Alliance magazine

A new cross-sector partnership, US Global Development Lab, aims to end extreme poverty by 2030 by adopting a science-and-technology-based approach to international development. The partnership, led by USAID, draws in just about every other sector, involving corporations, foundations, universities and non-profit organizations. It will work on solutions to challenges in water, health, food security and nutrition, energy, education and climate change; according to a press release, it will benefit 200 million people over the next five years.

USAID has also announced a new Research and Innovation Fellowships programme which, this year, will send more than 60 young scientists, technology experts and innovators to work on development challenges at universities, research institutions, non-governmental organizations, and private-sector companies in 12 developing countries. Partners include the Bill & Melinda Gates and Skoll Foundations, Save the Children, World Vision, the Smithsonian Institution, University of California, Berkeley and Duke, Johns Hopkins, Michigan State and Texas A&M Universities.

Meanwhile an existing partnership, Uniting to Combat NTDs, spearheaded by the Gates Foundation and also involving USAID, the UK’s DFID and foundations, global health organizations and pharmaceutical companies, has pledged a further $240 million to fight neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The commitments include $50 million from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) to provide technical assistance to national deworming programmes and $50 million from the Gates Foundation to explore the feasibility of interrupting transmission and mitigating the risks of drug resistance. At the same time, Dubai Cares will design programmes to integrate nutrition, deworming, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions in schools, while WaterAid will deliver WASH programmes in NTD-endemic areas. ‘We’re taking the “neglect” out of neglected tropical diseases, thanks to the commitment of partners from across the public and private sectors,’ said Gates Foundation co-chair Bill Gates in a new report on the group’s progress, adding, ‘If we stay focused, we can reach the London Declaration’s 2020 goals and help provide millions with access to health.’

Bill Gates again – this time signing a memorandum of understanding with eight Indonesian business leaders to establish a public-private partnership that will fight infectious diseases and work to expand access to family planning services in the Indonesian archipelago. Gates will contribute $40 million and the eight local business leaders $8 million each to the Indonesia Health Fund to tackle dengue fever, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in the country and to expand access to contraception.

For more information

“U.S. Agency for International Development and 32 Partner Organizations Launch U.S. Global Development Lab to Help End Extreme Poverty by 2030.” US Agency for International Development Press Release, 3 April 2014.

“Global Partners Are Taking the ‘Neglect’ Out of ‘Neglected Tropical Diseases’.” Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases Press Release, 2 April 2014.

“Gates, Conglomerates Sign MOU on Philanthropy.” Jakarta Post, 6 April 2014.