Defeating Global Poverty

Very interesting idea for a $100 laptop which could be distributed widely to school children in developing countries is being championed by MIT Media Lab's Nicholas Negroponte.

"Power for the new systems will be provided through either conventional electric current, batteries or by a windup crank attached to the side of the notebooks, since many countries targeted by the plan do not have power in remote areas" said Negroponte.

There is also the possibility of selling to consumers at say $200 of which $30 would be contributed towards distributing more the $100 laptops to poor school children.

Very interesting initiative which could help accelerate education.

Update: New non-profit organization setup to carry forward this mission.

Labels: computers, laptop, OLPC, poverty, technology

The New York Times reported today that the G8 finance ministers have come to an implementation agreement on eliminating up to $55B in multi-lateral debt owed by 18 poor countries. Essentially the G8 have contractually committed to cover the World Bank's dollar-for-dollar cost of this in ADDITION to their regular contributions. In reality this is worth closer to $18B in near-term dollars ... significant nonetheless. This also sets a model where additional countries (up to 35 in total) can qualify to participate for even more debt cancellation.

This debt cancellation has been connected with requirements that "sound" economic policies and meet reasonable standards for good governance [details still tbd.] This is the [amazingly relatively new] concept that aid [in this case, debt cancellation] is contingent upon governments investing funds in ways that help alleviate poverty. Obviously, the devil is in the details on whether these requirements are "reasonable" [historically, some requirements have not been] and, more importantly, helpful in ensuring accountability for spending.

This is an amazing breakthrough and, frankly, a grand experiment in a new approach to aid proposed by a number of economists and anti-poverty activists including Jeffrey Sachs. Why a grand experiment? Because it hasn't been proven that these kind of monies will be directed to help the poor. There is so much pressure (and historical precedent) for poor incumbent governments to take windfall monies and invest them ineffectively. It is understandable (although not excusable) that governments are tempted to spend money on short-term, non-sustainable activities (e.g. welfare, high-profile pet projects) which are politically popular but which are not building up the long-term infrastructure (human and physical.) And then there's the unfortunately not-too-uncommon cronyism which favors the wealthy over long-term public interest.

In the spirit of Bono, though, I won't succumb to being a skeptic. This is a needed experiment which we should all watch closely to ensure it is successful.

Labels: debt forgiveness, international aid, poverty

It is interesting how many anti-poverty supporters were against Wolfowitz (former US deputy secretary of defense) being placed as president of the World Bank. The New York Times reported that Wolfowitz is already pressing the US publicly to step up and commit more specific budget $ long-term to anti-poverty goals including the Millenium Development Goals. He is also promoting an approach to modernizing agricultural practices in Africa (to benefit from the rest of the world's so-called "green revolution" -- basically using better seeds and modern ag techniques.) He is also advocating for infrastructure projects like Jeff Sachs recommended in The End of Poverty.

Frankly, I think having someone who has the tenaciousness to run a military war may have what it takes to drive a war on poverty. The jury is still out on Wolf #2, but there's some interesting early promise in his priorities.

Labels: international aid, poverty

I had the opportunity to hear Muhammad Yunus, founder and director of The Grameen Bank, earlier this week speaking at an event in Seattle.

Yunus is very much an activist for practical solutions to defeating poverty. He recounted his story of starting The Grameen Bank, now one of the largest banks in Bangladesh with now over 5M micro-credit borrowers. They also launched a mobile phone company in Bangladesh called Grameen Phone targeting the rural poor which has now become not only the largest phone company in the country, but also the largest company and tax payer! More than 200,000 micro-entrepreneur "phone ladies" are now operating in villages all over Bangladesh renting out phone minutes to fellow villagers. This is a significant service to the rural communities, a profitable business for the phone ladies and a profitable business for the phone company -- a triple win.

The Bonsai People

Yunus is very much an advocate for the potential of the human spirit in every person. He believes that people are poor not because of their own actions but because of the systems that have denied them the ability to reach their potential. Yunus provided the analogy of the bonsai tree. He said that you can take a seed from the largest tree in the forest and put it in a small pot, limit its water and it will grow up as a dwarf tree. Yunus said that this is a good analogy for how potential is not realized by poor people.

Dream Your World

Yunus was asked about how he would talk with well-off children about poverty. He said that we should encourage our children to dream about the world they want. Then we should encourage our children to pursue making that world. Wow!

