Tobacco Control in Africa - TCA

What about the grant awarded by the Gates Foundation to the American Cancer Society?

There is very little to find on the site of the Gates Foundation, except that the amount awarded has risen by 1 million (probably from the interests) from $7 to $8 million. What has been/is done with the money? Here is the page devoted to the African Tobacco Control Consortium by ACS that says it contributes 'significant financial and human resources to this initiative' but does not provide any number. As we recall, the project managers (including ACS) were supposed to match the funds given by the Gates Foundation. Here is a link to the African Tobacco Control Resource Center. 

We could not find any detailed and updated financial documents.

Feedback remains a keyword for Bill Gates

Feedback remains a keyword for Bill Gates, here in this opinion for the Wall Street Journal. But how does it apply (if it does) to the tobacco control grants? Here the comment from Humanosphere.

The budget awarded by the Gates Foundation to ACS-Consortium increases again

When we last looked at the budget (in December 2011) it was $7.8788.847. As of today it is $8.015.471, an increase of $130.624.

Still no detailed information about how this grant is used.

Job opening: Tobacco Control Advisor at CTCA (Makerere University in Kampala)

Read the ad and apply before November 30.

Gates Foundation and New Venture Fund: from $1,329,671 to $4,163,671

After visiting the Bloomberg Initiative's site I decided to visit as well the Gates Foundation's site in case there was anything new. Indeed there was. I had mentioned earlier a grant awarded by GF to the New Venture Fund that mentioned tobacco control in Africa. When revisiting the page devoted to this grant it appears that the amount has significantly increased: it's now $4,163,671 instead of $1,329,671.
All the rest remains identical and I could not find any additional information about what's it's all about. Just millions floating around. Philanthrocapitalism at work. Any reason to complain or be surprised?

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is looking for an Executive Assistant, Africa Programs

Just posted on Idealist.org

New Venture Fund for Global Policy and Advocacy: What Projects in Africa within this $1,329,671 grant?

Find below the description of the goals of the New Venture Fund for Global Policy and Advocacy (NVF for GPA) that was awarded a $1,329,671 grant by the Gates Foundation. I now cannot find it any longer on their site. 

Grant makers and media

This article is about the situation in the US but what about the situation in Africa and more precisely what is the grant makers strategy to raise the visibility and awareness about tobacco control issues in African countries/media? Do they even have one? Shouldn't they have one considering the millions involved? Subsidiary question: who is aware of the most recent grant awarded by the Gates Foundation for innovative programs in Africa? Do you know where to look?

Workshops in South Africa

ACS (with Gates Foundation funding) organized two workshops. One for Botswana advocates and one for "emerging researchers". I am not sure about how cost effective they are. Another post on the ACS blog looks at cancer care in Togo: we have nothing.

Bloomberg's Initiative strategy in Africa in 2012?

While staff changes at CTFK occured in 2012, the level of the grants awarded (as of today) has been fairly low: $152.724 for projects in 3 countries: Ghana to promote pictorial warnings, Cameroon and Togo to support the enactment of strict regulations. Compared to the previous levels of funding this is very small. The same probably goes for the American Cancer Society that manages the millions provided by the Gates Foundation but does not provide any detailed budget.

Supporting African Journalists Who Report About Tobacco Control?

This article explains how US foundations fund journalists. The Gates Foundation is one of them. In 2008 a reflexion was started about how to support journalists willing to report about tobacco control issues in their country. The most effective way would be to directly compensate journalists for the documents they produce. Such contracts could be designed so that the various aspects of the MPOWER strategy are covered. How about giving it a try? The rate? $100 per story (would have to include at least one picture) and a $100 monthly bonus for the best segment. The rythm? one story per month with a precise deadline. Please let us stop the expensive capacity building workshops and let us directly pay the journalists to produce content for everybody to see.

CTCA performance review

One more supermeeting involving plenty of dignitaries (30 "global tobacco control advocates") coming to Kampala from far away: at what cost and with what impact? Beyond the announcement (below) we have found zero substantial information about this meeting. The CTCA's site does not contain any (yet) nor the others. After this comment was posted we received a pdf document that provides a little more information, but not much. For instance, no detailed financial data are provided. Not that any of the other group is very transparent about their finances, but that would be a step in the right direction as far as transparency and public accountability are concerned.

Funding tobacco control in Africa: How much? What impact will the new $220 million grant have (or not)?

The Bloomberg Initiative received $375 million from Michael Bloomberg (in 2006 and 2008) and an additional $30 million from the Gates Foundation (as of July 2009). That's a total of (about) $405 million from 2007 to 2011 (5 years). That's about $81 million per year, divided between 5 entities (CTFK, The Union, The World Lung Foundation, the CDC Foundation and The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health).

