Video Review: Gates Foundation: Giving A Fortune Away
Video Review: Gates Foundation: Giving A Fortune Away
After viewing the video on the Gates Foundation, looking at their criteria for planning, implementation, and evaluation, and seen some of the initiatives on their website, what did you find surprising?
Actually, what was surprising to me was the humility and deep commitment that was exhibited by Melinda Gates on the work being done in the foundation. Specifically, she stressed that she really wanted to be hands-on or doing the travel to see for herself, the extent of misery and need that the people they earmarked to help currently encounters. She emphasized that more than anything else, focusing on their global priorities of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and child-mother deaths, were more important than material things.
Planning is being undertaken by their staff at the foundation to look into distinct areas that need to be addressed given their global priorities. Through research, they have identified important problems and partner with governments, as well as other charity organizations to propose solutions to their priorities. Finally, evaluation is being undertaken through assessment of the outcome of their endeavors.
Why is that important? These are important to enable them to continually assess, areas where more funding and assistance should be channeled to address urgent needs in saving lives. As emphasized by Melinda Gates, she finds meaning and joy in connecting with people.
If you were going to propose a program for them to fund (locally, nationally, or globally), what would it be?
One believes that a program that needs to be addressed, also on a global scale, is human trafficking and cybersex affecting children. These areas appear to be a persistently continuing dilemma that affects lives of children and women, and that which impacts negatively on their future lives.
What kind of data would you need to demonstrate a need for the program?
The data needed to demonstrate the need for the program include: (1) the statistics and historical trends of women and children affected (trafficked or subjected to cybersex) on a global scale (with information categorizing significantly affected countries); (2) the present international policies enforced to solve these problems and how new policies could be enforced to intensify efforts in addressing these issues; and (3) the amount of funds that could help in saving the lives of affected women and children; as well as preventing these problems to happen.
