WFP on Somalia

From WFP:

Our latest images from the Horn of Africa may be heartbreaking to view, but they also show the difference we can make with your help.

Thanks to the generosity of thousands of people across the globe, we’re already reaching millions of people affected by famine in Somalia and the hunger crisis in Kenya and Ethiopia. Every 50 US cents donated means another day of food for a hungry child or woman on the edge of survival.

Whether you’ve made a donation, spread the word, or supported WFP in other ways, thank you for your commitment as we respond to this emergency and continue our other lifesaving operations around the world. Visit our crisis page for the latest information.

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Free Global Health Teaching Tools

Today, the Global Health Delivery Project (collaboration between Harvard Medical School, Harvard Business School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital) will make public and free 21 teaching case studies which take a close look at health care delivery in developing countries; Rwanda, Haiti, India, etc. Students will be able to access these cases and put themselves in the role of the “decision maker,” looking at the principals of health care delivery in situations where politics, the economy and geography need to be taken into account. The cases have already been taught at Harvard Business School, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard College and MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

This is the first time something like it has been made free and open for the public to download. Ultimately it’s a prime example of the growing partnership lead by Paul Farmer among Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s and Partners In Health – all three considered the “Global Health Delivery Partnership.”

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Somalia Famine Facts

* Nearly 12 million people in the Horn of Africa are in food crisis. Somalia, which already had one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world, is the hardest hit.

* Despite progress being made in the last seven days with donor governments pledging support, a shortfall of around 800 million USD still remains.

* High cereal and fuel prices were making pastoralists’ lives difficult before the current drought. Cereal prices are at an all-time high, with the cost of some commodities up by 270% in some southern areas of Somalia.

* According to the ODI, 'It is far too late to address anything but the worst symptoms. Measures that could have kept animals alive – and provided milk, and income to buy food – would have been much cheaper than feeding malnourished children, but the time for those passed with very little investment.’

* USAID issued early warning about food security in East Africa in November 2010.

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

BBC World News Explores the World of Global Health

Thursday 21 July, 2011. BBC World News will broadcast a new weekly magazine programme, The Health Show starting on 23 July 2011. The 26 part series will cover a range of important global health issues.

The series will report from around the world and focus on regions where people are vulnerable to specific health issues. It will examine the latest scientific and technological advances, as well as explore new medical insights into the biggest health challenges and dilemmas.

Hosted by presenters Dr Ayan Panja and Dr Shini Somara, the series will broadcast weekly on Saturdays and Sundays. Somara and Panja will introduce a series of short films from around the world, speak to key players in global health and explore the most important and intriguing new medical devices and innovations.

Emma De’Ath, Commissioning Editor, BBC World News says, “Health is an area that we know our global audience wants more of, so we’re really excited to have this new weekly show coming to the World News Channel. The team will be actively seeking the audience’s response to these health stories which have global relevance and offer a window into the future of medicine”

Episode One - 23 July 2011

New circumcision device

The lead story in the first episode is male circumcision; the team visits Rwanda where the government wants to circumcise two million men by the end of 2012. Circumcision reduces the chances of men being infected with HIV by sixty per cent. The show examines a new device that offers a bloodless method of circumcision that doesn’t require anaesthetics or sterile environments.

Ultra Sound Surgery

A focus on how doctors in Oxford are testing technology developed in China to destroy cancerous tumours using non-invasive ultrasound rather than perform surgery.

Health Show “soap”

Over the course of the series The Health Show will base itself at a health institution in different parts of the world to produce a series of fly on the wall films. The first soap is with an organisation in Lesotho in Southern Africa which provides transport for health workers. Each year millions of people die from easily preventable diseases because health workers do not have reliable transport. The film follows a nurse on his journey by motorbike on snow covered mountain tracks to meet his patients.

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

IRC response to East Africa drought

A protracted drought - the worst in 60 years - is ravaging much of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. Today the United Nations declared a state of famine in some parts of southern Somalia.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is scaling up our relief efforts to aid people affected by this humanitarian crisis. We are providing lifesaving water and other aid to thousands of people in the Horn of Africa and East Africa.

There is a special report here: http://www.rescue.org/drought-east-africa, and an appeals page to donate funds in support of our relief efforts: http://www.rescue.org/drought.


