… with love

FROM ADDIS ABABA

DEAR JANE,We met at the headline, “I’m sharing my £7.5m Lotto win with orphans in Ethiopia.” I smiled, and the sincerity in your eyes couldn’t be concealed. I heard you said these words: “The most overwhelming feeling is that of having security and choices.” I couldn’t agree more. Some 1.2 billion people still living in extreme poverty share your sentiments. “So many people say,” you say, ‘Well you can’t save the world so what’s the point in trying?’” But you believe that if your money can help a few kids, it might inspire others to do the same.You’re right Jane..$135 billion is not going to end poverty, but it can start a chain reaction.

• http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/real_life/2447884/Mum-shares-75-Lotto-win-with-Ethiopian-orphans.html.

DEAR PIPPA,I’ve heard about you.Did you really say this?“I don’t want a little girl in Ghana, or Sri Lanka, or Indonesia to think of me when she wakes up each morning. I don’t want her to thank me for her education or medical care or new clothes. Even if I am providing the funds to get the ball rolling, I want her to think about her teacher, community leader, or mother. I want her to have a hero who she can relate to – who looks like her, is part of her culture, speaks her language, and who she might bump into on the way to school one morning. […] It’s only through an understanding of the problems communities are facing, and the continued development of skills within that community, that long-term solutions will be created.”

Well, your words have not gone unheard. Attitudes about how we give are changing. Developing communities need Public-Private Partnerships that would raise leaders and also yield returns in many dimensions.

• http://pippabiddle.com/2014/02/18/the-problem-with-little-white-girls-and-boys/

DEAR MARK & PRISCILLA, Congratulations on your precious little Max!You waited long for her, and she has brought with her, an idea that the world has long needed. Cilla did you know, that with every try a $45 billion dollar initiative was in the making, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect!When you kiss your daughter Happy 2016, private investments will be the multiplier that will ensure she grows up in a world, cleaner, richer and safer than ever.The face of global development, has just become a 169 paged book…

• http://www.macleans.ca/economy/business/mark-zuckerberg-and-priscilla-chans-45b-birth-announcement/

WHAT’S CHANGED?

THE CATALYSTIC ROLE OF MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS

MDBs can help build and support conducive environments to make investing in development more attractive for investors.Because they are by nature, focused on development, MDBs provide a fair platform to ensure both parties are getting fair returns in PPPs. When MDBs invest in new areas, a demonstrative effect takes place, leading to new investors doing the same.MDBs can provide technical assistance and policy advice such as procurement and tax administration.MDBs can facilitate debt-based and results-based financing to enable predictable cash flow for projects, and foster accountability and ownership.MDBs can identify areas of market failure or areas where markets are non-existent, and ensure new markets are sustainable.MDBs can address risk-return requirements of the private sector, while encouraging inclusion and high standards.

‘IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD, PICK UP YOUR PEN AND WRITE’ ~ MARTIN LUTHER

• http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/sep/07/how-to-communicate-the-sustainable-development-goals-to-the-public

• THE END