The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation partners with MDGs in Africa

Dr. Biodun Awosusi

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funds many projects and programs in Africa. In fact majority of its development work is done in Africa. This covers agricultural development, fights against HIV and AIDs, tuberculosis and malaria; vaccinations, maternal and child health programs. These efforts have made significant impact on development and health indices in Africa. In line with our goal of inspiring young people through positive news about development in Africa, we secured due approval to share the success stories of the Foundation with the wide network we cover among young people on the continent and across the world.

Our Score Card

A few weeks ago, Women Deliver featured an interview we had with Dr Foluso Ajani (a member of this network) who will be at the Women Deliver conference in Malaysia next year. Six weeks ago, 16 members of this network were selected to participate in the inaugural ‘Discovering Young Leaders Program (DYLP) of the Commonwealth Youth Program; the online training is in its fifth week, and our members are doing very fine!

Two weeks ago, Hon Omoluabi Adeyeye, Aribasala Pelumi, Temitope Adewoye, Olufunbi Falayi and I met Deputy Secretary General at the Commonwealth during the Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa (YALDA) 2012 conference in Lagos. These positive stories reinforce our resolve to push harder for sustainable development on the continent. We also participated in the National Youth Conference on Constitution Review organized by Youth Alliance for Constitution Review (YACOR) held on 11^th and 12^th of October at the Rock-view Hotelin Abuja.

About the Gates Foundation

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest philanthropic organization in the world with an endowment of US$33.5billion as at September 2011. It is run by Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffett, William H. Gates Snr and its CEO Jeff Raikes. The Foundation funds health care programs such as The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, Polio eradication, The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, Visceral Leishmaniasis Research, and Reinventing the Toilet program; it also support agricultural development projects and maternal and child health programs on the continent.

There are complaints from several quarters that the Gates Foundation has poor communication skills with grant winners and the general public who benefit from its program. Our partnership will assuage this challenge by bringing information of the Foundation’s development efforts to young people in Africa.

This is just the beginning of great things on this page. We are excited about this development, and look forward to greater partnerships in the future.