He ain't heavy...

More Than Just a (Football) Club

2006-05-10T08:47:00.000+02:00

Barcelona are doing something quite amazing and unique, they will donate 0.7 percent of their annual income starting from the 2006/07 season to the United Nations as a contribution to their Millennium Development Goals campaign. And that is just the start of it -

Laporta confirmed that Barcelona's famous scarlet and blue shirts would not be sponsored by a commercial brand but could be used instead to promote humanitiarian causes.
"We are planning on using the shirts to carry a humanitarian message as part of our plans to become more than a club in the rest of the world," he said.

If 0.7% rings a bell then your probably remembering the amount of GNP pledged by richer countries for the UN millenium develop project.

The Single Best Way to Solve a Problem

2006-05-05T12:08:00.000+02:00

The Longitude Prize was set at £20,000 in 1714, the Orteig Prize was set at $25,000 in 1912 and the X-Prize was set at $10,000,000 in 1996. They were awards set to motivate great leaps forward in technology.

The Longitude Prize was set by the British government to solve the problem of how to accurately measure longitude when navigating, something that had always eluded mariners and which cost Britain unimaginable amounts through naval accidents. The prize inspired the invention of a very accurate maritime clock which solved the problem for good.

The Orteig Prize was offered for the first non-stop aircraft flight between New York and Paris. It was won by Charles Lindbergh in 1927.

The X-prize was offered for the first non-government organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks. It was won in 2004.

As philanthropy goes this is a wonderful way to pledge your money because;
-you get to choose the very ambitious goal
-you only have to pay out if it is accomplished satisfactorily so not a penny is wasted and the price is fixed
-you get amazing value for money because it is highly leveraged by the amounts invested by others in order to win the prestigious and valuable prize

What can be learned from such examples? An urban myth describes how NASA spent millions developing an anti-gravity pen while the Russians used a pencil, the myth is actually a myth but it is believable but it roughly described the waste NASA indulged in. In NASA's hands the $10m X-prize probably wouldn’t have gone much further than a paint job for a space shuttle and yet it in the right hands it revolutionised the civilian space industry. Setting prizes like those I mentioned is probably the most cost effective way to achieve ambitious goals when what only matters is innovation and accomplishment.

The Methuselah Mouse Prize was set in 2003 to reward researchers who extend the lifespan of a mouse to unprecedented lengths. The prize is named after Methuselah, a patriarch in the Bible said to have reached 969 years of age. It is designed to combat ageing. (If you have not read the story of the Dragon READ IT NOW)

Does anyone know of any such prizes intended to combat Malaria or AIDS or similar diseases that devastate the poorest, those who can’t themselves reward innovation in such a way as to make it attractive enough to concentrate some of the brightest minds?
The easy part should be formulating a goal – say developing a product or initiative that eradicates malaria in a third world country. Another easy part should be getting micro donations over the internet to increase the prize over time. The hard part would probably attracting a reputable institution to coordinate the project and award the prize.

NASA has learned from the X-prize and has set the Centennial Challenges
shouldn’t we the public, the blogoshere, whoever, set one up to achieve something a lot less frivolous?

The Deadline is Midnight Tonight

2006-05-04T10:52:00.000+02:00

Tonight is the deadline for a peace deal on Darfur. The African Union, Khartoum, rebel groups and the US and Britain have been working in Abuja, Nigeria to reach an agreement. No doubt some of the recent manoeuvring may have been intended to choreograph this point. It involves establishing a suitable Sudanese security force. It will be interesting to see how it would accommodate the refugees in Chad or if it encompasses terms for a continuing non-Sudanese security presence. The Irish Examiner has some coverage.

Star power?

2006-04-28T11:19:00.000+02:00

George Clooney and Barack Obama think that the White House might be willing to get tough on Khartoum over Darfur but that they just need some domestic encouragement.
David Adams in today’s Irish Times (subscription required) is sure what he doesn’t want but can’t specify what he does want.

A way has to be found where the UN can intervene to prevent conflict and protect the sovereign rights of hapless individuals. (Indicating a greater willingness to do so would be a start.) But invasion and war, even if logistically possible, are not the answer.

There might not be any options that haven’t been tried before so why not examine the precedents of UN troops entering hotspots with good intentions? They include;

-Mogadishu, Somalia circa 1993
-Srebrenica, Bosnia circa 1995
-Sierra Leone circa 1999

Khartoum doesn't want western troops on the ground and the African Union force (Nigerian and Rwandan troops) which is already there is roundly deemed inadequate. So there aren’t any easy solutions but here is one quite bizarre suggestion. My last post on Darfur giving the current situation is here.
One certainty is the aid agencies could do with more help.

The Topic Du Jour

2006-04-27T15:04:00.000+02:00

I’ve posted before about how I think its best to live with oil for the rest of the Oil age. Right now it’s the topic du jour. The lads over at in fact ah have a good post on it which I’d like to address. They seem to accept the concept that we are reaching ‘Peak Oil’ but I doubt that we are. I think the price is high because global unused refining capacity (the amount by which supply of refined oil is greater than the demand) is very slim and that an awful lot of available supply/production/refining is correctly thought to be located in fragile areas. That is the small picture. The big picture is there is still an awful lot of oil and the Oil age will not end with us burning the last drop of oil, the Stone Age didn’t end because we ran out of oil. If more refining capacity is built, all things being equal the price will come back down.

The oil producers are in a sweet spot right now, they are producing to the absolute maximum and at a record high price. Governments are in the same sweet spot because the greater the oil revenue the greater their fiscal take becomes. The real dynamic is the billions that are being collected by these two groups and what they decide to do with it and that is what I addressed in my initial post. It is a once in a generation opportunity.

Charity Art Auction in Donegal

2006-04-25T16:15:00.000+02:00

Damien Blake, one of Ireland’s foremost blogging politicians, has posted information on an art auction that will raise money for the Donegal Hospice. The art is by Martin Mooney and the auction will take place in Donegal at the Mayor’s Ball on May 5th. They are also auctioning Bruce Springsteen tickets on Ebay!

I laid down for one week…

2006-04-25T10:33:00.000+02:00

So, it was quite severe. And it comes and goes. Maybe in the mornings you feel better, but than around two o'clock in the afternoon you see that you feel cold all the time. And you would be shivering and you have to lay down. And you start vomiting and you vomit and vomit and vomit. Even if you get treatment, sometimes it doesn't go just like that. It takes two, three or four days before you get better. But even if you get better, you can be laying down for two weeks sometimes. But when you go to the hospital, maybe than they give you injection and maybe some tablets of paracetamol.

Roger Casement suffered from it but was hung before it killed him and last year some Portsmouth footballers contracted it. It kills 1.1 million people each year and a child dies every 30 seconds from it. I’ve read that four times this morning and I still can’t get my head around it.
Today is Africa Malaria Day.

Wasted Arrows?

2006-04-24T20:27:00.000+02:00

The frustration is evident in John O'Shea's letter in today's Irish Times (subscription required). The World Bank has relieved billions in debt for some very corrupt governments including Rwanda, Mozambique, and Uganda. Debt Relief was supposed to mark a step forward from the bad old days of aid money enabling corrupt leaders to augment among other things their Swiss Bank accounts. Such practice was not only terribly wasteful it also discouraged donors from coming up with further aid.

