Tobacco Control in Africa - TCA

The Bloomberg Initiative says it awarded $100 million in grants since 2007. Mike Bloomberg invested $595 million in tobacco control since 2007. Where did the difference (83.2%) go?

The information is posted on the CTFK blog. Mike Bloomberg very generously invested $125 million in 2006 (with the first grants in 2007), then $250 million in 2008 (convincing the Gates Foundation to invest along $125 million) and lastly $220 million in 2012. My question is: where did the rest of the money go? What happened to the $495 million (83,2%) that were not awarded to grants? How much (for instance) was spent on management? Is any detailed budget available?

And that's ignoring the fact that the total budget was/is more than $595 million as the money was not disbursed at once and produced significant interests (as seen on a much smaller scale for the $7 million given to ACS that have transformed into $8 million now). Transparency anyone?

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 (see their LOI, point V). Here is a link to the African Tobacco Control Resource Center. 

We could not find any detailed and updated financial documents.

Most recent grants from Bloomberg Initiative - CTFK

Since the last time we checked in January, a few new grants have been awarded: to ATCA (182K, February 2013 with 8 target countries), Cameroon ($99K, March 2013). See the details below.

If we add the grants awarded at the end of 2012 we see the financial support is focused on Uganda, Togo, Kenya, Cameroon and ATCA (for their multicountries WAEMU initiative)

One more big meeting: is it the most effective strategy?

ACS + WHO Afro and all the usual main donor organizations have brought together representatives of 22 countries to share their tobacco control experience and expertise. They met for 2 days. What was achieved? At what cost? What was achieved at the various previous similar meetings? Is this the most effective strategy? When will the next meeting take place? At what cost? With what results? Beside a significant budget for travel and hospitality?

Most recent grants from CTFK - Bloomberg Initiative for Kenya, Togo and Uganda

Grants for programs in Kenya,Togo and Uganda (see details below). The grant for Kenya amounts to $49.380, the grant to Togo to $152.963 while 4 grants to Uganda total $456.440.

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.

Evaluation of the tobacco control programs in Africa?

A meeting has taken place in Atlanta at the end of October to look into evaluating tobacco control programs in Africa? Quis custodiet ipsos custodies? Any guarantee of an independent process? ie not having the funders and the people receiving the money self-evaluating themselves? Any hint of the creation of objective benchmarks and a simple scorecard like the one adopted for the EU in 2007?

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?

A mysterious project funded by IDRC: Expanding Fiscal Policies

Discovered on their site but it does not give much details about what it is precisely about, what the budget is, who the African partners are, etc.

USA: Deceptive Telemarketing Linked to Big Charities

From Bloomberg News.

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.

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.

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids: Introducing Eno Isonge, Associate Director of International Communications for Africa?

Visiting the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids staff page, I see "Eno Isonge, Associate Director of International Communications for Africa". Maybe CTFK could provide an introduction? Still no mention of a Director for Africa.
3 days after this post was written, we learned that Joshua Kyallo was nominated as Director of Africa Initiatives but the page listing the staff was not yet updated.

Bloomberg Initiative: $39,709 to support tobacco control regulations in Ghana

The Bloomberg Initative has awarded $39.709 to Vision for Alternative Development to support a "consolidated campaign for the Implementation of the FCTC Article 11 (Pictorial Health Warnings) and implementation of Ghana's Public Health ACT.
According to the BI site, the 6 months project aims to strengthen tobacco control in Ghana by creating the supportive environment necessary for the Implementation of Article 11 of the FCTC.

Bloomberg Initiative: $54,994 to support the enactment of tobacco control regulations in Togo

The Alliance Nationale des Consommateurs et de l’Environnement du Togo was awarded $54,994 in January 2012 by the Bloomberg Initaitive to support the development, adoption and enactment of strong regulations under the Togolese Tobacco Control Law N°2010-017 of 31/12/10. The Executive Director of ANCE is Mr Ebeh Kodjo.
According to the BI site, the project aims to promote the drafting and effective enactment of strong regulations under the Togolese Tobacco Control law.

ACS commitment to Africa

The  American Cancer Society at a side meeting during the  15th WCTOH held in Singapore commended its Africans partners for their dedication and commitment to save millions of lives.

