Dedicated to thoughtful giving
Philanthropy Age Middle East, North Africa and South Asia
www.PhilanthropyAge.com
Issue 01
April - June 2013
Bid in our first exclusive
Charity art auction
The power of vaccines
Reem AlHashimy
Giving while living
Why life-saving vaccines are the perfect tool for philanthropists looking to make an instant impact
The UAE Minister of State discusses the evolution of philanthropy in the Arab world
How some of the world’s wealthiest are pledging their fortunes to charity
Our first artist
Artist: Sherin Guirguis
Sherin Guirguis was born in Luxor, Egypt in 1974. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1997 and her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2001. Raised in Cairo and now living in Los Angeles, Guirguis’ work investigates the politics of ornamentation. In 2012 she was awarded the prestigious California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists. Guirguis has an upcoming solo exhibition at The Third Line gallery, Dubai, UAE, in autumn 2013.
Front and back covers: Sherin Guirguis, Untitled (shorouq), 2012. Mixed media on hand-cut paper, diptych 116.8 x 175.2 cm each. Image courtesy of the artist and The Third Line gallery.
02 Philanthropy Age
Philanthropy Age
Bid in our first charity auction
Welcome to the first edition of Philanthropy Age, a bilingual quarterly magazine for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia that hopes to engage with, and inform, the growing number of philanthropists across the region, as well as inspire philanthropists of the future. We hope to encourage thoughtful, even strategic, giving, and to offer an insight into how donations can and do make a real difference. As a publication, we will also be putting our editorial approach into action by, wherever possible, changing lives for the better. In this and in forthcoming issues, Philanthropy Age will be auctioning a work for charity created by a gifted regional artist. Our Editorial Advisory Board will then donate the proceeds to a foundation, charity or worthy cause making a difference in the MENASA region. The recipient will change with each auction.
How to bid Please send your bid in strict confidence to Philanthropy Age CEO and editor-in-chief Leonard Stall: leonard@touchline.ae Bidding will close on this artwork on Sunday June 24, 2013. The piece does carry a reserve price.
We hope this ongoing initiative reinforces the bond between the worlds of art and philanthropy. Thank you to our first artist, Luxor-born Sherin Guirguis. (www.sheringuirguis.com)
Philanthropy Age 03
Contents...
20
24 Regulars 08 Need to know 12 Trends 16 Guest Column 18 The Moment 77 One Day 79 The Next Step 80 Making a Difference
04 Philanthropy Age
28
20 24 28
Exclusive interview Reem AlHashimy, the UAE Minister of State, on the changing nature of Arab philanthropy. Crisis Control How Dubai’s emergence as a global aid hub is helping to channel vital supplies to Syrian refugees. Strength in numbers Sheikh Khaled Al Juffali on why Saudi Arabia’s wealthiest citizens must work together to affect lasting change.
36
32 36 64
Bills, bills, bills How Turkey’s first financial literacy initiative is teaching women and children to balance their budgets. Reclaiming the streets Maher Kaddoura has changed the face of road safety in Jordan after losing his son in a traffic accident. Call to action Jeff Raikes, the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, asks which Middle East families will become icons of philanthropy in the 21st century.
Contents
Special Report:
46 50
64
82
40
The power of vaccines Vaccines are among the world’s most cost-effective health interventions, but more must be done across MENASA to ensure children receive the life-saving doses they need. In this special report, we examine the power, the potential and the price of vaccines in the 21st century.
56 Philanthropy Age 05
Contributors
With our thanks to...
Dr Tariq Cheema
Dr Rashika El Ridi
Anjan Sundaram
Ben East
Dr Tariq H. Cheema is the founder of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, a global network of affluent individuals, foundations and socially-conscious corporations dedicated to advancing effective and accountable giving. In this issue he describes how philanthropy in the Muslim world is facing a crossroads, challenged to build new models of giving while simultaneously refining old methods embedded in Islamic tradition.
Professor of Immunology Dr Rashika El Ridi has spent the last two decades developing a vaccine to eradicate schistosomiasis, a disease affecting more than 400 million people across the developing world. A 2010 laureate of the L’OréalUNESCO programme For Women in Science, for Africa and the Arab states, she is a pioneer in the effort to eliminate the disease, nicknamed ‘snail fever’ in some parts of the world. In this issue, she writes about her high hopes that an effective vaccine can be introduced within the next three years.
Anjan Sundaram is an awardwinning journalist who has reported from Africa for the New York Times and the Associated Press, and is the author of 'Stringer: A Reporter’s Journey in the Congo'. His essays and writing have appeared in Foreign Policy magazine and Fortune magazine, and he received a Reuters award for his reporting in Congo. He now lives in Rwanda, and in this issue writes about the importance of emergency aid as a direct, high-impact way of channelling philanthropy.
Ben East is an award-winning journalist who reports on arts, culture and sport for a wide variety of international newspapers, magazines and websites including The Observer, Monocle, Sports Illustrated, Top Gear and The National (UAE). He is based in Manchester, where he was in charge of Metro newspaper’s arts coverage across the UK. In this issue he writes about the psychology of philanthropy, a subject close to his heart, as he has been involved with a township school in South Africa for a number of years.
06 Philanthropy Age
Editor’s Letter Philanthropy Age is published by Touchline FZ-LLC The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for errors or omissions contained in the publication, for whatever reason, however caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. The publishers take no responsibility for the goods and services advertised. All materials are protected by copyright. All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photography or storage in any medium by electronic means) without the written permission of the copyright owner, except as may be permitted by applicable laws.
Making a difference
Touchline FZ-LLC 4th Floor, Pink building twofour54 media zone Khalifa Park, PO Box 77826 Abu Dhabi, UAE Tel: +971 (0)2 234 4598 www.touchline.ae www.philanthropyage.com
Philanthropy is enshrined in the history, culture and religion of the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region. It is also an ever-evolving concept. Through Philanthropy Age, we hope to contribute in our own small way to the development of philanthropy in the region. We want people to be moved into changing the nature of their giving; to think about how they are giving, where they are giving, and whether their giving will truly make a difference to people’s lives.
Editorial Team: CEO Editor-in-Chief Leonard Stall leonard@touchline.ae
Senior Editor Andrew White andrew@touchline.ae
Editor & Web Editor Joanne Bladd joanne@touchline.ae
Arabic Editor Fawaz Jarrah fawaz@touchline.ae
Creative Director Nada Baroudy nada@touchline.ae
Senior Designer Michel Al Asmar
Senior Designer Chris Assig
Designer Ahmad Marei
Publishing Director Salem AlShaikh
COO Waleed Gubara waleed@touchline.ae
Translation Zaineb Bouftass
Business Development Mona Mahmoud mona@touchline.ae
Director of Digital Juan Whitby
Digital Design Director Matt Walker
Office Manager Linda Musco
Office Administrator Imen Jennadi
Contributors: Dr Tariq Cheema, Dr Rashika El Ridi, Anjan Sundaram, Ben East Images: Getty Images; Gavi Alliance; World Food Programme; World Health Organisation; Unicef; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Shutterstock; Salah Malkawi Distributed: GLS Media Services Printed: Emirates Printing Press, Dubai
Philanthropy Age is a publication for the region, and by the region. Our stories are taken from across MENASA, and those who contribute to these pages have already done much to shape the nature of giving in the 21st century. Our goal is not to lecture, but to learn, and it is a privilege and a responsibility we do not take lightly. In this inaugural issue we speak to ministers, sheikhs and world-renowned experts, and we also take a close look at vaccines, among the world’s most costeffective health interventions and the perfect tool for philanthropists looking to make an immediate and lasting impact. We also travel to the verdant hillsides of northern Lebanon, the chaotic streets of inner-city Amman, and the poverty-stricken villages of southern Sudan. The common thread throughout all of these stories is their engagement with intelligent philanthropy. Our subjects are changing lives, and often saving them, through thoughtful giving. We are interested in those making a difference, whether on a small or large scale, in healthcare, education, job creation, or any of the manifold spheres which fall under the wide umbrella of philanthropy. As much as we value and applaud multimillion-dollar initiatives bettering millions of lives, we also hope to highlight the ‘small-scale’ operations that are nevertheless making a real difference to the communities which they serve. The success of Philanthropy Age will rest on the buy-in of the region’s philanthropic community. We hope that you will embrace our efforts and our intentions, but we need you, your experience and your expertise in order to move forward and achieve our goals. As philanthropy evolves, so we hope to evolve and provide a platform for debate on meaningful, sustainable change. We hope that with your engagement, your ideas and your support, Philanthropy Age might also make a real difference to people’s lives. Andrew White Editor, Philanthropy Age
Founder Sponsors:
Philanthropy Age 07
Need To Know
Pleas, pledges and hope... Snapshots from the world of philanthropy
}
Any charity you give is for your own good. Any charity you give shall be for the sake of God. Any charity you give will be repaid to you, without the least injustice
~
WFP/Justin Smith
THE QURAN 2:272
Asia and Africa key to 2030 poverty challenge
South African Patrice Motsepe, Africa’s richest black man, this year pledged to give away half of his
$2.65bn fortune. Over to you, MENASA
08 Philanthropy Age
fr o
ed wip
be ul d
Much of the work will focus on accelerating and sustaining high economic growth in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, alongside a sharp rise in job creation.
Polio co
To reach that goal, the world will need to cut the number of people living below the poverty line to 3 per cent globally by 2030, and boost the per capita incomes of the poorest 40 per cent in each developing country.
m
The World Bank has called on the international community to shrink the gap between rich and poor in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, as part of a global drive to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030.
th
ac f e
f eo
th e
hb Ea r t
y e n d-2 01 5
$50m
The amount Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, has donated publicly to support vaccination campaigns in Pakistan and Afghanistan
Need To Know
Hope: according to a new survey of 3,000 young people across 15 nations in the Arab world, 74 per cent agreed with the statement “our best days are ahead of us”, while 60 per cent are confident that the regional economy is heading in the right direction
}
We do not hesitate to help and support the brother, the ill-fated friend or the needy, wherever they are
~
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai
7,000
100
The number of Syrian refugees flooding into UN camps each day, in a bid to escape the bloodshed
The Rockefeller Foundation, one of the world’s most prominent charitable organisations, celebrates a century of giving in May. Which foundations in the MENASA region will still be doing great work 100 years from now?
$1bn
The sum the UN has called for to tackle Syria’s growing refugee crisis
$300m
The amount the global aid agency has received to date. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait have each pledged a further $300m to the cause
Philanthropy Age 09
Agenda
Key events this quarter June 17-18 – New York The TBLI (Triple Bottom Line Investment) Conference is an annual global event on environmental, social and governance, and impact investing. The theme for 2013 is ‘Rethink the Past and Move On’.
May 10-12 – London The Nexus European Youth Summit brings together philanthropists, investors and social entrepreneurs under the age of 40, from across the continent. The event aims to inspire new leadership and bolster strategic investment in social and environmental projects.
April 23-25 – Lima The World Economic Forum on Latin America 2013 focuses on one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The event will examine the opportunity for novel business and social innovation models in the region, and the challenges that lie ahead.
10 Philanthropy Age
May 23 – Fontainebleau The annual INSEAD Entrepreneurship Forum will focus on the theme of impact investing. Delegates will debate the growth of the sector, gaps in the ecosystem and how this form of finance compares to the venture capital and private equity sectors.
Agenda
April 24-25 – Abu Dhabi The Global Vaccine Summit will gather government and civil society leaders to discuss how to improve and sustain poorer nations’ access to vaccines.The event, hosted by Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, will be attended by Bill Gates and the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.
May 24-26 – Dead Sea The World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa 2013 will bring together more than 900 stakeholders to debate how best to deliver development and drive prosperity across the region. May 9-10 – Singapore The inaugural Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) Annual Conference is billed as the region’s largest gathering of social investors and venture philanthropists, with participants from more than 25 countries.
Also coming up: May 8-10 – Cape Town The World Economic Forum on Africa 2013 is a vital platform for leaders in business, government and civil society seeking to unlock Africa’s potential and accelerate its economic development.
July 10-11 July 24-27 September 11-13 September 23-26 October 28-30 November 18-20 November 26-27 November 30
Partnering for Global Impact 2013, Lugano Nexus Global Youth Summit, New York Annual Meeting of the New Champions, Dalian Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, New York Financial Inclusion 2020: A Global Forum, London Summit on the Global Agenda, Abu Dhabi 9th EVPA Annual Conference, Geneva Brazilian Philanthropy Forum, São Paulo
Philanthropy Age 11
TRENDS
Wealth surge to drive philanthropy 43,726 HNWI population in 2012
88%
2,488 HNWI population in 2012
Growth rate
69%
4,675
Growth rate
HNWI population in 2012
58%
82,369 Predicted HNWI population in 2022
The number of people in Africa, Asia and the Middle East with a fortune of more than $30m is set to surge over the next 10 years, according to a March report, news that bodes well for regional trends in philanthropic spending. Global property consultant Knight Frank predicts that the number of superrich individuals in Asia will rise by 88 per cent to 2022, the joint highest rate of growth in any world region, matched only by Latin America. The combined wealth of these so-called high-net-worth-individuals (HNWIs) will be $12.6 trillion, the report said, making Asia the biggest hub for wealthy individuals outside of North America.
Growth rate
4,197 Predicted HNWI population in 2022
7,378 Predicted HNWI population in 2022
increased their charitable giving in 2012. By comparison, just 1 per cent increased their spending on luxury goods. In Asia, the trend was sharper. Some 22 per cent of respondents said their clients spent more last year on philanthropic activities than in 2011, the largest rise worldwide, outpacing the 19 per cent who reported a jump in luxury retail spend. Philanthropic spending in the Middle East and Africa saw a slight rise, with just 1 per cent of those polled noting an increase in charitable giving. Luxury retail spending, however, remained flat.
The Middle East will see a 58 per cent jump in the number of super-rich individuals, rising from 4,675 in 2012 to 7,378 a decade later. The region’s biggest rise will be in Iraq, which is poised for a 125 per cent increase in HNWIs from 162 to 365.
“The wealthy don’t live in a vacuum; having a healthy society around them is good for their wellbeing as well as their wealth,” Maya Prabhu, head of philanthropy advisory services at private banking house Coutts, told the report. “You could call it a mixture of enlightened self-interest and compassion.”
Africa will see a 69 per cent increase in its wealthy population, a reflection of the region’s rapidly growing economies. In some countries, the number of rich residents is expected to triple, an indication of the opportunities on offer in the resource-rich continent.
Prabhu said philanthropy is increasingly being used as a tool to aid the children of wealthy families in developing their financial skills, ahead of taking over the family fortune.
This swelling wealth is likely to go hand-in-hand with an uptick in philanthropic activities. In a global poll of private bankers and wealth advisors, the report found almost 10 per cent of respondents said their clients had
12 Philanthropy Age
“This approach can be very beneficial for families as it helps them to work out what they really care about,” she said, adding that newer forms of philanthropy such as impact investing are drawing the attention of younger, entrepreneurial HNWIs.
Trends
UN pressed to rethink post2015 agenda for world’s poor
Aid-giving by rich nations declines Development aid from rich nations to some of the world’s poorest fell for a second year in 2012, as crisishit European donor countries reined in their spending. Data released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in April showed a 4 per cent slide in aid from its Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members, to $125.7bn. The DAC is a club of rich countries that includes 14 European Union states, the US, Australia, Canada and others. The Paris-based thinktank attributed the fall in aid, which marked the first successive decline since 1997, to the ongoing debt crisis in Europe. Since reaching a peak in 2010, global developmental aid has tumbled by 6 per cent in real terms. There has also been a noticeable swing in aid away from the poorest countries and towards middle-income countries, said the OECD. Two years after the Arab Spring uprisings prompted a surge in giving to affected North African states, aid to the continent has stagnated. Africa as a whole has seen aid drop by almost 10 per cent since 2011, to roughly $29bn. The largest donors last year were the US, the UK, France, Germany and Japan, OECD data showed. The European Union, the world’s largest aid donor, has said that budget cuts made this year mean it will not meet the UN’s goal of spending 0.7 per cent of its total economic activity on aid.
The UN has been urged to recast the focus of its millennium development goals (MDG) as the 2015 deadline for the global anti-poverty push looms, after a report found the framework rarely aided the world’s poorest communities.
the report said, “despite the fact that most households pay tax.”
The ‘What Matters Most’ study found the MDG’s approach, which focuses on eradicating extreme poverty and bolstering access to services such as healthcare and education, was often lost on the most marginalised. The very poor fail to access such services because they are discriminated against, they can’t afford them, or aren’t aware of them, the report said.
The UN launched the eight MDGs in 2000. In the 12 years since, the framework has helped to halve extreme poverty and to cut child mortality from 12 million to 6.9 million.
In Mozambique, research found just 7 of the 360 households in the Majune and Cuamba areas were receiving cash or aid under a national scheme to support the poor. “Most people do not look upon the state as having any obligations to support the poor”
In Ghana, a study found one in four young people said they or others they knew had stopped going to school because they couldn’t afford to pay for uniforms and other related costs.
Looking beyond 2015, the study called for improved participatory development and for basic needs, such as land-rights, food and sanitation, to be given priority over other goals. The report, which was led by the Institute of Development Studies, pooled data from 84 studies spanning 107 countries with on-the-ground research in 40 countries.