Aid and debt relief are not benign pills. They need to be administered intelligently or they will cause great harm. Some of the downsides are that they
-can create dependancies
-relieve governments of some of their duties of care to their citizens
-decrease the amount of leverage available to coercise reform

John O'Shea is no doubt frustrated as once these arrows are wasted there is less available in the quiver. His charity GOAL is reknowned for its efficiency and for their selection of projects to maximize impact for those who need it most. The World Bank would counter that they are fighting the problem going forward and they are getting to grips with corruption, today's FT reports -

Paul Wolfowitz, the president of the World Bank, yesterday pledged to develop a formal framework for dealing with corruption in developing countries, a move urged on him by European shareholders anxious that his anti-corruption drive should not paralyse the bank's lending and lead to it abandoning people in need.
Britain and some other European countries have pressed Mr Wolfowitz, the former US deputy defence secretary, to put greater emphasis on fighting corruption by building institutions in the developing world rather than simply suspending loans where corruption is suspected.

It seems like an impossible task but they are persuing more than one avenue. Rather then focusing solely on corrupt regiemes they are recognising that for every bribe taker there is a bribe giver and that many of these bribe givers are western. They already have a blacklist of such companies. Its a start.

This is a map of the world where...

2006-04-20T13:40:00.000+02:00

This is a map of the world where each countries size is represented by the number of emigrants that leave that country. The World Bank has released a major report on the effects of migration on developing economies.
It seems emigrants originating from quickly developing countries like India, Mexico and the Philippines send such significant amounts of money home that they considerably effect growth and investment in their original countries. Mexico and India are particularly easy to find on the map above. However remittances from those that leave underdeveloped countries do not come close to adequately compensating their home countries for their ‘Brain Drain’.

Apparently there are more Malawian doctors in Manchester, than there are in Malawi and Malawi has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world. Similarly 47% of Ghana’s highly skilled workers live in the 30 OECD countries.
The Ford Foundation largest ever program, a USD 280 million investment with a recent additional USD 75 million, the International Fellowships Program is trying to redress this problem and is worth checking out.

What do Illnois, Burundi and Goa have in common?

2006-04-19T13:31:00.000+02:00

They have all have seriously addressed the issue of mandatory pre-martial HIV testing. In Illnois and Goa’s case it was at a government level, in Burundi it was at a church level.
When it comes to individual’s rights verses the protection of society - HIVS/AIDS throws up the most challenging moral dilemmas. The slogan ‘AIDS doesn’t discriminate, do you?’ is well known and aims to remove the stigma that adds to AIDS victims suffering. This is a desirable goal but to say AIDS doesn’t discriminate is misleading.

AIDS successfully targets societies that suffer from Poverty, War, Weak leadership, Diminished women’s rights and/or Diminished Sex Education. It is such a difficult threat to tackle because it flourishes in societies that are already under threat from the aforementioned menaces. When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions. Is it possible to have success tackling AIDS without draining the swamp of these problems and is possible to reverse the momentum once it is in motion? Furthermore AIDS is becoming less of a symptom of these crises and more of a catalyst for them. The realities on the ground are not much to our liking and yet we must deal in these realities in order to combat the threat.

When you look at the numbers it soon becomes clear that prevention is easier and more effective than treatment, yet both are necessary. A key to prevention and removing the stigma of HIV/AIDS is testing. Testing is the key as individuals are unlikely to change their behaviour if they don’t know their HIV status.

-Should HIV positive people be excluded from the army?
Our western sensibilities would of course say no - AIDS does discriminate, neither should we – and yet peacekeeping forces in Cambodia and Sierra Leone have been linked to the spread of the disease in those areas. Having recognised that the military is both a ‘highly at risk group’ and ‘major spreader’ of HIV Russia and Zambia now test military recruits. Uganda's army has a "Post-Test Club" which works with soldiers to promote openness and dialogue about the disease. In Bangladesh and the Philippines HIV-positive soldiers are automatically discharged.

-AIDS is heading East
By 2010 the largest HIV/AIDS populations will be in Asia rather than Africa. India, China and Russia are the next wave of countries that will have HIV/AIDS populations that will be a critical drain on their societies. It is projected that by that year India will have a HIV/AIDS population of 20 to 25 million. Young women are the most at risk and young women are already at a disadvantage in India due to marital traditions. So should the government make HIV test mandatory for couples before marriage and would it help? It could be a start but it would have unintended consequences - it would violate privacy, stigmatise entire families and create a black market in false HIV-test results amongst other consequences. Furthermore couple that are 'in the clear' could subsequently be more at risk from infection through infidelity. The state of Goa in India has an estimated 5 million HIV positive people and the UN is urging it not to make testing compulsory for couples who want to get married and yet it still plans to make the law effective in July of this year.

Stuart notes,

Back in 1988, Illinois passed a law requiring premarital HIV testing as condition of obtaining a marriage license. This had an interesting effect: the number of marriages in Illinois dropped 14% while the marriage rates rose in the neighboring states. When the law was repealed, the number of marriages in Illinois returned to its pre-1988 level. Perhaps the governors of Goa should take note.

Success stories in the fight against AIDS are rare and sometimes disputed but Brazil seems to be the best example. In Brazil education, condom availability and free AIDS drugs brought the threat under control but what works in one particular culture and at one economic level may not work in another. Combating AIDS always ruffles feathers, Brazil abused drug patent laws to bring its problem under control. When it comes to Goa, it should make full use of UN expertise and precedents but the regional government knows the situation on the ground best and should make the informed decision that it thinks is best for its citizens.

I will be absent without blog...

2006-04-05T17:05:00.000+02:00

...untill after Easter

Trial indicates exactly how not to tackle a nightmare epidemic

2006-04-05T12:51:00.000+02:00

South Africa is the epicentre of the Global AIDS epidemic. It is estimated that 1 in 3 deaths in South Africa are a result of AIDS and 3 in 10 pregnant women are HIV positive. Stuart has an update on the rape trial of former South African deputy president Jacob Zuma. Zuma is accused of raping a women and she is HIV positive.

Yesterday saw Zuma take the stand to be questioned by the state prosecutor. The prosecutor asked a simple question independent of the rape charge. Why, the prosecutor asked, would the previous head of the South African AIDS Council and the Moral Regeneration Movement have unprotected sex with a woman he knew to have HIV? His answer was noteworthy: the risk of acquiring HIV through unprotected sex with a woman, he stated, is small for a healthy man. “I had the knowledge that …chances were very slim that you could get the disease.”

How would you feel if you paid more in tax than someone who earned 15 times more than you?

2006-04-05T11:29:00.000+02:00

In my opinion improving the terms of trade is the simplest and best way to help the developing world. As I have suggested before, capitalism can be a poor countries best friend. Therefore the latest developments in the Doha trade negotiations don’t look good. The EU won’t budge on their agricultural subsidies and the US are beginning to call their differences with the EU ‘irreconcilable’ and it looks like both the US and the EU will favour improved bilateral deals with targeted nations rather than agreeing a significant Doha deal.

