As it's grey and cold today I have decided to look at the relevant numbers for the grants awarded to promote tobacco control in Africa during the period 2007 to November 2013. I mostly computed the data for the grants awarded by CTFK for the Bloomberg Initiative, comparing them with the grants awarded by the Gates Foundation.
Those numbers don't tell the whole story as additional funding was awarded by other organizations (like the Norwegian Cancer Society that awarded each year about 50K, most recently to ATCA) or was not made public: how much was spent by the Union (or others) to finance workshops, conferences, etc.
CTFK awarded about $6 million ($6.013.409?) while the Gates Foundation has given about $24 million, $6 million to IDRC (probably less because of the unexpected cancellation), about $8 million to the American Cancer Society for the African Consortium (plus $451.720 for the Joburg conference), $10 million for WHO.
What was produced since 2007 with those $30 million? How were they spent?
It's not very easy to figure that out because there is a huge lack of transparency as far as the management of those funds is concerned.
Since IDRC was a public corporation obliged to provide information requested by any Canadian resident, I was able to get some details of their financial management, including the almost $1 million spent in travel and hospitality expenses. As for now, the Gates Foundation and its grantees, the World Health Organization and the American Cancer Society have been completely opaque about their detailed budgets and their African partners followed their lead.
One only knows that ACS planned to collect $300K per year for coordinating the Consortium.
What was achieved for those $300K remains a mystery as remain all the rest, despite the continuous promises of full transparency, independent auditing.
During the Dakar conference about the future of tobacco control in Africa, it was mentioned that consultants for the Gates Foundation had audited the Consortium (and ACS?) but this report has not been made public.
Can we hope for more transparency in the future? Could the ongoing process to select a coordinating organization for the next 3 years be transparent (starting with the candidacies) and participatory?
CTFK awarded about $6 million ($6.013.409?) while the Gates Foundation has given about $24 million, $6 million to IDRC (probably less because of the unexpected cancellation), about $8 million to the American Cancer Society for the African Consortium (plus $451.720 for the Joburg conference), $10 million for WHO.
What was produced since 2007 with those $30 million? How were they spent?
It's not very easy to figure that out because there is a huge lack of transparency as far as the management of those funds is concerned.
Since IDRC was a public corporation obliged to provide information requested by any Canadian resident, I was able to get some details of their financial management, including the almost $1 million spent in travel and hospitality expenses. As for now, the Gates Foundation and its grantees, the World Health Organization and the American Cancer Society have been completely opaque about their detailed budgets and their African partners followed their lead.
One only knows that ACS planned to collect $300K per year for coordinating the Consortium.
What was achieved for those $300K remains a mystery as remain all the rest, despite the continuous promises of full transparency, independent auditing.
During the Dakar conference about the future of tobacco control in Africa, it was mentioned that consultants for the Gates Foundation had audited the Consortium (and ACS?) but this report has not been made public.
Can we hope for more transparency in the future? Could the ongoing process to select a coordinating organization for the next 3 years be transparent (starting with the candidacies) and participatory?
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