Philanthropy Age 13
Global Eye
Doing it for the kids The youthful demographics of the Arab world represent both a challenge and an opportunity for regional governments. The International Monetary Fund estimates that 75 million new jobs must be created in the MENA region alone by 2020 to cater to its growing labour market. In order to fully realise the potential of their peoples, governments will look to work hand-in-hand with philanthropic organisations and individuals to enhance offerings in healthcare, education, job creation and social welfare
Figure 1: World population under 15
Youth population (per cent) 2012 Source: 2012 World Population Data Sheet, Population Reference Bureau
14 Philanthropy Age
0-7%
7-13%
13-20%
20-26%
26-33%
33-39%
39-46%
46-52%
Global Eye
Figure 2: Ensuring a brighter future
Figure 4: Extending education
The ratio of young people (under 15 years of age) to adults in the Arab world means that governments alone cannot be expected to provide a comprehensive social safety net for their citizens. It is in this space that philanthropic money can make a huge difference: successful public-private partnerships can protect the most vulnerable, and build a better future for all.1
One of the most effective ways in which governments and philanthropic players are working together is in extending education to young people who otherwise might slip through the net. Philanthropic initiatives help educators to access children in the most remote corners of the Arab world.2
China
6.3 million Europe
Arab World
10
Children of primary-school age not enrolled in school in the Arab world (2010)
million
Young people aged 15-24 that have not completed primary school in the Arab world (2012)
Figure 3: Driving job creation Governments across the region are implementing massive infrastructure development programmes in a bid to drive job creation and push down youth unemployment statistics. This work is being augmented by invaluable philanthropic endeavours designed to bridge the gap between the classroom and the workplace.3 25%
16%
20% 15% 10% 5% 0%
1 3
MENA
Latin America
South Asia
Sub-Saharian Africa
World
of the world’s total out-ofschool children of lowersecondary-school age live in the Arab world
Sources: NewGeography.com; Madar Research & Development 2 Source: UNESCO; UNESCO Institute for Statistics’ 2010 data adjusted for growth in 2012 Source: United Nations University – World Institute for Development Economics Research
Philanthropy Age 15
Guest Column
Dr Tariq Cheema, World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists
Our historic opportunity T Muslim philanthropy is at a crossroads, says Dr Tariq Cheema. We must encourage movement away from greed and selfappropriation, towards a world governed by the objectives of long-term value creation and sustainability
here are an estimated 1.57 billion Muslims in the world today, constituting 23 per cent of the global population. They live across the continents and contribute substantially to the world economy. They are also significant players in the social sector, developing non-profits that address human services and social needs or creating charitable foundations that distribute financial resources at an unprecedented level. Within this group, there is a potentially enormous resource base on which philanthropic groups can build new initiatives to advance social justice. Muslim philanthropy is at a crossroads, challenged to build new models of giving while simultaneously refining old methods embedded in vibrant Islamic tradition. Muslim giving needs to be re-examined and allied with the developing era of prosperity and social awakening in some parts of the modern Muslim world.  It must also address the pressures and suspicions that have fallen on Muslim philanthropy as a result of political tensions and radicalism in the world. The foremost challenge, however, is to promote strategic, effective, and accountable philanthropy, which complements and enhances the impact of generations-old conventional charity, which is often personal and spontaneous. The majority of Muslim giving is fragmented and, thus, less effective, and is geared towards poverty alleviation through consumption instead of investment and development. There is also a lack of clarity on how to best meet
16 Philanthropy Age
the demand for giving and supply of philanthropic funds. The philanthropic sector, therefore, is dealing with the challenges of the wastage of precious funds because of subscale initiatives, limited investment in delivery capacity, and generally underdeveloped civil society. Addressing this challenge requires significant improvements on two main frontiers: enhancing the institutionalisation of philanthropic spending, and increasing the professionalism and transparency of philanthropic institutions. Wealth creation in the Muslim world is driving a new generation of actors to commit their resources for the greater public welfare. Institutionalised philanthropy is growing rapidly; however, traditional religious motivations for giving remain strong, and both modest and wealthy citizens contribute to the welfare of those who are in need. Governments are gradually recognising the potential in allowing greater civic participation, and more leaders from the private sector see the importance of social investment. There are now numerous grant-making foundations operating across the Arab and Muslim world, established by the rich and powerful of those countries, mostly royals and private sector leaders. These foundations give huge sums of money to support schools, hospitals, orphanages, and faith-based institutions both in their home countries and abroad. However, these foundations generally operate in isolation, and rarely pool human or financial resources with other
Giving is a key pillar of the Muslim faith
grant-making entities. Nevertheless, while the growth of endowment funds and community foundations is quite slow, there is a rising class of professionally run family, corporate, or state-backed foundations, whose grant-making is development-oriented and strategic in nature. Additionally, humanitarian aid and development organisations dominate the philanthropic landscape of the region. They are competent and resourceful, and adept in actively raising funds from their communities. Beyond the small pockets of extreme wealth and stability, the Muslim world is facing a raft of challenges including poverty, unemployment, longstanding regional conflicts, and political unrest. Recent events in the Middle East and North Africa lend urgency to the discussion of the future role of philanthropy in Muslim societies. The philanthropic sector has a historic opportunity to encourage movement away from greed and self-appropriation, towards a world governed by the objectives of long-term value creation and sustainability. This progress can only occur through a new, carefully-drawn social compact among states, the private sector, and the philanthropic sector. Regardless of how
current upheavals play out across the region, the serious economic, social and political challenges will not be addressed without a long-term vision for social justice and active participation among the different sectors. The growth of the philanthropic sector in the Muslim world depends very much on how governments act. States are required to introduce incentive-based policies for donors, establish effective monitoring systems to ensure transparency in charitable operations, and regulate the collection and disbursement of zakat, the mandatory alms giving for Muslims. In general, though, it is apparent that the public, private, and philanthropic sectors lack harmony, and that their development strategies are not properly aligned. Furthermore, the policy-making process or service delivery is often influenced by private political or corporate interests and not necessarily driven by on-theground realities. Philanthropy has a positive and immensely important role to play in the Muslim world, for which it needs to become both strategic and sustainable. The challenge of the current time, in which the root causes of social and economic injustices span
beyond families, villages, cities, regions and even countries, offers a new opportunity for which organised efforts are ever more crucial.
Philanthropy has a positive and immensely important role to play in the Muslim world, for which it needs to become both strategic and sustainable Muslim philanthropy, despite facing a complex set of external and internal challenges, is bound to grow both in its maturity and effectiveness. However, without the application of research and innovation, conventional giving models will continue to be ineffective. Furthermore, in the Muslim world where philanthropy is predominantly faith-inspired, the resolution of longstanding religious and geopolitical conflicts is critical to the peace and prosperity of Muslim nations and their neighbouring lands. n
About the author: Dr Tariq Cheema is the founder and CEO of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, a global network of affluent individuals, foundations and socially conscious corporations dedicated to advancing effective and accountable giving.
Philanthropy Age 17
The Moment
18 Philanthropy Age
The Moment
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Leading by example Few men have made as significant or as personal a contribution to furthering the concept of intelligent philanthropy, as Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai. Sheikh Mohammed established Dubai Cares in 2007, with a mandate to improve children’s access to quality primary education in developing countries. At the end of an initial eight-week fundraising drive which raised more than AED1.7bn ($462m), Sheikh Mohammed stunned his audience into silence, and then roused them into thunderous applause, when he announced that he would personally match every dirham donated, bringing the total to AED3.5bn. More than 1 million children benefited from Sheikh Mohammed’s vision and generosity that day; in the years since, Dubai Cares has transformed the lives of 7 million children in 28 developing nations.
Philanthropy Age 19
philanthropy age
The next generation UAE Minister of State Reem AlHashimy is a fast-rising star in the fields of politics and philanthropy. She tells Fawaz Jarrah how the nature of giving in the MENASA region is changing, and how it might evolve over the decades to come
Y
oung, gifted and giving, Reem AlHashimy is the face of a new generation of Middle East philanthropists. The Minister of State of the UAE, AlHashimy is also the chairperson of Dubai Cares, one of the region’s most high-profile philanthropic organisations. And as such, she bears a responsibility for reconciling the capabilities of the country’s public sector, with the wants and needs of the philanthropic community. “The nature of giving has certainly evolved over the last several decades, perhaps because the recipient has become a lot closer to us,” suggests AlHashimy, adjusting her hijab and settling comfortably into a seat in a smart ministry meeting room in Dubai. “Through technology, through how interconnected we are, we get a chance to see and feel and assess the impact of what is being given,” she continues. “That gives more reason for people to participate in a slightly different way from how they used to participate before: now people ask questions around sustainability, and how they might achieve maximum impact from their giving.”
20 Philanthropy Age
AlHashimy is certainly a passionate player in the sphere of sustainable impact. This comes to the fore in her spearheading of Dubai’s bid to host the World Expo in 2020, on behalf of the UAE, a bid which is built on the understanding that global progress requires lasting partnerships, collaboration and connected minds. It is also apparent in her work with Dubai Cares, which was established in 2007 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, and is tasked with improving children’s access to quality primary education in developing countries. Moreover, she insists that more and more people are viewing intelligent philanthropy as a given responsibility. “Today each citizen, each individual, each human being, every household has a philanthropy component to it, every company has a CSR component to it, and so the notion of giving back is very important and prominent,” says AlHashimy. She draws parallels between the UAE’s emergence as an active participant in the world’s affairs, and a growing sense of global affiliation, which feeds into the sphere of philanthropy. >
“Philanthropy should not be viewed simply through the prism of a dollar figure�
Philanthropy Age 21
philanthropy age
“I think we are very much committed to the notion of global citizenry, the notion that what befalls one group will befall us as well, so there is a sense of responsibility towards people from all walks of life,” she says. “I think people feel a calling, a sense of responsibility to reach out to those who are in need, independent of background or religion or ethnicity, which is very important, because we are all united in that human spirit. “There is a global trend where you don’t only see high net-worth individuals who give, but you see it from across all levels of society,” she continues. “It goes from something as small as five or 10 dirhams to much larger amounts. I think that has something to do with the prominence of philanthropy right now. Whether it’s through the media, or in the public dissemination of information, or in social networking spheres, everybody sees they can make a difference. And if everybody can make a difference, almost everybody wants to make a difference.” However, AlHashimy notes that philanthropy should not be “imposed” on people, as it is a very private decision that individuals must make for themselves. “I feel a sense of obligation and responsibility, a sense of duty, and I think many others have that as well. What is important is that people recognise that they don’t live in isolation from what happens around the world, and that the global challenges that befall us need global solutions, partnerships and collaborations to solve them,” she explains. In a world that can often appear beholden to materialism, AlHashimy stresses that people should not lose sight of the fact that philanthropy takes many forms. “Philanthropy should not be viewed simply through the prism of a dollar figure,” she urges. “Philanthropy inspires us to be better human beings, more aware of what is happening around us. So, if there is that sense of responsibility, then there is also a sense of ownership in trying to solve some of the challenges that arise. “If you can inspire others, particularly the younger generation, to feel that sense of responsibility, then it’s not just about how much money you give,” she adds. “You can give of your time, you can volunteer, and you can sometimes even read about different projects and give of your mental space for that particular cause. That all constitutes giving.” AlHashimy believes that while philanthropy in the Arab world will always have many commonalities with philanthropy in the developed world, it will also develop its own unique characteristics. “You will have elements intrinsic to the region itself and intrinsic to the needs and the requirements of the region. This should not
22 Philanthropy Age
happen without consideration of global trends, and this model must be adaptable. However adaptability doesn’t mean the complete dissolution of the character itself, which is why I think individual character will remain,” she explains.
Reem AlHashimy is chairperson of Dubai Cares, one of the region’s most high-profile charitable organisations
Women, too, are likely to play an ever-increasing role in the development of philanthropy in the region. AlHashimy notes that in the UAE, women have long been active and valued participants in all sectors of society, from politics, law and commerce, to philanthropy. “As mothers, wives, daughters and siblings, women have been inspired to be extremely active in the philanthropic sphere, especially if you look at philanthropy outside the confining parameters of a dollar figure,” she says. “Often when you look at grass-root initiatives or community events, women have played a strong role, organising families to come together for particular causes that affect local communities.”
“I think people feel a calling, a sense of responsibility to reach out to those who are in need”
philanthropy age
The minister concludes by calling for more global collaboration to address the difficult times faced by many communities around the world. “It’s important that you’re not reinventing the wheel every time you want to do something,” she advises. “There were others way before us who have already walked this path, and on that path they learned. The more we can share in this learning, the more we can maximise impact on the ground. “I think collaboration has never been more important than it is now, at a time of financial strife,” continues AlHashimy. “I think in many ways 2013 is a much, much better place for many communities and governments around the world in comparison to 2008. But there have been a lot of austerity measures that have been put in place, and I think that, independent of financial crises, the situation on the ground will continue to get harder, so it’s up to us to remain engaged. “There isn’t one magic bullet that would solve or answer the philanthropy question for the MENASA region,” she adds. “The region has experienced significant social and demographic challenges, particularly when it comes to women’s education, illiteracy, and even early childhood development. So there is a lot out there that could be done more and better, for sure.” n
Giving children ‘a passport out of poverty’ Dubai Cares was founded in 2007 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to respond to United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UN MDG) 2 and 3, which mandate universal primary education and gender equality, respectively, by 2015.
there is always more to be achieved and greater goals to which to aspire.
It operates in 28 developing countries where it seeks to improve access to quality primary education for around 7 million children out of the 61 million around the world that have no access to primary education. Dubai Cares is also helping to forge a global partnership for development, as called for in UN MDG 8.
“The new language is efficacy of aid, and you need to develop a spirit of perseverance, patience, determination and adaptability,” she continues.
The organisation has made considerable progress in the few years it has been in operation, however
“As we’re approaching the 2015 MDG goals, with billions of dollars being spent, we really have to take stock of what has been achieved so far, and look at what we must achieve next,” says Reem AlHashimy, chairperson of Dubai Cares.
“Sometimes you discover that a particular approach is not the most impactful approach, which is why the monitoring and evaluation component of our programmes is so strong. When we close programmes, we always know there is still a need for more.”
AlHashimy explains that there exists an even greater challenge than building primary schools and training teachers: namely, trying to create an environment conducive for learning. “There are millions of children that are enrolled in schools, but who are not learning,” she warns. “When you test them for basic numeracy and literacy skills upon their completion of the 12th Grade, they fail. It’s a tragedy.” Part of Dubai Cares’ efforts to eliminate this problem – at least within the scope of its future programmes – is to focus on early childhood development centres, numeracy and literacy in terms of basic math and English and local language, and teacher training programmes. “When you succeed in teaching a child these basic skills, you’ve given him or her a passport to break the cycle of poverty they’re in,” says AlHashimy.
Philanthropy Age 23
Crisis control International Humanitarian City in Dubai is the world’s biggest aid depot, playing a vital role in channelling live-saving supplies to refugees in Syria and other disaster zones
WFP/Maria Anguera de Sojo
T
he full scale of the crisis in Syria was laid bare in early March, when data from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) was made public. The agency calculates that more than 1 million citizens have fled the war-ravaged state to date, most seeking shelter in hastily erected refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. They arrive traumatised, without possessions, often having lost members of their families. Around half are children.
Dubai’s biggest contribution to the global aid industry sits in a dusty industrial zone about 40km from the heart of the city. International Humanitarian City (IHC) is built on the emirate’s tried-and-tested free zone model, clustering an army of aid actors in around 100,000 square metres of warehouse, office and storage space. Its tenants range from UN agencies and humanitarian organisations, to sellers of tents and mosquito nets.
The strain of this influx on neighbouring countries is immense. Lebanon’s population alone has swelled an estimated 10 per cent, while Jordan’s resources have been stretched to breaking point. Global aid agencies have worked around the clock to supply the camps with food rations, tents, and other essentials, alongside shipping aid directly into Syria’s conflict zones. It is no exaggeration to say that without Dubai, this rapid-fire response might not have been possible.
On size alone, it is the world’s biggest aid depot, stockpiling relief supplies
for agencies such as the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Red Cross and UNHCR. In 2012, these prepositioned stocks were flown to disaster-hit countries ranging from South Sudan, to Yemen, and the Philippines. More than $28m worth of shipments was sent from IHC to Syria alone. “We are a platform for humanitarian aid,” says IHC chief executive officer Shaima Al Zarooni. “There’s nothing else like it in the market. Dubai is eight hours by air from about two-thirds of the world’s population; it’s hard to replicate our model elsewhere without that logistical advantage.”
WFP/Marco Frattini
Philanthropy Age
More than 1 million citizens have fled Syria’s civil war to date. Around half are children
Dubai’s credentials as a trade hub are as appealing to aid agencies as they are to multinationals. The city is at the heart of intercontinental flight paths, a halfway house between Europe and Asia, while its ports are among the world’s largest and most efficient. When needed, these trade links can morph into critical lifelines to disaster zones, allowing aid to be shipped in at an unprecedented pace. The UNHCR, for example, holds enough stock in Dubai to kit out 350,000 people with basic
More than $28m worth of shipments has been sent from International Humanitarian City to Syria alone
items such as mosquito nets, blankets and kitchen sets. Relief cargo can clear customs within 24 hours. Dubai’s close proximity to stricken swathes of Africa and Asia is also a boon: traditional headquarters for humanitarian agencies such as Geneva and Oxford can, by comparison, seem a long way from their client base. “This was the thinking behind IHC,” says Al Zarooni. The cluster was formed in 2007, at the behest of Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. “The idea was to support humanitarian actors not just through donations, but by providing them with the infrastructure and the support that they need to deliver aid.”
