Tobacco Control in Africa - TCA

The opaque transparency of the Gates Foundation

Revisiting the website of the ACBF we discover this press release from the Gates Foundation dated November 19, 2014 announcing continued support for tobacco control in Africa. BUT, while this text lists the organizations the Foundation is partnering with, it does not provide any $ figure about the budgets awarded to each of them. At the same time, Cynthia Lewis writes:
You asked for more transparency in grant making, better role clarity and coordination among partners and grant makers, and direct investment in a strategic African organization that can help build capacity.
The problem (as we see it) is that she does not provide any detailed information besides the names of the 'intermediaries". Visiting, for instance, the CTFK site we were unable (as of today) to find any reference to a grant awarded in 2015 to an African country. As for the grant awarded to ACBF, we don't know it's size nor is there much detail about how it is going.

(After some more investigating we found that the ABCF grant seems to be for $8.5M, while the grant for surveys by the CDC Foundation would be $4.6M: that still leaves $18.5M unaccounted for -how much for CTFK? how much for WHO?- and there is very little detail about how all those amounts are going to be used. We should not have to go looking : why isn't all the info given upfront? That would be real transparency).

Cynthia also mentions that: As you know, we are also supporting some social marketing and behavior change work against tobacco use in Africa as a complement to important and ongoing policy work.
Well, we don't know about that. What is it about?

Susan Desmond-Hellman: The Gates Foundation needs more transparency

The Chronicle of Philanthropy tells us about a talk delivered by Susan Desnond-Hellman where shew mentions the need for more transparency and listening to feedback. We wish this would not be only wishful thinking as far as the grants awarded by the Gatews Foundation to promote tobacco control in Africa are concerned.  but a very small part of the Foundation's activity but why should they be exempt of the transparency requirement?

Philamplify: honest feedback to improve philanthropy

Philamplify is an interesting initiative by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy to promote honest feedback to improve philanthropy. As for now it does not seem to include international projects but it is still worth examining.

Veteran's Day: what about looking back at the most recent battles in the tobacco war and discussing about the future?

As you can see from the most recent posts I have started to look at what happened in the past, especially since 2007/2008 when philanthropists Bloomberg and Gates provided millions of dollars that changed the face of tobacco control and I am wondering about what's next, especially, very concretely what is the Gates Foundation going to decide as they look for an organization to promote tobacco control in Africa for the next 3 years. I have a feeling of déja vu and fait accompli while at the very same time hoping for a change, a new practice in the process of grant management, engaging the whole community, including potential 'dissenters'. Making this wish I am only taking the word of CEO Jeff Raikes when he described his '3Ts priorities' in the speech he gave in Belfast in June 2012.
I have a few ideas about encouraging everybody to pitch in, share their personal evaluation of what happened since 2007/08 and offer suggestions/wishes for the next 3 years. Stay tuned.

Jeff Raikes about Philanthropy, Technology, Transparency and Teamwork.

Here is the whole text of the conference given by Jeff Raikes on June 5, 2012. Read it all and especially the parts at the end devoted to Transparency and Teamwork. I have reproduced the text below for 'safekeeping' because my experience has been that sometimes links were broken, texts were deleted and the original material was lost. Yes this also happened on the website of the Gates Foundation and for information about the tobacco control grants. 

 

Let us do the numbers for the last seven years (2007-2013)

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.

Rachel Kitonyo's presentation in Dakar (May 15) during the What future for tobacco control in Africa meeting, including our comments and questions

What to retain of Rachel's presentation (as it is summarized below in French -as the report in only available in French for now- with our partial translation in English of what we consider the key points, colored in yellow with our comments in italics and colored in pale blue).
As diplomatic and vague as the presentation is summarized, it does raise a significant number of issues about how the program was/is managed. How can the apparently badly needed changes be implemented? Or is everything going to remain the same?

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?

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.

About the Gates Foundation

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

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?

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.
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•  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 
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Facsimile: 613-235-6391
[email protected]

 

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’.

Honest Feedback, Questions to the Gates Foundation

Honest Feedback, Questions to the Gates Foundation is a small book (80 pages) by Philippe Boucher, now available in paperback via the internet print on demand publisher Blurb.com and also as an e-book via Amazon-Kindle. Just click on Blurb or Kindle and get a copy.
Philippe Boucher -who also manages the blogs Tobacco Control in Africa and Vers une Afrique Sans Tabac- shares his thoughts about the promotion of tobacco control in Africa and the role played by the Bloomberg Initiative and the Gates Foundation. A rare independent point of view, as 'not many speak their mind to the Gates Foundation'. The book is dedicated to the Foundation's CEO, Jeff Raikes who calls regularly for honest feedback. See also this interview of Boucher.

 

Honest Feedback, Questions à la Fondation Gates

Honest Feedback est un petit livre (aussi en format e-book) que j'ai commis (en anglais seulement pour le moment) dans lequel j'exprime mes commentaires et mes suggestions sur la manière dont ont été et sont gérés les fonds substantiels investis par Michael Bloomberg et Bill Gates pour soutenir la promotion de la lutte anti-tabac en Afrique.