I wanted to share a message I received from our good friend Billy Shore. The letter below reflects the kind of thinking and vision we need to see in the world. It doesn’t negate those efforts — like long-lasting insecticide-treated nets — that help reduce suffering and malaria in the short-term, but it is a view we need to keep as well. We can solve these big problems — it will take many different kinds of efforts to get there.

Dear Jacqueline,

Last week Melinda Gates used the E word.  I want to share what she said, and what Bill Gates said too, and why it is so directly related to our childhood hunger strategy at Share Our Strength.

It is an article of faith among experts in malaria research to never talk about eradication of the disease, but instead to set goals for controlling it.  In dozens of conversations I’ve had over the past three years every doctor, professor, vaccine developer, and pharmaceutical executive I’ve met has warned against even thinking about eradication. (more…)

Here is a hopeful article about progress on a malaria vaccine. The Gates Foundation has focused hundreds of millions on a vaccine, given the long-term effectiveness of such an intervention if successful. Theirs has been a high-risk but also very high-return strategy and underscores the importance of approaching problems from various angles. Cross your fingers on this one.

Applications for the Acumen Fund Fellows Program are due by noon EST on Wednesday, October 24. If you are interested in an extraordinary opportunity in venture philanthropy and social change, please apply here. For more information, visit our opportunities page - or even better, check out the words of one of our current fellows on the google.org blog.

I’m sure you all have heard about the bomb blasts in Pakistan that have killed more than 125 people and left hundreds injured. Our team is safe and working today, but we are proceeding with caution and closely watching any fallout that might develop.�
�
I know I share with you a deep sadness for what has happened, for the families of those who were killed, for Pakistan, for the world so in need of good news and more hopes for peace. In looking at the crowds who gathered for Benazir Bhutto, it was striking to see hundreds of thousands of working class people who, whether warranted or not, want to hope for more opportunities. Nothing justifies such carnage. Our own sense of urgency around the work we do can only be strengthened. I’m also feeling very proud of our Pakistani team and partners who refuse to accept the status quo and are serving as role models for a different way of building opportunities that last for people who too often are ignored.
�

This past Thursday and Friday I joined the Global Water Challenge for a learning forum on Innovative Financing for Water and Sanitation. The Global Water Challenge (GWC) is a committed group of leading organizations that have joined forces to catalyze change in the water and sanitation sector with members from non-profit organizations, foundations, academia and major corporations, including Coca-Cola, Dow and Cargill.  (The local NBC station did a short piece on the meeting - you can see it here.)

Partnership sounds great, I think we can all agree, but what does it really mean? With water being one of the most complex and politicized development issues, how feasible is it that distinct groups across sectors could sit in a room together and find meaningful ways to collaborate? My first question would be, can we even agree on anything? Despite these questions, Acumen Fund recently joined the GWC to do our own part in this effort to “join forces.” This was made easier by the fact that we had already been working closely with the GWC and several members. What I discovered through the course of this two-day meeting was that partnership, for this group, was not just a pretty word.  

(more…)

Acumen Fund is deeply proud to be associated with former Vice President, Academy Award winner and now Nobel Peace Laureate Al Gore! Vice President Gore has done an extraordinary job focusing the world on one of the most pressing issues of our time: global warming. The environmental devastation associated with it will have the most devastating consequences, of course, on low-income people and areas around the world. Indeed, it is almost ironic that Bangladesh, home of last year’s Nobel Laureate, Mohammed Yunus, will be one of the places worst hit on earth. The Nobel committee rightly associates environmental stewardship with peace, especially given the knowledge that as parts of the earth become uninhabitable and resources more scarce, the inevitable result is war. It is because of this linkage between global warming and poverty that Acumen Fund established its Energy Portfolio this year.

We also are proud to know Vice President Gore because of the way he approached the climate change issue. He pursued neither awards nor fame, but fought out of a sense of conviction with passion, tireless resolve and intelligence. His is the kind of moral leadership we seek to inspire in our team, the Acumen Fund fellows and everyone associated with Acumen Fund. Three cheers for Al Gore!

This week was the two-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake that hit northern Pakistan and Kashmir. While we pay our respects to the 75,000+ people who lost their lives, we are also aware that many of those left behind are still struggling to lead normal lives. While some progress has undoubtedly been made, the sheer scale of the impact - hundreds of thousands injured, thousands of schools and over 275,000 homes destroyed – and the tough terrain has made rebuilding and reconstruction an extremely challenging task for the authorities. 

This article highlights some of the remaining challenges, two years on, in rebuilding homes in the affected areas. As the next winter approaches, thousands are still without homes and are living in temporary shelters. Prices of materials, transport and labour have shot up and the compensation paid out by the government is not sufficient to help most people rebuild their homes. The situation is made worse by corruption, red tape and the lack of funds.

While these issues are obviously exacerbated in the post-earthquake era, at Acumen Fund we have seen how poor people struggle with very similar issues in trying to build and purchase homes. As we develop and invest in appropriate and successful models for housing low-income consumers, our work in this sector is beginning to provide breakthrough insights which, we hope, can one day assist those who may be impacted by a disaster like this earthquake.

This article emphasizes the need to ensure that biofuels are ethically produced, so that the drive towards using biofuels does not come at the cost of the poor’s sustenance. The article sparked an interesting email exchange among the Acumen Fund team, given our exploration of energy as an issue area for investment. If you click on “comments” below, you can follow the conversation.