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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

New Book from Laurie Garrett

Dear Colleague,

With the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 and anthrax attacks approaching, I wanted to let you know about a new eBook by Laurie Garrett, director of CFR’s Global Health program, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and author of two prior bestellsers. I Heard the Sirens Scream: How Americans Responded to the 9/11 and Anthrax Attacks is the result of eight years of investigation and research and provides a narrative for the events that unfolded between early September 2001 and late January 2002.

The first part of the eBook is a firsthand account of the 120 days following September 11, 2001, through a compilation of daily missives Garrett sent to close friends and colleagues. The second part examines what was in the plume of smoke and debris that blew up from the World Trade Center for three months, and was inhaled by millions. It also offers insight into the anthrax investigation and attacks. Garrett determines that the political lessons derived from the events were largely incorrect.

I Heard the Sirens Scream: How Americans Responded to the 9/11 and Anthrax Attacks has been self-published by Garrett, and is only available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/HEARD-SIRENS-SCREAM-Americans-ebook/dp/B005DFHYQK/.

You can also visit Garrett’s website at www.lauriegarrett.com, where never-before-seen photographs of the events can be viewed and visitors can add their own personal 9/11 stories or reactions to the book.

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Let’s Reinvent the Toilet

From Frank Rijsberman:

Greetings from the AfricaSan3 Conference in Kigali, Rwanda. I am thrilled to be one of the first to share the details of the foundation’s new sanitation-focused strategy, which Sylvia Mathews Burwell, President of our Global Development program, announced in her keynote address this morning.

As Sylvia noted in her speech, the sanitation revolution has done more to save lives and improve health than any public health intervention in the past 200 years. But the flush toilet has only reached one-third of the world’s population. Clearly, we need to encourage new ideas and new approaches to accelerate safe and affordable access to sanitation for everyone.

That is why the foundation has today announced $41.5 million in new program investments and a new program strategy.

Some of these funds will be used to spur innovation in sanitation science and technology, which includes the capture and storage of human waste, as well as its processing into reusable energy, fertilizer, and fresh water. To learn more about some exciting “Toilet 2.0” concepts, check out our Grand Challenges Explorations and Reinventing the Toilet Challenge fact sheets.

We recognize, however, that we can also do more with existing solutions. As Rose George emphasized last week, progress is being made on community-led efforts to end open defecation. So we are supporting initiatives to improve and scale-up these successful approaches.

Finally, we need to support creative new approaches to policy and advocacy that take an unapologetically direct approach to poop and the huge pile of problems that it creates. We hope that the video we have created for our launch helps to break the silence of the “last taboo.” Enjoy!

More to Explore Our Work in Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene Press Release: Gates Foundation Launches Effort to Reinvent the Toilet Video: Reinventing the Toilet

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Make Your Mark on The World Friday July 29th, 8pm-12am

Givology and the M. Night Shyamalan Foundation (MNSF) will host “Make Your Mark on the World” on Friday, July 29th from 8PM to 12AM at Griffin, a cocktail lounge located in the Meatpacking district of Manhattan.

This
exclusive, invite-only event celebrates the new partnership between
Givology and MNSF. Givology and MNSF will welcome the MNSF co-founders
M. Night and Bhavna Shyamalan, members of the Givology board, as well
as partners, supporters, friends, and media at “Make Your Mark on the
World,” a partnership launch and art exhibition event. By invitation
only.


To inquire about an invitation, contact Julia Gooding at julia.gooding@givology.org.

When: Friday, July 29th, 2011, 8PM-12AM, VIP event 7PM-8PM
Where: Griffin located in New York City’s meatpacking district at 50 Gansevoort Street
Who: Supporters of Givology and the M. Night Shyamalan Foundation, plus partners, board members, friends and media
What:
- Givology and M. Night Shyamalan Foundation Partnership Launch
- Keynote Address by Valentino Achak Deng
- Address by M. Night Shyamalan, Oscar-nominated producer, director, and screen writer

- Auction and sale of the 30-panel mural created by Joseph
Kilrain. Dozens of artworks from partners and students from around the
world on display
- Make Your Mark film debut by the Jubilee Project

Access:
VIP Access: 7PM to 8PM – RSVP required for guest list by July 22nd.
Main Event Access: 8PM to 12AM – By Invitation Only, RSVP for guest list required by July 22nd.


Can't make it? No problem, we still need your help!
Make a donation to Givology today!

