ways to donate at end of this story.)

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Health, Politics, Africa, aid, famine, poverty, Somalia, United Nations
August 3, 2011 | 9:45 AM | By

Brett Keller debunks the story behind: Machine Gun Preacher

Brett Keller asks Who is Sam Childers?

At first, I said to myself: Who cares?

But I do like Keller’s stuff, so I read on:

He goes by many names, Reverend Sam and the “Machine Gun Preacher” amongst them. If you haven’t heard much from Sam Childers, you will soon. To date he’s been featured in a few mainstream publications, but most of his exposure has come from forays into Christian media outlets and cross-country speaking tours of churches. In 2009 he published his memoir, Another Man’s War. But Childers is about to become much better known: his life story is being made into a movie titled Machine Gun Preacher. It hits the big screen this September, starring Gerard Butler (300) and directed by Oscar-winner Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, Quantum of Solace).

In answer to my question, why should you care, Keller says:

If you’re concerned about Africa (especially the newly independent South Sudan), neutrality and humanitarianism, or how small charities sometimes make it big on dubious stories, Childers is a scary character. By his own admission Sam Childers is a Christian and a savior to hundreds of children, as well as a small-time arms-dealer and a killer. And, as far as I can tell, he’s a self-aggrandizing liar who chronically exaggerates his own stories and has been denounced by many, including the rebel group of which he claimed to be a commander.

The impending Hollywood celebration and promotion of Childers has Keller concerned, so he is going after his claims — and the dangerous implications of making him a heroic figure.

Brett Keller

Keller has broken his examination of the Machine Gun Preacher into two parts, the link above being the first in a five-part series. Or you can read Keller’s whole treatise here.

It’s fascinating, and disturbing.

 

FILED UNDER: Basics, aid, Brett Keller, movies, Sudan