GLOBAL AFFAIRS

GLOBAL AFFAIRS

How permanent will the fight against hunger and poverty be?
We talked to Gargee Ghosh, President of Global Policy & Advocacy at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
15 Jan 2022

The foundation’s mission is to create a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy and productive life. How far are you from achieving this goal?

What drives our work in the countries we serve is the simple and compelling belief that all lives have equal value, and that everyone deserves to lead a healthy productive life. No child should have to die of a disease that we have the cure for – or should have to go to bed hungry and stunted and unable to perform to their fullest potential because they’re poor.

I see the glass as much more half full than the question suggests. Since the early 1960s, we have seen more rapid advances in the essential indicators of human health than in all of human history. Smallpox was eradicated, polio is so close to that point, malaria deaths are a fraction of what they were, and simple interventions such as vaccines and oral rehydration therapy have prevented millions of deaths, particularly of children. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has been an enormous challenge, we remain deeply committed to our belief, the shared vision of the Sustainable Development Goals, and ending extreme poverty.

What programs were in place at the time of COVID-19’s arrival?

COVID-19 impacted every aspect of our work, and the economic fallout from the pandemic has, in lower-income countries, often been as devastating as its health impacts. We have been deeply concerned by the often disparate impact of COVID-19 and its attendant economic fallout on traditionally marginalised groups, particularly women, a point which I think Melinda French Gates helped bring home forcefully during the Generation Equality Forum in Paris.

So, on balance, COVID-19 has had an impact on all of our work, and the work of our grantees and partners, who have been challenged but resilient in the face of a global pandemic. Yes, there have been challenges, but thankfully we have not had to suspend or halt any of our programmes – even as we have taken on a great deal of work in responding to the pandemic itself.

Are there new programmes that have emerged as a result of COVID-19?

Before COVID-19, the foundation had done some work helping strengthen global preparedness against potential pandemics, especially after the West African Ebola outbreak in 2014. COVID made clear that the world was not prepared.

We have therefore increased our attention to where we could contribute to pandemic preparedness going forward, as everyone has seen the importance of being ready for when the next pathogen arises.

Since COVID, the foundation has committed funds towards COVID-19 response efforts. For instance, some of our funds have supported clinical trials through the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator or CEPI. We have committed funds to support COVID-19 vaccine procurement through Gavi’s COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC).

Does the foundation seek to expand the number of grantees, or does it seek to leverage the know-how of existing ones to make them grow?

Reflecting our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and our desire to build partner capacity, the foundation is always eager to further expand the range of its grantees. The pandemic has only underscored both the vitality and capabilities of local organisations in the geographies of focus. Spreading our grants across a broader set of partners makes sense from an impact perspective.

Among other things, you are responsible for the operations of the foundation’s offices in Europe. What role do these offices play and what have the main results been?

The foundation has offices in London and Berlin, as well as some employees based in major capitals across Europe. We think of this presence as an ambassadorial network and the chief aim is to maintain strong links with governments and organisations that partner with us on development programmes around the world. Political and policy developments move so quickly and with a huge impact on issues we care deeply about, so we’ve seen great value in having a local presence in countries that are major actors in international development.

This networked partnership has been very important around key multilateral fundraising moments like the replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and more recently the internationally coordinated response to the COVID-19 pandemic through global health organisations like WHO, CEPI, and Gavi.

What kind of engagement would the foundation like to have with the United Nations, and for what purpose?

The foundation hopes to continue building on our strong relationship with the UN. We already partner with many agencies within the development system through the various foundation programme strategies. We also partner and support many UN initiatives, including most recently the UN Common Agenda work. We hope that we can build on this, along with UN leadership and the Member States, to drive effective multilateral cooperation in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals. We are also exploring new partnerships aimed at further strengthening our collective work at the country level, and with the Office for Partnerships on how we can best advocate for solutions that accelerate progress against the SDGs. The purpose of our partnership is clear – the foundation’s mission that everyone has a chance to live a healthy and productive life is fully aligned to the 2030 agenda.

* Julián Ginzo is a member of the Editorial Board of UN Today.
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