About the Keynote Speaker, Valentino Achak Deng

Valentino Achak Deng's life has been described by The New York Times as a testament "to human resilience over tragedy and disaster." Born in the village of Marial Bai, in Southern Sudan, he was forced to flee in the 1980s, at the age of seven, when civil war erupted. As one of the so-called Lost Boys, he trekked hundreds of miles, pursued by animals and government militias, and lived for years in refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. He eventually resettled in America, to a new set of challenges. Deng's life is the basis of Dave Eggers' epic book What Is the What, which Francine Prose calls "an extraordinary work of witness, and of art." In 2009, as part of his Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, he opened the Marial Bai Secondary School, the region's first proper high school.

Valentino Deng spent his formative years in refugee camps, where he worked as a social advocate and reproductive health educator for the UN High Commission for Refugees. He has toured the United States and Europe, telling his story and becoming an advocate for social justice and the universal right to education. In 2006, Deng collaborated with Dave Eggers on What Is the What, an international bestseller that is now required reading on college campuses across America. With Eggers, Deng is co-founder of the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, which helps rebuild Sudanese communities by providing educational opportunities and facilities.


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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

AVAC says results of new PrEP trials provide clear evidence that antiretroviral drugs for prevention can help end the AIDS epidemic; calls for quick a

New York, July 13, 2011 – Results from two African studies of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, released today provide clear evidence that the antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV can also be used to prevent HIV among heterosexual men and women at risk of HIV infection.

“These results are tremendously exciting and confirm that we are at pivotal period in the AIDS epidemic,” said Mitchell Warren, AVAC executive director. “Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for HIV treatment began to turn the tide of the epidemic 15 years ago, and it is clear that also using ARVs for HIV prevention will strengthen our response to AIDS. PrEP, ARV-based microbicides and treatment as prevention are powerful tools to help end the cycle of new infections and end the epidemic.”

“We now have data that earlier treatment initiation in HIV-positive people can reduce risk of HIV transmission—and that use of ARVs in HIV-negative people can reduce risk of infection. There is a global imperative to act on these results without delay,” Warred added. “Now is the time to include ARV-based prevention in national plans, applications to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and donor priorities. We need ambitious pilot and demonstration projects to guide programmatic design, along with national and international guidance on how best to use ARVs as lifesaving prevention tools. The next steps will not be simple but they will be essential. Scientific data do not change the world—programs and policies backed by civil society, donors, implementers and governments do. The countries where PrEP trials took place should lead the way in these critical efforts.”

“We congratulate the trial sponsors, scientific collaborators and partners who conducted these trials. We especially want to thank the more than 10,000 men and women whose altruism and commitment as trial volunteers made this effort possible,” Warren said. “These volunteers and their communities have made an inestimable contribution to HIV prevention research and to the eventual development of new ways for men and women to protect themselves from HIV.”

The Partners PrEP study in Kenya and Uganda enrolled 4,758 heterosexual couples in which one partner was HIV-positive and the other HIV-negative. The trial showed that both tenofovir (TDF, marketed as Viread) and tenofovir plus emtricitabine (TDF/FTC, marketed as Truvada) taken daily can reduce the risk of HIV transmission among both men and women. In the trial, daily oral TDF reduced HIV risk by an estimated 62 percent infections (95% CI 34 to 78, p=0.0003) and daily oral TDF/FTC reduced HIV risk by an estimated 73 percent (95% CI 49 to 85, p<0.0001) when compared to a placebo. Both drugs were effective in both men and women, and there were no significant safety events in the trial.

Separately, the TDF2 study in Botswana enrolled just over 1,200 sexually active men and women. At the time of its completion, TDF2 was an expanded safety trial that was not designed to provide information on effectiveness. However, analysis of final data on numbers of infections in the active and placebo arms indicated that daily oral TDF/FTC reduced the risk of HIV infection in both men and women participants by an estimated 62.6 percent (95% CI 21.5 to 83.4, p=0.0133) compared to those who received the placebo.

AVAC looks forward to continued discussion of the meaning of these findings for men and women in different contexts. Additional data from these studies not released today, but expected over the coming months, will help guide these discussions. These include data on drug resistance from Partners PrEP, data on drug levels in blood plasma, cells and tissue samples, viral genotyping of infecting strains within Partners PrEP couples to identify linked and unlinked transmissions, and other information.

