The document discusses concerns about "philanthro-capitalists" like Bill and Melinda Gates who donate large sums to global causes but maintain control over funding decisions and focus on short-term returns. While their donations should not be rejected, having private individuals dictate solutions to development problems raises questions. Their focus tends to be on issues with clear returns rather than long-term challenges like inequality. Most funding also goes to large NGOs rather than grassroots movements. It is argued that foreign aid would be better managed through democratic national development funds supplemented by international taxes, to ensure accountability.

1. Why business won't save the world | Michael Edwards | Comment is ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/feb/...
Why business won't save the world
It's time to pour the generosity of 'philantro-capitalists' into development
funds under democratic control
Michael Edwards
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 February 2010 10.00 GMT
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Bill and Melinda Gates have been rightly praised for donating another $10bn for vaccine
development and immunisation in poor countries earlier this month. Much less attention has been
paid to their advocacy of genetically modified foods at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos as
part of a second "green revolution" in Africa, criticised by many as unnecessarily risky for farmers
though highly-profitable for corporations like Monsanto.
Yet more and more foreign aid is coming from private donors like these, often with a background in
business that demands more control and short-term returns on investment. What should be done
with the "philanthro-capitalists", who have sincere intentions but no public accountability for the
choices that they make, choices that affect the lives of millions?
In a world desperate for resources it makes no sense to reject billions of dollars in new money, but
serious questions are raised by privatising the search for solutions to global problems. For one thing,
who decides which problems get attention? Investing in new vaccines against malaria is great, but
there's no vaccine against poverty, inequality, violence or corruption, areas in which there are no
"short-term returns on investment", only a long, hard slog through politics and social change. Does
that mean only the easiest causes will be funded?
Research from the Centre for Global Development in Washington DC already shows that national
health systems in Africa have been damaged by too much of a focus on getting drugs to people with
HIV – a vital problem that's for sure, but not one that should monopolise foreign aid. As history
shows, the path to real development lies through building strong local institutions – broad-based
capacities for innovation, not innovative projects that can never be sustained.
The philanthro-capitalists' desire for data and control also directs the lion's share of resources to the
biggest and most accessible NGOs that can absorb large amounts of foreign funding, not the social
movements that can pressure their own governments to perform in the public interest and mobilise
large numbers of people to defend their rights.
Even more troubling, corporate philanthropy deflects attention away from the need to change core
business practices so that developing countries can capture more of the value added by economic
development – removing patent protection from Monsanto and other companies, for example, who
aim to monopolise the market for new seeds, or plugging the tax hole left by corporate tax avoidance
that costs the South almost $400bn a year in lost income, far more than they receive in foreign aid.
Allocating resources is always full of trade-offs and contradictions, but resolving them shouldn't be
ceded to outside technocrats or the whims of billionaires. It's time to pour the generosity of the rich
and famous into national development funds under democratic control, supplemented by
international taxes on bank profits and currency transactions. Accountability, not accountancy, is the
way forward for foreign aid.
• Small Change: Why business won't save the world is published by Berrett Koehler
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2011
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