Doha was supposed to reduce farm subsidies and improve trade conditions with the developing world. Ben provides an incite into what bilateral trade looks like in practice. In January 2006 the US imported goods worth nearly $3 billion from France and almost $ 0.2 billion in goods from Cambodia. How much tariffs did they charge on each of these? Actually it was about the same amount, $30 million (Cambodia paid slightly more). They traded 15 times more goods with France than Cambodia but collected about the same nominal amount in tariffs. This is what international trade injustice looks like.

A little web alchemy can mean a lot of generosity

2006-04-04T12:31:00.000+02:00

Some people like to donate stock portfolios to charities and typically the charity doesn’t know whether it is best to liquid them straight away or hold on to them and see what happens. There was much scratching of heads at the Boston Foundation when they received something much less tangible. Tom Bird registered Farm.com way back when things were just kicking off the web. It has since become a very valuable asset and he decided to donate it to the Boston Foundation. The charity in return sold it to Pets United LLC, which already owns dog.com, fish.com and horse for USD 200,000.

In a similar vein Des Walsh has a great post about Freestyle Media’s innovative charity fundraising technique, they are ebaying their firms services for 24 hours and donating the proceeds to a Cancer Charity.

Who would be a Third World Central Banker?

2006-04-03T13:56:00.000+02:00

Monday morning quarterbacks have the easiest jobs in the world. Good Central Bankers don’t make spectacular headlines but surely they have one of the most difficult jobs in the world. ‘Bad’ Central Bankers make the job harder for themselves and the Monday morning quarterbacks generally write the headlines.
Being a Central Banker is not like thinking five moves ahead in chess, its more like steering a ship that is in a constant state of metamorphosis - you angle the rudder now not knowing what you’re your speed will be in five minutes time and the effect of your course correction wont be evident for more than five minutes – its hard to see the obstacles and sometimes your instruments don’t work as expected. You often have to plug leaks and worry about what is below the surface. Listed in your hold is the entire financial well being of your country and least of all that is at risk is your professional reputation.
Global financial markets make the job even harder. A crisis is now unfolding in Iceland and much has been made by commentators of the ‘carry-trade’.

Iceland has had high returns, high interest rates and it is possible for financial operators of all shapes and sizes to borrow money where it is cheap – Japan or Switzerland - and put it into places like Iceland where they will get a much higher return. Of course they leverage the size of this trade to increase the returns and this increases the temperature and sensitivity of the money. Give it time and it accumulates – the longer you watch financial markets the more you come to love rivers. Rivers pay absolute respect to the path of least resistance. If the source of the capital becomes more expensive the net gain narrows – resistance rears its head and the course is changing. Recently high-return Dubai’s stock exchange suffered an experience that can be described as violent vomiting combined with close-door-panic. Iceland’s stock market and currency are now suffering the same. The currency has fallen 10%. Last week the Central Bank increased rates by 0.75% - quite a dramatic move intended to support the currency, the lifeblood of the economy. I’m not familiar with David Oddsson, Chairman of Central Bank of Iceland but he has probably looked at his clock during one of the many recent sleepless nights, made a quick calculation and wondered if he could get put through to the world’s most employable brain - the recently retired Alan Greenspan - in order to get a little friendly help.
If you are forced into a corner global speculators will pulverise you quicker than you can say 'Check-mate' and then no matter what you do the levee breaks.

Larry Summers said “Global capital markets pose the same kinds of problems that jet planes do. They are faster, more comfortable, and they get you where you are going better. But the crashes are much more spectacular.”
If you think its difficult being the Central Banker of a small developed economy of 300,000 people in Iceland imagine how much more difficult it would be in South America or Sub-Saharan Africa. For them the potential pitfalls are the same but your backbone; regulation, independence and fiscal discipline can be much more wobbly. The list of these man made disasters is stunning. Countries that have experienced a crisis that has destroyed more than 10% of their GDP include; Spain (1977), Israel (1977), Japan (1991), Finland (1991) and South Korea (1997) and they are not exactly novices at this game. Look at those that have suffered a crisis that has destroy between 7% and 10% of GDP and you will see Norway (1987), Australia (1989) and New Zealand (1987). Norway! Iceland is joining some impressive company there. It is obviously a jungle out there and if you are a small time player at the more susceptible end of this territory it would be great to be able to learn from a man-made miracle to negotiate the treacherous seas. The good news there is one but who or what is this oracle? Ireland? not really, the IMF? Ha!, Greenspan himself? not even he has that great a track record. It is Botswana.

If there has ever been an economic miracle it is Botswana. In 1965 it was the third poorest country in the world – it then underwent a thirty year growth period when average growth was 7.7%. You should never mix economics and sport but that is kind of like getting promoted thirty years in a row without ever going wobbling – it is the best growth rate of modern times par none – the Celtic Tiger, China or even Hong Kong can not touch it. Mrs Mohohlo is the Governoress of the Bank of Botswana and it is the vintage Rolls Royce of global economies, it might not be the biggest or the fastest but the engine is sound and the paint job is pristine. Even the Swiss would be green with envy.
How did they do it? Pretty simple they diversified their economy and didn’t rock the boat. They got advice from the IMF and World Bank but crucially they didn’t take money from them (that has been the kiss of death for many emerging economies) – so it was free advice that they weren’t forced to follow. They didn’t try juggling more than they could handle and they didn’t tinker too much. Sure they have massive diamond reserves but so has Sierra Leone and South Africa, Saudi Arabia has oil and the Congo has gold; all of those countries can be seen to have been cursed by such resources. Botswana has been a peaceful parliamentary democracy since 1965, its governing institutions are strong and it has got the basics right. The most shocking thing about all of this sustainable development is that it wasn’t achieved at the detriment of anyone else; in short it could be easily argued that any African economy could have done the same – Africa doesn’t have to be poor. The model is there.

Update on the blog collabortation

2006-03-31T10:17:00.000+02:00

Dimitri has responded to my rallying call for a blog collaboration. My post earlier this week asked how the developed world (under-developed world to be address later) and Ireland specifically could best adapt to the coming Industrial Revolution. In a very considered post he cited France's new competitive clusters and Ireland's leading edge biotech with a nod towards renewable fuel among other things. He later followed up with two examples of world-dominating innovation.

Does anyone else have any suggestions? You don’t have to be an economist or even a blogger - just give it a read and tell me your thoughts.
Am I barking up the wrong tree or just barking mad to be even trying to see into the future?

Next time someone asks you...

2006-03-30T14:33:00.000+02:00

...what the best free e-mail account is, consider telling them about this.
ippimail raises money through selling banner advertising on the site and they give 45% of the profits to charity and 10% to the Open Source community.
You can also choose which charity you want the money to go to. The options are quite limited at the moment but you can suggest new charities.
The new ippimail email address can forward your mail to an existing e-mail or you can forward mail to it - not bad.

HATTIP Charity Blogger

A Good Call?

2006-03-30T10:51:00.000+02:00

Batman had one and after the Cuban Missile Crisis the White House and the Kremlin got one. Would you want a Red Telephone?
Yesterday we passed the mildly surprising milestone of having more active mobile phones in Ireland than people.
This coincided nicely with the news that the EU will order mobile companies to stop charging extortionate rates on roaming calls within Europe. A closer look at the Irish market shows that it is much more profitable for operators than comparable EU countries because we love our mobiles.