These results add to a growing body of evidence confirming the powerful potential of antiretroviral drugs for HIV prevention. This includes the positive results of the iPrEx trial, a study of daily oral TDF/FTC in gay men, other men who have sex with men, and transgender women, which showed a 44 percent reduction in HIV risk compared to placebo; CAPRISA 004, a trial of 1% tenofovir gel in heterosexual women, which showed that women who received the gel had an estimated 39 percent lower risk of infection compared to those who received an inactive placebo gel; and HPTN 052, which demonstrated a 96 percent reduction in HIV transmission among HIV serodiscordant couples when the HIV-positive partner received early antiretroviral treatment.

“At this critical juncture in biomedical prevention research, it is essential that governments, program implementers and donors move with speed to identify and enact the next steps suggested by the findings from these two trials of pre-exposure prophylaxis and from other recent successful trials,” Warren said.

Today’s findings make even more critical that stakeholders act on recommendations put forward in the statement, “We CAN End the AIDS Epidemic,” which has been endorsed by more than 30 organizations and close to 400 individuals around the world to date. Next steps should include:

• • Trial teams and Gilead, which donated the study drug, should ensure continued access to study drug for all participants in the Partners and TDF2 studies, including those in the placebo arms.
• • National governments should work with donors and program implementers to identify the implementation research needed to address unanswered questions and evaluate the potential impact of PrEP in key populations and contexts and to evaluate treatment as prevention, building on the result from HPTN 052.
• • At national and international levels, new findings from Partners and TDF2 as well as data from iPrEx and HPTN 052, should be integrated into ongoing strategic planning, funding proposals for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and other processes.
• • National AIDS programs along with civil society and other key partners must swiftly develop clear messages for a range of audiences, including at-risk individuals and communities, program implementers, policy makers, regulators and others, about what these data mean—and what questions remain to be answered.
• • Funders, trial sponsors and researchers should prioritize additional research for PrEP and microbicides using different agents and mechanisms of delivery.

“Because the drugs evaluated in the Partners and TDF2 PrEP trials are licensed and available as treatment for HIV-positive people, men and women at risk of HIV infection need immediate information about what these data tell us and what questions remain. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moved quickly to provide interim guidance for PrEP use among men who have sex with men in the United States following the data from the iPrEx trial. Now CDC should move quickly to issue updated guidance for all populations in which PrEP has been shown to be effective.

At the same time, the World Health Organization (WHO) must move quickly to develop guidance for all populations for whom PrEP has now been shown to be effective,” Warren said. “And African countries, especially those where these trials took place, must also move quickly to determine the place of both PrEP using TDF/FTC or TDF, as well as earlier initiation of ARVs, in national prevention programs.”

In addition, the VOICE trial, which is looking at the use of oral PrEP and vaginal microbicides among women in several African countries, is expected to provide additional data that may help guide both PrEP and microbicide programs. “We know that the VOICE team and its independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board will be carefully reviewing the data from both of these trials and evaluating the potential impact on VOICE, and that the trial will provide critical additional information about both PrEP and tenofovir gel microbicides.” Warren said. Results from the VOICE trial are expected in 2012. Forthcoming data from the FEM-PrEP trial, which was stopped earlier this year after it was determined that the trial would not be able to provide an efficacy result, will also provide additional information about PrEP use among women.

More information is needed about issues such as adherence and possible drug resistance as well as optimal program design, integration of PrEP and earlier ART initiation into comprehensive prevention programs, and cost. Gilead announced earlier this month that it would make both drugs studied in these trials available to the UNITAID patent pool, which seeks to make generic versions of ARVs more affordable in developing countries, and which may help make PrEP more affordable.

Adherence—the ability to take PrEP as prescribed by the trial protocol—is a critical component of efficacy. Initial findings from the Partners PrEP study showed high reported adherence for the once-daily regimen. It will be important to learn why and how adherence was high in this study and what lessons can be learned for eventual rollout of PrEP. At the same time, research into intermittent dosing (e.g., weekly, semi-weekly or around the time of sex), which may be easier from some people to adhere to, is needed. Moreover, additional research is still urgently needed for other methods where adherence is less important, such as vaginal rings with monthly release, periodic injectable forms of ARVs and vaccines.

As with other HIV prevention trials, Partners and TDF2 provided a comprehensive HIV prevention package. All trial participants received condoms, safer sex counseling and treatment of sexually transmitted infections. Female participants were also provided with effective contraception. Participants were frequently tested for HIV and were intensely counseled on the importance of adhering to the daily regimen and using condoms and other prevention options—a level of counseling and testing not easily achieved outside of a clinical trial.

