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No one I know. And how can anyone not have heard of Jane Jacobs? What planet is Pisani from?   more »

Here is criticism out of Africa on the Gates-funded AGRA and its ilk. The report referred to is attached.   more »

It is all about growth ... and the private sector.   more »

What will her new role be at the Foundation?   more »

These nongovernmental organisations helped by the Gates Foundation over the past five years ought to be able to show their increased capacity to respond to Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. CARE, Catholic Relief Services, International Rescue Committee, Oxfam, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, and World Vision. Can they?   more »

The United Nations is so short of money that the Food and Agriculture Organization needed a small grant from the Gates for a better database.   more »

The staid journal gives us an understated gem: "reaction to the call for a new global eradication campaign has been mixed."   more »

It is best to hedge your bets in an election year ...   more »

A tabloid picks up a nonstory about the Gates.   more »

A racist view of the Davos speech.   more »

It is interesting that the Foundation has chosen two middle income nations to support microfinance in. Usually it is offered to poor nations. Mercy Corps (a favorite Northwest NGO) will need to be very careful about their targeting or the nonpoor will end up capturing all the benefits. One wonders how this decision was made.   more »

This article in Fortune is pure hagiography. Was it a paid advertisement or have the publicity people at the Foundation done their homework? The first quote demonstrates that Bill believes in the benefit of a liberal education. I would like to see any evidence that the Cochair of the Foundation is better able to acknowledge when he's wrong. I guess we will have a lot of time to find out.   more »

The good doctor Ruxin makes a plea for Microsoft Managers and Bill's Billions to take on global public health. (Isn't all public health global?) But he ends up sounding like a midsixties management guru at best or someone who has just read "On Being in Charge". New ideas, please.   more »

This is Albert Ruesga at his best. Gates Keepers wonder whether anyone at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has read it or whether they are too busy catching up with back issues of Nanotechnology Nerd and Sterile Mosquitoes Quarterly.   more »

A new staffer at the Gates Foundation was hanging with friends in Kansas City.   more »

Mixing people with business experience and technical experience to go around the world. Could be a recipe for disaster if it is not well run. Great vidinterview. Bill is a Bangladeshi in an alternative future for himself had he not been lucky enough to have been born in the US.   more »

Domestic education is just a part of one of the Gates Foundation programs. Watch the education issue heat up or cool down before November ... follow this blog.   more »

You can listen to the Gates Foundation's Joe Cerrell here.   more »

The One Laptop Per Child machines will run Windows. The monopolist wins again. Is this the way Bill is going to guide the Gates Foundation?   more »

The Center for Global Development is a grantee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation so their praise has to be seen in light of that relationship. But Gates Keepers are surprised to see that Ruth Levine would go on record saying: ``The strength of the foundation is that because it is not constrained by politics, it can afford to take a longer view on food supply''. That demonstrates a very narrow view of politics. Gates Foundation work is highly political and there are many former political workers on its Advisory Panels and staff. The Foundation runs into political constraints all the time.   more »

This article reveals something about a Gates grantee, the proto-sovereignist Cascadia Foundation. There is no evidence that they have asked new immigrants north of the 49th whether they would like to join their latte-swilling southern white neighbors. Looks like the Cascadia Foundation also has shady ties to the religious right through the Discovery Institute.   more »

Here is a call for the Gates Foundation to be more accountable. Hear hear.   more »

Interesting comparison of the civil rights movement and the movement for global equality. He steers away from using the term human rights.   more »

This grant was made almost a month ago. Why did Save the Children wait so long to announce it?   more »

Bill isn't the only retiring Gates around the Foundation. His stepmother is stepping down from her day job. As the Gates Foundation loves to hire people they are already very familiar with, do you think she may be hired by the Foundation?   more »

How will the Gates Foundation work with her? Will they try to buy her? Will they fund a coup? Will they fail because of her? Watch this space.   more »

Read Dr Sepulveda's resume below and then listen to him on a recent panel on global health: Meeting Along the Diagonal: Where the First Mile and Last Mile Connect. He makes sense.   more »

Philanthropy is, Phil reminds us, not only about money, metrics, solving problems, and technology. The Gates Foundation should ask him to speak to their Board, Panels, and staff.   more »

Here is a view on the motto of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation from someone who appears to be against abortion. Gates Keepers disagrees with him but this blog publishes a range of opinion. As Voltaire famously did not say: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."   more »