So people love their mobiles but they probably don’t love their mobile operators right now. This seems like the perfect fit for the Red Brand and rumour has it they are looking into working with mobile operators to try to offer a Red Phone similar to the Red Card from American Express.
I wouldn't be surprised if the operators jump at the invitation to tap into the niche market of offering consumers such a service. Further down along the line we can look at how much good all of this actually does but right now I’m just interested in seeing how this experiment in the fusion of consumer marketing and giving turns out. Next month will see the launch Emporio Armani (RED), and Converse (RED) in the UK.

Maybe someone could get on the blower to Bono and tell him to launch it here?

This is what a map of the world by population looks like...

2006-03-29T16:10:00.000+02:00

...and below is what a map of the world showing the worlds births looks like

Notice how Japan, Europe and the US shrinks?

More children are born each year in Africa than are born in the Americas, all of Europe and Japan put together. Worldwide, more than a third of a million new people will be born on your birthday this year.

This is map of the world population of over 65s

There are lot more maps here
Want to see Ireland expand massively? have a look at the world by Dairy Exports, yes that is us - about the size of Canada!

Shaping up for a showdown on Darfur

2006-03-29T10:56:00.000+02:00

Finally, Darfur is the topic of conversation in all the most powerful rooms in the world. The recent push began in earnest last Monday in the White House when the Nato secretary-general said that the alliance would support a UN force in Darfur. Within the week the UN Security Council had unanimously passed a resolution that asks Kofi Annan to plan ways in which the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) could reinforce the peace efforts in Darfur and assist the AU mission in logistics, mobility, communications and other areas, and to present a range of options by 24 April 2006. The timing of this push is not surprising.

As host, Sudan opened a one day summit of the Arab League yesterday. Sudan is having limited success in petitioning Arab countries to unite to reject further UN involvement. Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir statedstated "The African Union [AU] forces are capable of accomplishing their mission in Darfur without any foreign intervention," instead, Bashir called on "Arab countries and the international community to support financially the AU forces". Poignantly the leaders of the two largest members, Egypt and Saudi Arabia were not present.
Bashir was not the only one petitioning the summit. Human Rights Watch and 15 other NGOs, mostly from Arab states, issued a statement urging the Arab League to take action on Darfur. They are calling for Arab leaders to endorse the turnover to UN troops, and also to condemn the human-rights violations they say are committed by rebel groups, the Sudanese government troops, and government-backed militias in Darfur.

China also had a presence at the summit. The Chinese emissary to the League underlined his country’s support for a settlement of Darfur issue in the framework of African Union’s endeavours, expressing satisfaction over close cooperation between Sudan and African Union and the neighbouring countries to reach a peaceful solution to the problem. China is keen to maintain its strong relations with the central Sudanese government with whom it has signed significant oil agreements with. China's actions both inside and out of the Security Council will undoubtedly shape the imminent develops in Darfur.
Nigeria is possibly the African nation with the most influence on the issue. It is currently hosting the stagnant Abuja peace talks on Darfur and Nigeria leads the African Union presence in Darfur. The African Union has officially sought UN help as its operation is strained and ineffective.

I have previously given an overall of the situation in Darfur here.

Feature – Understanding the next Industrial revolution

2006-03-28T08:31:00.000+02:00

The following is a bit of departure for me, this post is submitted as a blog discussion paper, so feedback and contributions are not just welcome, it is invited. It is not directly geared towards the under-developed world but I hope to subsequently draw conclusions in that regard. It is inspired by an article Alan S. Memorial Professor of Economics at Princeton University in this month’s Foreign Affairs (subs required)
He served on the White House Council of Economic Advisers and as Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and he wrote the piece specifically to prompt discussion. I have added my own context and draw some conclusions that are not included in his piece. I want to develop the discussion and try understand what it means for Ireland and the underdeveloped world and like I said I am inviting collaboration, leave a comment or a link to your own post on the matter,

Understanding the next Industrial revolution

Part 1 – What is around the next bend?

The world is in the early stages of the next industrial revolution. It is taking pace in fits and starts but it is slowly accelerating. The first awareness of this phenomenon can be traced to the turn of the century dotcom boom when many of the benefits of the information age were anticipated without consideration for many of the costs of transition. As that scrappy episode showed it is very difficult in times of revolution to find a good vantage point –let alone make decisions.
I believe the appropriate context for examining what is happening right now and what is around the next bend is to develop a vantage point by addressing the stalled Doha round of trade talks and evaluating the success of the six year old Lisbon agenda.
For some perspective the first such revolution was the Agricultural revolution. It was the effect unprecedented agricultural production had on society, specifically the make up and migration of the workforce. It in turn contributed to the Industrial revolution which was the defining change of last three hundred years, when the steam engine replaced large scale manual labour and not only changed the nature of economic growth but it once again also changed the make up and location of the work force. More recently in developed economies the services sector has taken over from the manufacturing sector as the dominant form of employment with further changes in society and regional migration. Once more we are entering a defining era when a fundamental change in the services industry will transform society. This will be the next industrial revolution.

The Doha Round

The Doha round of trade talks began in November 2001 and focuses on global trade in agricultural and manufacturing with a special consideration for the developing world. It is currently stalled and has missed its original deadline of January 2005. It is due to finish before the end of 2006. The talks are stalled on the opening up of developed agricultural markets (EU, US etc) to developing nations (who have a comparative advantage in agricultural production) and the reduction of tariffs in developing countries for the manufactured products of developed countries. In terms of the coming industrial revolution and our vantage point there are two very important features to note about the talks. The first is the rise in power of India, its ability to make its voice heard and the wider shift in the balance away from the EU, US and Japan. In all likelihood this trend will continue for decades and India will more prominently. The second important observation is the fact that the main blocking point is a dispute over trade in Agriculture and Manufactured goods. These are minority sectors in developed economies and yet one of the key issues is the continued reluctance to reduce agricultural subsidies that were introduced decades ago. In hindsight such protectionism should only ever have been short-term; the leaders of the nations concerned should have moved to remove the need for such protectionism a long time ago. The desired reduction of tariffs on manufactured goods is beneficial for both the developed world and the quickly developing world. At the moment developed economies want greater access to developing markets but these tariffs are more likely to swing as a defensive issue for the developed world. It is increasingly the case that developed economies are erecting barriers to slowdown the influx of goods from economies with a massive comparative advantage in manufacturing; see China’s exports to the EU and the US.
What do these observations mean for our vantage point?
As I said, although these are very important sectors in the developed world, they are of minor importance compared to the service sector and that sector is what the laws of comparative advantage are now transforming. What is ‘tradable’ in terms of services is changing and it is changing rapidly. Technology has enabled radiologists in India to be employed by American and European hospitals. In London, the city is in transition as financial back-offices are being outsourced to India. Discount computers programmers in Eastern Europe and Asia are supporting and developing software for every cyber-inch of the industry. Equally significant to our vantage point is that while the Doha round is stuck - on a sector that has been transformed decades ago, Agriculture and one that continues to be transformed, Manufacturing - in our electronically connected world the next round of trade talks will have little influence over the revolution in the services industry.