IHC is bankrolled by the Dubai government, receiving an annual budget of about $5.5m. This arrangement allows it to host its nine UN tenants free of charge, and to offer subsidised rents to 33 charities and other non-profit groups. Commercial agents pay a base rent of around $220 per sq m and their utility costs; a rate significantly below the market price for prime office space. The free zone has steered clear of independently funding aid programmes or organising aid efforts. Instead, with a raft of humanitarian players under one roof, IHC bills itself as a subsidised platform for inter-agency coordination. “Having this sort of umbrella is good for them, and it’s good for us,” says Al Zarooni. “As a local entity working with global aid agencies, >
Philanthropy Age 25
WFP/UNHRD Dubai
Philanthropy Age
It’s a timely move. The business of aid is flourishing, an unfortunate reflection of a spate of humanitarian crises in the Arab world and wider region. Donations to aid agencies, however, are not; a legacy of the financial crisis and the ongoing economic woes of Europe and the US. The amount of aid gifted to developing countries by rich nations fell 4 per cent in 2012, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the first successive slide since 1997. Many humanitarian agencies are operating on shoestring budgets, and have warned of shortfalls in funding. The WFP, IHC’s largest single tenant, appealed in March for an urgent $156m in funding to supply food rations to displaced Syrians. WFP’s emergency operation in Syria needs $18m each week to run. Aid agencies are increasingly looking to the oil-rich GCC states to help plug the gap. Earlier this year, the UN launched a call for $716m to supply water, shelter and medical aid to more than 7 million people in Yemen. Appeals were held in New York, in Yemen itself – and in Dubai’s IHC. In January, a fundraising gathering in Kuwait
26 Philanthropy Age
WFP/Ancel Kats
we can help them to connect the dots when it comes to the local NGOs [nongovernmental organisations].”
raised more than $1.5bn in pledges for Syrians stricken by civil war. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait each committed $300m to the cause. “International aid in support of our operations in the Middle East has increased but not sufficiently to meet the demand triggered by regional conflicts,” says Mohamed Diab, country director for WFP in the UAE, and director of donor relations in the Middle East. “It’s crucial for GCC states and for the region’s private sector to further support the humanitarian and development needs of neighbouring countries.” The WFP has secured more than $1bn from Saudi Arabia since its launch and leases the equivalent of five football
pitches in warehousing space from IHC, free of charge. “Regional alliances need to be sustained and expanded,” Diab notes. The UAE has gained a bigger role on the global aid stage in recent years, in part because of IHC’s rising profile as a humanitarian hub. But the Gulf states more broadly still prefer to channel foreign aid bilaterally, comparatively shying away from multinational agencies. The UAE has also
The WFP has secured more than $1bn from Saudi Arabia since its launch and leases the equivalent of five football pitches in warehousing space from IHC, free of charge
taken an increasingly active role in the field, delivering aid to earthquake victims in Haiti in 2010, and distributing supplies directly to those affected by the Syrian conflict. “Most of the contributions now are going bilaterally to countries or being executed directly by our local agencies,” says Al Zarooni. “We can do it ourselves now. We were the first people to arrive in Haiti in 2010. It’s capacity building. You want to have your own organisations and your own players in the field.” This can be problematic when aid agencies are expected to do more with less. Too many actors in the field can raise the risk of a communication error or the duplication of efforts, a potential waste of funding.
“The GCC’s multinational aid should be strengthened,” says Diab. “It has advantages over bilateral aid in that it’s politically neutral, is cost-effective thanks to economies of scale, and offers financial transparency and established expertise on the ground.” The January pledges to the UN by three of the wealthiest Gulf states, worth a total $900m, were heralded by some as the start of a new era of participation, one that could give rise to the region playing a far more prominent role in the work of global aid agencies. IHC is likely to take a front-line role in any future campaigns. The free zone will take on a further three tenants this year, and
WFP Yemen
WFP/Eman Mohammed
WFP/Rein Skullerud
Philanthropy Age
is in talks with a clutch of other agencies. In addition to the subsidised facilities it offers, it is also lobbying local hotels to offer cut-price room rates to tenants, to encourage aid agencies to host events in Dubai. It’s a business-orientated approach that could prove to be the model for future aid hubs around the world.
Aid agencies are increasingly looking to the oil-rich GCC states to help plug shortfalls in funding, caused by a surge in global humanitarian crises
Al Zarooni recalls a visit in February to IHC by the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon. He toured the facility alongside Sheikh Mohammed, taking in its massive warehousing and relief stores. “He was fascinated by the infrastructure here and the work we’re doing,” she says. “He said it was amazing. We’re very proud of that.” n
Philanthropy Age 27
Philanthropy Age
Strength in numbers Philanthropy, like entrepreneurship, runs through the veins of the Al Juffali family. In an exclusive interview, Sheikh Khaled Al Juffali tells Andrew White why Saudi Arabia’s wealthiest individuals must work together if they are to achieve the greatest possible philanthropic impact
I
n the Islamic world, you are born with philanthropy in your heart and mind,” says Sheikh Khaled Al Juffali. “It is a process, a way of life, an unending tradition. And it is something our family takes very seriously.” Philanthropy, like entrepreneurship, runs through the veins of the Al Juffali family. Sheikh Khaled’s father, the late Ahmed Al Juffali, built a business empire that has enabled the family to amass a multibillion-dollar fortune. He also enshrined in his daughter and three sons the importance of giving, contributing to a wide range of causes and in 1985 launching an eponymous charitable foundation, which has since acted as a platform through which the family might offer assistance to the poorest segments of Arab society. The E.A. Juffali & Brothers Company, of which Sheikh Khaled is vice chairman and managing partner, is one of the kingdom’s most high-profile conglomerates, with partners including IBM,
28 Philanthropy Age
Siemens, Ericsson, Mercedes-Benz, Michelin, Dow Chemical, and DuPont. Yet outside the boardroom, he and his siblings have made an equally significant impact. Sheikh Khaled’s sister, Maha, has garnered international recognition for her work in helping children with disabilities. His elder brother Walid has for decades supported a wide range of cultural and academic initiatives. And younger brother Tarek contributed tens of millions of dollars to food and aid relief, healthcare and education, before his death in 2008. Sheikh Khaled and I meet on a cold and clear February morning on the shores of Lake Geneva, in a luxury hotel resplendent with old-school charm. The city is teeming with visitors to the annual Geneva Motor Show, but Sheikh Khaled is in Switzerland to talk altruism, not automobiles. He is a founder and driving force in the Shefa fund, an initiative that is based in Geneva but exists to disburse private Saudi wealth among philanthropic organisations across the poorer Islamic nations of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
philanthropy age
“In the Islamic world you are born with philanthropy in your heart and mind”
“The philanthropic potential of Saudi Arabia is huge, and we have not even seen the tip of the iceberg,” he says. “However, it needs to be well coordinated and organised, and this will be done best on a private basis. The government does a tremendous amount of philanthropic work, but it is unwieldy. Individuals and families are the key, through the pooling of intellectual as well as financial resources. There has to be a collective effort, because with numbers comes strength.” Accurate estimates of private wealth reserves in the Gulf are next to impossible, thanks to the opacity of many family-owned firms. However, there is no doubt that Saudi Arabia is home to more ultra-high- and high-net-worth individuals than any other country in the Arab world. The most recent Forbes list of the world’s billionaires calculated that there are 27 billionaires in the Arab world, sharing total assets of $92bn. Saudi boasts more than any other nation in the region, with eight individuals and their families holding assets worth a total of $55.5bn. What’s more, according
to a report published last year by Credit Suisse, the number of millionaires in Saudi Arabia is set to soar by 17 per cent in the five years to 2017, up from around 46,000 to 54,000.
The Help Center in Jeddah supports more than 450 children with classes and house calls
Launched in August 2012, the Shefa fund is aiming to attract a portion of this wealth and channel it into broad, strategic philanthropic initiatives across the MENA region. It is based in Switzerland, Sheikh Khaled says, as a consequence of the myriad complexities of the Saudi legal system as well as straightforward financial pragmatism. “The bureaucracy and the legality of creating a foundation [in Saudi] can be a nightmare,” he admits. “The government has wisely become very cautious with regards to giving licences to trusts or foundations, because there is a fear that they may be used to channel bad money, but at the same time this is hindering philanthropic activity,” Sheikh Khaled >
Philanthropy Age 29
philanthropy age
continues. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way, but it has certainly made things more difficult.” According to Sheikh Khaled, the fund has so far raised around $15m of its $20m initial target. Shefa, which means ‘wellbeing’ in Arabic, is talking to non-governmental organisations and private individuals across Saudi’s western region, and aims to persuade them to contribute to efforts to combat tropical diseases. Sheikh Khaled insists that, so far, the fund has only “scratched the surface” of Saudi’s giving potential: this year, the Shefa bandwagon will move on to Riyadh and other major cities in a bid to further expand its contributor base. “The worst part of it is that sometimes I feel like a debt collector,” he laughs. “It’s a continuous effort, and you have to keep the contributors and non-contributors aware of what you are doing, but you have to do it on a discreet level, not on a public level, because it is a personal choice. “It is both frustrating and rewarding, frustrating when you are chasing people for contributions, but hugely satisfying when they give because it makes you feel as though your effort has been spent in the right direction,” he continues. “The last thing I want is that we create this foundation and then after two or three years it runs out of money and can’t continue. “We need to keep it going, and to do that you need to work your socks off. We need to gather people together, we need to keep on talking about it, and we need to keep people informed. The burden on me, and on others within our philanthropic community, is to keep that ball rolling.” His approach to other contributors, or potential contributors of the future, is a systematic one. Donors have two years over which they may spread payments, and Sheikh Khaled and his associates produce a constant flow of information: videos, photo reports and much more. “The power of knowledge is tremendous, and the visual stimulus is very important,” he says. “We give people pictures of the work that is going on, especially the ones who have committed, and we keep the others informed too. It’s like cultivating business contacts, you have to keep people abreast of what’s happening.” Away from Shefa, the family invests time in another philanthropic endeavor that has long been a passion. Sheikh Khaled’s sister Maha studied child psychology for handicapped children in the US, and when she returned to Saudi in 1985 she drew the family’s attention to the plight of children with Down syndrome. As in
30 Philanthropy Age
many countries in the West, and despite great leaps forward in recent years, Down syndrome is still subject to social stigma in Saudi Arabia. The condition is not widely discussed and the majority of children with Down syndrome receive no formal schooling. With this in mind, the Al Juffali family resolved to build a facility that would help raise Down syndrome children from birth until they graduate from school at the age of 18.
The Al Juffali family is deeply committed to helping children with Down syndrome
“My sister opened the centre, and at that time my father was still alive and he supported them by getting some teachers,” recalls Sheikh Khaled. “They started with one small house in a compound, but quickly they had two houses, and three, and it grew and grew.”
“There has to be a collective effort, because with numbers comes strength” Sheikh Khaled’s father bought a piece of land and in 1995 laid the cornerstone for a purpose-built facility, the Help Center, in Jeddah. Although he passed away before its completion, his legacy remains in the opportunities the Help Center grants the children who attend classes every day. Now the Help Center takes care of more than 350 children, while another 100 are attended to through house calls; since inception the Help Center has provided support to more than 5,000 families. It employs around 150 staff, responsible for teaching as well as conducting studies with the cooperation of the Saudi government, and educating ordinary Saudis as to the causes of Down syndrome.
Philanthropy Age
The Help Center takes care of more than 350 children and has provided support to more than 5,000 families. It employs around 150 staff, while each child costs the Help Center about $20,000 per year
“Each child costs the Help Center about $20,000 per year, but the maximum anyone pays is $1,000, others pay $20 or $30 per year,” Sheikh Khaled explains. “We make the parents pay so that they feel there is a responsibility to come in on time and to look after the children when they are not at the centre. The financial responsibility may be largely on our side, but the effort must be shared if we are to achieve lasting impact.” His father’s son, Sheikh Khaled has found a way to help build the family fortune, at the same time as he pledges swathes of it to charitable causes. While he considers it unlikely that
his philanthropic activities will ever take precedence over his responsibilities as a custodian of the family business, and as a father, he maintains that significant lasting change can nevertheless be achieved. “Philanthropy is tremendously time consuming, but you have to find equilibrium in life,” he shrugs. “It is still possible to have the impact you desire without dedicating every moment of your time to philanthropy. “The trick is to concentrate on a certain aim, and stick to it.” n
Passing on philanthropy to the next generation The challenges of successfully transitioning a family firm from one generation to the next are manifold, and include the significant question of whether those who inherit the business are genuinely enthusiastic about doing so. The same is true, too, in the philanthropic sphere. So how might today’s philanthropists ensure that their descendants are equally engaged in giving? “Many Saudis have foundations that their children or their grandchildren are now running, but it is done on a family-by-family basis rather than a
collective basis,” says Sheikh Khaled. “Individual families are doing it, but if the driving philanthropic force within that family suddenly passes away, or there are no children, then the giving can stop. “We have tried hard to avoid this: my three daughters have been to the Help Center many times, and one of them is now on the board,” he continues. “I have taken my son to the poorer areas, and to an old people’s home that we have run for many years now for older ladies in Jeddah. The children are getting to know what giving is, how important it is. I hope and think that
my children will have the same enthusiasm for philanthropy as I do. “Seeing the impact you have made is a phenomenal experience, to feel that you have given something that will benefit the human race and the needy people, brings a tremendous feeling of satisfaction,” he adds. “Frankly speaking, there has to be a feel-good factor at the end of the day, because that’s what keeps you going. If you just give here and there but you don’t see where the money is going, then there is a real danger you will lose interest.”
Philanthropy Age 31
Bills, bills, bills... Turkey’s first financial literacy initiative, Para Durumu, has changed the lives of tens of thousands of women across the country. Its creator Ozlem Denizmen tells Andrew White how she hopes to reach 500 million people over the next decade
D
emet Cakırdoğan hadn’t intended to watch television that bright Saturday morning. The 40-year-old photographer was rushing to a job in her home city of Istanbul, and yet she found herself unable to tear her eyes away from Turkish news channel A Haber TV. The subject of her fascination was a show called Para Durumu, although its subject, financial literacy for everyday living, would strike many people as unlikely must-watch material. “I was bored to death of spending money in vain,” she recalls. “That evening, I decided to make a budget and learn so that I could control my spending. I opened bank accounts for my daughter and I, and we began to put money in them every single day. I also applied a ‘10-second rule’ for shopping: did I need to buy items, or did I just want to buy them? “I don’t go to cinema, to the theatre, or to a concert every week anymore, instead I choose one of them once in a month,” she adds. “Now we can control our budget, we are saving money, and my daughter is even saving to buy a car. Our lives have changed completely.”
Philanthropy Age
Para Durumu, meaning ‘money report’ in Turkish, is the brainchild of Ozlem Denizmen, now a familiar face to millions of women across Turkey. Having studied at Cornell University, MIT, Stanford and Harvard, Denizmen was appointed to an executive role at Doğuş Holding, one of Turkey’s largest conglomerates with interests in banking, retail and construction. It was on a visit to New York in the spring of 2007 that Denizmen was inspired by the success of Suze Orman, CNBC’s long-serving and much-respected personal finance advisor. She told Doğuş chairman Ferit Şahenk that Turkish women would benefit greatly from a broad education in financial literacy; he suggested Denizmen give it a go herself, an idea dismissed as a joke by the young exec. The idea languished, but would not die. In late 2009, Denizmen again approached Şahenk, and told him that she wanted to become the Suze Orman of Turkey. “He laughed,” remembers Denizmen. “He always knew I would come back to this and he was ready to help straight away. He said that I could spend two days a week working on the idea, and we sat down right then and there and came up with a plan for what would become Para Durumu.” More than three years later, the success of Turkey’s first financial literacy initiative has exceeded all expectations. Hosted by Denizmen, the Para Durumu television show treats viewers, studio guests and live callers to a wealth of advice on a wide spectrum of issues related to personal finance. Light in tone – one special on wedding budgets found its host in full bridal attire, pounding a large drum with unbridled enthusiasm – the show is designed to attract the attention of viewers who might usually shy away from personal finance programming. “People told me: ‘nobody’s going to tell you about their finances, nobody’s going to tell you how much they earn,’ because money is taboo in Turkey,” says Denizmen. “I believed that if people saw the benefits, they would open up, and right away people started to open up live
on air. When people find out that we are genuinely trying to help, they realise they don’t have to keep the story inside them. “We live in a very fast-paced world and you have less time for your finances, but you can’t just trust your uncles or other family members, you have to get good advice,” she continues. “We gave people confidence and they trusted us. We get calls from people every day now; if husbands and wives do not agree, they will not even place a downpayment on a house until they have talked it though with us first.”