Social Entrepreneurs

Yunus was asked about what he saw as the next major movement. He talked about a new kind of business person who was building a business to make a profit (for no business will survive without profit) but also to equally value providing a social return. This contrasts with the Wall Street approach of focusing exclusively on maximizing profitability. He envisions an industry developing around social capitalism to run alongside the traditional profit-only focused industry.

Previous post on Grameen and beggars

Labels: book reviews, grameen, microfinance, poverty, social enterprise, yunus

This past Sunday, James Traub did an impressively insightful cover story on Bono: The Statesman in New York Times Magazine about Bono's journey along the path of advocating for the poor.

Here are some of the highlights I liked in the story:

• Bono knows how to “ask big” and celebrate partial progress. Bono praised Chirac at a U2 Paris conference in spite of Chirac’s incomplete support. Guess who called him later and asked to work more closely with him?
• Bono knows how to align himself with both the left and the right. He appeals to different people in different ways for the sake of the “emergency” of poverty.
• Bono thanks people – big and small. He signs every item fans extend to him to sign. He thanks major leaders for their actions and the impact that they will have. Bono praised the Bush administration for the commitment to the Millennium Challenge Account (for funding AID relief in Africa) even though it had conditions attached to it that he didn’t approve of. Notice, he thanked people, not the program.
• Bono trusts people taking them at their word. When Condoleeza Rice privately made a verbal committed that the Bush administration would later make a historic commitment to fight AIDS, Bono trusted her and gave them his support even though that promise was not made public. Rice delivered.
• Bono likes to sing his messages. When asked why he preferred a goal of canceling all of the debt in Africa instead of the, then current, 2/3’s cancellation, he said that you can’t sing about two-thirds of something. Instead, “it has to feel like history … incrementalism leaves the audience in a snooze.” Singing for Bono includes speeches and press conferences.
• U2 has always stood for something positive. Rock for stopping bad things and Rock in favor of good things. Compare that with other rock bands.
• Bono loves the world – he isn’t full of angst. This is so opposite to the angry words so many advocates have for others.
• Bono likes to hear the whole story. After meeting with Jeffrey Sachs to hear his opinion, he asked Sachs to find him an academic who opposed his perspective.
• Bono speaks unspoken dreams. “My generation wants to be the generation that ended extreme poverty.”
• Bono say “yes and yes.” He calls for responsibility for the aid recipient as well as the aid donor.
• Bono calls on everyone to be their best. Nothing less, nothing more.
• Bono is in for the long haul. He decided to go low profile last week in New York for UN summit on Millennium Development Goals because of America’s focus on Katrina. Do you think that his quietness reflects any less passion for the MDGs?

Traub says that it isn’t Bono’s belief in the issue [of eliminating extreme poverty] that is so effective; it is his belief in others.”

And most importantly, Bono is not a skeptic. Yeah, I'm really tired of skeptics!

Oh yeah, and Bono like Brunello ;-)

UPDATE: Bono also answered questions in the New York Times. He’s asked about microcredit and talks about his meeting with Dr. Yunus. Bono offers this quote: "Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Give a woman microcredit, she, her husband, her children and her extended family will eat for a lifetime."

Labels: bono, poverty, u2

Friedman, the New York Times foreign affairs columnist, has written another must read book for people interested in global economic trends. This book builds on his popular The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization to describe what he calls Globalization 3.0 which started around 2000 and replaces Globalization 2.0 (the industrial revolution) as the defining economic driver for the 21st century. Friedman describes how the world has become more “flat” as people and countries have been connected through the Internet and a massive global supply chain. He also explores the challenges for some of the world’s 3 billion people in the “unflattened” world and how we need to help them participate in the benefits brought by globalization.

Read full book review

Labels: book reviews, friedman, globalization, poverty

Manji is a gay, practicing muslim who grew up in Vancouver area, Canada (my home town) and now lives in Toronto, Canada. She is a journalist and now activist for reform in Islam. Manji describes herself as a muslim refusenik who is fed up with the stuck-in-the-6th-century, refusing to think mainstream muslim culture dominated by “desert Islam” religious despots.The anti-dote? Revive “ijtihad”, Islam’s lost tradition of independent thinking. Regarding poverty, she asks her fellow muslims some very poignant questions about why they support (primarily through silence) oppressive Islamic regimes which keep women as 2nd class citizens and create enduring poverty in so much of the world. While this is not strictly a defeating poverty-type book, it is very helpful to hear a muslim insider explain Islam today.

Read full review

Labels: book reviews, islam, poverty