The Lisbon Agenda
In March 2000, the EU Heads of States and Governments agreed to make the EU ‘the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-driven economy by 2010’. Such a commendable goal was targeted due to the acknowledgement and anticipation of a continued decline in comparative advantage in many areas of industry, in relation to large and growing regions outside of the EU. Much of the effort so far has consisted of doing nothing until the halfway mark and then to begin trying fix Europe’s massive unemployment problem and encourage economic growth. Of course these should have been national priorities regardless of any summit on Lisbon. The EU budget has very little effect in the investment in a ‘knowledge-driven economy’ - the significant investment comes from national budgets which indeed give it a high priority. As it has been noted in observing the increasing ‘tradable’ nature of services, highly skilled, highly paid services jobs are already beginning to be done for western companies elsewhere in the world. If this trend continues its trajectory in the coming years just being highly skilled not be enough for future job seekers. Having an expensive education in IT, biotechnology or radiology will not guarantee a future job and the current education and training infrastructure will not be appropriate.

Part 2 – What is further down the road?

Analysing some other trends also broadens the view from our vantage point. It can safely be assumed that growth in computer capacity and online connectedness will continue to accelerate; a plateau is not yet in sight. The way that businesses manipulate this increasing connectedness will continue to be innovative and it is difficult to anticipate the consequences of these developments. There however are some things we can be quite sure of if we continue on this path; it will be very difficult for some services to become ‘tradable’. Developed economies will continue to need doctors, waiters, teachers, hairdressers and other such personal services. Other industries are less dependable; it will be interesting to see how long it will be before Indian universities begin offering the basis for US legal and accounting qualifications. Such industries are personal but a large function of their behind the scenes work could be easily outsourced as many such employers are already global. From there the next natural progression would be offering similar courses in British and Irish professional subjects. This may all seem very far fetched but not so long ago it would have been ridiculous to think that impatient commuters standing on platforms in England could call to enquire about the next train and end up seamlessly speaking to someone 5,000 miles away in a call centre in India. The information age will narrow the education gap at all levels.
So it seems that developed economies will soon have a very serious comparative disadvantage in many services and unlike agricultural and manufacturing trade future leaders will be largely powerless to slow down the inevitable transition through protectionism. The logical question and one that is not being asked, least of all by the Lisbon Agenda is ‘what can we do to successfully lead the working population through this transition?’ It should be noted that in spite of Luddites, previous industrial revolutions have been overwhelmingly beneficial for the whole of the societies that have participated in them. The best beacons have always been creativity and entrepreneurship. It may well be a case of ‘the more it changes the more it stays the same‘, it will be capitalism but not as we know it now – so how do we prepare?

Chilling Elephants

2006-03-27T12:03:00.000+02:00

Africa likes it big and wild. In the developed world we have agricultural pests like rats and rabbits; Africa laughs and sends herds of elephants to pester its farmers. African farmers already face many considerable challenges but how can they cope with elephant populations which often run rampage on their land? How expensive would effective ‘Jurassic Park’ style fences cost and how could African farmers possibly afford them? Moreover the law isn’t on their side – elephants are protected. Thankfully someone has developed a simple cheap solution.
Elephants hate chilli! If you construct a twine fence smeared with crushed chilli-peppers you won’t have to worry about waking up to see elephants on your land, they never forget the sensation of chilli on the tips of their trunks. Many African farmers are now growing chilli peppers and what they don’t use as elephant repellent they sell as a cash crop.

Opinion: Living with Oil for the rest of the Oil-age

2006-03-27T10:37:00.000+02:00

A significant section of charity and philanthropy is directly related to environmental issues. As yet I have not dealt much with this but I don’t want to exclude it from my blog. I like to focus on things I can understand rather than those I can't.
I don't understand how the climate changes, I'm not sure that it can be easily understood. Economists have trouble understanding phenomena with many variables because they have very limited opportunities to observe and control, I think climatologists could be in an even more limited position in this respect. I do understand that burning oil is toxic for us and even more toxic for our environment and that the global economy is addicted to it.
This in itself makes it a problem that needs to be fixed urgently. It seems that there is an awful lot of oil left to burn and as the stone-age didn’t end because people ran out of stones, the oil-age won't end because we are going to run out of oil. That is the easy part, understanding more and figuring how best to fix the problem of oil addiction is something I am less sure of but I'll address developments as they arrive. I would like to stake out what I think is possible.

-Consumers
Lowly consumers have some power and if their preference is distinct enough they can, to some degree, shape how energy needs are met. This will probably only have a limited impact but it may hasten the end of the oil age. Much more powerful forces are governments, oil companies and oil and gas producing nations and it is has been the producers who have dictated to the industry for decades.

-Governments and Producers
A major source of waste and pollution is the process of oil refining and in the larger scheme of things it is relatively easy to improve. The oil price is currently high largely because demand has grown quicker recently than appropriate existing refining capacity has been able to meet with supply. There has been very little investment in refining capacity in the last decades because oil producers have been hurt before by over supply and subsequent low prices. The straining ancient infrastructure of oil refining is the single biggest source of oil inefficiency and therefore it may be the source of most of the unnecessary pollution. About 10% of potential end petro-products are lost in this highly-polluting process. Right now oil producers, that is companies and countries, are making enormous profits and are beginning to invest in new refining capacity - this is an excellent and possibly a once off opportunity to make sure that the next generation of oil refinery is much cleaner and more efficient than it is now or has been previously.

Governments and consumers must make sure that this opportunity is not missed. All things being equal with the new refining capacity that is beginning to be built (regardless of its environmental friendliness) the price of oil will go down due to increase supply capacity. As this happens governments should slow down the decline in the oil price by increasing taxes on oil. This would not unduly affect the economy as consumers have already shown that they can handle higher prices. All the revenue from this increase in taxes should be used to insure that innovation and research continues to make refining cleaner. Oil companies and producers profits will fall as the price falls but the investment in refining will still need to continue. If we reach a stage were marginal improvements in efficiency are no longer necessary then the fiscal revenue could be diverted to other related innovation.

In step with the above national regulation in consuming countries should keep raising the bar to what is acceptable in regards clean and efficient refining and cleaner burning petro-products. Such regulation and cooperation between major governments, companies and producing countries is a massive task. Finding the correct balance of regulation, tax and investment would probably be more a difficult and politically sensitive operation than the Central banker’s task of manipulating interest rates. Many countries, both consumers and producers, may be reluctant to cooperate. The oil companies much publicised commitment to innovation in this area may be shown up to be lacking. Regardless of these problems it must be understood that the usage of oil as the dominant oil source for next twenty years is probably unavoidable and if we want to make it cleaner the cooperation described above is essential. The story of the oil-age so far is that the defining decisions on investment levels have been made exclusively by OPEC and oil companies. If the situation is to be improved to any degree of satisfaction parties representing consuming countries must have a powerful voice and cooperation between consuming nations must be increased.