Twice in a week the WSJ has cut the Gates Foundation value statement short. The core values statement of the Foundation read: There are two simple values that lie at the core of the foundation’s work: All lives—no matter where they are being lived—have equal value. To whom much is given, much is expected. Now one could argue that the echoing use of the word "value" in the values statement means they need to do some work in rewriting it. But Guth and his editors should get it right.   more »

A victory for a community over the real estate ambitions of "Ready by Five". Maybe those community residents know better what they need than the Gates Foundation-funded "Ready by Five" staff. Eh, Melinda?   more »

Recent malaria research cartel issues concern some that a new health monopoly, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is in the making. Can a former monopolist learn to cooperate and let partners take much of the credit?   more »

This is worrying. With one month to go before Bill Gates moves to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he doesn't even know where his main office will be. Doesn't sound like much of a move to me. But this name-dropping reporter also uncovers (and then neglects to pursue) an important issue - Gates' use of his "own money" to use Microsoft products for Foundation work. The Foundation still has a lot of work to do on transparency.   more »

The announcement of the first round of grants for Grand Challenges Exploration should be made soon ... Gates Keepers look forward to seeing the results.   more »

Why edit an interview when you can just publish the transcript? You can see what Melinda did say by watching (edited) vids here and here of her interview. Why the secrecy? Few new facts or ideas were presented ...   more »

The motto of the Gates Foundation is 'all lives have equal value' not 'all lives are equal'. The title of this WSJ blog entry is an example of bad journalism. One would expect a Wall Street Journal blogger to know how important the word 'value' is. The WSJ sponsored the D Conference. But if we can trust Mr Guth then it appears Bill will have a secret "Third Office" outside of the Gates Foundation and Microsoft. What will he do in this lair?   more »

This is not just another person comparing Bill Gates to her grandmother. She has something very valuable to say. Read on ...   more »

Is this story true? Why West Bengal where prevalence rates are lower than in the west and northeast of India? Equitable treatment for HIV in India is a massive challenge for the Foundation to take on. Why not begin where it is truly needed in the brown south rather than the yellow north? Look at the attached map ...   more »

Margie Mason writes on avian influenza issues in Indonesia where the Gates Foundation has just made a large grant. We can look for her to suffer Bill Chill and become less critically analytic as she receives a Gates-funded fellowship ...   more »

By Gates Keepers calculation, Bill will spend four to nine days a week working on Microsoft issues. Whew. We were worried that he was going to spend a lot of time at the Foundation ...   more »

Doesn't anyone else see the irony in the name of this project to give Africa nothing but nets?   more »

If you are interested in the future of the Gates Foundation one place to look is at the past of Microsoft. Here is a teaser.   more »

How does one "treat" health care inequality? Seems like the wrong paradigm to me.   more »

Here's what an insider says about changes at the Foundation.   more »

Here are two views on Raikes' appointment. Or the Raikes appointment.   more »

This Malcolm Gladwell article in the New Yorker talks a lot about a tree in Brantford and a Gates-funded enterprise ...   more »

The award stays in Asia. Local businesses pay for eye surgery. Well done. Nice website.   more »

Here is a hint of how the Foundation may change come 1 July 2008. One hopes he doesn't go on many foreign jaunts without Melinda.   more »

Listen to this interview. Bill is asked: "Is there a danger that the Foundation can undermine the World Health Organisation on the global level?" He doesn't answer the question! ... But he does say: "... we can go into the slums and go wow ... you know we you know this is so important to improve this ...". Are they reading "strong outside voices" like Gates Keepers? Melinda says they need those voices.   more »

Melinda dominates this two-interviewee session. She reveals that the three Board members only meet their 'accountability technology' Advisory Board members once a year. ... The three opportunities the new CEO was given to speak show that he thinks the role of the Foundation is to deliver a 'product' through the right partners, that he has seen inequity, and that he will give his salary away. ... We shall see. Watch for more on the new CEO on Gates Keepers. ... PS: Who edited this transcript? Kristi Heim herself? The Seattle Times editors? Or staff of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?   more »

This man asks us to pray for his Gates Foundation grant proposal.   more »

It is buried in the text. He has hope for the Gates Foundation but thinks they have to be a bit bolder than just funding vaccine development to tackle equity.   more »

It is difficult to know from this interview whether Dr Rajiv Shah knows what he is talking about ... he is a young doctor.   more »