Source: Africa Tobacco Control Consortium Newsletter (text and picture)

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)

Looking back at 2011

A subjective selection of significant posts among the 160 published in 2011 (+ 40 in French on Vers une Afrique Sans Tabac). Sorry but no systematic links (too long to do).

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.

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 )

 

Relevé chronologique des subventions accordées depuis 2007 dans les pays francophones

Avec l'arrivée de la fin de l'année 2011, nous avons effectué un relevé des principaux financements accordés depuis 2007 à la lutte contre le tabagisme en Afrique francophone par l'Initiative Bloomberg ($1.437.146) et la Fondation Gates ($907.158) pour un total de $2.344.304
Il conviendrait d'ajouter à ces sommes les crédits obtenus pas l'OTAF, les "petites" subventions de la FCA et de l'ACS (avant la création du Consortium), les subventions de la Norwegian Cancer Society.

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.

Bloomberg Philanthropies Report 2007-2011: Accelerating the worldwide movement to reduce tobacco use

CTFK blog announces the publication of a 'report' about the Bloomberg Initiative since its start in 2007: it's only a few pages long more like a very small brochure (pdf), titled Accelerating the worldwide movement to reduce tobacco use. What's next? How much of the $500 million funding has been spent? What about the sustainability of the initiative? As for Africa, what perspectives, what strategy, what funding, what governance, what evaluation, what detailed communication? What about the July 2011 grant from the Gates Foundation that is now MIA?

Africa Tobacco Control Consortium: Updates about the projects: 0 article on the site, more info on Facebook

Visiting the site of the Africa Tobacco Control Consortium I looked at the page devoted to the updates about ongoing projects taking place in 10 countries. There was 0 update available. It looks like the most frequently updated channel is their Facebook page. Visiting later the site of ATCRI, I noticed that the French version still did not work. There was very little fresh and precise information and the items were not dated. What are we to think about this new aggressive multinational initiative? The most recent item on their FaceBook page was of August 15 (4 posts on FB). Problems?

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.

How to submit an access to information request to IDRC

How to submit an Access to Information or Privacy Act Request to IDRC

 

Requests for information may be made under the Access to Information Act or the Privacy Act. While procedures are similar, they are not the same. Learn more about submitting: 

• an access to information request
• a request for personal information

 

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Access to Information Ac
To make a request under the Access to Information Act, you may either submit your request on the IDRC Access to Information Request Form or you may write to us stating that your request is pursuant to the Access to Information Act. Your request should be forwarded, along with the CA$5.00 application fee payable to the International Development Research Centre, to the following address:

Legal and Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator
Office of the Secretary and General Counsel
International Development Research Centre
PO Box 8500
150 Kent Street
Ottawa ON  K1G 3H9

Please note

• An application fee of CA$5.00 payable to the International Development Research Centre is required before the processing of your request under the Access to Information Act can begin.
• To make an Access to Information request, you must either be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or have an address in Canada. Canadians living abroad will be required to provide proof of citizenship in order to receive the information they are seeking.
• If you are not a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident and would like to submit a request to IDRC, you should to do so through a representative that is a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, or someone who has an address in Canada.
•  Corporations, businesses, and organizations with a Canadian presence have the right to make an access to Information request.
•  Please note that an applicant may be charged additional search fees and/or preparation fees in regards to a request they have submitted under the Access to Information Act.

Download: Request Access to Information Act form

International Development Research Centre 
Lorraine Gareau 
Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator 
150 Kent Street 
P.O. Box 8500 
Ottawa , Ontario  K1P 0B2
Telephone: 613-696-2348   
Facsimile: 613-235-6391
[email protected]

 

What transparency and accountability for foundations?

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

The answer from the European Commission about our request for information: the announced contract is not yet signed

I received yesterday an email from Mr Thomas Kirchner (see below the content). He explains that "this contract does not yet exist. It is currently under preparation and foreseen to be signed before the end of this year." Therefore there are no documents available. I remain interested in a detailed breakdown of the budget as what was provided raised a certain number of questions that have not been answered. As for an eventual commitment to detailed communication and transparency, the eventual requirements seem limited but one should wait until one can see the actual contract. Mr Kirchner concludes: "Within EuropeAid, Unit D4 (Education, Health, Research and Culture) is in charge of this contract with the WHO and will be available to assist you should you require further clarifications. The Head of Unit responsible is Elisabeth Feret."

