[afro-nets] An editorial on the Gates-Buffett philanthropy (2)

["Jeff Buderer" <jeff@onevillage.biz>]

An editorial on the Gates-Buffett philanthropy (2)
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Claudio, 

The American media is probably out of all the developed country liberal democracies, the least diverse in terms of expressing perspectives esp those challenging to corporate status quo. However if we were to change the article a bit and consider twisting things a bit rather than offering the traditional left-liberal response we might see the rejection rate drop. 

This is not to say that the US is not stingy but the point is that there are serious issues with how NGO food chain is arranged and they need to be discussed in the context of America's tight wallet. In fact to further drive home the point American's would probably not be so reluctant to increase the percentage of GDP going to aid programs if they saw this as an effective investment. I myself don?t see this as an effective investment and so how can I blame the American public for being stingy? I think the aid 7 development sector has to be reformed before a powerful case for massive infusions of cash can be made to the American public.

Yet the Gates Foundation model of efficiency is hardly the answer. The fact that Bill and Melinda Gates are now everywhere in the media only drives the point of the article which address the ubiquitousness of a handful of super wealthy/famous folks that now make public, corporate and NGO policies. Gates offers techno-geek perspective to solving the world's problems. From a pragmatic perspective it seems unlikely to work because it is still a top down approach that does not take into account human needs of the communities in need. Top down approaches whether from the establishment Left, Center or Right are losing even the appearance of working as ecological and social breakdowns in the established order of modern global society grow more apparent. So while Gates to his credit has developed an efficient management structure for disbursing aid, there are serious questions as to whether the technology based model will really address the root problem which is really about low self-esteem of the people in the underserved communities rather than their lack of technology.

Gates through his experiences in MS has demonstrated an inability to truly appreciate bottom up approaches and has indeed spearheaded the development of ICT infrastructures that have not moved us towards the realization of technology as tools for human empowerment and self-realization but instead have created more unnecessary complexity and top down controls over the global masses.

However rather than offer a typical left approach I am encouraged by the development of new entrepreneurial networks that focus on consumer education and economic empowerment and the development of a new hands on capacity building model that is bottom up oriented and accountable to the communities that the ventures/NGOs serve. 

So then I would suggest that a lot of the article is solid but it is too focused on the problem. Americans like to take pride in their pragmatism and so they don?t want to just hear about the problem but how you are going to take that critical analysis and find a practical solution that to them seems feasible. Offer the media a social venture case like say Fantsuam Foundation and make a concrete connection in terms of some examples of where the Gates Foundation money should be going. 

I would include something about a fundamental restructuring of Aid and Development sector; less money for consulting, lab research and travel and more money for getting what already exists out in the field and complementing this with sustainable economic development programs to sustaining adequate health care and education infrastructure/programs for their under served communities.

Jeff Buderer

oneVillage Foundation
mailto:jeff@onevillage.biz