Demonstration projects and additional research can provide important information about how PrEP programs should be structured to account for these “real world” issues. Such projects should be prioritized and fully funded to provide answers as quickly as possible.

“As we move towards PrEP implementation, it is critical to remember that millions of HIV-positive people around the world lack access to the HIV treatment they need, which is often the same drug used in these trials,” Warren said. “We can and must find a way to ensure that PrEP is a part of comprehensive, well-funded response to HIV. That means ensuring access for all who need it to existing HIV prevention and treatment options, including universal access to treatment and care, PrEP, treatment as prevention and medical male circumcision; ensuring continued research to find and refine effective new options, including microbicides, vaccines, new and improved treatment options and a cure; and planning for integrating these new interventions into fully funded combination programs.”

More information on these and other PrEP trials can be found online at www.avac.org/prep. The sign on statement is available at endtheepidemic.org.

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Report on HIV Prevention Research Funding Says New Investment Critical to Capitalize on HIV Prevention Research Breakthroughs

Flexible, agile and generous funding structures needed to ensure development and delivery of lifesaving new options for HIV prevention

Rome (19 July 2011) – In the last year, promising trial results and critical scientific breakthroughs have changed the HIV prevention landscape, providing new opportunities for both a broader response to the epidemic with new prevention options and broader clinical and laboratory agendas with new research targets. At the same time, investment in biomedical HIV prevention research remained stable despite the effects of the recent global economic downturn, according to a new report released today in Rome at the 6th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention.

Capitalizing on Scientific Progress: Investment in HIV Prevention R&D in 2010 is the seventh annual report from the HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Resource Tracking Working Group documenting investments in biomedical HIV prevention research from public, philanthropic and commercial sectors. This year’s report argues that capitalizing on recent promising scientific breakthroughs will require substantial additional and sustained investment from a broader set of donors.

The major, and surprising finding of the report, given the global funding environment, is that overall investment in HIV prevention R&D had actually increased, with the modest exception of a 1 percent decline in vaccine R&D. The report documented a total US$1.19 billion investment in research and development (R&D) for four key HIV prevention options: preventive vaccines, microbicides, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) using antiretroviral drugs, and operations research related to medical male circumcision. Even in the aftermath of a global recession, this investment approached the previous historical high of US$1.23 billion reached in 2007 for these four prevention technologies.

Yet to capitalize on the recent exciting prevention breakthroughs being discussed at the IAS conference, more investment will be needed across prevention technologies and from bench research to operational and implementation research.

“Certainly in this era of economic restraint it is good news that donors continue to see the value of investing in prevention research,” said Paul DeLay, Deputy Executive Director, Programme, UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. “But as we capitalize on the recent breakthroughs and move quickly to make new forms of prevention available to those who need them most, we need donors to also move quickly to ensure that funding shortfalls do not become roadblocks.”

There is an urgent need to direct resources to accelerate promise into progress. Yet the report recognized that funders continue to confront budgetary constraints, with some having reduced or eliminated their HIV prevention research programs altogether. Funding for HIV prevention research also remains highly concentrated among relatively few funders, and the Working Group warns that this narrow base of funding will threaten the sustainable research effort required at this critical time and highlights the need for broadening that base, importantly including emerging economies.

“The recent promising results of PrEP and treatment as prevention trials tell us that thirty years into the epidemic we may finally be on the path to ending AIDS,” said Mitchell Warren, AVAC executive director. “New prevention options – medical male circumcision, PrEP, microbicides and eventually vaccines – will play a critical role in reducing the cycle of new infections. As we look toward the next 30 years of AIDS, investment in prevention research has never been more important. Going forward we need funding structures that are flexible, agile, and generous enough to adapt rapidly to new opportunities.”

"We have seen tremendous progress in HIV prevention research over the last two years," said Margaret McGlynn, President and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). "Sustaining the momentum built through these advances depends on access to stable funding that can be flexibly applied to the most promising areas of research. This will allow us to build upon the field's successes and to move promising concepts from the pipeline into clinical trials as swiftly as possible."

“The recent exciting results in the PrEP and microbicide fields are proof that investment in HIV prevention research is bringing women and men around the world much closer to having a broad range of effective HIV prevention options,” said Zeda Rosenberg, CEO of the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM). “Wise investments now in laboratory and clinical research, and in efforts to roll out new interventions will pay off as HIV infections decline significantly in the coming decades.”

