Tobacco Control in Africa - TCA

Rachel Kitonyo to leave the Consortium by June 30

Rachel Kitonyo, ATCC's Programs Director, shares this information in an email (see below) received yesterday. It raises (at least for us) a few questions as Rachel had been very instrumental in the creation and management of the Consortium. How will this departure impact the management of ATCC? That remains to be seen as well as the potential changes that could occur following the still mysterious 'evaluation' made by Gates Foundation's advisors as mentioned briefly in the report ( see page 6, only in French for now) about the May 15 meeting "What future for tobacco control in Africa" that took place in Dakar. Rachel's presentation at this meeting is summarized on page 5 and 6.

What is the management overhead for the grants awarded to promote tobacco control in Africa?

This recent article about overhead at big charities invites the question about the management overhead. For instance, what is ACS doing for their apparent very substantial share  ($1.5 million+?) of the Gates Foundation grant ($7 to 8 million)?

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?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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?

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).

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?

 

What makes an effective campaign?

Each campaign needs to have a focus in four areas throughout the campaign. The campaign needs effective management, it needs the right policy, it needs an effective communication strategy and it needs the right network. These elements interplay with each other.

From the Network Advocacy blog.

Day 2 of the ATSA meeting in Johannesburg - on Cancerblogs

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

RDC: Atelier de formation de journalistes à Kinshasa

Radio Okapi présente brièvement cet atelier de formation organisé par ATCRI (pour le Consortium Africain AntiTabac avec les fonds de la Fondation Gates). Il avait été précédé par des sessions similaires au Cameroun, Sénégal et Botswana.

Cameroon: workshop to train and sensitize journalists to tobacco control

20 journalists took part in this one day workshop in Youndé. Strangely there is only an article in English while 80% of people in camaroon are Frencg speaking and the government controlled Cameroon Tribune is bilingual. Why no article in French about this workshop?

Source: Cameroon Tribune by Victorine BIY

The controversy over the Social Innovation grants brings more transparency

Read the story in the Chronicle of Philanthropy and also this opinion piece. What lessons (if any) for the ways tobacco control grants are managed? In this case all the applications and their reviews are going to be made public. One wishes the same could be true as far as the tobacco control grants are concerned.

Quelques précisions sur la conférence CIFCOT 3

Le programme de la conférence et le formulaire de demande de subvention pour y assister sont maintenant disponibles via le site ATCA et les copies postées par nos soins sur google docs. Le formulaire de demande de subvention indique que le nombre de personnes subventionnées via une bourse de participation est limité. Il précise également que les personnes ainsi invitées devront s'engager à assister à toutes les sessions, prendre des notes et partager leur expérience: un blog pour la conférence (voir quelques autres précédents sur la colonne de gauche en bas) semble un outil parfaitement adapté pour atteindre ces objectifs. 

Compiling the data about the grants awarded by the Bloomberg Initiative and the Gates Foundation (via IDRC-ATSA)

While the process for applying to the the round 8 of the Bloomberg Initiative and the round 1 of the Consortium is starting TCA thought interesting to compile the grants awarded by the Bloomberg Initiative and the Gates Foundation (via IDRC-ATSA). 

Bloomberg + Gates (ATSA) distributed to African organizations $5.130.746: BI allocated $3.457.863 (67,3%) and IDRC-ATSA allocated $1.672.884 (32,6%). 

3 countries collected 51.6% of the total (Nigeria, Kenya, Burkina) and the countries/groups funded both by BI and IDRC collected 86%.

Les projets pour le Consortium sont à envoyer à [email protected] avant le 3 août 2010

Francis Ebeh a précisé l'adresse email et posté un nouveau formulaire sur le site ATCA. La date limite est le 3 août 201 (soit d'ici 2 semaines et 3 jours).

Send your concept notes for the ATCC country grant to [email protected] before August 3, 2010

Francis Ebeh has emailed this precision and posted a form that includes the email address on the ATCA's site. The deadline is August 3, 2010.

Appel à projets pour le Consortium Africain de Lutte Contre le Tabac

L'appel à projets annoncé par le Consortium composé de l'American Cancer Society (ACS), Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK), Union contre la tuberculose (Union), et les coalitions Africaines ATCA et ATCRI a pour date limite le 3 août . Le document diffusé ne précise pas où il convient d'adresser les projets. Une lacune qui sera sans doute rapidement comblée. 