It is difficult to imagine the best structure for this. Ideally an independent Energy Commissioner would be appointed to represent each of major oil consuming blocks, the US, EU, Japan, China etc. They could be non-partisan like a central banker or a Supreme Court judge. The obvious problem would be the source of their leverage and influence on oil producing nations and oil companies. This would have to be developed but sources could be regulation on the emission levels of refining and end products. The EU and the US have different standards for level of cleanliness for oil, gasoline and diesel. Lead in petrol has already been eliminated as a problem by regulation. If consumer countries cooperated they could quickly phase out the purchase of oil from inefficient refineries provided that there is adequate investment in cleaner refineries. Cooperation between national Energy Commissioners would be essential and maybe to a greater degree than how cooperation between Central Bankers is beneficial. They would also have a domestic role in encouraging the use of the best alternative energy sources. Initially they could expand the use of gas as it is a much cleaner fuel. They could foster preferences for hybrid technology or even for nuclear energy if needed.

In the end the way our energy needs are being met is evolving all the time and it is about time that more influence on that evolution is drawn away from parties whose interests do not prioritise the environment.

The Media Mimicking Art but Mocking the Truth

2006-03-23T13:04:00.000+01:00

It is not news to anyone in the blogosphere that the mainstream media is at heart a business and frequently a journalist’s or editor’s priority is their career rather than the merits of a story. This helps explain the tension that exists between the media and charities. The Guardian has a piece today which notes

Charities and the media can't do without each other, but it is not exactly a friendly relationship - sometimes it is fraught with tension, conflict and danger.

Such general sentiments are vague and of little use until cases are specified.
Harper's is a prestigious US magazine that seeks to ‘explores the issues that drive our national conversation’. Undoubtedly, in the wake of the Oscars, one of these issues has been the behaviour of Big Pharma in Africa as portrayed in the Constant Gardener.
This months Harper's runs a shocking expose (edited version here) that is an eerie echo of the damning fictional plot. It reports similar deaths as a result of wilful gross negligence, scandalous testing on AIDS patients and the intentional dressing up of dangerous drugs as safe in order to protect a well connected behemoth corporation.
What is even more shocking is how quickly the credibility of the report and that of author has been shredded. The South African Treatment Action Campaign, a group that fights for affordable treatment for HIV patients, has already taken time out from its life saving work to issue a report citing 56 errors in the story.
Stuart details some of the author’s background and her controversial beliefs.

A tense relationship indeed, watch this space to see how the blogosphere measures up.

ExxonMobil-Phoney? Big-Oil makes blood boil

2006-03-23T08:41:00.000+01:00

Sometimes corporations start good initiatives and sometimes they pay lip service to buy PR. Sometimes they are the victims of unjust smear campaigns and sometimes it is fully deserved.
Here is a case where it just doesn’t look good for ExxonMobil -

Public Interest Watch, a nonprofit watchdog group that receives donations from Exxon Mobil, urged the Internal Revenue Service two years ago to audit Greenpeace, an environmental group that has been a longtime critic of the oil company, reports The Wall Street Journal.

...eh what was that about receiving donations...?

The tax filing for Public Interest Watch shows a donation of $120,000 from the oil company, the vast majority of the group’s total donations of $124,094.

Some explaining to do…?

A spokesman for Exxon said that the company had given money to the watchdog group, but that he wasn’t aware of the audit and that the company played no role in initiating the request.

Follow-up

Greenpeace was notified by the IRS this month that the charity still qualifies for tax exemption.

There is no doubt that Greenpeace and Exxon have a long history and sometimes what is called philanthropy is quite self serving but this looks like a case of ‘when buying PR goes wrong’.

HAT-TIP Trent

Dawn after the African World War?

2006-03-22T10:27:00.000+01:00

Poignantly Thomas Lubanga’s first day of trial at the International Criminal Court coincided with the Spring Equinox. Lubanga faces charges for his conduct during the long war in the Congo and he is the first person to face the ICC, but why is that conflict known as the African World War?

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) is more than three times the size of Turkey, it is estimated that more than 240 languages are spoken there and during the conflict (1998-2003) that nine African states were involved in, an estimated 3.8 million people died making it the bloodiest conflict since the second world war. In a complex clash there were broadly four factions; the Tutsi aligned, Hutu aligned, Uganda aligned and Kinshasa aligned forces, stemming from neighbouring countries. Although the conflict officially ended in 2003, the DRC is still a humanitarian crisis - Doctors without Borders listed it in their ten most underreported humanitarian issues of 2005.

So is a dawn breaking? In December 2005 a new constitution was approved by 84% of the 25 million who turned out which is considered an impressive response given the country's administration problems. The new constitution allows for 25 semiautonomous provinces drawn along ethnic and cultural lines. Yesterday, Kofi Annan travelled to the country to pledge international support for the planned June Presidential elections. German troops will lead a 1,500 strong EU troop presence which aims to provide security for the elections. The Ituri conflict still rages in the east of the country were eight Guatemalan special forces serving as UN peacekeepers were killed earlier this year.

Links

2006-03-21T11:21:00.000+01:00

I have found the UK-based Charity Blogger via Roger’s excellent development blogs hub.
I am not the best at updating links but I’ll start a blogroll to celebrate!

The word from inside the corridors of power

2006-03-21T11:05:00.000+01:00

Newly named Irish World Humanitarian, John O’Shea, has recently met with Kofi Annan and gives an overview of the inadequate international response to Darfur. Mr O’Shea assesses the depressing reality of the UN Security Council-

Despite the US using its presidency at the UN Security Council last month to push through a resolution setting out the size and terms of such a UN force for Darfur, support for a resolution was found wanting at the top table of the Security Council. And the reason is obvious. Any Security Council resolution to authorise a force is likely to be blocked as permanent members of the council continue to put their own perceived interests - commercial, diplomatic and political - ahead of the humanitarian needs of Darfur’s millions.

China's veto which looms large at the UN has said it will kill any resolution threatening sanctions on Khartoum. It is the largest customer for Sudan's rapidly-growing oil exports as well as being a major investor in the petroleum industry there. Russia is also a significant exporter of arms to Sudan - a lucrative market which has thrived under the arms embargoes imposed by the US and the EU.

On a brighter GOAL-related note, GOAL’s Venetian Masked Ball will be held on Friday 21st April, 2006 in Dublin, anyone familiar with GOAL balls or Venetian Carnival will agree it promises to be a wonderful event

Is this the first serious contender for invention of the Century?

2006-03-16T15:05:00.000+01:00

DEKA Research was founded in 1982 by Dean Kamen.
It makes a lot of seriously useful applications.
The last thing Dean Kamen invented was the Segway, that funny gravity defying two-wheel scooter thingy. His latest work looks to be a lot less frivolous.

The Slingshot, a machine the size of washing machine, combines an electricity generator which burns anything to produce a constant kilowatt of energy and a water purifier which can take even sewage and produce 1000 litres of clean water per day.
As the man says – ‘Eighty percent of all the diseases you could name would be wiped out if you just gave people clean water’. Their plan for distribution looks state of the art. It is still an expense prototype so that is probably why it is little more than rumour at the moment.

Podcasting the undiscovered country

2006-03-16T12:43:00.000+01:00

Thou openest the mysterious gate
Into the future's undiscovered land…
…The herald Hope, forerunning Fear,
And Fear, the pursuivant of Hope.
Thy destiny remains untold;
For, like Acestes' shaft of old,
The swift thought kindles as it flies,
And burns to ashes in the skies.