The report is available online at: http://www.hivresourcetracking.org/sites/default/files/RTWG-Capitalizing%20on%20Scientific%20Progress.pdf

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

New Plan International Campaign

It would be great to receive your support in our endeavour to end early and forced marriage. I work for Plan UK, operates in 50 countries, helping to empower and improve the lives of children, their families and their communities in some of the poorest countries. In light of the millennium development goals, Plan, has been running their Because I Am A Girl campaign since 2007 and as part of this, at the end of June this year, Plan, launched it’s call to action, to Take The Vow to end early and forced marriage.

This will not happen overnight of course, however, we wish to get as many people as we can signing our online petition – Take The Vow. This will all contribute to our drive to lobby the British government and international agencies to push early and forced marriage up the political agenda, creating a united global stand to end early and forced marriage.

Ideally, we would like you all to Take The Vow and if feasible to attach links to your website and blog so readers and followers can also click on, sign our petition and Take The Vow to end early and forced marriage. I paste the generic email below with further detail, including links, to join us and help us to widen our reach. Also, once you have signed online you could twitter the below: I’ve just taken Plan UK’s Because I am a Girl vow - sign #takethevow petition too & help end early/forced marriage http://bit.ly/lHt1qt

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Who represents the poor?

In a web-only feature for Boston Review, the distinguished Berkeley economist Pranab Bardhan critiques the role of NGOs in global development. He concludes that many NGOs lack democratic accountability, fail to understand the local conditions of the poor, and are unable to address the full spectrum of the needs of those they seek to help:

NGOs have many concrete achievements to their credit. But no cause is lofty enough to permit its missionaries to dismiss the complexity of issues involved in the problems they hope to remedy or the democratic mechanisms and experiments necessary for finding the best way forward for all parties. While I applaud the causes and admire the dedication of many of the activists, my praise often remains muted, when I consider all the limitations of the NGO movement.

Read the rest here: http://www.bostonreview.net/BR36.4/pranab_bardhan_who_represents_the_poor.php.

Feel free to share this piece with your friends and community.


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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

PRESS RELEASE: Transparency and Accountability Initiative Welcomes Launch of Open Government Partnership

The Transparency &Accountability Initiative welcomes the launch of Open Government Partnership (OGP), a new multilateral initiative that aims to promote more open and accountable government, with the ultimate goals of empowering citizens, countering corruption, promoting economic efficiencies, harnessing innovation, and improving the delivery of services.

In a high level meeting taking place at the U.S. State Department today and presided over by Secretary Clinton and Brazilian Foreign Minister Patriota, ministers from nearly 60 countries join representatives from more than 40 civil society organisations to discuss best practices, tools, technologies and methodologies to enhance open government. This event will set the stage for the formal launch of the Open Government Partnership in September 2011, when the eight founding OGP governments will gather in New York to embrace an Open Government Declaration, announce their country action plans to promote open government principles, and welcome the commitment of additional countries to join the Partnership.

We applaud the leadership of the eight steering committee countries and hope that many other countries will join them this September in taking on bold and powerful open government commitments.

OGP participants will commit to developing their country action plans through a multi-stakeholder process, with the active engagement of citizens and civil society. By asking countries to make new concrete commitments to tackle these issues, and to publicly account for them, OGP creates a unique opportunity for citizens around the world to join in a dialogue with their governments about how to make it more open and accountable.

The Transparency and Accountability Initiative looks forward to encouraging robust civil society participation in public consultations with the eight steering committee countries, so that governments can develop new open government commitments that are responsive to citizens and benefit from their tremendous expertise.

The Transparency and Accountability Initiative has been a strategic partner of OGP since its inception, helping support the initiative's development through the provision of a full-time advisor, and promoting civil society engagement among leading open government activists from around the world. In the last few months, the Transparency and Accountability Initiative has reached out to leading experts across a wide range of open government fields to gather their input on current best practice and the practical steps that OGP participants and other governments can take to achieve it.

The result has been ‘Opening Governments ’ - the first document of its kind to compile the state of the art in transparency, accountability and citizen participation across 15 areas of governance, ranging from broad categories such as access to information, service delivery and budgeting to more specific sectors such as forestry, procurement and climate finance. This resource will be useful not only in informing governments, civil society organizations, the private sector of OGP country commitments, but also more broadly in inspiring new reforms, advocacy and public-private partnerships to create more open governments around the world.

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This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.