“When people find out that we are genuinely trying to help, they realise they don’t have to keep the story inside them” Ozlem Denizmen, founder of Para Durumu While lavish weddings have long been a staple of Turkish society, the country’s mortgage market is in its infancy. So too Turkey’s credit card industry, although this has not dampened enthusiasm for plastic: as of the end of 2012, outstanding personal credit card debt had risen by more than 36 per cent year-on-year, to $39.9bn. In order to better tackle personal debt, among other issues, Para Durumu runs a series of free seminars designed to reach out to various segments of Turkish society. More than 15,000 women have attended training seminars all over the country, in addition to another 12,000 undergraduates, 1,000 public sector employees and 1,000 entrepreneurs. More than 1,100 children have undertaken coaching in basic financial literacy, and by the end of the year Para Durumu aims to have trained 20,000 women in Istanbul alone. “People dived into the whole credit card ecosystem without actually learning how to use them,” says Denizmen. “In seminars we teach people how to use a credit card responsibly, and then we give them a credit card ‘licence’, like a driver’s licence, and they get a kick out of it.” > Philanthropy Age 33
Educate A Child UNESCO estimates there are 61 million out-ofschool children who will not complete primary education. The Educate a Child initiative is dedicated to significantly and quickly diminishing this number, especially reaching out to those whose educational opportunities have been hit by extreme poverty, conflict and natural disaster.
For more information visit www.educateachild.org.qa
philanthropy age
Para Durumu is engaging with its audience through a wide range of platforms, including books and seminars
The effectiveness of the Para Durumu seminars is monitored by a third-party research and advisory firm, Infakto. Participants are issued with questionnaires before and after each seminar, and then a sample is taken by telephone two months later. The results are hugely encouraging: 81 per cent of participants now list their monthly outgoings as a matter of course, 88 per cent separate luxury spending from that on necessities, 57 per cent are now aware of the minimum payment requirements of their credit cards, and 93 per cent of children say they plan to save money in order to achieve future goals.
Denizmen’s soaring profile has helped hold the government’s attention: as well as the TV show, she writes a column in a mass-market daily newspaper, Posta, has published a book and is a regular presence across a range of other media, from radio to online initiatives. In 2010, she was invited to the White House for a summit on entrepreneurship, and in 2011 was appointed a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In the same year, Para Durumu was recognised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and Denizmen hopes that its success can be replicated abroad.
Denizmen’s own future goal is to scale up the initiative, first within Turkey’s borders, and then beyond. The seminars are supported through sponsorship by local firms, and now Denizmen is lobbying the Turkish government to establish a national council for financial literacy in order to coordinate education efforts. “I have always wanted Turkey to take Para Durumu to its heart, and now we are working with seven ministries to develop plans for financial literacy,” she says. “I involved the government from the beginning, so that they could see how it evolved and which measures worked and which didn’t. They have seen it grow, and so they have become much more engaged in our journey.”
“In Turkey we don’t just have to export rice and hazelnuts, we can also export systems and ideas,” she insists. “I have a dream to make this work in Egypt and Pakistan too, to empower people and then let them take the idea and do their own thing with it. With the right support, this idea can spread to reach 500 million people over the next decade.”
“The government has been involved from the start so that they could see which measures worked and which didn’t”
Aside from Denizmen, Para Durumu’s fiercest advocates are the tens of thousands of women who have been empowered by a greater understanding of financial literacy. Demet Cakırdoğan, whose own journey began in front of the small television set in her living room, has spread the word to friends and family, and seen their lives change for the better, too. “I bought my mother a copy of the Para Durumu book, and I can see how it has helped her,” she says. “We are in control now, we always have money, and we are so much happier.” n
Philanthropy Age 35
On The Ground
Reclaiming the streets
Maher Kaddoura lost his son to a hit-and-run driver in 2008. His grief fuelled a traffic safety campaign that has slashed the number of deaths on Jordan’s roads. Joanne Bladd reports
philanthropy age
H
ikmat Kaddoura was 17-years-old when he was killed by a hit-and-run driver in western Amman, one night in January 2008. The son of a well-known local family, his death sparked a media furore, with newspapers jostling to relay updates: the rumoured name of the driver, his flight overseas and, finally, his return to face trial. Less visible were the 992 people who had died on Jordan’s roads the previous year, more than a third of whom were, like Hikmat, pedestrians. Nearly 18,000 more were injured, part of a bloody trend that saw traffic fatalities in Jordan surge 22 per cent in the five years to 2007. Few of these deaths commanded the focus of the media in the way that Hikmat’s did. They did, however, capture the attention of his father. Maher Kaddoura is an unusual man. In the wake of the accident, at his son’s bedside and in the days following his death, rather than sequester himself in grief he chose to research traffic statistics. The findings, he says, stunned him. “I found that nearly 1,000 people died every year in road accidents in Jordan and that thousands more were injured,” he says. The fatalities outnumbered those rung up each year in the volatile occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. “I thought, my God, we have a civil war in Jordan,” Kaddoura recalls. “The only difference is we’re using our vehicles. We’re killing each other.”
“I don’t believe that things happen to you haphazardly. When Hikmat died, I had to figure out my purpose. I believe that this is it”
A lethal tangle of reckless driving, poor law enforcement and a flurry of car and truck ownership had made the country’s roads among the deadliest in the region. In 2007, Jordan saw roughly double the number of traffic casualties as nearby Lebanon and Kuwait. But the Arab state isn’t alone. Traffic accidents kill more people around the world than malaria, according to the World Health Organisation, and low and middle-income countries generate much of the carnage. The economic cost is huge: car crashes cost the global economy more than $500bn each year. Kaddoura was propelled by his grief into agitating for change. Within weeks of his son’s death, he had launched the Hikmat Road Safety (HRS) initiative, aimed at reversing reckless attitudes to driving, campaigning for road safety and slashing the death toll. “I don’t believe that things happen to you haphazardly, and I have always lived a purposeful life,” he says. “When Hikmat died, I had to figure out my purpose. I believe that this is it.” Kaddoura moved fast. Over the course of a fortnight he shaped a national road safety strategy, drawing on countries that had successfully cut accident rates. The King and Queen of Jordan and the state’s key political players each received a copy, a nod to Kaddoura’s long-standing ties with business and government. The plan laid out a raft of short- and long-term projects aimed at curbing speeding, overhauling road infrastructure and tackling gaps in policing and regulation. First on Kaddoura’s list were schools. “During my research, I found that Jordan had nearly 3,800 accidents each year in its 5.000 school zones,” he says. “These were pedestrian accidents, kids being hit by cars. But the interesting statistic was that > Philanthropy Age 37
philanthropy age
around 2,000 of the accidents occurred in just 200 school zones. So those were the ones I targeted.” On visiting the school zones, the problem became clear. Kaddoura saw roads with no crosswalks, underpasses or barriers, and children darting into swarms of fast-moving traffic. This juxtaposition of pedestrians and speeding cars is common in Jordan, and the reason why the majority of people killed on the nation’s roads are on foot. “Children were just running into the streets,” he says. “There were no rails to stop them, no signs to slow down the drivers. So we fixed that.” The first school makeover was in March 2008. HRS installed speed ramps and signs to rein in drivers, barriers to shield the children from traffic, and dedicated crossings to guide pedestrians across the roads. This went hand-in-hand with a publicity campaign, carried out through the school and wider community, to increase awareness of road safety. The cost was roughly $18,000 per school, says Kaddoura, who funded the scheme, with help from local municipalities. The impact was dramatic. “The accidents stopped almost immediately, because we tackled the worse schools,” he says. “We’ve worked with 260 schools now. In the rest, there are no accidents or a low enough rate to make it uneconomical to pursue. This isn’t a wealthy country, so we focus on measures that add the most value.” Next on his list were Jordan’s urban neighbourhoods. In many towns, the dearth of public parks and playgrounds meant children were forced to play in the streets, at risk from speeding drivers. Kaddoura resolved to build outdoor playgrounds in the public schools dotted across each neighbourhood. The schools’
grounds were fenced in and protected – but were also closed outside hours and during the holidays. Undeterred, Kaddoura took his plan to the Ministry of Education. “I have a good relationship with the Ministry and I said; ‘give me 100 schools, let me install the playgrounds and let’s see what happens’,” he says. “They agreed.” Kaddoura signed a deal with four steel workshops around Jordan to construct football goal posts, which were ferried to the schools using local police trucks. In less than a month, the grounds of 100 schools boasted goal posts and pitch markings, at a cost of $500 each. “I wanted to prove a point, that we could deliver this system all over Jordan,” he says. “It was scalable and sustainable – all philanthropy should be.” Buoyed by the success of his pilot project, Kaddoura sought outside capital, launching a campaign to fund a further 1,100 playgrounds. Companies ranging from LG Electronics to the private equity investor Abraaj Group signed up, funding the
rollout of 1,200 pitches by mid-2010 and creating a safe play area for tens of thousands of children. The scale of the project aided in shaving $200 off the cost of each playground.
Kaddoura used school grounds to create playgrounds in Jordan’s urban neighbourhoods
“People did not believe that we could do it, but we did. I used my own money at the beginning to prove that. Then, I was able to go out and sell it,” says Kaddoura. Thousands of people across Jordan owe their lives to Maher Kaddoura, though they may not realise it. The road safety schemes he pioneered in 2008 helped to diminish traffic fatalities by 32 per cent and related injuries by 46 per cent, within five years. They came too late for Kaddoura’s son, but perhaps in time to save someone else’s. It is, he says, an example of what grass-roots philanthropy can do. “I didn’t want to be a victim. I wanted to save other families from going through the same thing,” he says. “There’s more to do, but we have made a difference in Jordan’s neighbourhoods. Those are real results.” n
Philanthropy Age 39
Special Report
The
power of vaccines
The perfect tool for MENASA philanthropists looking to make an immediate impact on regional killers such as pneumonia, meningitis and many others, immunisation lies at the heart of a concerted global push to slash the number of deaths each year that occur as a result of preventable diseases. In this special report, we examine the power, the potential, and the price of vaccines in the 21st century By Joanne Bladd
M
others in Pointe Noire know the value of vaccination. The port city, the second largest in the Republic of the Congo, was a tinderbox of cramped living conditions and poor sanitation when polio came calling in October 2010. The virus, a strain that had threaded its way from India to Angola, before creeping north to Congo, blazed its way across the city with ruthless efficiency as vaccination workers raced to snuff it out. The epidemic killed 180 people in Pointe Noire and the wider area of Kouilou, and left hundreds more paralysed.
40 Philanthropy Age
Polio usually strikes in young children, killing between 5 and 10 per cent of those it paralyses. Pointe Noire’s victims were largely unvaccinated young men, the legacy of decades of bloody war and a failed healthcare system. Together they formed part of a parched underbrush that was ignited by the virus, and fed its path through the city. The case fatality rate was 40 per cent. “The virus is very, very good at finding victims,” says Sona Bari, spokesperson for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in Geneva. “Polio can circulate silently for long distances and it can spread
very easily. Immunisation is our best defence against it.” Vaccines are an elegant science. They mimic disease agents to stoke the body’s critical immune response, priming it to attack if it encounters the pathogen again. They are, without question, among the world’s most cost-effective health interventions, all but wiping out some of man’s most feared plagues. From measles to mumps, whooping cough to diphtheria, immunisation has saved millions of lives, often at the cost of just a few dollars a dose. As recently as 1988, polio was on the march in more than 125 countries,
Special Report
attacking 350,000 people each year. Today, the virus has been beaten back into just three: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. Eradication is tantalisingly within reach: in 2012, there were fewer than 225 cases of polio worldwide. Still, immunisation is a geographic lottery. The world’s poorest nations remain convulsed by diseases that have faded from memory in the West. Vaccines may be a silver bullet but unaided, fragile states such as Afghanistan and Yemen lack the funds to buy them and the medical infrastructure to distribute them. Drug companies, for their part, can’t count on demand from single, cash-strapped nations being large and predictable enough to cover their costs. Children pay the price of this disparity. Of the 430 people who died of measles each day in 2011, 95 per cent lived in poor countries. Most were under-fives.
Immunisation has saved millions of lives, often at the cost of just a few dollars a dose “If you go back to 1990, there were 12 million kids dying before their fifth birthday,” says Chris Elias, president of the global development programme at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest private philanthropic organisation. “Right now we’re at 7 million. About 1.5
million of those deaths... are preventable by vaccine.” Bridging this gap falls in part to the Gavi Alliance, a group of scientists, state leaders, philanthropic organisations and more, whose goal is to inoculate children in poor countries. The charity provides funding to buy vaccines in nations whose gross national income per capita is $1,550 or less, paired with grants to bolster their often patchy health infrastructure. This is not hands-off aid. Countries are forced to co-finance vaccination drives, even if this means paying as little as $0.20 a dose, a sum that edges up in parallel with their income. There is also pressure to show how and where cash grants are spent, and to stay on top of vaccine monitoring. By the time a country graduates from Gavi funding, it should be able to pick up the cost of the campaigns itself. “The cost of the vaccines becomes absorbed into the budget over time,” says Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi. “It can be a matter of political will – will countries choose to put their money into vaccines, versus other things. But they certainly have the capability.” Gavi can count its progress in lives saved. Since its launch in January 2000 with a $750m grant from the Gates Foundation, the charity has inoculated 370 million children and averted more than > Philanthropy Age 41
Special Report
5.5 million future deaths. Of the $4.3bn in aid it has doled out, nearly half has been funnelled into taming diseases in Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states. In Yemen, the poor relative of the Arabian peninsular, the payback has been dramatic. The eruptive state has one of the highest rates of under-five mortality in the world, with 77 deaths for every 1,000 live births. In 2011, its inoculation coverage rate for DTP3 – a trio of doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccines meted out to infants, and a standard measure of immunisation – hit 81 per cent. Globally, the coverage rate is 82 per cent. Pakistan is the most demanding of Gavi’s wards, mopping up nearly $500m in aid. Vast and unstinting effort has driven its vaccination coverage rate from 58 per cent in 1999 to 80 per cent, snapping at the heels of the global average. It was the first South Asian country to roll out the pneumococcal vaccine, helping to protect babies against the fatal bacterial infections that account for almost a fifth of Pakistan’s child deaths. At less than $4 a shot, says Berkley, it’s a sliver of the amount invested regionally in conflict. “Many of our countries are important in the sense of the OIC, and obviously many have instabilities related to politics and conflict,” says Berkley. “This is an opportunity to invest relatively small amounts of money compared to what’s being spent on war and anti-terrorism, that could really help the development of the
143million number of children Gavi has vaccinated in OIC member states, preventing 1.3m future deaths
42 Philanthropy Age
country. These are really good investments in trying to stabilise a region which is now somewhat unstable.” Reshaping the vaccine landscape has meant overhauling the mechanics of funding. Gavi has driven down the cost of jabs by banding poorer countries together, creating collective economic clout. The result is a high-volume, long-term market, bankrolled by major donors - and highly attractive to pharmaceutical firms. To further spur price competition, Gavi has urged drug-makers from emerging nations such as India and China to pitch for tenders, more than doubling the number of players in the vaccine market. “Years ago, the pharmaceutical industry used to describe the world as the US, Europe, Japan and ROW - rest of world. That wouldn’t happen today,” says Berkley. “Gavi is 60 per cent of the world’s birth cohort. Nobody puts out a vaccine without thinking about this market, and that’s the kind of equity we want.”
Gavi has also experimented with new financing models, to shrink the gap between the rollout of pricey new vaccines in the West, and in developing nations. In one, it promises to bulk-buy doses from drug-makers in exchange for a fixed, lowcost price. The pneumococcal vaccine, for example, goes for up to $128 in the US but is sold to Gavi at just $3.50 a dose. Donors then pitch in cash to subsidise losses during the capacity scale-up. The charity has also raised $3.7bn by selling bonds on capital markets, frontloading future aid donations pledged by governments. Investors’ cash is used to buy up vaccines, and is then repaid over time using sovereign donors’ aid contributions. Neither model is perfect and Gavi walks a tightrope. If drug prices are too low, it may discourage other suppliers from entering the market. Watertight price and purchase guarantees, meanwhile, could deter innovation. But its approach has collapsed the time lag seen in vaccine introduction.
Vaccination coverage rates in Yemen, the poorest state in the Arabian peninsular, have reached 81 per cent, almost on par with the global average
Gavi Alliance
Special Report
Aid agencies must keep the pressure on. In areas where fighting or political turmoil have halted inoculation programmes, disease strains can move fast, reversing hard-won gains
“With the pneumococcal vaccine, we got it into developing countries within a year of its launch,” says Nina Schwalbe, head of policy and performance at the organisation. “It used to take 10 or 20 years. That’s a real shift in speed.” Vaccines are just one piece of the puzzle. Ferrying them from factory to field requires a vast army of health workers and volunteers, footsoldiers in the war on disease. From Afghanistan to South Sudan, they fan out across villages and slums, going house-to-house with boxes of vaccines vials packed in ice. In rural areas, workers can be pitifully scarce, raising the risk of children in remote communities falling through the net. The gunning down of nine vaccinators in
Nigeria in February, just months after the drive-by murders of eight field workers in Pakistan, is a sharp reminder of the dangers threatening those on the front line. “It’s one of the biggest challenges we face,” says Dr Mahendra Sheth, regional health advisor for Unicef. “We don’t have enough workers in rural areas. In others, it is only socially acceptable to use female workers, which can limit recruitment.” To fill the gaps, aid agencies must be creative. In India, yellow-vested vaccinators board moving trains to find children without the inky dot on their finger that denotes a recent immunisation. In Pakistan, field staff camp out at highway tollbooths for buses, to intercept kids with migrant families. Health workers in
Gavi has vaccinated 370 million children worldwide since its launch in 2000, preventing over 5.5 million future deaths
the central African state of Chad seek out vets: when nomads bring their cattle for attention, they vaccinate their children. For groups such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Unicef, the work to find these elusive pockets of children is complex and ceaseless.