Unicef have been podcasting from the Congo, Tsunami affected regions and New Orleans in the last year and they’ve had 3 million downloads. Recently they have begun Vodcasting but iTunes seems to have available the most recent Podcast.

That there’s some corner of a foreign field that will always be...

2006-03-14T13:41:00.000+01:00

...Darfur

”I woke to the sounds of shots being fired, and I went out on the street to see and it was total chaos,” said a 50-year-old shopkeeper. ”I heard planes and helicopters flying overhead and saw men riding in on horseback and then in vehicles.” A 63-year-old farmer whose 17-year-old son had been killed in a previous attack outside of Terbeba, said: ”I heard shots and screaming. Everyone was running. Bullets were coming down like rain.” Said an 18-year-old woman whose husband was working in Libya at the time of the attack: ”I was awakened by shots and went outside to see. The Janjaweed were everywhere on foot and on horseback. They saw me and came towards my house, pushing me out of the way to find my husband. My child was right there and I just grabbed him and ran away.”

Accounts from survivors of the assault on Terbeba, Darfur collected and reported this month by Physicians for Human Rights.

Background
Sudan is the largest country in Africa. The Darfur region is the size of France and was once home to six million people. Since colonial times Darfur has been at best neglected by the power centre Khartoum. More recently the powerful Muslim north has been at war the Christian and Animist south for most of the years since 1983. Throughout the 1990s the central government armed the minority Arab herders in Darfur, these became known as the Janjaweed. The dictator Brig. Omar Hassan Ahmed El Bashir has ruled Sudan since 1989. In early 2003 two non-Arab rebel groups attacked government outposts demanding greater political and economic representation for Darfur in the Arab-controlled Sudanese state. In response the Janjaweed and government forces launched a massive attack on thousands of non-Arab villages across the region. Between 2003 and October 2005 the two combined to kill hundreds of thousands and displace over 2.5 million people. Those 2.5 million people are the survivors of a journey from their attacked villages to refugee camps in Chad and the South of Darfur where they live today, a journey across land that is slowly loosing its battle with the expanding Sahara which many did not survive.

What is bigger than a Google?

2006-03-13T14:20:00.000+01:00

Google’s kudos for ‘not being evil’ took a bashing recently when it decided to help prop up the Great Firewall of China. As a fully fledged multi-billion dollar corporation it seems Google is in danger of drifting into the Microsoft league of growing, old, big and hated. However it is worth noting that like Bill Gates the founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, have serious philanthropic plans. A couple of weeks ago Larry Brilliant was named as the Executive Director of Google.org - the company’s one billion dollar philanthropic arm. Brin and Page raised some eyebrows when they declared they

‘hope that someday this institution will eclipse Google itself in overall world impact by ambitiously applying innovation and significant resources to the largest of the world's problems’.

Google.org supports the Acumen Fund, TechnoServe and PlanetRead.
The Acumen Fund has had much success with a new generation of mosquito bednets, called "Long-Lasting Insecticide-Treated Bednets." Unlike existing nets these do not need to be re-treated for their entire lifespan of five years, and are made of polyethylene, which is much stronger than polyester, preventing damage to the net.
Google also run Google Grants has donated $33M in free Google advertising to more than 850 non-profit organizations in 10 countries.

The Rich List

2006-03-10T13:11:00.000+01:00

The Forbes Rich List is out and there are apparently 102 more billionaires than there were last year. Bill Gates heads the list for the 12th straight year. I covered some of his work here.
A much more worthwhile list, in my opinion is the Slate 60, which covers 60 largest US charity donors for each year.

Victor Connell Trust Fund Appeal

2006-03-10T12:01:00.000+01:00

Gavin has posted in order to raise awareness and money for his cousin Victor Connell who suffered a terrible spinal injury while playing rugby for Longford RFC. The rugby club have set up this website which tells his story and lists the following events which have been organised for him.

March 11th 2006: Bucket collections around Lansdowne Road before and after Ireland Vs Scotland

March 2006: Specially commissioned Rugby Tech 4Victor jerseys go on sale

April 2006: Race night at Longford Rugby Club on Saturday 22nd April

Spinal Injuries Ireland provides help and assitance for the injured and their families.

When the rains don’t come, the economics of famine slaughter

2006-03-09T12:28:00.000+01:00

The seasonal rains in East Africa have once again failed leaving tens of millions at risk of famine. Thos facing the greatest danger are pastoralist farmers who live off herds which are being decimated by the drought. Those animals that do survive are of less and less value, reuters reports that the price of an adult cow has fallen from 7,000 Kenya shillings (US $96) to 800 shillings ($11). Camels fetch less than 5,000 shillings ($68), down from 20,000 shillings ($274).
As a result the pastoral communities can not afford to buy maize, of which there has recently been a very successful harvest, and so they face starvation.

The governments of most of the countries are characterized as corrupt and undemocratic and have abdicated responsibility for these largely lobby-less pastoralist communities to international aid organisations. The necessary reform to protect the vulnerable is very slow in coming.

- Kenya which has the largest and most developed economy in the region has the largest pastoralist community and is therefore most at risk. These aid agencies work there.
- Somalia was a violent anarchic state for 13 years up until 2004, its newly formed central government is in no position to meet its responsibilities. Most of it population is pastoralist.
It already had 1.3 million people in dire need of food aid before the rains failed.
These aid agencies work there.
- Eritrea led by dictator is Isaias Afwerki is more concerned with threatening its neighbours, relations with which are virtually all strained, than reforming. These aid agencies work there.
- Ethiopia has the largest livestock population in Africa but its farmers are not allowed to settle in urban areas or open bank accounts. These aid agencies work there.
- Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world, these aid agencies work there.

International Women’s day

2006-03-08T08:28:00.000+01:00

...I am the sun's toy--because I go against
The grain I feel the brush of my authority,
Its ripples straying from a star's collapse.
If I travel far enough, and fast enough, I seem
To be at rest, I see my closed life expanding
Through the crimson shells of time...

from Venus and the Sun by Medbh McGuckian

113 years ago New Zealand became the first country to introduce universal suffrage and yet Richard H. Robbins asserts that -

Women do two-thirds of the world's work, receive 10 percent of the world's income and own 1 percent of the means of production.*

This stark reality is something to ponder today on International Women’s day. The Global Fund for Women is a group that recognises that the fight for ‘universal’ suffrage goes on beyond the borders of western countries that have largely recognised and protected their female population’s rights. These are some events that are happening in Ireland to mark the day.

*Richard H. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, (Allyn and Bacon, 1999), p. 354

UPDATE ---
Fiona describes the day's background and lists some related political appointments in Ireland

A two-week birthday celebration for Fairtrade

2006-03-06T11:21:00.000+01:00

The Fairtrade label is 12 years old today. In order to commemorate the milestone Fairtrade Fortnight begins today in the UK. The concept was established to redress the anomaly that the growers of some of the most exclusive and high quality agricultural commodities are so poor that they do not even have access to clean water. On its 12th birthday Fairtrade is not just about coffee and chocolate anymore, there are over 1300 Fairtrade certified products in the UK from footballs to flowers to wine and beer. The products are now found in many mainstream retailers. Fairtrade is a follow on from the Boston-based for-profit company Equal Exchange founded way back in 1986.

