The LA Times seems to have appointed itself the official Gates Foundation watchdog. Last week they printed a scathing report on the negative effects of the investments the Foundation makes with its endowment funds. To give you the flavor of what it says: “The Gates Foundation has poured $218 million into polio and measles immunization […]
It was pointed out to me offline that I neglected to mention the controversy that surrounds (RED). The campaign has been accused of spending too much money on marketing, and not enough on donations to the Global Fund. (RED) disputes the estimates, believing that their critics count the marketing budgets spent by their corporate partners. […]
(Product) RED has now raised $50 million dollars from the sale of specially-branded, socially-conscious merchandise. This money has gone to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tubercuosis, and Malaria to help with their projects in Rwanda, Swaziland, and Ghana. If you haven't given (RED) a look, you should, because it's an interesting idea. Yes, the […]
I just watched a video at Quimera.tv about the global USAID healthcare project, Private Sector Partnerships (PSP-One). This video is about 15 minutes long (I didn't time it, though) and is pretty clearly a PR piece meant to calm fears about public-private partnerships, but does an overall fair job presenting the issues. Two thoughts: – […]
There are a lot of XO laptop reviews out there. David Pogue's in the New York Times is very good, as is the one in Laptop Magazine (which features commentary by an 8-year-old). Either of these reviews will give you an excellent rundown of the XO's technical capacities. My son's has been in the house […]
Intel is no longer on the board of the One Laptop Per Child initiative (OLPC). They are pulling all support and cooperation with the project – meaning that the next issue of the OLCP's XO laptop will not be using an Intel processor. The two organizations won't be collaborating on any new educational software, either. […]
Welcome to the Great Decisions 2008 Foreign Policy Blogs. Over the next year I’m going to be posting on global philanthropy. Although the primary purpose is to discuss the increasingly private nature of foreign aid, a full treatment of the subject has to include government Official Development Assistance (ODA). Foreign Aid is a broad topic […]