$3.5
Cost paid per dose by Gavi for the pneumococcal vaccine. The vaccine is sold for up to $128 per dose in the US
“There are thousands of communities that don’t exist on any official count,” says Bari. “The virus is better at finding children than we are in these places.” Aid agencies must keep the pressure on. In areas where fighting or political turmoil > Philanthropy Age 43
Special Report
Vaccine facts & figures Funding breakdown Nearly half of the $4.3bn of aid distributed by Gavi to date – around $2bn – has been used to immunise children living in Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries.
Vaccination rates, 2010 to 2012 The number of children vaccinated against pneumonia and severe diarrhea has soared since 2010 in Gavi-eligible countries.
0.5m 2010
Rotavirus
Pneumococcal
3.4m 2011
0.9m 2011
0.4m 2010
9.6m 2012
3.2m 2012
$2bn
1
4
5
5
Vaccine manufacturers, 2001 to 2011 The number of vaccine manufacturers based in emerging markets has jumped fivefold since 2001, helping to drive down costs and increase competition. Manufacturers in emerging markets Manufacturers in industrialised countries
2001
2011
Price of a life Gavi-eligible nations represent 60 per cent of the world’s birth cohort. As such, the alliance pays vastly reduced rates for vaccines, a reflection of its purchasing clout. The cost here is compared to the US public market price. Pentavalent vaccine
HPV vaccine
Rotavirus vaccine
Gavi price per dose
$88.50
$95.17
$30.58
$2.49
$2.50
$5.00
Sources: WHO-UNICEF coverage estimates for 1980-2011, estimated projections for 2012. World Population Prospects, the 2010 revision. New York, United Nations, 2010; (surviving infants). 2 Source: Gavi Alliance. 3 Source: UNICEF Supply Division, 2012. 4 Source: UNICEF Supply Division, CDC.
1
44 Philanthropy Age
Special Report
have halted inoculation programmes, disease strains can move fast, reversing hard-won gains. War-torn Iraq, whose public health system was once the envy of the Middle East, today has a lower vaccination coverage rate than Yemen. “It’s not just about vaccinations: the coverage needs to be sustained,” says Sheth. “It’s the ongoing programmes that really make the difference at a national level.” Operating in remote regions has its own challenges. Vaccines lose their potency in extreme heat and must be kept stable. Their journey from the factory is a hurried pass-the-parcel from one refrigerator to another, until they reach a clinic or cool box. Fridges, however, cost money and require electricity. Both are in short supply in cash-poor nations. Novel alternatives are being piloted, such as solar-powered fridges, alongside vial stickers that change colour when a vaccine is spoiled. The aim is to iron out kinks in the cold chain, says Bari, and avoid any bottlenecks in supply. “Parents will walk for hours to health centres to get their children vaccinated,” she says. “They will stand in line, in all kinds of weather. They’ll wait all day if they have to, because they understand the power of vaccination.” Battling preventable diseases is expensive. Gavi staved off a $3.7bn shortfall in capital in 2011 with a record funding drive, rustling up more than $4bn from the UK, Norway, and other donors and shoring up its programme to 2015. But the global financial crisis and ongoing economic woes in Europe have raised fears of a drop in future aid funding. “We have to ask where the next generation of donors will come from. This is expensive work… and it’s really difficult work,” says Berkley. “One of the reasons it’s important
for us to talk to the Gulf countries is that we’re spending an enormous amount of money trying to serve the children living in OIC countries, but we’ve had very little support from the region. We just haven’t engaged, and I think in a sense that’s our fault, but we’re starting the process now.” Of Gavi’s $8bn giving portfolio, about $33m was donated by the GCC states. Cash is also needed to prod drug-makers into creating cheap vaccines specifically for the developing world. In 2010, a jab to tackle meningitis A was brought to market, driven by funding from the Gates Foundation. Africa is hit hardest by the disease, which spreads each year in a fevered sweep across 21 countries known as the “meningitis belt”. More than 800,000 cases were reported in the 15 years to 2010, causing deafness, disability and death. When the MenAfriVac vaccine was rolled out, sold at $0.50 a dose by Indian upstart the
Serum Institute, the impact was dramatic. “In the places where the coverage has been high, there haven’t been any cases of meningitis. None,” says Elias. “It makes the point of how cost-effective vaccines are.”
The challenge now is to reach the final 20 per cent of children yet to be immunised. Many live in migrant communities or difficult-to-reach sites
The task of stamping out preventable diseases is an enormous one. Flushing out the last 20 per cent of children yet to benefit from immunisation requires reliable funding, an armoury of low-cost vaccines and intense political will. There is, says Elias, no time to wait. “The fifth child is not standing beside the other four. Then it would be easy,” he says. “That fifth child tends to live in a conflict-ridden country, in an urban slum where there are no services, in a place where the government doesn’t know they exist because their birth wasn’t registered. Reaching the last 20 per cent is much harder than reaching the other 80 per cent. So that’s the challenge.” n
Philanthropy Age 45
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Special Report
46 Philanthropy Age
Special Report
Polio in Afghanistan:
WHO/Chris Black
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The final frontier
T
he border town of Torkham more resembles a bustling marketplace than Afghanistan’s busiest crossing point. It is early, but gaudily painted trucks are already fighting for with buses, cars and carts for space, as crowds of Afghans jostle to pass through to Pakistan. The town in the eastern Nangarhar province is a vital gateway to the subcontinent for the 30,000 people that cross back and forth every day. It is also the staging ground for one of the last battles against polio, a scourge that as recently as 1988 raged across the region, paralysing or killing thousands of people each year.
declare victory. Just one in each 200 cases of polio leads to paralysis, with the remainder causing feverish, flu-like symptoms or no signs of illness at all. For every paralysed child, then, a further 199 may be spreading the virus.
Vast vaccination drives have herded the virus into only three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. Fewer than 250 cases were reported worldwide in 2012, but that is not enough to
Torkham is a microcosm of the fight to extinguish this disease. Afghanistan and Pakistan repeatedly re-infect one another with polio strains carried silently across the border by throngs of >
Until polio is wiped out in these final three nations, the risk of it infiltrating other states remains high. In Egypt, which has been free of the disease since 2004, a strain of wild poliovirus was found swirling in Cairo’s sewers in January. The World Health Organisation (WHO) believes it was likely imported from north Sindh, Pakistan.
Philanthropy Age 47
Special Report
70% Percentage of polio
WHO/Chris Black
cases in Pakistan that arise within the Pashtun community
migrants. The crossing has become a focal point for vaccinators, who work exhaustively to stop transmission. Health workers, some wearing World Health Organisation armbands, can be seen weaving among clusters of veiled women to stop girls in bright shawls and small boys in baggy salwar kameez. Those found without a black ink stain on their finger, the mark used by field workers to denote vaccination, are inoculated on the spot. Around 2,000 children are immunised each day, scouted out by teams on both sides of the border. Governments in both countries have thrown their weight behind this final push to eradicate polio, ensuring a depth of support that was lacking before. Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai signed a national polio eradication plan in September, assigning a focal
48 Philanthropy Age
person to deliver updates directly to him. In Pakistan, the daughter of President Asif Ali Zardari is an ambassador for the eradication effort. Asifa Bhutto Zardari spoke out in December after the murder of field workers in Karachi and Peshawar by suspected militants, pledging to ramp up security to ensure planned vaccination drives could continue. “We cannot allow these people to dictate what we can and cannot do,” she said. “The polio vaccine can save millions. It is not against Islam to promote healthy children.” It is an uphill battle. To reach pockets of unimmunised children, workers must go door-to-door in the mountainous tribal lands surrounding the border, chalking fractions on doors to show how
Special Report
$0.14 Average cost per
WHO/Chris Black
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
WHO/Chris Black
dose of oral polio vaccine
many of the household’s offspring have been inoculated. Not all are made welcome. Rumours of vaccines being a Western plot to sterilise Muslim children, or a front for Western spying networks, can scare some families into refusing the vaccine. In Pakistan, more than 70 per cent of polio cases can be traced to the country’s Pashtun community, a conservative ethnic group with a high rate of vaccine hostility. Health workers have learned to lobby religious leaders and tribal elders for support: with their approval, doors open. Progress is slow but steady. Pakistan saw 35 cases of polio in 2012, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), down from 89 the year before. Afghanistan’s caseload fell to 17, down from 27 cases in 2011.
It is expensive work. Each dose of oral polio vaccine costs around $0.14, but the medical costs of transporting and distributing it are far higher. The Islamic Development Bank recently pledged $227m in financing to Pakistan to fight the virus but more is needed. The GPEI calculates that an annual $1bn spent wiping out the last traces of the virus over the next few years could save up to $50bn over the long term, eliminating the burden of treatment costs and the need for huge immunisation campaigns. For now, Torkham’s field staff must keep the pressure on, vaccinating intensely to reduce the pool of unprotected children vulnerable to infection. If they, and others like them, succeed, polio will join smallpox as the only other virus in human history to be wiped out in the wild. Millions of lives may depend on it. n
Philanthropy Age 49
From the factory to the field
Vaccines may offer a tremendous return on philanthropic investment, but ever-increasing demand necessitates never-ending innovation. A recent programme in Tunisia has attempted to define the characteristics of the optimum supply chain, employing real-time information systems and even the cooling power of the sun, to identify the delivery model of the future
50 Philanthropy Age
Special Report
F
or decades, countries have relied on established cold chain systems to spirit vaccines safely from the manufacturer to the end-user: trucks and cars, shipping containers and cool-boxes are all employed in a bid to keep those valuable vials between 2 and 8°c. However, while bulk-buying has kept procurement costs down, wastage rates for some vaccines have crept above 50 per cent, and high maintenance costs can turn distribution centres into financial black holes. In today’s market, where new vaccines can cost 100 times more than traditional ones and nations are looking to deliver ever-greater quantities to their peoples, the race is on to apply innovative new techniques to the storage and distribution of live-saving inoculations. In Tunisia, the country’s Ministry of Health worked with Project Optimize, a collaboration between the World Health Organisation (WHO) and US-based non-profit PATH, to road-test the latest in supply chain solutions. The findings of two trial programmes in Kasserine in west-central Tunisia and Sousse on the country’s east coast may change the way that vaccines, as well as other drugs and temperature-sensitive products, are handled along the road from the factory to the field. By cutting out unnecessary detours, blocking off distribution dead-ends and loading each vehicle with a range of health commodities, a model is emerging which could provide a blueprint for other countries to introduce high-volume vaccine and pharmaceutical programmes at an affordable cost. “The idea was to be catalytic: within dealing with today’s problems, we wanted to instill a forward-looking process to help countries to anticipate future ones, and offer innovative solutions to address them,” says Patrick Lydon, manager of the Tunisia project, and a technical advisor on supply chain optimisation and economics, with the WHO. “Each country is unique and each system is going to be different. So it is difficult to be prescriptive, but we can at least identify what we think an optimised supply chain should look like, and what some of its key attributes ought to be. People need to start anticipating what the challenges might be, rather than just reacting to problems in an ad-hoc fashion and as they crop up on a day-to-day basis.” Lydon contends that vaccine management in many countries is “weak”, and says that existing systems are ill-equipped to address the needs of the future “We’ve been resting on our laurels in immunisation,” he says. “We’ve simply assumed that the systems designed more than 30 years ago would still work well today. There will be a mounting number of vaccines that we will want countries to introduce since they can have a big impact on child
mortality, but if we don’t strengthen these systems today, it’s not going to work.” One of the initiative’s core goals was to eliminate some of the more inefficient steps that vaccines go through on their way to their final destination. In order to achieve this, the Tunisian government and Project Optimize created an integrated supply chain system for all vaccines, drugs and temperature-sensitive products by regrouping them into a single cold storage and delivery chain. A range of products, whether a measles or diphtheria vaccine, insulin doses or reagents for HIV testing, move along the same chain from the country’s central medical store to health centres in the field. A network of storage spaces at inter-regional, regional and district levels allows the products to be distributed quickly and efficiently to those areas that need them most, while also taking advantage of economies of scale when it comes to cooling and temperature control, a necessity in the sunbaked wilds of central Tunisia. “The way they had set things up was not efficient,” recalls Lydon. “There were a lot of redundancies in the system and a lot of duplications; parallel supply chain systems all trying to bring products to the same place. We wanted to redesign the system so that it would be leaner, quicker, more agile and more responsive, so that it would make best use of the available resources, to distribute not just vaccines but a range of health products.”
“People need to start anticipating what the challenges might be, rather than just reacting to problems in an ad-hoc fashion. We’ve been resting on our laurels in immunisation” The initiative also worked to make the supply chain as energyeffective as possible. Solar panels were installed on the roofs of storage facilities at regional and district level, allowing the programme to achieve zero net energy consumption in the pilot districts. The electricity the panels produce is used to power vaccine delivery trucks, and even in storage the vaccines are kept cool by the heat of the sun. Retrofitting older buildings to meet modern energy efficiency standards, can be costly. Where possible new storage buildings were constructed, enabling energy efficiency and renewable energies to be incorporated into the design. If old buildings had to be used then insulated ‘cool rooms’ were constructed within > Philanthropy Age 51
Special Report
“Our solution was to solarize the supply chain: all of the energy needs for storing the vaccines, running the refrigerators, the air-conditioning, the computer and the internet, was covered, and in addition a plug was there to charge up an electric vehicle that would do delivery circuits, so they couldn’t say they didn’t have any fuel to get out and about. The idea is to have everything covered by the energy created by the sun. ” Finally, Project Optimize implemented a logistics management system to support the supply chain at every link. By replacing a paper-based system with one that collects real-time information at each stage of the chain, the team was able to measure vaccine availability, inventory and expiration dates with the click of a mouse. It was also able to track historical vaccine distribution patterns to improve forecasting and accurately assess bottlenecks in the flow of vaccines from the central medical stores, to the everyday Tunisians who are now benefiting from these modernised, closely-managed immunisation programmes. “Tunisia was using a paper-based system where nothing was standardised, there was no regularity in the reporting and data was inconsistent,” says Lydon. “At a national level there was no way of being able to track vaccines in the system, so they never really knew what to send where; some centres would be massively overstocked and vaccines would sit there and expire, while other places were not on top of their stocks and so they would always be running out. Now they have complete real-time tracking of the vaccines in the system all the way down to health centres.” It is too early to assess the potential cost savings of these innovations, as a vaccine supply system that wastes 50 per cent of doses cannot be compared on cost alone to a system that delivers all of its vaccines on time, to the right place, and in the right condition. Nor do current quantifications of the cost of the vaccine supply system account for the anticipated growth in the
52 Philanthropy Age
Ramzi Ouhichi
“At the lower levels of the supply chain they had problems with reliable electricity, so there are power cuts and there is often not enough electricity to run refrigerators to keep vaccines cold,” says Lydon. “They may have a car, but it may not be working because they might not have operational funds to pay for fuel or maintenance, so the vaccines don’t get delivered.
Ramzi Ouhichi
existing walls, for the storage of large volumes, while commercial or pharmaceutical cabinets were used for keeping smaller batches.
Electricity from solar panels is used to power vaccine delivery trucks, and even in storage the vaccines are kept cool by the heat of the sun volume and value of vaccines that will be introduced in most lower and middle-income countries over the next 10 years. In Tunisia, Project Optimize’s data shows that the new system of integrated storage and deliveries costs $0.09 per dose compared to $0.08 under the existing system. However, the existing supply system will be incapable of absorbing the increase in volume of vaccines expected if Tunisia introduces rotavirus, pneumococcal, and HPV vaccines before 2020. If Tunisia simply expands its existing storage capacity, then it will have to invest in infrastructure that does not currently exist. Based on this knowledge, Project Optimze predicts that an integrated system will be more cost effective in the long-run, even if the cost is slightly higher in 2013.
“The cost-per-dose figures are tiny compared to the rest of what you’re investing in vaccines, and the incremental increase between the old system and the new system is largely offset by the savings you’re going to get from quality improvements,” insists Lydon. “The moment they introduce one or two more vaccines, the economics look much, much better. This system has been built for the future, not today.” Lydon does question why current investment in supply chain solutions represents a “tiny” proportion of the total global spend on immunisation programmes. “In the developing world, if you look at what it would take to fix the logistics systems in order for them to introduce all the vaccines that they aspire to, and if you look at how much that costs relative to the costs of the vaccines, you’re at about 5 per cent,” he says. “One wonders why, if you’re investing billions into supporting countries with vaccines, you can’t put that extra 5 per cent in to make sure that investment is safeguarded up to the point where it reaches the child.”
