8/22/10

Pakistan flooding "the biggest emergency on the planet today”

Pakistan's biggest floods in its history have inflicted widespread suffering throughout the country, the UN calling it “probably the biggest emergency on the planet today”!

UN aid agencies have indicated that more than 20 million people are affected by the floods in Pakistan, with 6 million people in need of immediate assistance, adding that the relief operation remains underfunded.

Pakistan's permanent representative to the UN Office at Geneva has appealed for more international attention and support for his country, describing the disaster as "unprecedented."

Bill Berger, USAID's principal regional adviser for South Asia, told the BBC, "I just don't think the world has realizes the magnitude of this now, because this story has just been slowly increasing. It doesn't have the drama of an earthquake that impacts a huge number of people all at once."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon summed up the relative enormity: “Almost 20 million people need shelter, food and emergency care. That is more than the entire population hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Kashmir earthquake, Cyclone Nargis and the earthquake in Haiti -- combined.”

8/19/10

PayPal App makes charitable giving easier

In a forthcoming mobile app update, PayPal will make donating to more than 20,000 charities possible with the click of a button.

According to the company's fact sheet, it currently boasts 224 million total accounts (87 million active accounts) in 190 markets supporting 24 worldwide currencies. That's a vast cash and credit pool soon accessible for charity via the press of a button.

8/8/10

The emergence of Philanthrocapitalism

The Giving Pledge made by 38 American billionaires last Wednesday could be worth $115 billion if they fulfil their promise to give at least half their fortunes away.

The architects of the Giving Pledge, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and uber-investor Warren Buffett, kickstarted the revolution in 2006 when they made a public commitment to give their fortunes away. Now, through the Giving Pledge, one in 10 of America's 400 billionaires has committed to join them and make philanthropy a vocation.

If these billionaire philanthrocapitalists can follow Gates's example their giving could be world-changing. Through his own philanthropy (and cajoling of governments), Gates has driven a step change in the world's efforts to take on killer diseases in the developing world. As a result of these efforts, annual research spending on malaria has soared from $60 million a decade ago to nearly $2 billion today, which means that there is a real possibility of preventing the million deaths a year from this disease within the next decade.

With their business knowledge and willingness to support innovative ideas, as well as their money, these philanthrocapitalists could become the world's leading problem-solvers.

[Read article in The Guardian]

8/5/10

U.S. attempt to soften Pakistan attitudes via humanitarian aid

The Obama administration is stepping up emergency relief for victims of Pakistan's devastating floods, hoping a highly visible dose of goodwill will soften anti-American attitudes in a country seen as vital to defeating al-Qaeda.

A Pew Foundation poll released last week that found nearly six in 10 Pakistanis view the United States as an enemy, and only one in 10 call it a partner. Nearly two-thirds said they want American troops out of Afghanistan.

U.S. officials believe a major humanitarian response to a deadly 2005 earthquake in Pakistan boosted the U.S. image there, at least temporarily.

Pakistan is the key partner of the U.S. in the Afghan conflict. Separate efforts reflect growing concern about the lack of apparent progress in the nearly nine-year conflict in Afghanistan, which has cost more than $297 billion and the lives of more than 1,100 U.S. troops.

Although the U.S. has given billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan since the 9/11 attacks, the Pew poll revealed that many Pakistanis don't realize it. About a quarter of those questioned said the U.S. provides a lot of financial aid. Nearly a quarter said it provides a little aid, 10 percent said the U.S. gives hardly any, and 16 percent believe the U.S. gives Pakistan no aid.