Saturday, April 26, 2008

Problem organizations - Millennium Village Project

Dear Colleagues

Transparency should be a norm. So I am very disappointed to be including the Millennium Village Project (MVP) of the Earth Institute at Columbia University among the problem organizations because of its very weak record of transparency.

I may be missing something, but I don't think so. I have been trying to get some useful information about the Millennium Villages, but what is publicly available is nothing more than PR (public relations) material that is suited to informing donors rather than to informing analysis of development.

From what one can understand, the MVP is getting very substantial funding from donors, and, not surprisingly, high expenditures are resulting in changes in the performance of the village. Whether or not these changes are sustainable is not clear, but the indicators are that they are not.

I have been told that the MVP is collecting a lot of data. Good. But what value does data have when it is private and secret. Columbia University and its Earth Institute seem to believe that knowledge arising from the MVP is their private property ... which might be so in strict legal terms ... but it is my understanding that the funding for the MVP comes from many sources including from agencies funded with taxpayer money (not necessarily the US taxpayer.

I was hoping to learn something from the MVP. I like the fact that it is a community centric development initiative ... but I am appalled at what the project is costing and how little information about this is available to me, and the public in general.

Appalled ...

The MVP is a very good reason why the Tr-Ac-Net Community Impact Accountancy system needs to be universally deployed.

Sincerely

Peter Burgess

Friday, April 25, 2008

Problem organizations ... the ONE campaign

Dear Josh

And there is a good reason for 72 million children of school age children not being in school ... the global leadership has had little interest in making systemic changes to what has been going on for decades ... and organizations like ONE tend to facilitate more and bigger status quo and not much support for results based innovation.

I don't expect a reply to this ... ONE talks but ONE I don't think has any mechanism for listening and taking part in informing dialog.

Sincerely

Peter Burgess
____________
Peter Burgess
The Transparency and Accountability Network:
Tr-Ac-Net in New York
www.tr-ac-net.org
IMMC - The Integrated Malaria Management Consortium Inc.
The Tr-Ac-Net blogs ... start at http://tracnetvision.blogspot.com
917 432 1191 or 212 772 6918 peterbnyc@gmail.com
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On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 2:47 PM, Josh Peck, ONE.org wrote:
Dear Peter,

Education is the one sure ticket out of poverty for millions of children around the world. Yet today, 72 million children globally do not have access to quality shooling.

That's why ONE is joining forces with the Global Campaign for Education to demand action.

Right now, 66 representatives in the House have cosponsored the Education for All Act. But, 66 representatives are not enough. If ensuring that millions of children receive the education they need to get themselves out of the depths of poverty is important to you, then we need your help to increase the number of members of Congress supporting this critical bill—and we need it right now.

By clicking the link below, you'll send the following petition to your member of Congress asking him or her to co-sponsor the Education for All Act. http://www.one.org/edforall/o.pl?id=308-3195097-qJz_aK&t=2

I am a constituent and ONE member, and I am writing you today to ask you to please co-sponsor the Education for All Act (H.R. 2092).

Around the world, 72 million school-age children are not in school. The Education for All Act would commit the United States to investing in a comprehensive strategy to help these children get access to basic education, and break devastating cycles of poverty in the developing world.

I turn to you and ask for your leadership on this important bill.

The Education for All Act is a bipartisan bill that would require the U.S. to scale up our investment in basic education dramatically, and develop a comprehensive strategy to help put every child in school.

On April 23, American students in 48 states joined the Global Campaign for Education in trying to set the World Record for largest simultaneous lesson, when thousands of children around the took part in a lesson about the importance of education and the barriers that young people face in accessing a quality education.

Now we need to take all the good will and support generated by this incredible event and turn it into action. We've got to use all of that energy to help our representatives find the will to give all children access to the education that will lift them out of poverty, and put an end to the vicious cycle of poverty, hunger, and disease.

Click the link below, and we'll send a signed petition to your member of Congress asking for his or her support for the Education for All Act.
http://www.one.org/edforall/o.pl?id=308-3195097-qJz_aK&t=3

Right now, you can help to pass this vital piece of legislation.

Thank you for your voice,

Josh Peck, ONE.org