Le Consortium est financé par la Fondation Gates.

Tih Armstrong Ntiabang new Media Advocacy and Communications Coordinator with the African Tobacco Control Consortium

Tih announced his nomination on LinkedIn. All our congratulations and best wishes. This information is not -yet- available on ATCA's or ATCRI's sites. Tih had been one of the African journalists invited to cover COP3 in Durban where he had supported the creation of an African network of journalists interested in tobacco control.

In Tobacco Control Journal: IDRC's story as told by Rachel Kitonyo

In the News Analysis section of the June issue of Tobacco Control, Rachel Kitonyo tells the story of IDRC/ATSA as she sees it.

Maybe she could have said the discovery that Barbara McDougall was a board member of Imperial Tobacco was first published on this blog as our Editor was the one who found about this problematic connexion.

The African Tobacco Control Consortium hires

Below is the initial announcement about the creation of 5 jobs by the African Tobacco Control Consortium: 3 based in Lagos (with ATCRI), 2 in Lomé (with ATCA). More details to come.

State of achievement of the various IDRC-ATSA sub-grants. What happens to them?

What will happen to the grants awarded by IDRC under the contract with the Gates Foundation that are not over yet, now that the Foundation has terminated its grant to IDRC? Are concerned 9 grants (at least): ATCA (end date september 22, 2010), ATCRI (september 18, 2010), Kenya (August 31, 2010), Mauritius (August 31, 2010), Senegal (August 28, 2010), Eritrea (July 6, 2010), Nigeria (June 24, 2010), South Africa (June 19), Zambia (June 18). Who is going to manage them?

Qui participera à la réunion de Dakar corganisée par ACTA et le CRDI? Le CRDI devrait-il en être exclu?

Des militants Africains réclament l'exclusion du CRDI de l'organisation de la réunion de Dakar le mois prochain en raison des liens de sa Présidente, Barbara McDougall avec BAT/Imperial Tobacco Canada.

Ils plaident pour que le financement de la réunion soit assuré par d'autres organisations ayant reçu des fonds de la Fondation Gates (comme ACTA ou l'OMS) et que le CDRI soit contraint de rendre les fonds non encore dépensés et de ne plus assurer la gestion du programme qui ne lui aurait pas été confiée si l'appartenance de sa Présidente au CA d'Imperial Tobacco avait été connue de la Fondation Gates.

Quelle est sur ce sujet la position des autres partenaires d'ATCA comme la Société Norvégienne du Cancer, CTFK, FCA? et des autres invités de marque comme l'OMS, le CDC, la Fondation Gates, etc.

La lecture des statuts d'ACTA semble claire avec l'article 4.6 d consacré aux Principes et valeurs précisant en point d: Aucun lien quel qu'il en soit  avec l'industrie du tabac.

Ce principe sera-t-il respecté?

Who will attend the meeting co-organized by ATCA and IDRC in Dakar next month? Should IDRC be excluded?

Some African advocates have asked for IDRC to be excluded from the organization of the Dakar's meeting because of Barbara McDougall's involvement with BAT's Imperial Tobacco Canada and the fact that IDRC concealed this information that would very probably have prevented their contract with the Gates Foundation.

They insist that money should not be an obstacle as the Gates Foundation has recently largely funded ATCA/ACS along with WHO to promote tobacco control in Africa. They also consider that IDRC should give back the money not yet spent and transfer the management of the program to another group without links to the tobacco industry.

It would be interesting to know how ATCA and the other partners think about this situation: the Norwegian Cancer Society, CTFK and FCA are listed as partners on the web page announcing the meeting.. What about other key guests like the Gates Foundation, ACS, Bloomberg,  CDC, World Bank, DFID, WHO... Do they care attending a meeting organized by a group whose Chair is part of the Tobacco Industry? 

ATCA's Constitution is clear on that point: its article 4.6 Principles and values states: d. No linkages whatsoever with the tobacco industry. 

Will this principle be implemented? 

