Wealthy philanthropists have the potential to do more than the Group of Eight leading nations to lift Africa out of poverty, according to Jeff Sachs, special adviser to the United Nations secretary-general.
Mr Sachs told the Financial Times that the financial clout of the likes of Microsoft’s Bill Gates and international investor Warren Buffett, who have pledged billions of dollars to global health and education, could eclipse flagging governmental initiatives.
“The Rockefeller Foundation was the world’s most important development institution of the 20th century, and the Gates Foundation can be that of the 21st century,” he said. “Gates can make a huge difference if they hit the right model.”
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was already the biggest charitable group in the world before Mr Buffett last year pledged to give it the bulk of his $40bn-plus (€30bn, £20bn) fortune.
Mr Sachs proposed that other, less wealthy people could contribute to a new private sector foundation that could help speed the elimination of diseases and tackle specific challenges.
“There are 950 billionaires whose wealth is estimated at $3.5 trillion [$3,500bn]. An annual 5 per cent ‘foundation’ payout would be $175bn per year – that would do it. Then we don’t need the G8 but 950 people on the Forbes list,” said Mr Sachs. “Maybe private philanthropists will champion solutions to individual problems rather than the G8,” he said.
He was speaking as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reported last week that aid from rich countries to Africa remained static last year even though G8 leaders promised in 2005 to spend $50bn more each year to 2010 on aid, with half the rise going to sub-Saharan Africa. The so-called Gleneagles commitments were championed by Tony Blair, UK prime minister, and Gordon Brown, his chancellor.
Mr Sachs, complaining about the failure of governments to keep their aid promises, was answering a question about the potential impact of a new wave of philanthropic giving by wealthy individuals and corporations
“Groups like Rotary have done a lot, have brought down polio 100-fold,” he said, referring to a public-private partnership started in 2003 to eradicate polio also involving the UN, the World Bank and the Gates Foundation. This work is all based on the principle that “economic development is about applying technology on a mass scale”.
But Mr Sachs also criticised what he described as the shrinking role of the World Bank as it had pursued a single-minded focus on fighting corruption under its president, Paul Wolfowitz. “They behave like there’s an ogre out there called corruption and we [the World Bank] can’t do anything because we have to tackle the beast first.”
Last week, Mr Wolfowitz announced a review of World Bank operations, giving Francois Bourguignon, chief economist, the job of drawing up a new strategy.
“If you take any programme and make it practical and give it specific accountability, that is the way to battle corruption.”
