Tom Paulson, Author at Humanosphere

Author Archives: Tom Paulson

May 23, 2013 | 11:10 AM | By Tom Paulson |

A step toward ‘truth, justice and reconciliation’ in Kenya |

Kenya’s Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission has issued a report, years in the making, that finds that Kenya’s second and third presidents, Daniel Arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki, headed governments that were responsible for massacres, economic crimes and grand corruption, among other violations.

Not mentioned in the report are current President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto who face trial at the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity related to 2007-08 election violence and killings. Local attempts to prosecute the two have never taken off so it will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes out of this report – especially with Kenyatta resisting the attempt by the ICC to take him to trial.

Source: Washingtonpost

NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenya’s president received a long-awaited Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission report that names the president and his deputy as being among those suspected of planning and financing Kenya’s 2007-08 postelection violence in which more than 1,000 people died and 600,000 were evicted from their homes.

FILED UNDER: Justice

May 23, 2013 | 11:00 AM | By Tom Paulson |

Saudi Arabia: Rich nation, poor people |

Another example of how a nation’s overall wealth does not always translate into benefits for its people.

Source: LightBox

With its vast oil wealth, Saudi Arabia has one of the highest concentrations of super rich households in the world. But an estimated 20 percent of the population, if not more, lives in crippling poverty.

FILED UNDER: Basics

May 23, 2013 | 10:50 AM | By Tom Paulson |

Calestous Juma: Get the military building roads in Africa |

Harvard prof, techno optimist and Africa expert Calestous Juma suggests all those soldiers in Africa be put to better use – building roads and other basic infrastructure:

As Africa celebrates the 50th anniversary of its declaration of unification, it should also reflect on the fact that it has recorded about 80 successful military coups. Led by an increasing number of technocratic presidents, Africa’s armies can give future generations hope by helping to build infrastructure — the motherboard for all economic activities.

Source: Cnn

Military should be mobilized for infrastructure projects, argues Harvard professor Many African countries converting military facilities to support civilian activities, says Calestous Juma Uganda’s army created University of Military Science and Technology, where it trains engineers World Bank estimates Africa must invest $93 billion annually in infrastructure in next 10 years Editor’s note: Calestous Juma is Professor of the Practice of International Development and Faculty Chair of Innovation for Economic Development Program at Harvard Kennedy School.

FILED UNDER: Basics

May 23, 2013 | 10:38 AM | By Tom Paulson |

Seattle Globalist: How Mali went from tourist spot to chaos |

Kaia Chessen is a writer and cellist living in Seattle. After graduating from the University of Washington, she embarked on a solo trek through several Middle Eastern and West African countries in 2007 and is still writing about it today.

Source: Seattleglobalist

In a little over a year, Mali has gone from a tourist destination to the newest front in the War on Terror. A former visitor reflects on how life has changed for the friends she made in Mali. “The French are here, everywhere. Four thousand troops, and many of them are patrolling Bamako.

FILED UNDER: Basics

May 23, 2013 | 9:33 AM | By Tom Paulson |

Forbes: From Corporate Social Responsibility to Philanthrocapitalism to Social Enterprise to Impact Investing |

As a journalist who tries to cover the business side of the humanitarian endeavor, I find the lingo to be both a bit vague and ever-changing. The basic idea here is not too revolutionary – that you can accomplish a social good (reduce poverty, get kids vaccinated, etc) using a market-based strategy. So I find it odd that these business geniuses can’t seem to figure out what words to use or agree on what they actually mean.

Few use the term ‘corporate social responsibility’ any more, in part because so many CSR projects were thinly disguised PR or marketing schemes. Philanthrocapitalism persists, the vague idea of social enterprise is highly popular and now we have ‘impact investing.’ My head spins.

Source: Forbes

Omidyar Network Managing Partner Matt Bannick When it comes to impact investing, or investing to generate social and/or environmental impact alongside a financial return, there has been no shortage of debate over whether there is any “there” there.

FILED UNDER: Business

May 22, 2013 | 2:54 PM | By Tom Paulson |

Gates Foundation on polio eradication dance: Two steps forward, one step back |

: Children disabled by polio begging in Abuja; Mike Urban

On the whole, there’s been a lot of good news lately about the global campaign to eradicate polio — a significant reduction in reported cases so far this year, new money pledged to the effort and a recent announcement by the Taliban in Afghanistan that it would stop trying to kill polio workers.