Synthesis of the budget increases in ATSA projects

1. Eritrea: + 64.700, + 60%    2. Kenya: + 63.400, + 53%    3. Nigeria: +62.400, + 52%

4. Mauritius: + 61.142, + 51%,  5. Zambia: +38.700, + 36%,  6. ATCRI: +22.300, + 16%

Total increase: 312.642

Strange increase in the budget of a few projects within the IDRC's ATSA program while the funds allocated to Africa still represent only about 30% of the global budget

In February I had updated the list of the ATSA projects financed by IDRC and I had noted that the budget for Eritrea had increased from 106.300 to 170.000 but I had not checked all the others, thinking it was an isolated change. It looks in fact that several budgets have significantly increased.

When have such changes been decided and why? Is it because many projects have been delayed and granted extensions? Why those delays and why those increases for budgets that were already significant compared to the objectives?

In any case, despite the increases, the funds directly allocated to Africa still represent about 30% of the global budget. Where was the rest spent?

What will happen to the ATSA consultation meeting in Dakar (April 20/22)?

This meeting is jointly organized by IDRC and ATCA. Can ATCA continue to partner with IDRC? What will happen to the meeting? Note the restrictions posted about eventual links to the tobacco industry (the form is at the bottom of the page or reproduced here). Also listed as partners are the Norwegian Cancer Society, CTFK and FCA. Do they also endorse Barbara McDougall's dual role as Director of Imperial Tobacco Canada and IDRC's Chair?

ATCRI's position about Barbara McDougall: an inacceptable conflict of interest

In this March 14 letter to IDRC's President, David Maolone, ATCRI's Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi concludes with the same formula as FCA:

" ATCRI is currently implementing joint projects with the IDRC's program RITC. While we value this relationship, ATCRI has a strict policy of not knowingly contracting with any person or ogranization with ties to the tobacco industry.

We again seek immediate action on this inacceptable conflict of interest."

What's next? 

ATCRI publie une lettre d'information qui massacre la langue française

Ici. Pourquoi ATCRI refuse-t-elle de faire réviser les textes par un(e) francophone? Ce ne sont pourtant pas les ressources financières qui manquent. Publier un document dans un tel charabia ne sert pas l'image ni la crédibilité d'ATCRI, au moins auprès des francophones. Dès la création d'ATCRI en 2008, les versions françaises ont été éxécrables. Pourquoi un tel acharnement alors qu'il serait si simple de faire revoir les textes par quelqu'un qui parle vraiment le français au lieu d'utiliser un stupide robot?

ATCRI presents its projects with IDRC on a new website but it says nothing about IDRC's connection to BAT despite March 14 letter

The new website is atsa.atcri.org. Here is the March 14 dated letter sent by ATCRI's Board to protest Barbara McDougall's link with BAT/ITC.

Aid agencies under pressure to prove how money is spent

A very interesting article from the Business Daily. I like the requirement (to come?) by DFID to allocate 10% of any budget to "outreach/communication" (on page 2). We formulated (to no effect yet) the same suggestion for the tobacco control grants.

The disappearance of the Gates Foundation - 2

In a most recent announcement disseminated by ATCRI (see below) about the $7 million grant provided by the Gates Foundation, the Gates Foundation is not mentioned. For an uninformed reader it could look like the funding comes from the American Cancer Society as they are the only ones presented as funders. A strange omission.

After checking with ATCA's President it appears that the Gates Foundation prefers not to be mentioned. I wonder why.

Uganda: Tobacco control advocates and government officials meet.

ATCRI published this information about a meeting that took place in Uganda on February 9,2010.

Technology for Transparency Network

An interesting project of Global Voices. The technology to promote transparency in the way big and small Foundations and their grantees operate is readily available but they still prefer secrecy. Could the Technology for Transparency Network help promote better/best practices? I have asked them.

Thank you Kristi

Kristi Heim, the Seattle Times journalist who writes the blog The business of giving, gently refers her readers to TCA at the end of her post devoted to the new grants awarded by the Gates Foundation to promote tobacco control in Africa. Thank you Kristi. Our readers know that as much as I admire the generosity of the Gates and Bloomberg Foundations to promote tobacco control I am also very concerned about the way their money is used: I think much more attention should be given to the principles of transparency, good governance, accountability, participation of all, control of travel and hospitality expenses. What lessons (if any) will be learned from the way IDRC managed the first 5.2 million grant?  How will ACS and the Consortium partners integrate those basic principles -or not- in their management remains to be seen.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) announces it is going to manage the next grant given by the Gates Foundation, along with an African Tobacco Control Consortium

As for now there was no announcement on the site of the Gates Foundation on the pages devoted to tobacco control nor on the Gates notes. Here is the text of the press release from ACS.