The new 4 year grant of $220 million represent $55 million per year (without -for now- any additional funding from the Gates Foundation since the $18 million grant that had been mentioned in July 2011 has not been confirmed)

Honest Feedback, Advocating for transparency, 2007-2011

This is an updated version of the first two editions, with a slightly different subtitle and new cover pictures. Available via Blurb.com and as an e-book via Amazon-Kindle. It focuses on the need for public transparency (and accountability) as a condition to get real feedback and to improve the overall performance in the management of the grants awarded by the Gates Foundation and the Bloomberg Initiative to promote tobacco control in Africa.

Message of Ebeh Kodjo about 2011 and 2012: what is the real financial situation for ATCA and the African Consortium?

In a short email message dated December 19, Ebeh Kodjo states that "2012 will not be easy. It will be challenging, annoying, with less money and more demands." Unfortunately he does not provide any hard numbers about ATCA or the Consortium's finances for 2011 or 2012. His apparent pessimism about money seems inconsistent with the information available that seems to point toward increased resources.

From $7 million to $7,884,847: the amount of the grant awarded in 2009 by the Gates Foundation to the African Consortium has increased by 12.64%.

While the initial amount awarded in 2009 was $7 million, the amount now mentioned on the Foundation's site is $7,884,847 (+12.64%). It's good news, but how and why this increase? Does it represent the interests of the invested money?

About the Gates Foundation

This interesting article by Caroline Preston in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Uganda: Inauguration of the CTCA

Visiting the site of the Tobacco Free Initiative about the inauguration of the Center for Tobacco Control in Africa on November 1, we find this link to the presentation given by Cynthia Lewis,  senior program officer for the Gates Foundation.

The 10 countries the Consortium works with

The Africa Tobacco Control Consortium works in 10 countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa. These countries include Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Zambia, The Gambia, Gabon, Senegal, Uganda and Congo Brazzaville. You can learn more about our project activities in these countries. For update on our project in the individual countries, please click on the country name below: Updates on our In-Country Projects

Projects in Republic of Benin   ( 0 Articles ) Projects in Botswana   ( 0 Articles ) Projects in Algeria   ( 0 Articles ) Projects in Cameroun   ( 0 Articles ) Projects in Zambia   ( 0 Articles ) Projects in Sierra Leone   ( 0 Articles ) Projects in Gambia   ( 0 Articles ) Projects in Congo Brazaville   ( 0 Articles ) Projects in Senegal   ( 0 Articles ) Projects in Gabon   ( 0 Articles ) Projects in Uganda   ( 0 Articles )

 

The Gates Foundation's Tobacco Strategy Overview (November 2011)

Below are parts of the document titled Tobacco Strategy Overview (pdf), that specifically refer to Africa. The document is dated November 2011. See at the end the priorities for future investments. How will those priorities be implemented is another story, a story maybe worth millions of dollars.

Graphic warnings in Niger?

The Gates Foundation indicates in a new document about its tobacco control strategy (pdf) that, "Niger introduced graphic warning labels covering 50 percent of the front and back of cigarette packs and banned point of sale displays."  Where does this information come from? We did find this presentation (in French) by Inoussa Saouna who mentions graphic warnings covering up to 30% of the pack (recto and verso) according to the Tobacco Control Act of 2006 and the implementation decrees of 2008 but has the implementation of this decision really taken place? This recent article (September 2011) is titled (in French of course): L'application de la loi anti-tabac se  fait toujours attendre, Implementation of the Tobacco Control Act, we are still waiting. It would not be the first time that there is a very long delay between the enactment of a law and its real implementation.

 

About how the Gates Foundation partners with journalists

Here is an interesting post by Reuters blogger Felix Salmon. I wish the Gates Foundation would realize that compensating African journalists to write stories (and produce radio shows as radio is such an important medium in Africa) about tobacco control would be the most cost effective way to raise the awareness and support advocacy about those issues.

Jeff Raikes: We need to hear from you

Once again, Jeff Raikes asks for honest feedback: We need to hear from you! But is he going to get it and does he listen when he receives honest but inconvenient news?

Tobacco Control in Africa: People, Politics and Politicies

Edited by Jeffrey Drope, this book (with a preface by Jeffrey's sister Jacqui) is a presentation of the ATSA project co-published by Anthem Press and IDRC. Available as hardcover via Amazon for a pricey $99. When clicking on the Amazon look inside function you can see some of the book content while it seems the whole content can be accessed and downloaded for free in a pdf format via the digital library of IDRC. Anthem Press mentions there is an e-book version but we could not find it. A French version is to be published by the Presses de l'Université Laval and IDRC under the title: La lutte contre le tabagisme en Afrique. 