The economic benefits of these initiatives are disputed by some economists who question the wisdom of selling above the global market price. Such controversy is somewhat academic however as even the most optimistic forecasts suggest the Fairtrade industry will remain at a niche level. The high-profile growth of the Fairtrade movement may mean that is most far reaching beneficial result will be a broad improvement in ethical corporate behaviour.

Red Carded – Cui Bono?

2006-03-03T13:51:00.000+01:00

The American Express Red Credit Card was launched yesterday by Bono and Elle MacPhearson. The gist is it’s a normal credit card with no annual fee which donates 1% of what you spend to combat AIDS in Africa. It seems like a great development and the first of many from the Red Brand which includes Giorgio Armani and Gap.
12.9% APR seems competitive but Credit cards are almost always the most expensive form of debt so clear it every month.

It has been emphasised that this is a business venture, its good business sense for the corporations to target the section of consumers that are concern about AIDS in Africa.

I’m going to try get one – I’ll let you know how it goes.

---- UPDATE ----

The Card isn't available in Germany or Ireland yet - just the UK and US.
I've contacted them to find out when it will be available.

The Kuwait Fund

2006-03-03T12:04:00.000+01:00

A cloud gathers, the rain falls, men live; the cloud disperses without rain, and men and animals die. In the deserts of southern Arabia there is no rhythm of the seasons, no rise and fall of sap, but empty wastes where only the changing temperature marks the passage of the year. It is a bitter, desiccated land which knows nothing of gentleness or ease….Men live there because it is the world into which they were born; the life they lead is the life their forefathers led before them; they accept hardships and privations; they know no other way.

Wilfred Thesiger, Arabian Sands

Of course it is not the clouds above that have dictated the fate of the Kuwaitis for the past half century. The oil reserves below the small ‘fortress built near water’ have resulted in a steady rain of billions of petrodollars. Kuwait has 10% of proven world oil reserves and is one of the wealthiest states in the world. Bedouin hardship is said to be engrained in the blood of the people so it is not remarkable that the country has the distinction of having created the first aid agency to be established by a developing country. Established in 1961, The Kuwait Fund is an indication that they are aware that there are many peoples who still share the hardship of their forefathers, who live and die by cloud behaviour.

The operations of the Fund were originally confined, in accordance with its initial mandate, to the Arab countries. In July 1974 the scope of the Fund's activity was extended to the rest of the developing world. Kuwait foreign assistance, channelled mainly through the Kuwait Fund, is considerably higher than the 0.7% of GNP target specified by the United Nations for development assistance. In 2004 it funded 21 projects with total loan commitments of about USD 300 million. The total number of beneficiaries reached 86 countries including 16 Arab countries, 35 African, 22 Asian and European countries, and nine Latin American and Caribbean countries. The Fund focuses on development loans for transportation projects (33% of funding), Energy (22%), Agriculture (16%) and Water and Sewage (11%).

Bringing the islands closer to the main…

2006-03-02T13:03:00.000+01:00

…No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee…

That millions die each year in developing countries from diseases, cures for which are ignored by the busy minor-miracle workers of billion dollar pharmaceutical companies, gives lie to John Donne’s meditation on the interdependency of the human race and its awareness and concern for the morality of all its members.

And yet is it a deeper meditation of our nature to observe that corporations who concern themselves with expensive developments for clients, who could not possible make such work worthwhile in a monetary sense, have no future?
Is it the river’s fault that gravity does not lead it to some planes and favours others, resulting in fertile banks to contrast barren expanses?
Is it the river or the arid planes fault that they cannot kindle a dam and irrigate themselves?

Thankfully this pondering is interrupted by the Global Health Initiative.
The question was asked ‘What would the minor miracle workers of science be developing if the poorest in the world could afford treatment for the serious diseases that they suffer from?’ The prize for the most promising deliverable technologies is hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants principally from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with additional funds from the Wellcome Trust and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
After 32 months of work they have formulated 43 Grand Challenges to focus on examples of which include;
-Heat Stable Vaccines, vaccines are generally developed for populations with easy access to refrigeration – these are not appropriate for Africa.
-Single Dose Vaccines, most vaccines need boosters that are administered over weeks or months, these are highly unsuitable for families that have to travel long distance to the nearest clinic.
-Revolutionary methods to control certain Mosquito populations
-Encouraging the growth of more nutritious stable crops
-New HIV Vaccine strategies
-Technological innovation specific for diagnosis in the developing world

Lent in the Land of Lakes and Volcanoes

2006-03-01T12:29:00.000+01:00

Nicaragua is about 50% larger than Ireland. With the Pacific to its west and the Caribbean to its east, this tropical bridge between the Americas boasts beautiful beaches, the continents second largest rainforest and forty volcanoes (many of which are active). It is also home to one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, Lago Nicaragua and breathtaking cloud forests. Tragically civil war, military dictators and Hurricane Mitch (1998) have condemned this uniquely stunning land to be one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.

Its population is 5.2 million of which half live below the poverty line and it has an adult literacy rate of only 67%.

Nicaragua is the focus of Trócaire’s 2006 Lenten campaign. Trócaire, the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland, funds 16 projects for the population of the agricultural north of the country who are too remote from the central government.
Trócaire works to enable them to secure enough nutrition to feed their families. Its educational projects also encourage the local communities to make the most of their land rights, credit opportunities, agricultural potential, local government entitlements and lobbying possibilities.
This is a full list of Trócaire’s current work in the country.

Make a donation to Trócaire’s 2006 Lenten campaign.

Here are 22 other charities working in Nicaragua.

Only the biggest mountains matter

2006-02-28T14:53:00.000+01:00

History says, Don’t hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme

From Seamus Heaney’s The Cure at Troy

So your company has changed the world we live in and your bank balance is worth, well, more than the bank. You think that all your ambitions have been accomplished until you realise the greatest challenges lie ahead.

Having witnessed the proud legacy of history’s superrich, today’s billionaires are emulating and indeed are surpassing the example set by the Carnegies and Rockefellers. Those who have amassed unfathomable fortunes in just a couple of decades or even a few years are keen to leave a mark that benefits generations. The challenges that they are choosing to focus on are as diverse as they are intimidating.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have set there sights on global health. The richest couple in the world are channelling their funds in order to close the gap between the amount of health care that the poorest in Africa receive – close to zero – and that amount we in the western world benefits from.

Warren Buffet, the investment champion of the universe, having conquered the stock market many times over is taking aim at reducing the world’s nuclear armaments.

The man whose work enshrined a little known law which dictates the speed at which the computer world advances, Gordon Moore, founder of Intel is tackling environmental conservation. (Moore’s law states that global computing power doubles approximately every 18 months – good news if your selling the computer components!).

George Soros, the stock market and currency speculating genius, has helped foster open democracy for decades. Having helped those on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain throw off the Soviet shackles he continues to work towards a fairer society globally.

The longed-for tidal wace of justice is the subject of this blog.