In the past week, however, we’ve had a few setbacks in the polio campaign including an attack by the Pakistan Taliban on polio workers and two outbreaks of polio in parts of Africa, Kenya and earlier in Somalia, previously free of the insidious, infectious disease.

As NPR reported, these all pose a Threat to Global Eradication. Quoting an expert at the WHO:

(These) handful of infections with poliovirus has the potential to set back global efforts to eradicate polio … “Polio is a virus that spreads silently … One case represents between 200 and 1,000 people infected. It’s the tip of an iceberg.”

Kenya had been free from reported polio cases for nearly two years. Somalia hadn’t had a case since 2007. Nigeria is the likely source for these new cases in Africa, with Pakistan and Afghanistan being the only other two ‘endemic’ countries keeping polio alive.

Because of lower polio vaccination rates in some neighboring countries, as Scientific American recently reported, some are concerned these apparently isolated outbreaks could spell doom for the goal of polio eradication.

: Apoorva Mallya

The outbreaks are cause for concern, says Apoorva Mallya, but less so than might have been the case a few years ago.

As senior polio program officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mallya has the crucial if perhaps unenviable job of working for one of the most powerful and performance-based ‘impatient’ philanthropists on one of his biggest causes, polio eradication, which has progressed like a hiker climbing a steep scree of loose rock — two steps forward, one step back, whoops…. A chat with Mallya given these recent setbacks:

Q So has the last week or so put a dent in your impatient optimism about the goal of ridding the world of polio by 2018? Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Basics

May 22, 2013 | 1:35 PM | By Tom Paulson |

The slowly bleeding and diminished champion of global health, WHO |

Most folks in the global health community say they they fully support the mission of the World Health Organization and then often complain — usually privately, but sometimes publicly — about how horribly bureaucratic, risk-averse and cumbersome it is.

This week in Geneva, as most people I’m sure have not noticed, is the 66th meeting of the World Health Assembly in which WHO member states and organizations discuss how best to prevent the spread of threats like pandemic flu, the challenge of polio eradication, progress made against many childhood diseases and basically try to set the global health agenda for the future.

: Margaret Chan

“In these troubled times, public health looks more and more like a refuge, a safe harbor of hope that allows, and inspires, all countries to work together for the good of humanity,” WHO Director General Margaret Chan, in her opening statement.

That sounds great, except for a few disturbing signs — the declining financial support for the WHO to get us all working together and a shift away from a focus on infectious diseases to the latest fashion in global health, non-communicable diseases (like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and so on).

Laurie Garrett, a journalist-now-expert at the Council on Foreign Relations and one of the world’s leading commentators on global health, sees this funding shift at WHO away from infectious disease as troubling:

“Overall, the proposed WHO 2014-15 budget offers startling changes in the mission and direction of the agency, pushing it significantly away from infectious diseases, HIV, TB, malaria, and outbreaks, and towards addressing disabilities, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and aging…. The tuberculosis cuts are especially mysterious, as the numbers of individuals worldwide getting treatment have increased substantially over the decade, but so has incidence of multi-drug resistant TB. “

More worrisome overall, Garrett writes in the second installment of her coverage of the World Health Assembly, is the decline in funding for WHO that has forced the tough choices and cutbacks.

While there has been a substantial increase in the past decade for global health funding overall, with the growth of private donors like the Gates Foundation as well as the creation of multi-lateral funding mechanisms like the Global Fund to Fight AID, TB and Malaria, many experts are concerned that the shrinking clout and influence of WHO — as goofy as it can be — risks undermining the primary vehicle needed to globally set global health policy.

Here’s a nice overview of what’s going on by Tim France, at Inis Communications, along with this graphic depiction of the WHO budget:

: Inis Communications

FILED UNDER: Basics, World Health Organization

May 22, 2013 | 1:15 PM | By Tom Paulson |

Want to play the refugee game? There’s an app for that… |

I can’t decide if this good, bad or ugly. So I merely pass it on – the UN’s new iPhone or Android app that allows users to pretend to be a refugee fleeing violence, persecution or disaster. Take that Angry Birds!

Source: Mylifeasarefugee

Built for iOS and Android, ‘MY LIFE AS A REFUGEE’ lets players contemplate the same life-changing decisions refugees make in a true-to-life quest to try to survive, reach safety, reunite with loved ones and re-start their lives.