Aya Kouamé
Aya Kouamé
Ramzi Ouhichi
Special Report
It is a question he may not be asking for much longer, as the work of Project Optimize has pushed the topic of innovative supply chain solutions high up the agendas of global players in the immunisation game. Although Project Optimze itself was a set-period initiative and wound down operations in 2012, the Gavi Aliliance has established a task force to study the issue, and the WHO and Unicef have formed a new body, the Immunization Supply Chain and Logistics (iSCL) global hub, as a direct consequence of Project Optimize’s findings. It is intended that the collaboration will evolve to serve as a platform through which partners and countries can be provided with information, policy guidance and technical assistance. Project Optimize may have shuttered, but its impact will be lasting.
Project Optimize employed 21st century tools to examine how vaccines might be more efficiently distributed
“Whatever Project Optimize has catalysed, the energy it has created and the momentum it has built around this area, is now institutionalised within many partners and stakeholders including two key UN agencies,” says Lydon. “A lot of what Project Optimize has put together will be embedded in the work of these two bodies as they move forward, and that’s a very positive thing.” n
Philanthropy Age 53
special report
Dr Rashika El Ridi, Cairo University
Winning the war against ‘snail fever’: the cancer of Egypt E very Egyptian has lost a brother, cousin or niece to the curse that is schistosomiasis. Pharaohs, artists, singers and scientists have fallen to the disease, which all but guarantees a horrible death, the fevered patient bleeding profusely from his or her oesophagus. Schistosomiasis carries the stigma of poverty and so it is not spoken of, its existence denied even though global health organisations list Egypt as one of those countries most at risk from the disease. Yet it is the cancer of Egypt, it is in the air, it is everywhere.
Schistosomiasis is known as ‘snail fever’ because it requires freshwater snails for the completion of its life cycle. Human infection occurs only in the vicinity of freshwater bodies harbouring infected snails. The infective stage, called cercaria, leaves the snail, swims until it locates the skin of a human body, lingers in the epidermis for a day or two, then penetrates into the blood capillaries of the host. The parasites swim via the lung blood vessels to the liver, where male and female copulate, and then migrate to the veins draining the intestine, or the urinary bladder.
It was a German physician, Theodor Maximilian Bilharz, who in 1851 became the first to discover the parasitic flatworm, or ‘fluke’, which causes urinary schistosomiasis. Under a microscope, the worms look beautiful. They are contractile and shapely, and can grow up to a centimetre long, easily visible to the naked eye. Their eggs, however, are smaller and altogether more menacing. They look dangerous and threatening, thanks to the cruel spines that jut from their sides. One hundred and sixty two years after Bilharz made his discovery, schistosomes still infect more than 400 million The number of countries people, mostly across the developing children and world exposed to snail fever farmers, in 75 countries across the developing world; hundreds of thousands die every year as a result of the infection, while 800 million are at risk.
Schistosomes live for years in the blood stream of children and farmers. The illness is attributed to the hundreds of eggs the female worm deposits daily. The eggs need to force their way out of the body with faeces or urine, and this is where those terrible spines go to work, piercing and shredding their way through the walls of the blood capillaries, intestine, or bladder. Those eggs that do not escape become trapped in the liver, intestine and bladder wall, and secrete soluble egg antigens, which panic the immune system. The body’s response does not harm the eggs, which are destined to die within two to three weeks anyway, but it can do terrible damage to the host’s liver, intestine and bladder. Furthermore, the immune responses to the egg antigens unbalance the host’s immune system, making them less resistant to influenza, hepatic and immunodeficiency viruses, mycobacteria, malaria-inducing Plasmodium spp., and cancer development. These human plagues
They are the stuff of a science fiction nightmare: centimetre-long worms which burrow through human skin before killing their hosts. Dr Rashika El Ridi of Cairo University, describes her two-decade battle to develop a vaccine for schistosomiasis, also known as ‘snail fever’, a disease that infects more than 400 million people across the developing world
75 54 Philanthropy Age
special report
attitude: there was a clear voice inside my head telling me not to stop, to keep going, to move forward. Without interruption, we continued our painstaking work on developing an efficacious vaccine. We rediscovered the evidence showing that developing schistosomula and adult worms are invisible to the immune system. Yet products excreted and secreted (ESP) by the worms during migration and growth act as a ‘scent’ that triggers the immune system’s attempts to ‘chase’ the parasites.
The parasite, which is magnified x256 in this photograph, can grow to lengths of up to 1 centimetre. It enters the body through the skin of persons coming in contact with infected water, and lives in the veins of its host
prevail where schistosomiasis is endemic. Schistosome-infected persons are a potential reservoir for serious infections, and are thus very much harmed and may harm other people as well. The reason for all that misery is the poverty that denies access to clean water and recreational areas, reliable human waste disposal, and the covering of hands and legs during farming. Another reason is the immense cost and danger to the environment created by the use of molluscicides, which are intended to break the cycle at the snail host stage. Additionally the only commercially available drug, Praziquantel, though cheap and relatively well tolerated, is only effective in around 70 or 80 per cent of cases, and carries high rates of posttreatment reinfection, thus necessitating repeated treatments. Accordingly, despite the mass use of Praziquantel in many countries, transmission of the parasite continues, and the disease has not diminished in prevalence.
In our view, at the Department of Zoology, the best way to prevent the disease and eradicate transmission is the development and implementation of an effective vaccine. Earlier studies, including ours, succeeded in identifying, cloning, and expression of a plethora of candidate vaccine antigens. Independent trials, conducted on mice and sponsored by the
With the right funding and support, we would expect to have an effective vaccine in place within two to three years World Health Organisation, indicated that none of the selected antigens elicited the set benchmark of 40 per cent protection. This issue was not further explored; the development of a vaccine was dropped in 1998, and so schistosomiasis became a truly neglected tropical disease. At the Faculty of Science, Cairo University, we refused to give up. I have a rebellious
By studying the immune system’s response, we were able to identify which white blood cells were being activated by the ‘scent’, and we noticed that some of the mightiest types of white blood cell, eosinophils and basophils, were missing. In eight independent experiments, we used a mixture of ESP and an adjuvant, an agent that modifies the effect of other agents, which would lead to the recruitment and activation of eosinophils and basophils. Immediately, we saw a reduction in worm burden and egg counts of up to 78 per cent. Now we have a trial vaccine composed of ESP with inbuilt adjuvanticity that consistently elicits a 70 per cent reduction in worm burden and worm egg load. Now we need to conduct independent trials, and preclinical and clinical studies for determining the vaccine’s efficacy in humans. With the right funding and support, we would expect to have an effective vaccine in place within two to three years. We could relegate schistosomiasis to the status of measles or polio, and one day rid the planet of this terrible disease altogether. n
About the author: Dr Rashika El Ridi is a professor of Immunology at the Department of Zoology, at Cairo University and is a 2010 laureate of the L’OréalUNESCO programme For Women in Science.
Philanthropy Age 55
Special Report
Rotavirus in Yemen:
Giving hope to a generation Amid its myriad problems, Yemen has one of the highest rates of under-five mortality in the world, much of it accounted for by severe infant diarrhoea. A simple rotavirus vaccination could save millions of lives, even as the country struggles to avoid collapsing into conflict
J
ust beyond the southern border of Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s richest country, a multifaceted humanitarian crisis is unfolding in grim slow motion. When the people of Yemen ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh in February 2012, they hoped his resignation would salve the wounds inflicted by years of conflict, chronic unemployment, worsening economic conditions and endemic corruption. They find themselves living a nightmare. Yemen has been described as the last refuge of Al Qaeda in North Africa and the Middle East. US drones fly missions deep into the desert, stalking the night and striking fear into civilians and combatants alike. Yet the greater threat to life in Yemen is not in the skies, but in the bacteria that teem across its subtropical surface. Rotavirus, the cause of severe diarrhoea in children, is coursing
56 Philanthropy Age
through the country’s infant population, a crisis that has prompted the government to join forces with a host of international aid organisations in order to launch a much-needed vaccine programme. Today there are more than 3,500 vaccinators and 800 supervisors and vaccines warehouse managers in the country, working on getting the rotavirus vaccine to the people who need it most. The country’s Ministry of Health has more than 3,000 fixed health facilities providing immunisation services, and Unicef is supporting four rounds of national outreach activities targeting 1.6 million children under the age of two. “Vaccines are crucial in reducing rotavirus-related diarrhoea and deaths, and in hand with hygiene promotion, they represent our >
3,500 vaccinators
800 supervisors and vaccines
Philanthropy Age 57
All Photos: Gavi Alliance/Amira Al-Sharif
warehouse managers
Special Report
most effective weapon against the virus,” says Dr Arwa Baider, a Child Health Officer with Unicef in Yemen. The country has one of the highest rates of under-five mortality in the world, at 77 deaths per 1,000 live births compared to 41 deaths per 1,000 live births for the entire Middle East and North Africa region. Severe infant diarrhoea accounts for 11 per cent of under-five deaths in Yemen, second only to pneumonia, which accounts for 22 per cent of infant deaths and for which a vaccine was introduced in early 2011. Despite high hopes for the success of the immunisation programme, Baider does warn that the age restrictions imposed on rotavirus vaccine delivery represent a challenge to lasting
58 Philanthropy Age
progress. The World Health Organisation has mandated that the course of rotavirus vaccination should be initiated before the age of 15 weeks and completed before the age of 32 weeks, as the inoculation can slightly increase the risk of intussusception, an intestinal problem. However, this can cause difficulties for the successful delivery of the vaccine in low-income countries. According to the World Bank, Yemen’s poverty rate rose to 54.5 per cent in 2012, while more than half the population live on less than $2 a day. “There is a danger that, due to delays in the rollout of the vaccination programme, this age restriction could exclude otherwise eligible infants from receiving the vaccination they need,” says Baider. “While timely vaccinations are of course
Special Report
3,000
fixed health facilities
preferable, in a low-income country such as Yemen the benefits outweigh the risks. The lives saved by removing the restrictions, will far outnumber the potential deaths caused by vaccineassociated intussusception. “Rotavirus has already cost many lives in Yemen,” she adds. “With the right resources, and with political will and community support, we can help to end this affliction or at least drive it back.” For now, the work going on in Sana’a, Taizz and Al Hudaydah may not be enough to muffle the whine of drones, or the patter of gunfire familiar to residents of Abyan or Shabwa. It will at least grant the next generation of Yemenis the opportunity to grow beyond childhood, and chart a path out of the darkness. n
Unicef is targeting
1.6 million children
under the age of two
Philanthropy Age 59
Philanthropy Age
Individual honours One person can make a difference. In these times of global economic uncertainty, the private donor has never been more important in the philanthropic space. Fawaz Jarrah examines their role from the perspective of a leading wealth expert, and a prominent philanthropist
M
ohamed Al Ansari could once have been described as a casual philanthropist. The Emirati businessman and chairman of Al Ansari Exchange gave regularly to charity, but had been preoccupied largely with developing his family business from a two-branch bit-player, into one of the nation’s top exchange houses. In a packed schedule, charitable giving came a distant second. In 2003, however, all that changed. The trigger came in a questionnaire, part of an application for a national business award. The form included a question about the company’s contribution to the welfare of the wider community. It was, says Al Ansari, an eye-opening moment. “The question made me realise that personal or business success is never
60 Philanthropy Age
completed if it’s not shared with society,” he says. “I started viewing business affairs with a different mindset. Philanthropy became one of the essential end-results, and part of my philosophy in life.” The Middle East has benefited from a surge of capital in recent years, aided by factors such as buoyant crude markets and a swelling middle class. The region’s highnet-worth population grew 2.7 per cent in 2011, according to data from Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management, while wealth rose 0.7 per cent to $1.7 trillion. Increasingly, these super-rich individuals are digging into their pockets to donate to worthy causes. A poll of wealth managers and private bankers carried out by Knight Frank found charitable giving among Middle Eastern clients rose more sharply in 2012 than luxury goods spend.
Al Ansari is representative of this new generation of philanthropists, who are publicly putting their investment dollars to work in supporting their communities. He has funded humanitarian aid to disaster zones around the world, supporting flood victims in the Philippines and Pakistan, famine victims in Yemen and Somalia and refugees in war-torn Syria. In 2009, Al Ansari allocated $3.27m to build a modern healthcare clinic in the UAE emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah. Two years later, he pledged $2.72m to the UAE Red Crescent, to support the charity’s outreach schemes. “There’s a feeling of joy that comes from doing something good where it’s needed,” admits Al Ansari. “However, I feel that more is required of private donors than simply financial donations. Funds are
Philanthropy Age
important, but they are not everything. We need people’s expertise too.”
“I started viewing business affairs with a different mindset. Philanthropy became one of the essential end-results, and part of my philosophy in life”
The Middle East has a long tradition of giving, whether in the form of Zakat or in other charitable deeds. This new breed of private donors, however, is applying its expertise to encourage a shift towards more structured, transparent and effective philanthropy. For regional nations stung by the financial crisis and political unrest, individual donors have become critical in plugging gaps in social funding. “Philanthropy rests on three pillars; government, corporations and private donors. Not everything can be done by the first two,” says Maya Prabhu, managing director at private banking house Coutts, which opened an office in Dubai three years ago. “Private donors often play > Philanthropy Age 61
Philanthropy Age
a critical role at times of economic slowdown when governments run tight budgets and corporations cut spending. “Even when affected by an economic downturn, private donors continue to be motivated by their desire to make a difference to the causes and communities they care about, driving many to continue giving at the same levels or even higher.” This has proved crucial. Aid from rich nations to some of the world’s poorest tumbled for the second year running in 2012, as European states grappling with debt woes slashed their budgets. The latest data from the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed a 4 per cent decline in funding last year from its Development Assistance Committee, whose members include 15 EU states and the US, to $125.7bn. In particular, aid to North African states has trailed off, two years after the Arab Spring uprisings spurred a surge in giving to the region. Africa overall has seen aid drop by almost 10 per cent since 2011, to around $29bn.
“I encourage all philanthropists to go public, otherwise the new generation will not have role models to follow”
Even within the oil-rich Gulf states, says Al Ansari, wealthy residents and corporations must be prepared to do their part by providing long-term support for the societies in which they live and operate.
“The absence of taxes in the UAE or their low levels in other GCC countries should certainly be a good enough reason for companies and individuals to show their gratitude for this government support by turning to philanthropy.”
“Traditionally, people tend to assume that a wealthy state would take care of everything. This misconception still leads some people to, however inadvertently, fail their responsibility to help make the world a better place,” he says. “Philanthropy is a collective effort, and the private sector, including private donors, has to play a big role on national and global levels.
The region’s rich appear to be heeding the message. More and more private bankers report that their clients are seeking not just traditional banking advice and wealth management, but advice on giving. Rather than frittering money away on a range of causes, wealthy individuals are keen to shape fresh philanthropic strategies that will impact upon their communities.
62 Philanthropy Age
“Philanthropy is increasingly becoming an integral part of how wealthy individuals and families in emerging economies are choosing to express their values and use their wealth,” says Prabhu. “There is no universal template… [but] we often start by exploring the motivations for philanthropy. We help people think through their values, passions, interests or concerns to help them identify the causes or communities they may wish to focus their philanthropy on.” These donations can often play a vital role in bolstering socio-economic progress.
Mohamed Al Ansari insists that private donors must be prepared to give of their expertise, not just their money
Philanthropy Age
Al Ansari has applied the same laser-sharp focus that turned his family business into a 120-outlet conglomerate with a 2,000-strong workforce, to his charitable portfolio. His biggest venture has been a joint $10m, five-year funding programme, signed with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In the initial phase, from 2013 to 2014, Al Ansari and the Gates Foundation pledged $2m to support the eradication of polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan. A further $2m has been ringfenced for the treatment and prevention of neglected tropical diseases in Africa. The scheme is run by The End Fund, an initiative whose founders include the Gates Foundation and UAEbased charity Dubai Cares. Its two-year vaccination and treatment programmes, which have so far been conducted in 13 countries, aim to help millions live a healthier life, increasing their chances of lifting themselves out of poverty. Maya Prabhu, of Coutts, says that more and more wealthy clients are seeking advice on maximising the impact of their giving
Prabhu cites the example of teacher training in India. While government funding bankrolls the building of schools and teachers’ wages, private donors often support their training, an act which directly contributes to improved educational outcomes among students. “Strategic philanthropy involves being focused and purposeful and we find that more and more clients are seeking expert advice to help ensure they maximise the impact of their giving,” she says.
“Many of the family businesses that we have advised wish to support the communities where they generated their wealth”
Arab culture dictates that discretion is the better part of valour. As a result, many local philanthropists choose to remain anonymous, ducking the spotlight that can accompany multimillion-dollar donations. The difficulty with this approach is that it deprives the younger generation of role models, of businesspeople or corporates who pay more than lip service to the concept of charity. Al Ansari is quick to praise fellow UAE tycoon Khalaf Al Habtoor, who announced earlier this year that 20 per cent of his company’s profits would be funnelled into his foundation. “I encourage all philanthropists to go public,” he says, “otherwise, the new generation will not have role models to follow. Philanthropy requires teaching by example. And there is nothing more rewarding than the feeling of deep content and peace you get when you crown your personal success with acts of philanthropy.” n
Al Ansari hopes to see his four children follow in his footsteps, putting charitable giving at the heart of their corporate activities. Aside from the social rewards of this approach, philanthropy can be a vital tool for wealth planning. According to Prabhu, wealthy families are even using it to help their children develop financial skills, in readiness for taking over the family fortune or business. “Philanthropy is often an integral component of a family business and can play a critical role in wealth succession,” she says. “Many of the family businesses that we have advised wish to support the communities where they generated their wealth. Philanthropy can also help the next generation understand the challenges and opportunities associated with wealth, giving them a deeper understanding of the world around them.”