Testing the Access to Information procedure of the European Commission

As mentioned recently, the European Commission has awarded a grant to the World Health Organization to support the implementation of the FCTC in low and middle income countries. The budget as presented on line was sketchy. According to the EU principles (article 255 of the Treaty), I filed a request for what should be the whole document via this form available on line.  Once the request is registered they are supposed to provide an answer within a delay of 15 working days: that would be around November 3d. Wait and see.

IDRC, the Access To Information Act and effective communication

The process to request information from IDRC is now clearly mentioned on their site. Requirements: being a Canadian citizen or a resident of Canada, pay a CAD 5 fee. Unfortunately none of the other big donors, Foundations, international institution like WHO or NGO is that transparent despite eventual claims that they are or want to be. Of course it would even be better if the information was readily available so one does not even have to ask for it. That would be proactive disclosure. Visiting the pages devoted to the Research in International Tobacco Control I was unable to find any precise information about the past and ongoing projects. Maybe they are still in the (very slow) process of transferring the info from their previous site. Still... with the staff they have it should not take that long. Why not one or several blogs? But that suggestion I already made 3 years ago... without success. Except for abruptly terminating my communication consulting contract. It remains a valid suggestion.

What happened to the Global Smokefree Partnership?

Visiting the site of the Global Smokefree Partnership after reading Tih's article about the slow growth of smokefree places in Africa it looks like nothing has been posted since november 2010. GSP, managed by ACS had received a grant from IDRC to help ATSA teams in 6 countries: Cameroon, Eritrea, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, Zambia. What happened to this project? What happened to GSP? 

Global Integrity: governance research in Africa

This is a very interesting model. Can you imagine what it could achieve for tobacco control, that none of the present projects is doing, despite much bigger funding? Remember that you first learned about it here. Maybe some of your could be interested to be part of this project as local researchers.

Looking at the recent grant awarded by the European Commission to support the implementation of FCTC in 'lower income countries"

The European Union and the EU countries fund about half of the $9 million FCTC Secretariat budget. The Commission recently awarded WHO-FCTC a complementary grant of Euros 5.2 million. If you want to look at the details of this grant you have to go to this pdf document and scroll down to page 7 to click on the Annex B link and scroll down again. Since I am curious about how funds are allocated I did all those tedious moves. Below are some of my comments.

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).

CTFK awards a $300K grant to the Association pour la Défense des Droits des Consommateurs (ADC) to promote tobacco control in 5 French speaking countries

The $300K grant is awarded to the Association pour la Défense des Droits des Consommateurs (ADC) based in Ndjamena (Chad). The countries involved are Chad, Niger, Burkina, Guinea and Mauritania. It looks like a continuation of a previous grant awarded in 2009 (until July 2011) to the same group to work in Chad, Niger, Burkina and Ivory Coast. As far as we know no report has been made public about what was achieved with the previous grant and how it was managed. Not much is available online about ADC. We found this article and the cyber-interview of Daouda ElDadj Adam by Pascal Bogui, published in 2007 on Pascal's blog (both documents in French).

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.

 

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?

Rethoric Versus Reality: the best and worst of aid agency practices

This is a very interesting and worrying report (pdf format). It nails many UN agencies as performing very poorly as far as transparency, accountability and administrative costs are concerned. Too bad the Aid Watch blog is closing down.

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?

ATSA final report from the Johannesburg's conference: still many unanswered questions

A report (pdf format) about the Johannesburg's conference is available (only in English for now) on the site of the African Consortium. Our requests to know the budget of this conference that was funded by a special grant from the Gates Foundation have remained unanswered. Why is that when the grant funding another tobacco control conference is made public? Could we be shocked by the amount? The report does not provide any numbers or detailed budget about the various past and ongoing projects, nor a serious independent evaluation. While there has never been more money available to promote tobacco control in Africa one can still read that "funding is insufficient". Where is all the money going? Don't ask, don't tell. This practice seems very different from the principles recently stated by Bill Gates himself about transparency, cost-effectivenes assessment and impact evaluation.

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.

The "business" of international aid

An opinion published in the Wall Street Journal. 

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.