Tobacco Control in Africa: People, Politics and Politicies, a personal opinion

In his foreword, Dr. Akinkugbe talks of a "magnus opus, a monumental work", while for Evan Blecher, it "sets new standards for tobacco control research on the continent".
Written by IDRC's grantees, published (paid for) by IDRC, this is an hymn to IDRC: self-inflated, self-congratulatory, self-serving, it conveniently ignores the many problems and failures linked to the ATSA program. Considering the amounts invested, the final result is incredibly small and of very limited use. A very inconvenient and unacceptable assessment for all those who were/are part of the IDRC system. The book is a PR smokescreen for a very defective and wasteful project.

What transparency and accountability for foundations?

What transparency and accountability for foundations were issues discussed in this article in the Guardian.

Uganda: plenty of pictures of the capacity building workshop on Facebook

Here. Any question?

Uganda: Dr. Possy Mugyenyi urges the government to pass a tobacco control law

Dr. Possy Mugyenyi, previously manager of the Uganda National Expansion Programme on Immunisation and now manager of the newly created Center for Tobacco Control in Africa made a presentation on September 21 at the All for Health One Health conference . See the pdf documents here page 1 and page 2. Read also on Facebook about the visit and 3 day capacity building workshop conducted by ATCC.

Mike Bloomberg: taking action today against tobacco... How does that apply to Africa

Mike Bloomberg affirms again his conviction against tobacco and describes what can/should be done. He gives the example of New York City. Can the same strategy be successfully implemented in Africa? What are the roadblocks? How best to organize? How best to use the millions he and Bill Gates generously give? How best to communicate about what is achieved?

How difficult is it to speak truth to power at the Gates Foundation?

Seattle based blogger Tom Paulson reports about the articles devoted to the Gates Foundation published in the new issue of Alliance Magazine. He refers to Timothy Ogden's introduction that points out to the difficulty of honest feedback: under the headline Speaking truth to power, Ogden writes that it is increasingly difficult for anyone to speak truth to power at the Gates Foundation. We were surprised at the number of people who responded to our requests for submissions with some version of ‘I’d love to talk about that, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to comment publicly’.

Another job opening in Kampala for the WHO project of the African Tobacco Control Center

The deadline to apply for this position (12 months) as Project Officer for the African Tobacco Control Resource Center (ATCRC) is September 19. I wonder who are the Senior Project Officer and the Director mentioned in the ad. For some background about the project, this interview with Vinayak Prasad in 2010. The link to the previous ad, for a Tobacco Control Specialist with ATCRC (deadline September 15).

The Gates Foundation gives $18 million to the Bloomberg Family Foundation with a special emphasis on tobacco control in Africa

Visiting the site of the Gates Foundation for tobacco control projects (scroll on the right to recent grants), I found this information, without any additional detail (for now).

 Grantee: Bloomberg Family Foundation

Date: July 2011

Purpose: to reduce tobacco use in low and middle-income countries with priority focus on Africa

Amount: $18,000,000

Term: 2 years and 9 months

Topic: Tobacco

Region Served: Global

Program: Global Health

Grantee Location: New York, New York

Grantee Web site: Not available

Looking for a site I could not find any (yet). Here is the link to Bloomberg.org. I did leave them a message asking for more details.

 

Bill Gates in China: 'Say No to Involuntary Smoking"

Bill Gates participated to a press conference where he put on a green T-Shirt with the slogan: Say No to involuntary smoking. That was the first time he got involved with the issue since the launch of his $125 million gift with Mike Bloomberg on July 23 2008. As of today there is no post on his personal site.

WHO's performance to be independently evaluated?

An independent performance evaluation, reforms for more transparency and accountability? Read Margaret Chan's final speech at the General Assembly. The implementation of those goals is another story. What about detailing how the $9.9 million given by the Gates Foundation are used?

Small grants are beautiful, but are there any?

This post is about the effectiveness of "small" grants ($5.000/$10.000 and under). What happened to small grants in the strategy of the present programs? 

American Cancer Society awarded $451,720 by the Gates Foundation (in October 2010)

Visiting the site of the Gates Foundation, I discover that the American Cancer Society was awarded in October 2010 a grant of $451,720, apparently relative to tobacco control in Africa. My guess is it was used (in part?) to fund the conference in Johannesburg. Was that a wise investment considering the Consortium (managed by ACS for $300K per year, $1.5 million total for 5 years) now tells us there is not enough money available to work with all African countries?

