from the Washington Post By Philip RuckerUNITED NATIONS, - The world's largest philanthropy on Wednesday announced an initiative to transform the way the U.N. World Food Program purchases food by helping poor, small-scale farmers in undernourished countries of Africa and Latin America sell their surplus crops at competitive prices.The Purchase for Progress program is designed to help combat hunger and poverty in the developing world by giving farmers, many of them women with little or no access to commercial markets, opportunities to reach reliable buyers, including the World Food Program. In a five-year pilot period, the $76 million program hopes to increase the incomes of 350,000 such farmers in 21 countries, including 15 in sub-Saharan Africa.The program, to be administered by the...
from Red Orbit
One of the world's most successful software experts is trading computers for philanthropy. Bill Gates announced he is stepping down on Friday from his daily duties at Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), to focus on his $38 billion charitable foundation.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- built by his vast fortune-has been around for ten years. Gates is the world's third richest man, and he says with great wealth brings great responsibility.
The 52-year-old will trade a lifetime of developing software for a new role in finding new vaccines or to micro-finance projects in the developing world.
The CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Patty Stonesifer said, Gates won't focus on managing the organization; instead he will hire hundreds of new employees.
"He's clear that he...
from the Independent For Western travellers to malarial parts of the world such as sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and south America, the parasite holds few terrors. Dose yourself with the right prophylactic drug – Malarone is the current gold standard for areas where there is drug resistance – douse yourself with insect repellent and you are unlikely to fall victim to the lethal disease.The indigenous population has fewer choices. Prophylactic drugs, at about £2 a day for Malarone, are beyond their reach. Bed nets, impregnated with insecticide, offer effective protection at minimal cost and millions have been distributed by charities. But most people in the affected countries accept malaria as an illness to be endured, suffering regular attacks.The usual response to a fever was to reach...
from The Seattle Times By Kristi HeimSeattle Times business reporterCan Seattle's voracious demand for $3 lattes help send a poor child to school in Rwanda?Farmers in Rwanda are starting to sell to premium coffee buyers such as Starbucks and Peet's for the first time, thanks to a program to help them boost the quality of beans.The effort to help African coffee growers is part of a pledge of $900 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help improve agriculture in the poorest countries, largely by tapping into the power of the marketplace.It's also an example of the kind of "creative capitalism" that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates hailed Thursday at the annual powwow of big ideas known as the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.The world needs new solutions to solve the...
from The Seattle TimesBy Kristi HeimThe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is dramatically expanding its efforts to help the world's poorest farmers, with goals every bit as ambitious as its better-known global-health work fighting diseases such as AIDS and malaria.But the foundation's nascent agricultural program is encountering more resistance than much of its other work, with critics concerned that its market-oriented, technology-centric approach will open the door to big agribusiness interests and genetically engineered food.The Gates Foundation began making grants a year and a half ago, spending $350 million so far. Its aim is to radically boost farm productivity in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia in a short time by introducing new seed varieties, irrigation, fertilizer, training for...
from The East AfricanTHE REGIONAL MALARIA RESEARCH Institute — African Malaria Network Trust (Amanet) — has received $4.1 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to do more research on the tropical killer disease. The funding will also be used for building institutional capacity in health research ethics (HRE) across sub-Saharan Africa.Dr Charles Wanga, communications officer of Amanet, told The EastAfrican last week that the four-year grant would promote and foster discussion, research and publications that highlight African malaria perspectives.Dr Wanga said the project would focus on the strengthening HRE review processes across sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in institutions undertaking malaria intervention trials. The funding will help ensure the research undertaken...