Philanthropy Age 63
All photos: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Expert Column
64 Philanthropy Age
philanthropy age
A call to action Jeff Raikes is the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s wealthiest philanthropic organisation. He is also on a mission to change the way people think about giving. In an exclusive interview, he asks which Middle Eastern families will become icons of philanthropy in the 21st century By Andrew White and Leonard Stall
F
or someone dubbed ‘the most powerful man in philanthropy’, Jeff Raikes has an unassuming presence. With his thick grey sweater and thin-rimmed glasses, he might easily be mistaken for a university professor, rather than the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s wealthiest philanthropic organisation with an asset trust endowment of more than $36.4bn. Across three grantmaking areas – global health, global development and US programmes – the Foundation has endowed grants totalling more than $26.1bn. Today, however, Raikes’ thoughts are trained not on the foundation’s accomplishments or its balance sheet, but on a region whose political and business leaders could, one day, eclipse even the achievements of those icons of philanthropy in the West: John Davison Rockefeller; Andrew Carnegie; Henry Ford; William Henry ‘Bill’ Gates III; Warren Edward Buffett. “The financial and intellectual resources of the Middle East could make a phenomenal contribution to the world,” says Raikes. “One way to consider it is to ask who the founding families of philanthropy in the 21st century will be. Who will shape philanthropy in this century in the way that Rockefeller, Carnegie and Ford shaped philanthropy in the last century in the US? “If we can reach that first billionaire, and that first billionaire does great things in philanthropy and becomes a model for other billionaires, then we can reach the next five and they’ll each reach another five. So how do we get to them? How do we help them to think in a catalytic way?” The concept of “catalytic philanthropy” is hardwired into the central philosophy of the foundation: that giving should be channelled in a way which ensures each dollar spent achieves the greatest possible impact. “If you think it was hard to make the money, I would argue it can be even harder to put the money back into society in a way that achieves the impact that you aspire to,” Raikes suggests. “It may sound easy to give money away, but if you want
to give money away for impact, if you want to invest it back into society for impact, it’s actually hard work that really requires your attention. “I think about what’s going to happen over the next 20 to 30 years, and I think about the opportunity to make sure philanthropy achieves a much greater impact per dollar or unit of resource,” he continues. “All that wealth can go into philanthropy, but the question is: will it be well invested?” In his first career, Raikes drove the product strategy and design of Microsoft Office, the ubiquitous suite of desktop applications, servers and services today installed on more than 1 billion computers around the world. In his second career, as a philanthropist, the one-time Microsoft president has even greater aspirations. In order to achieve them, he is applying the strategic skills he learned in the software industry, to the philanthropic sphere, identifying priorities, monitoring results and driving long-term sustainable change across the globe. > Philanthropy Age 65
philanthropy age
Raikes: “It’s rewarding to make the choice to give back, but it’s important to get going now”
“We’re very oriented towards data, information and evidence, as you probably won’t be too surprised to hear, considering we came out of the computer industry where we’re mathematical in our inclination,” he smiles. “I spent nearly 30 years in the high-tech industry helping to create Microsoft Office, where you have a big aspiration and you’re always tracking metrics: whether you’re getting the product done, what the product quality is like, what the cost is, and what your penetration is. My mind is highly attuned to this sort of approach, and so in some respects the idea that I would come into philanthropy and think the way I do was an obvious thing. It’s how I grew up.” Raikes’ decades with Microsoft, and the keen-edged analytical tools which he developed during his time with the tech giant, have allowed him to approach philanthropy with an outsider’s eye. “Just like in business, there are distinct segments of philanthropy that have distinct operating models,” he says. “However this is not well understood, as it’s not like you can go to Stanford Business School and do a course on these models. “The first segment is charity, and what you’re doing with charity is you’re filling in the gaps that you see in society,” he continues. “You see people or institutions in need, that you care about, and you give money. That’s how most people start in philanthropy: with their passion, something they care about, and they try and fill in the gap.”
“The first segment of philanthropy is charity, and what you’re doing with charity is you’re filling in the gaps that you see in society”
The second segment, Raikes suggests, is organisation building through supporting the vision of a social entrepreneur. As a philanthropist you may understand that there are fundamental building blocks required in order to bring about a long-term goal, but trust another organisation to plan, evaluate and deliver upon those building blocks. “You don’t own the theory of change but you’re betting on a social entrepreneur who you see as owning the theory of change,” he explains, citing Salman Khan, the creator of a non-profit educational website which offers a free collection of more than 4000 micro lectures, as an example of such an entrepreneur.
“We’re big believers in the private sector, and although capitalism is certainly not perfect we think it’s generally a very good approach to allocating resources to produce goods and services for society,” says Raikes. “If there is a market opportunity you’ll generally find capitalists who want to take the risk, to invest and produce something so that they can earn a profit. That works great as long as there’s a market opportunity, but sometimes there are market failures, which makes them wary.
The third and final segment, the one in which the foundation is primarily engaged, is catalytic philanthropy. Under this approach the philanthropic organisation or individual looks at innovative ventures, taking the risk of investing in an area that might not have been considered previously. Once it can prove the success, impact and potential of a project, it encourages private and public sectors to scale up the model.
66 Philanthropy Age
“The public sector in our view is also a very important part of how you build goods and services for society, however the public sector is less attuned to taking risks because after all it’s your tax money,” he continues. “So the way I see catalytic philanthropy is as a third leg in this stool, where what we can do is undertake the risk of investing in innovative interventions where there’s not a market opportunity that encourages the risk, or the risk is more than the government would want to take on.”
philanthropy age
Being a better philanthropist “Having clear goals and having clear actions or levers to get to your goals, and measurement systems to judge your progress, is critical,” says Raikes. “In a certain sense in the private sector you have the market system that tells you whether you’re succeeding or failing: if people buy your product or not, if you are making a profit, if the share price is going up or down.
By way of example, Raikes highlights the foundation’s work in sub-Saharan Africa, in a region known as the ‘meningitis ‘A’ belt’ due to its affliction with a type of meningitis uncommon in other parts of the world. Such is the level of poverty in the region, there existed no real incentive for pharmaceutical companies to undertake the research to develop, create and manage a meningitis A vaccine. The foundation, along with the World Health Organisation, a non-profit global health organisation called PATH, and a private sector company called the Serum Institute of India, worked together to develop a vaccine that is now being distributed across the region. “That vaccine is now being rolled out through that belt and is estimated to save 150,000 lives over the next five years, from the roughly 500 million people who were at risk of contracting meningitis A,” says Raikes. “That to me is a great example of catalytic philanthropy. We were able to co-own the theory of change, which is that we can have this positive impact by developing a vaccine that would prevent the disease, and then we worked with a set of partners to actually prove that it can be done. We undertook the research and development investment, and it is now being scaled up and sustained by the public sector in those countries.”
“In philanthropy you have to do the same thing, to decide what’s important, and what’s going to lead you to make a certain decision or inform an improvement in a process or practice that will help you to better achieve your goals,” he continues. “Part of how [those who engage in philanthropy] were successful in the business space was that they were smart thinkers, they listened well and looked at other participants in the market, whether partners or competitors, to see what they were doing. “Places like Harvard Business School do endless studies of what this company is doing or that company is doing, trying to capture the essence of what is effective and what isn’t effective in business. That same process: watching, listening, learning, from others, has got to be a factor here. What can we learn from others about how they’re effective in philanthropy, so that we can be better at our philanthropic impact?”
Since its inception in 2000, the foundation has undertaken a journey demanded of all would-be philanthropic organisations. Today it is engaged >
Philanthropy Age 67
Join us on the road to ending Neglected Tropical Diseases by 2020
The END Fund is the world’s first private philanthropic fund dedicated to controlling and eliminating the most prevalent neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) among the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people by 2020.
NTDs affect over 1.5 billion people and cause disability, blindness, malnutrition, cognitive impairment and even death. They keep children out of school and impair adult’s ability to work, keeping impoverished communities trapped in a cycle of poverty.
But a solution exists. Medicines have been donated and are ready to be delivered. Just 50 US cents per person can ensure those at risk are treated for these diseases. Every 50 cent donation accesses over $10 US of donated medicines, a 1:20 leverage on your philanthropic investment.
We are actively looking for new partners and supporters to participate in this important and impactful initiative. Please Join Us.
Visit end.org
philanthropy age
in all three segments of philanthropy, from charity through donations to United Way, which addresses pressing community issues across the US and abroad, to organisation building through entrepreneurs such as Salman Khan. According to Raikes catalytic philanthropy is the “sweet spot”, however he warns that successful catalytic philanthropy demands considerable time, effort and financial resources. “We have more than 1,100 people here in this organisation trying to manage the strategies for roughly 25 or so different areas, all the way from eradicating polio to increasing the number of college-ready kids coming out of high school in the US, to Toilet 2.0 [the foundation’s initiative to help bring safe, clean sanitation services to millions of people in the developing world],” he says. “That’s hard work and so my point would be that you really have to know what you’re aspirations are: be clear about what segments and operating models you’re going to choose and then make the appropriate investments. It’s rewarding to make the choice to give back, but it’s important to get going now, to think about how you’re going to do it and what you’re going to invest in.” This sense of urgency is reflected in the title of the foundation’s blog, ‘Impatient Optimists’, to which Raikes and the Gates’ are keen contributors. And while many in the philanthropic sphere will continue to go about their work unheralded, these professors of philanthropy have endeavoured to drag the debate over how we might give most effectively from the darkness into the light, from the margins of society into the mainstream consciousness. In so doing, they have ensured that the foundation’s greatest legacy will lie not in the account ledgers or even the memories of the many millions given
a chance to lift themselves out of hunger or extreme poverty. It will lie in the experiences passed on to the next generation of men and women who choose to take on the responsibility of giving, to those who are able to own the theories of change, to those founding fathers of philanthropy in the Middle East, and beyond. n
The Raikes Foundation journey: ‘suddenly we were philanthropists’ In addition to his role as CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Jeff Raikes runs his own philanthropic organisation, the Raikes Foundation, which has an endowment of around $120m. Also based in Seattle, it was launched in 2002 by Raikes and his wife Tricia, and is focused on providing opportunities and support for adolescents, particularly those between the ages of 10 and 14. The organisation has endowed grants to a wide variety of initiatives, and as with
any philanthropic endeavour, the personal journey of its co-founders has influenced directly its interests and activities. “Some of our kids, in particular our eldest daughter, suffered with the kind of bullying that happens in middle schools,” explains Raikes. “That age is a period of significant change for children both in terms of their cognitive systems, but also in terms of their emotional systems, which is actually quite difficult to navigate yet relatively under-resourced as compared with early learning and high school.
“That got us interested, and led us to a set of researchers who taught us about brain development and emotional system development,” he continues. “So then we’re looking into early adolescence, trying to catalyse the change that we think will be necessary for kids to have school experiences that complement their cognitive development with non-cognitive development. That was our journey: we started out because our daughter had experiences with bullying, and that got us interested and we started learning more about it, and suddenly we were philanthropists.”
Philanthropy Age 69
Philanthropy Age
Anjan Sundaram
The value of emergency aid A
debate rages in the world today about the effectiveness of philanthropy. Critics claim that charity can be wasted, money lost to corrupt governments, that aid programmes can be ill conceived and that recipients of charity often don’t follow instructions. Indeed, some of these criticisms are valid, and philanthropy is a complex business; giving money is not enough, one has to give well. Working as a journalist for the last decade in some of the world’s poorest places, I have repeatedly been moved by the power of charity – often from anonymous donors – to people in need. And nowhere have I seen philanthropy more effective than that delivered in emergencies.
Anjan Sundaram has reported from some of the poorest, most desperate corners of Africa. He tells us how helping people in urgent need can be a direct, high-impact way of channelling philanthropy
It seems a simple idea – to help people in dire suffering, in immediate need. But the simplicity can belie the massive impact of such philanthropy. I have seen emergency aid feed refugees who fled their homes upon the outbreak of a war with only a few pots and pans and their children. I have seen infants almost given up for dead amid a cholera epidemic be cured, and people receive shelter from the heat and rain after an earthquake destroyed their homes and killed family members. Such aid is powerful, and undeniably helps people when they have nowhere to turn. Disasters have a way of equalizing people – in a tsunami, for example, the rich, well educated and respected have no better odds of survival. There is also a growing need for emergency philanthropy in the world. After the earthquake in Haiti a
70 Philanthropy Age
plethora of international organisations and individuals contributed funds to rebuild the country, but it seems the money was still not enough. People still suffer in Quetta in Pakistan from the aftermath of the earthquake that happened there almost five years ago. These occurrences will only increase. Scientists predict that emergencies caused by natural disasters are set to multiply, as climate change takes hold, temperatures gradually rise and the weather becomes more extreme and less predictable. Good philanthropy can also help to prevent emergencies by building early warning systems that alert populations to natural disasters, or by building effective primary healthcare clinics in remote parts of the world. Moreover, basic education can help to offset the impact of a disaster. It is often most rewarding to channel the aid through a local, reputable nongovernmental organisations that works directly with the people one seeks to support. International NGOs with long histories of working in a country can provide helpful guidance when seeking partners with requisite field experience. Philanthropists may want to specialize in certain geographies, or certain kinds of emergency aid, such as food, shelter or medical assistance. Religious programs should be noted for their intimate knowledge of local communities, and for their low overheads. They can serve as good consultants,
Expert Column
often able to identify the most needy beneficiary groups for philanthropic programmes, and sometimes able to manage philanthropic funds. The best way to measure a philanthropic programme’s success – and to identify operational challenges – is to measure results on a regular basis. This again sounds simple, but often isn’t properly carried out by philanthropists.
Good philanthropy does not end with emergency aid. People need to rebuild their lives after emergencies
Money may not be reaching beneficiaries due to social hierarchies and stigmatisation of victims. The philanthropic programme may be building shelters that are unsuited to the local climate and are breaking down. It could be something basic, perhaps a cultural particularity that impacts messaging. Some communities are sensitive to being called ‘poor’, or to receiving handouts, even in times of need. Medicines may not be effective because people are not being provided with a sufficient level of vitamins in their diet. A constant flow of information about philanthropic results is crucial. Beneficiaries of aid can, here, be of immense help. As a reporter I was often told by recipients of charity: “Yes, the money is helping us, but if I could talk to the donors I could tell them so many ways to use the money better”. Beneficiaries often feel cut off from the philanthropists who are making decisions about their futures, and they may have valuable ideas to contribute. To address this, it is recommended that one set aside part of the philanthropy project budget to hire an independent third-party evaluator. This is not regularly provisioned for by philanthropists, but I have seen it used as a mechanism by some charities, and the insights obtained – at a relatively low cost – can be invaluable to a project’s impact and improvement.
There can be no substitute for visiting the charity project oneself, and seeing and hearing stories first-hand, although such visits need planning to ensure one is being shown not only the project’s successes but also the concerns, however large. Good philanthropy does not end with emergency aid. People need to rebuild their lives after emergencies. They must feed their families and find incomegenerating activities. It is not always a question of money. A few years ago a man at a refugee camp in Baraka, Congo, told me: “I have lived here for fifteen years and nothing has changed. I eat the same rice and lentils. I feel like a sick man begging every day. Can the charity help me regain my dignity?”
Here begins the ambition of long-term philanthropy, more complex to design and execute, and more nuanced in its objectives. While in emergency aid the intention – saving lives – is obvious, effective long-term aid is a subtle business, requiring careful planning, and often the collaboration of host governments. Success is not as easy to measure. For the goal here is to make people self sufficient, and help them stand on their own feet. n
About the author: Anjan Sundaram is an award-winning journalist who has reported from Africa for the New York Times, the Associated Press and Foreign Policy magazine, among others. He is the author of ‘Stringer: A Reporter’s Journey in the Congo’, and now lives in Rwanda.
Philanthropy Age 71
Philanthropy Age
Giving while living The concept of ‘giving while living’ is bringing fresh excitement to the lives of the super wealthy. A leading philanthropic psychologist tells Ben East how this approach has benefits far beyond simply donating to worthy causes
W
Mark Zuckerberg gave 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation last December to “solve the most challenging problems, improving the quality of life and inspiring greater civic participation throughout the region.” Billionaire Azim Premji made the largest ever donation of its kind in India – $2bn in December 2010 – to improve school education. And in January of this year, South African mining magnate Patrice Motsepe announced he would give half of his net worth, estimated by Forbes at $2.9bn, to the poor.
hen David Beckham announced earlier this year that a football career which has taken in Manchester, Milan and Los Angeles would draw to a close in Paris, there were plenty who wondered whether he was enticed by the romance of the French capital, or perhaps the lucrative salary, rumoured to be around $225,000 a week. But as usual, Beckham owned the news agenda. At his first Paris Saint-Germain press conference, the former England captain announced that he wouldn’t receive any wages during his five-month stay. Instead, they would be given to a children’s charity in Paris. It was a remarkable gesture which could be worth more than $5m – no wonder Beckham said that it was “very special” to be able to donate such a huge sum. And while the footballer has dabbled in charity work in the past, this was his most outwardly philanthropic act to date. So what impelled him to make such a remarkable decision? According to one academic, it’s all about the realisation that ‘giving while living’ has benefits far beyond simply donating money to worthy causes. “There are all sorts of philanthropists, and one grouping is people whose wealth can never be spent by themselves or their families, simply because they have so much of it,” says Jen Shang, of the School of Economics, Finance and Management
72 Philanthropy Age
David Beckham is giving his salary to children in Africa
at the University of Bristol in the UK, and one of the few academics in the world to have studied the fast-emerging discipline of ‘philanthropic psychology’. “For them, the decision is either to waste it or put it somewhere in the world where it can make a difference,” she continues. “A lot of the time, it’s the people who didn’t necessarily plan to be a full time philanthropist but have simply accumulated an unexpected amount of wealth who find ‘giving while living’ so exciting. They start small, and get sucked into this whole new world.”
