Why does the news always only cover the "pledging" and not follow up with how/when and if at all that pledge and subsequent giving has helped the people they were supposed to help?
He doesn't say what area or which country but I spent a few weeks in Burkina Faso in West Africa. ( it will rank as one of the poorest countries in the world) I hung out with a friend who was working on a food security program for a US based NGO, so I have a good idea about the current conditions.
The farmers are trying to grow crops in terrible conditions and I don't think any amount of money is going to help them. It's just an arid barren soil with absolutely zero infrastructure. Which doesn't really matter because these farmers are trying to grow food just to live, not to sell.
I think most of the country has conditions not suitable for human habitat, but those are the people that need help the most.
I know Bill Gates is in no position to do this but the best way to help farmers in third world countries is to stop paying out the stupendous subsidies that the developed world pays to keep their farmers "in business".
If anything, they should look into supporting the One Acre Fund.<p><a href="http://www.oneacrefund.org/our_results/program_dashboard" rel="nofollow">http://www.oneacrefund.org/our_results/program_dashboard</a><p>They are doing an incredible job and and a question and answer session about their work can be found here:<p><a href="http://globalswadeshi.ning.com/forum/topics/global-swadeshi-dialogues" rel="nofollow">http://globalswadeshi.ning.com/forum/topics/global-swadeshi-...</a>
I used to admire such humanitarian actions, but I've come to question the effectiveness of it. Bill Gates, and many others in the West like him, want to prevent suffering in the world, and I admire that, but I think it might actually create more suffering by creating means for more people to survive and create more offspring who in turn end up being just as poor, suffering just as much, creating an even bigger humanitarian crisis.
There is no Corruption-Free delivery system in India because 85% Indians do not have any Bank Accounts.<p><a href="http://tr.im/kJHv" rel="nofollow">http://tr.im/kJHv</a><p>And this is the way Indian Leadership will keep its Voters SUBSERVIENT.
I don't mean to be an idiot, but at this point all life saving charity should aim to secure a reduction in population growth to offset the lives saved.<p>Being merely a humanitarian is a moral luxury with an environmental cost.
How will the farmers who don't get any money be able to sustain their business when the farmers who do are able to lower their prices due to the subsidy?