Bill Gates priorities: total transparency, rigorous assessment of cost-effectiveness, impact evaluation

In this post on his blog Bill Gates explains how he is going to look for additional sources of financing for development and aid, including a Financial Transaction Tax (sometimes called Robin Hood Tax). He also writes:  I'll have three principles in mind throughout. The first is total transparency around all types of investments. The second is rigorous assessment of the cost-effectiveness of interventions, so we know we're getting value for money. The third is impact evaluation, so we are clear about results and can learn lessons and improve.

ATCA's commitment to transparency and accountability

ATCA's commitment to transparency and accountability is part of its constitution (pdf), starting with a mention in the section 4.6 devoted to Principles and Values (p.6): b) transparency c) accountability.
That translates into obligations that are detailed below.

Who's Who? The staff of the African Tobacco Control Consortium

The ATCC site lists the staff positions but does not provide the names or short bios of the persons in charge. Find below our attempt at more transparency by providing you with this information collected thanks to Google and various sources (like Linkedin).

Gates Foundation: Jeff Raikes still concerned about getting feedback

From an article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy

Mr. Raikes also said the foundation is continuing to explore new ways to improve communication with grantees following a critical report last June in which many nonprofits complained that Gates is often unresponsive.

He said the foundation is working with the Center for Effective Philanthropy, the group that produced the report, to identify new avenues for eliciting feedback from grantees. Perhaps foundations could use online tools like Survey Monkey, which enable people to easily create and send out surveys, to engage with grantees, Mr. Raikes said.

“Our sector in general needs to put itself in a position of more continuous feedback loops,” he said.

Indicators for a transparent management scorecard

Following up on the need for more transparency (and accountability) that has been at the core of this blog, I have listed 10 indicators that I believe would be helpful to assess how organizations are performing. Here they are:

1. Names, bios of the staff and contact email (program, project managers, all staff involved)
2. Detailed annual report explaining the activities
3. Detailed annual operational budget (easy to find and providing key info, see below)
4. Budget for staff and consultants (staff administrative costs)
5. Budget for travel and hospitality (including monthly update and yearly detailed list)
6. Transparency blog providing regular detailed information about the progress of each program/project/grant
7. Open selection process for grant applications (all applications available)
8. Transparency requirement for grantees and sub-grantees (including the 7 first items of this scorecard)
9. Establishment of a benchmark scorecard (baseline) for the project, updated yearly to allow evaluation
10. Willingness to answer questions and provide information (for big institutions, Access to Information person and procedure)

What do you think the score is for each organization involved in promoting tobacco control in Africa?

 

Scorecards and the importance of counting for transparency, accountability, fairness and effectiveness: tools for the Gates Foundation?

The governance and development blog of the Worldbank refers in this post to this very interesting document  (pdf) about the importance of counting and budget transparency, something that does not apply to tobacco control grants to Sub-Sahara Africa.

World Health Organization accountability profile as assessed by One World Trust in 2006

What has changed since this 2006 report?
Source: One World Trust

Johannesburg's meeting: Day 3 in the ACS blog

Here is the post about the last day of the Johannesburg's meeting. Was anything concrete and specific decided? We could not tell. Can you? The taboo question we cannot resist to ask, is: How much did that cost?

Does Gates funding of media taint objectivity?

That's the title of this article in the Seattle Times by Sandi Daughton and Kristi Heim. What do you think?

Day 2 of the ATSA meeting in Johannesburg - on Cancerblogs

This post on Cancerblogs presents Day 2 of the ATSA meeting.

Day 1 of the ATSA meeting in Johannesburg - on Cancerblogs

The blog of the ACS has this post of the first day of the ATSA meeting. 

A special grant from the Gates Foundation funded the meeting in Johannesburg

There is no mention of the amount of the grant, nor is it posted (at this time) on the Gates Foundation website where the last tobacco control grant mentioned is about a conference financed in Oakland. The first grant allocated in the program, in 2007, was for a conference in Oxford.

Source: January 2011 issue of the African Consortium's Newlsetter.

The program of the ATSA meeting in Johannesburg (February 1-3 2011)

Read the program (Google doc.)

African Tobacco Control Consortium: The January 2011 Newsletter

The January 2011 Newsletter is now available. It announces the 4 projects awarded "small" grants (from Algeria, Bénin, Botswana and Zambia), the organization of the big ATSA meeting in Johannesburg in early February and the names of the members of a committee of researchers.