In Shang’s view it’s rare that these highprofile figures – some of whom are vilified simply because of their success – are giving simply to look good. Beckham’s actions were hailed as a PR masterstroke, or even a tax-avoidance scheme depending on which sceptical newspaper you read, but the reality, she says, is far less murky. “Of course, there are always people who would like their names to be on buildings, and like to be involved in corporate social responsibility programmes because it strengthens their brand,” says Shang. “The people I’ve spoken to are unlikely to tell me about any less than honourable reasons for their philanthropy,” she continues. “However, in my experience this isn’t the motivation for giving in >
Feature
Philanthropy Age 73
Philanthropy Age
High-profile figures including (left to right) Matt Damon, Imran Khan, George Lucas and Bono, have philanthropic causes at the top of their agenda
74 Philanthropy Age
“Our children have realised that real satisfaction comes from using the fortunate position they find themselves in to try and make a difference to other people’s lives” most cases. I’ve spoken to investment bankers who have made fortunes, live in mansions and yet spend a large chunk of their year helping the poorest of the poor in developing countries. And you have to remember, too, that not every wealthy person gives.”
committed so far include Star Wars creator George Lucas, British businessman Richard Branson, and French-born AmericanIranian entrepreneur (and founder of eBay) Pierre Omidyar. Revealingly, each signatory to the pledge writes a letter detailing why they’re getting involved.
Nevertheless, more seem to be doing so. The Giving Pledge (see box), a campaign launched in 2010 by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, has so far encouraged more than 100 of the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to commit to giving more than half of their wealth to philanthropic or charitable causes either during their lifetime, or after their death. Those to have
“As a young man I never set out to make money,” Branson wrote in February. “We set out to create things that we could be proud of and to try to make a difference... [our children] Holly and Sam have realised that real satisfaction comes from using the fortunate position they find themselves in to try and make a difference to other people’s lives.”
According to Branson, he had his own ‘tipping point’ relatively early in his career, which led him to establish a string of not-for-profit enterprises that reflected his own belief that “personal stuff” didn’t really matter. Decades after he made his first millions, that philosophy is now part of the fabric of Branson’s business empire, as well as his family life. “There are different paths into philanthropy,” suggests Shang. “There are some who are born into it because there is a family tradition. They’re second, third generation wealthy people so in a sense they find it natural, almost like a job. There’s no tipping point: it’s just what they do. “The second category have a pretty clear life plan: philanthropy is the planned ending to their business life where they’ve accumulated a certain amount of wealth. Then there are the ones who have come into wealth unexpectedly and really enjoy
Philanthropy Age
Billionaires’ club the new challenges that philanthropy gives to them.” For these philanthropists, the business world can seem sterile when compared to the world of giving. Jon Caudwell, the founder of UK-based retailer Phones4u, said in his Giving Pledge letter that the charity sector gave him the opportunity to do “something more” than run a wildly successful mobile phone company. In 2000 he founded Caudwell Children, an organisation that provides equipment, treatment, therapies and family support for disabled children and their families across the UK. He has since sold Phones4u, and while he has not retired altogether from the business sphere, he says that philanthropy gives him “far more pleasure and satisfaction than making money”. Caudwell notes that, “making money is now largely driven by the knowledge that
I will be able to leave even more wealth behind for charitable causes”. And such venture philanthropists, as Shang calls them, demand performance measures and return on capital in the same way they might approach their businesses. “If they survive the initial culture shock of how the philanthropic sector works then they reach a point of accomplishment which is a very different feeling to that in the for-profit sector,” she says. “Philanthropy does provoke extreme emotions, not least because these are people who can’t operate unless they throw their whole lives into a project. In my experience, it’s the level of involvement which distinguishes the great philanthropists from the good ones.” Something for Beckham to muse on, then, when the full-time whistle is finally blown on his football career. n
When Bill Gates and Warren Buffett launched the Giving Pledge campaign in 2010, their focus was solely on persuading US billionaires to commit at least half of their wealth to charity. “I felt we had our hands full in the US,” Buffett later admitted to Forbes magazine. Three years on, the Giving Pledge has gone global. In February this year it was announced that 12 non-US signatories from eight different countries had come on board, swelling the total number of pledgers to 105 and internationalising an initiative which had previously been the exclusive preserve of US philanthropists. Having overcome cultural and societal differences ranging from civic modesty, to the overriding need to ensure successful succession in sprawling family business empires, to the fear that donors would be contractually obliged to give money to certain causes, the movement now has pledgers with a collective net worth in excess of $500bn. “A lot were going to do it anyway but the pledge creates more of a movement, makes people do it earlier, collaborate and do it smarter,” Gates said of the newcomers who include South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe, India’s Azim Premji, and Malaysia’s Vincent Tan, and will between them contribute more than $10bn to a broad range of charitable causes.
Philanthropy Age 75
One Day
“I am a father with a mother’s heart” Since 1969, SOS Children’s Villages in Lebanon has rescued hundreds of homeless children and given them the opportunity to lead a productive and happy life. Amine El Boustany, a veteran SOS fieldworker, reflects on a typical day at work
M
y morning begins at 6:30am, when I spend time reflecting on any particularly pressing tasks for the day ahead. After breakfast with my wife and three children I go to visit my ‘other’ children, the 80 boys and girls under my care, ranging from toddlers to teenagers. I make a quick tour of the 10 children’s houses in the SOS Children’s Village of Kfarhay in northern Lebanon, where I work and live, to see the children off to school. Next I spend time with the surrogate mothers to listen to their feedback on the children, and try to address any issues or grievances they might have, giving them advice and encouragement. ‘Mothers’ are carefully selected and recruited to ensure that they are fully capable of handling the responsibilities of motherhood and giving the love and care a child’s own mother would give. Each mother is entirely dedicated to the eight children who live with her in the same house. The children we care for are either orphans, abandoned by their parents, or the victims of neglect or abuse, whose custody is turned over to us by court order or religious and community authorities. They come from all faiths, races and regions of Lebanon. The one thing they
have in common that separates them from other children is the trauma caused by their past experiences. For this reason, we have trained psychotherapists working with them to complement our efforts in making them feel safe, secure and belonging to a family, with all their needs taken care of to help them build confidence and prepare for a promising future. One of the most rewarding experiences was to see one of our talented boys being awarded a scholarship to study at the Sorbonne University in France. This year he will receive a master’s degree in communication. Nothing is more rewarding to me than seeing an abandoned child saved from a street life, given shelter, and above all a family. To me, the difference we make in their lives, removing them from destitution, trauma, exploitation and inevitable early death or criminal life to a life of hope, dignity and positive thinking is a little miracle that we all can contribute to. Our tools are understanding, guidance, kindness and plenty of love. In the afternoons I am usually consumed by administrative work, from coordination to accounting. Although it takes only 20,000 Lebanese pounds ($13.3) per
month to sponsor a child, with the difference in costs covered mostly by International SOS Children’s Villages, the economic downturn in Lebanon has certainly impacted us.
El Boustany captured with some of his “other children” at SOS Children’s Village in Kfarhay, Lebanon
My working day ends with the evening tour where I visit our children after they have returned from school. As a responsible social worker or the head of a big family, one should be able to read early signs of an uneasy change in behaviour of those in one’s care. Once this helped me detect a drug abuse problem with one of our boys, which he picked up from a friend at school. He was shocked how quickly I found out, and was able to quit immediately after a good heart-to-heart talk. On another evening visit I remember an eight-year-old girl asking my permission to ask a question. She said, “You are not uncle,” – which was what all the children called me. Then she asked: “Can I call you papa?” I was really thrilled by her request and I wholeheartedly agreed. I am back home by 8pm, but my reflections on the day and what needs to be done tomorrow never end. My work has completely changed my life; it has made me a father with a mother’s heart. n
Philanthropy Age 77
ISTANBUL
DUBAI MUMBAI BOGOTA
The Abraaj Group is a leading global investor specializing in growth markets To learn more, visit abraaj.com
NAIROBI
SINGAPORE
The Next Step
Never think you can’t make a difference… The stories featured on these pages are just a starting point. Many of the organisations we focus on are saving and changing lives on a daily basis, but they need support to survive. If you want to learn more about the issues, or to get busy solving them, then don’t hesitate to get in touch and take the next step on your own philanthropic journey
The power and potential of vaccines
Supporting children with Down syndrome
Bringing financial skills to women and children
Helping orphans to find a new family
Although vaccines are among the most cost-effective weapons in a philanthropist’s armoury, their development, storage and delivery requires ongoing investment. The Gavi Alliance (www.gavialliance. org) is working to vaccinate millions against rubella, measles, rotavirus and other diseases by forging partnerships with civil society organisations and governments across the MENASA region. The alliance is supported by international aid organisations such as the World Health Organisation (www.who. int) and UNICEF (www.unicef.org), which are involved in lifesaving initiatives in countries including Yemen, Tunisia and Afghanistan.
According to a study conducted by King Saud and King Khaled universities, Saudi Arabia has a higher-than-average number of children afflicted with Down syndrome. Many are marginalised by society, their condition swept under the carpet and the children left to rely on the kindness of strangers. The Help Center (www.helpcenter. med.sa/index.php) in Jeddah helps some of these children to rejoin society as productive and fulfilled young people. On a wider scale, Saut: The Voice of Down Syndrome Society (www.saut.org.sa) advocates for and serves people with Down syndrome and their families, throughout the kingdom.
Educating women and children as to the benefits of successfully managing their own personal finances, is of growing importance in these tough economic times. In Turkey, the Para Durumu multimedia platform (www.paradurumu.tv) is aiming to reach 20,000 women in Istanbul alone, by the end of the year. Private firms are playing an increasingly significant role in the sponsorship and promotion of financial literacy education, and credit card giant Visa has launched its own programme and website (www.ehsib.com) to help people avoid falling into high levels of debt.
The socio-economic and psychological scars of past wars and political strife, aggravated by limited social welfare and healthcare provision, continue to weaken the social fabric in Lebanon. Scores of children are abandoned or orphaned every year, and some of them never find another home. The Lebanese Association of SOS Children’s Villages (www.sos.org.lb) is striving to absorb as many children as it can into its acclaimed network of villages. Each child will have a mother, brothers or sisters, and a home to call their own.
Philanthropy Age 79
Making a Difference
Q&A
Jimmy Carter In the three decades since he left the White House, former US President Jimmy Carter has worked tirelessly to promote human rights and alleviate human suffering through his non-profit non-governmental organisation, the Carter Center. The foundation has helped improve the lives of millions of people in more than 70 countries, through conflict resolution and disease prevention, and one of its greatest achievements has been in the fight against guinea worm disease, a painful and debilitating affliction caused by parasites living in contaminated water. He recalls how he first heard about the disease, how the Carter Center has helped reduce the number of cases reported annually by more than 99 per cent, and what must be done to eradicate the problem entirely How did you become aware of guinea worm and why did you decide to take on the challenge? I had a man who worked for me in the White House, Dr Peter Bourne, who was my drugs czar and was in charge of eliminating the affliction of narcotics around the world. When we left the White House he became an assistant secretary-general at the United Nations, and he was then put in charge of the International Drinking Water Decade initiative, analysing the importance of water for people’s nourishment, but also as a carrier of diseases. He became acquainted with guinea worm, which originates with the eggs in stagnant water where rain fills up a pond and stays there, and he came to the Carter Center and told me about this disease. He told me that no-one else was willing to address the problem because it existed in thousands of villages, and they were all poor and isolated and separated from one another, and it was almost a
80 Philanthropy Age
hopeless task. What the Carter Center does primarily is take on projects that other people are not doing effectively, and so I decided we would take this on, as one of our first programmes. How widespread was the problem in those early days? We went all over the world and we found the disease in 26,300 villages in 20 different countries in Asia and in subSaharan Africa. We identified 3.5 million cases of guinea worm, and we have now reduced that down to about 500 cases, almost all of which are located in South Sudan. We have now a crash programme in South Sudan to eliminate the last cases; we’re down to the last tenth of 1 per cent. Why are these cases concentrated in South Sudan in particular? When you go for 30 years working on a disease and a village still has the disease, something’s wrong. Perhaps nomads are
the cause of it, people that travel from one village to another and you can’t identify which village is theirs or what pond is theirs. Perhaps you haven’t marshalled enough volunteers, or there are some people who don’t care, or there’s an element of violence or civil war in that area. In South Sudan the delay was caused primarily by the civil war that existed between north and south for so long. We’ve been able to go into southern Sudan on two occasions, once in 1995 when I went to Sudan and negotiated a ceasefire between north and south, which they still call the ‘guinea worm ceasefire’. Both the northern and the southern Sudanese leaders knew about this disease and they wanted me and the Carter Center to come in and do something about it. So we had a ceasefire that lasted about eight months, and we were able to go into the villages and ascertain the problem. Then they started fighting again.
Making a Difference
President Carter, still making a difference around the world
and when I went there I always wore one around my neck, so by the time we [returned to southern Sudan] the people had learned to use this pipe filter. We were surprised at how low the guinea worm affliction had fallen, because the people used the pipe filters.
Did that put a halt to the Carter Center’s efforts to combat guinea worm in Sudan? No. The Tuareg warriors developed a little thing, a reed where they would hollow it out and tie a filter cloth to the end of it. We called it a pipe filter. They would wear this around their necks and every time they took a drink of water, no matter where it was, they would suck it through that reed and the filter cloth would take out the guinea worm eggs. So the Norwegians volunteered to make nine million of these pipe filters out of small PVC piping and we
“We have reduced guinea worm down to about 500 cases annually, almost all of which are located in South Sudan; we are down to the last tenth of 1 per cent” sent these all over southern Sudan, even though we couldn’t go in there because of the civil war. John Garang, the leader of the southern Sudanese warriors, always wore one around his neck to show his people that this was the thing to do,
What’s the next step in the race to eradicate guinea worm for good? The next step is to get rid of these last 500 cases. We now have in South Sudan alone 150 people on our payroll, almost all of them South Sudanese, but we have trained them and we pay them a small salary. We have in addition to that about 12,500 volunteers, primarily women, who we don’t pay, but they monitor every village because the problem with guinea worm is that it takes a year for the symptoms to show. If you drink a cup of filthy water with guinea worm eggs in it you don’t know it until 12 months later and you have a worm in your body about three feet long. So there’s about a one-year delay between drinking the bad water and having the guinea worm show up, and a one-year delay in allowing us to detect when a village has a problem. We have now these women volunteers in almost every village in South Sudan, watching constantly and if somebody does show signs of guinea worm then we try to isolate them so they won’t spread the disease. We’re very, very close to wiping it out entirely, but there is still much work to be done. n
Philanthropy Age 81
philanthropy age
82 Philanthropy Age
philanthropy age
Giving children a chance UNESCO estimates that there are 61 million out-of-school children who will not complete primary education. The Educate a Child (EAC) initiative was launched in November 2012 by Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser of Qatar (pictured right) and is dedicated to significantly and quickly diminishing this number, especially reaching out to those whose educational opportunities have been hit by extreme poverty, conflict and natural disaster.
Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser of Qatar
EAC seeks partnerships with local, regional and global organisations with the capability and commitment to enrol and keep children in schools and provide quality primary education. Its founding philosophy – to collaborate with partners as a technical and co-funding agency – has allowed room for creative engagement to deliver education, especially in challenging areas. Already, the initiative is making a difference in 16 countries. As an illustration, Educate a Child is partnering with BRAC, a Bangladeshi development organisation dedicated to alleviating poverty by empowering the poor to bring about change in their own lives. BRAC offers non-formal primary school education at a low cost, using a ‘one teacher, one school’ model, and is free to students. It operates 23,000 schools in Bangladesh, focusing its efforts on those on children who slip through the academic net. In this school year the joint initiative between EAC and BRAC is enrolling 750 out-ofschool children into primary schools on purpose-built boats in the Haor basin flood plain, one of the remote parts of Bangladesh. The target is to enrol a total of 7,750 over five years. Speaking about Educate A Child, Her Highness comments: ‘My experience and involvement in education programmes around the world have taught me that wherever we find children, we find hope, resilience and determination. Offering poor or marginalised children the chance of an education also offers them the chance to escape poverty, improve their health and enhance their opportunities. In short, it can transform lives and change societies’. Educate A Child is part of the Education Above All (EAA) foundation, chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Moza, who is a UNESCO Special Envoy for Basic and Higher Education. For more information: www.educateachild.org.qa
Philanthropy Age 83