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photo: TOOLBOX STUDIOS (DOLLAR BILL ORIGAMI OF BUTTERFLIES)
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If I Had Ten Billion Dollars
By BEN WRIGHT and YASMINE CHINWALA This year, Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, committed $10 billion over the next decade to help develop vaccines and distribute them to children in the developing world. By any estimate, this is a lot of money and a worthy cause. But could it be spent even more wisely?
It is now easier than ever to tackle such a question. A new breed of philanthropists, like Mr. Gates, have emerged from the worlds of business and finance and are looking to apply the same enthusiasm to donating money as they do to making money. At the forefront of this movement are so called philanthrocapitalists, or social entrepreneurs, who argue that the best way to solve the enormous problems the world faces is to harness not just business practices but also market forces in a way that addresses the root causes. In their view, a dollar spent addressing the root causes can be worth ten, a hundred or even a thousand times as much as when spent on dealing with the resulting humanitarian crisis. The Wall Street Journal asked several international philanthropists and charity executives how they would spend $10 billion to achieve the biggest and longest-lasting impact on the world’s problems. Here are some of their ideas: DEVELOP CARBON-CAPTURE TOILETS Sanitation is one of the most pressing issues in Africa. The technology exists to build toilets that capture methane and use the gas as a cooking fuel. Theoretically, these toilets could earn carbon credits twice over—once for capturing the methane and once for providing a sustainable fuel. At the point at which installing these toilets becomes cheaper than the carbon credits they earn, there will be companies running around Africa begging villages to allow them to build toilets in exchange for the carbon credits. Of course, the viability of this kind of initiative depends on the price of carbon. But if you agree with the case for man-made climate change, then an increase in the price of carbon is the one thing you can be sure of in the coming years. —Nic Frances, Founder of Cool nrg STIMULATE JOB CREATION One billion people in the world survive on less than a dollar a day. They are the so-called “bottom billion.” Many are so poor because they don’t have jobs. The only way to eliminate extreme poverty at reasonable cost and within a reasonable time frame is by giving this “bottom billion” the means to unleash their entrepreneurship. Research suggests that it costs $200, on average, to create a single job in a developing nation. To eradicate extreme poverty among the “bottom billion” requires 250 million productive new jobs, which would cost $50 billion in total or $5 billion a year over 10 years. This is less than 5% of the $110 billion that is currently spent each year on aid. Such a huge impact can be achieved with so little money because of the leverage of help to self-help. Give a poor person $200 and he can spend that $200 on food or clothes. Spend that $200 training and coaching them and they might be able to earn $2,000 a year, year after year. Do developing countries need better infrastructure like roads, water, electricity, schools, hospitals? Absolutely. But it took the Western world 100 years to build modern infrastructure and it will not happen any faster in the developing world. Poor people cannot wait. They need jobs now. — Percy Barnevik, Former chief executive of ABB and chairman of Hand in Hand International SET UP A STATISTICS OFFICE IN AFRICA Africa’s needs and potential are vast, while means are scarce. This necessitates efficiency, which is dependent on an ability to define aims, and to measure them, in order to assess results. This does not happen at the moment. So, I would use the $10 billion to fund the development of national or regional statistics offices. They would improve data collection and dissemination to ensure public access to, and sophisticated application of, these data. Better data will support improved policy making by governments and interventions by donors. The data will enable them to identify needs, to make better use of existing resources and to assess results. The private sector would be able to make more-targeted investment decisions with this data. Citizens would be able to see where their country was succeeding and where it was failing. —Mo Ibrahim, Mobile-communications entrepreneur and founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation OFFER PRIZES FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH Medical innovation for diseases of the poor is an area of shocking neglect. For example, the tools to diagnose and treat tuberculosis are hopelessly inadequate, with rising levels of resistance to existing treatments, and a test detecting less than half of all TB sufferers. To stimulate research for a diagnostic test that answers medical needs, I would create a prize fund in a way that encourages manufacturers to invest and also ensures that any test remains accessible I would also make sure that the money is linked with efforts to keep medicines affordable, be it through novel mechanisms such as a patent pool, in which companies agree to cross-license patents, or other proven tools to stimulate competition and bring —Tido von Schoen-Angerer, Director of Doctors Without Borders’ Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines BUILD SCHOOLS FOR THE POOREST A decent education is the single most effective tool to raise the well-being of every member of society. Funding for effective, intensive and focused teaching helps. But the real key is making high achievement for every child across every income group our absolute, uncompromising mission. Even with tens of billions, the task of addressing the disadvantage suffered by children around the world is immense and urgent. To make your spending effective and your achievements enduring, you need to build local skills and capacity. Absolute Return for Kids’ inner-city academies work to end underachievement among children from deprived communities. More than 60% of pupils admitted to our London schools at age 11 are a year or more behind their reading age. Their chance of reaching university or building a fulfilling career is pitifully low. Unless they do, those children will perpetuate a multigenerational heritage of deprivation. Good schools, with great leaders and staff, really do make the difference. —Stanley Fink, Former CEO of Man Group and chairman of Absolute Return for Kids TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE How could $10 billion have the biggest impact on people living in poverty? Invest it in the fight against climate change, the main obstacle to Oxfam’s aid efforts across 90 countries. Poor people feel its impact daily. Climate change aggravates every issue linked to poverty and development today, from hunger to health, disaster to displacement. Poor farmers in every region of the world tell us it is destroying harvests and increasing hunger. Diseases like malaria, once geographically confined, are creeping to areas where people lack the immunity or health care to cope. Water supplies are becoming so acutely challenged that several cities may soon be unable to function. Weather-related disasters like floods and typhoons are rising and in 2008 alone, more than 20 million people were made homeless by climate-related disasters. Ten billion dollars could help poor people adapt to climate change by raising more homes above flood level in Bangladesh, providing farmers with drought-resistant seeds in Africa, and teaching more people in South America how to protect their crops from floods. —Dame Barbara Stocking, Chief executive of Oxfam GB
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