Indonesian students already have free copied software. What's the big deal?   more »

It is shameful to see Bakrie, a billionaire in a middle income country, go begging to Bill for computers. One wonders whether the head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation met the Minister of Health. That would be an interesting get-together. At least the Foundation is keeping away from malaria and HIV in the world's largest Muslim nation.   more »

The man who brought us the Word Ribbon is going to work his magic on the Foundation: "At Microsoft (we use) the magic of software to take on interesting challenges," Raikes said.   more »

Jarkhand used to be part of Bihar. This is the first that Gates Keepers have heard of the Foundation becoming involved in HIV care in India.   more »

Interesting to see that corporate Microsoft is just catching on to Blanchard's principles years after other institutions have.   more »

This is welcome news. Gates Keepers can understand the decision to give to the disaster-experienced NGO World Vision as it has a presence in the country and is already working in the Irrawaddy Delta. CARE's CEO Helene Gayle used to work for the Foundation and CARE is also already in the country. Save the Children is an interesting omission. And why Mercy Corps? They have no office in Myanmar so can offer nothing at present. Is it because their headquarters is in the Northwest of the US like the Foundation or they have headquarters staff who used to work in Myanmar for Save the Children? The database idea is just plain weird.   more »

The head of the Gates Foundation is in Jakarta speaking to Asian leaders. This is the best he could come up with: corporate philanthropy by Philip Morris, a tobacco company. Not a word about family foundations. Not a word about giving to the victims of the typhoon in Burma (or anything else in Burma). Not a word about nontechnological progress on human rights.   more »

This incisive piece looks hard at the legacy of Bill Gates and Microsoft as aggressive monopolists. Now the Gates Foundation is being accused of running a malaria cartel. Do you think there is a connection?   more »

The Gates Foundation holdings are featured in a few places on the internet. They are doing well. Here is an opinion from the American heartland.   more »

A very distant goal ...   more »

Gates Keepers have previously noted that Kavita Ramdas is a bit of an outlier among the advisers to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This article from Open Democracy shows that she is also brave enough to face Bill Chill and speak her mind. She directly criticises the technological fix mentality of most Gates Foundation work. Will she last? Will she capitulate?   more »

The Methodists have sent out a press release about their good work in malaria eradication supported by the Gates Foundation. And one newspaper indirectly suggests that some Methodists believe that homosexuality should be next in line for eradication ...   more »

Bill Senior has an excellent motivational speechwriter. Watch for more Methodist methods to exclude homosexuals in tomorrow's posting.   more »

Good to see that the cochair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sees the value of the human genome. Without it he wouldn't exist.   more »

Here is a paper from a year and a half ago about why AGRA won't work.   more »

The Dalai Lama has just paid a visit to Ann Arbor. Is the Gates Foundation next? What would they use these labs for?   more »

There is sense and nonsense in Richard Horton's latest panegyric to his partner the IHME. Take the first 'highlight'. How does massive funding from one source guarantee "independence and intellectual freedom"? It could very well guarantee the opposite. On the other hand, Gates Keepers fully agree with Horton's proposed measures to measure success of the measuring institute. Has the IHME board approved them?   more »

David Brooks of the New York Times wrote admiringly before describing a dinner with Bill Gates. "He looked utterly bored as the conversation drifted to presidential campaign gossip. But when asked about which programmes produce higher reading scores, the guy lit up and became a fountain of facts and findings." Now how is the Gates Foundation going to change all the world's Gini coefficients without politics?   more »

Note how the Gates Foundation is called Chris Murray's benefactor instead of "his" institute's donor. And the Seattle Times has finally noticed that "few dare to openly speak out against the world's richest philanthropy".   more »

The head of the Gates Foundation thought in 2003 that he might get a little confused. And now? ... "I actually thought that it would be a little confusing during the same period of your life to be in one meeting when you’re trying to make money, and then go to another meeting where you’re giving it away. I mean is it gonna erode your ability, you know, to make money? Are you gonna somehow get confused about what you’re trying to do?"   more »

You can now nominate your own Minister of Health to get help in being responsible. If only good governance was this easy ...   more »

It is worth reading this article for one quote: "But it will be a source of worry if the result is that power in one domain (the economy) is replicated in another (society), just as it is when power in the economy tries to replicate itself in politics through funding."   more »

It isn't every day that the Foundation announces a new programme head.   more »