Atlanta - February 3, 2010 - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given a grant of $7 million over five years to the American Cancer Society to manage the African Tobacco Control Consortium, a global coalition of public health-oriented organizations focusing on using addition to the Society, the consortium includes the Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI), Africa Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA), Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union).

ATCRI annonce une nouvelle version de son site web ... mais la partie en français continue de laisser à désirer

Vous trouverez ci-dessous le texte de l'annonce envoyé par Tosin Orogun sur la nouvelle mouture du site ATCRI. On ne peut qu'encourager ATCRI à vouloir améliorer son site mais lorsque nous l'avons visité le lien vers la partie en français était plutôt décevant:
Important Notice

The French version of our website has been temporarily closed for maintenance, and it will be restored soon.

Thanks

Par ailleurs les problèmes quant à la qualité de l'orthographe et de la syntaxe demeurent: pitié pour la langue française. La solution? Embaucher une personne francophone qui se charge de la traduction. Enfin nous n'avons quasiment pas vu de liens vers les sites/blogs des groupes actifs dans les différents pays.

Togo: ANCE reçoit le soutien du CRDI via ATCRI

ANCE communique à ce sujet dans son nouveau blog en français et en anglais.

Propositions pour un nouveau mode de gestion du financement de la lutte antitabac en Afrique

 
1. Garantir à chaque pays francophone un soutien financier (et pas seulement à une poignée, toujours les mêmes)

 
2. Etablir un système de répartition clair et équitable (une partie fixe de $5000 quelque soit la taille du pays, une partie proportionnelle à la taille démographique du pays, une partie affectée sur des programmes avec des engagements spécifiques)

ATCRI receives 137 100 CAD from IDRC to manage a multicountry program

The succinct description of the project is on IDRC's site. The budget (for 10 months) is US$ 127.293. The countries involved are: Bénin, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Togo and Uganda.

A post on ATCRI's site mentions a first meeting in Lagos in early October.

Quand ATCRI massacre la langue française

Dès le lancement d'ATCRI à Durban en novembre 2008 les francophones n'avaient pu que constater avec tristesse la faiblesse des textes en français, bourrés de fautes de syntaxe et d'orthographe, visiblement produits par un robot ans aucune révision par une personne ayant une connaissance suffisante de la langue française.

ATCA receives a one year grant of $ 281.248 from IDRC (Gates Foundation funding)

The details are on the IDRC's website. This grant awarded on September 22 complements the $50K awarded earlier this year by the Norwegian Cancer Society. IDRC apparently made a mistake between ATCRI and ATCA: ATCRI is mentioned at the start but then ATCA is.

ACS about the recent tobacco control workshop in Ouagadougou

The Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI) hosted a capacity building and strategy workshop for Francophone tobacco control advocates August 20- 23 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Source: ACS blog

Parker Palmer: Am I going to tuck this under the rug and pretend that I don’t know what’s going on?

Am I going to tuck this under the rug and pretend that I don’t know what’s going on? Or am I going to become a moral change agent within my institution and rally like-minded people around me, coalescing our power to bring about institutional change?

Source: Yes Magazine

Agenda de l'atelier de Ouagadougou sur le plaidoyer et la politique de lutte anti-tabac

Cet atelier organisé par l'IRCTA se tient à Ouagadougou. Voir l'agenda ci-dessous.

Akinbode Oluwafemi receives a Bloomberg Tobacco Control Award on behalf of Friends of the Earth Nigeria at the World Conference

FOE Nigeria received the $100K Award for its contribution to monitoring and fighting tobacco industry activities.

Source: ATCRI

Ghana: tobacco control meeting in Accra

An article about this meeting.
Source: Ghana News Agency

Olanrewaju Onigbogi about the creation of the African Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI)

This interview was initially published in the blog Rendez-vous.

May I ask you to introduce yourself by telling us a little about your personal background (education, professional experience) and when, how and why you got involved in tobacco control?

Olanrewaju (Lanre) Onigboji: I am Olanrewaju Onigbogi. I have a medical background with postgraduate training in public health. I am currently the Director of the African Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI). I worked as a researcher and public health physician at the University College Hospital before I was appointed as ATCRI Director. The initiative is a multilateral effort to stem the emerging tobacco epidemic on the continent.