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Don Cayo 36 days ago
Of all the pressing needs clamoring for attention in the world's poorest countries, the most urgent is usually skilled people. Health care, education, administration and much more -- progress in every area is blunted by having too few people who know how to do the job well. Time was when Canada went a long way to help address that problem. We used to provide free access to advanced degrees for promising scholars from poor places -- students like Pakalitha Mosisili of Lesotho, who earned his masters of education degree at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver in the 1980s. Mosisili has proven the value of education many times over. He returned to Lesotho, first to teach and eventually to enter politics and become Prime Minister. In this role he has become an effective and tireless champion in the all-consuming fight against HIV/AIDS, which is debilitating and killing almost a quarter of the country's people. Not only does Canada not provide this kind of assistance any ...
Don Cayo 49 days ago
Most of us think it's laudable -- and it is -- when a non-profit group builds and operates a successful school or clinic, or finds ways to help a few hundred or a few thousand poor people make a better living. But Fazel Abed and BRAC, the Bangladesh-based international NGO he built over three decades from the ruins of a massive cyclone, count their successes in the millions. Their initial work was only in Bangladesh, but in recent years they have begun developing plans and programs to help millions and millions more in places as diverse as Afghanistan, Haiti and Uganda. To read my profile of Abed and his organization, published in the Vancouver Sun, click here.
Don Cayo 52 days ago
An all-Congolese holistic health group, HEAL Africa, is attracting worldwide attention with its stalwart determination to keep going to lawless areas of the eastern Congo where most others fear to tread. The organization's hospital in Goma, the regional UN headquarters and a relatively safe haven in the war-torn country, has attracted plenty of TV crews during high-profile visits from the likes of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But the core of their operation is the regular forays of their Congolese doctors and support staff into the villages and rural areas where government and rebel forces wrestle for control and where countless civilians have been wounded, raped and murdered. An estimated five million people -- the highest toll of any conflict since the Second World War -- have died over the last decade and a half due to the slaughter and the disease and deprivation left in its wake. I talked with the founders, Dr. Jo ...
Don Cayo 60 days ago
A series of tax measures enacted in Canada over the last decade have benefited mainly big domestic charities — hospitals and universities and that sort of thing — as they encourage the gift of publicly traded shares. But overseas development work has also benefited. Just two not-so-small examples — Vancouver mining magnates Frank Giustra and Lukas Lundin have each given $100 million to the Clinton Foundation for work in poor parts of the world. Now there's a thoughtful proposal being put forward for the Canadian government to extend the favourable tax treatment to two more large pools of Canadians' wealth — real estate and privately held companies. For my analysis of this proposal and its potential, click here.
Don Cayo 61 days ago
Canada has topped up its food aid budget by $30 million to address the growing famine in parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Uganda. This donation brings Canada’s annual total to about $145 million — roughly $5 per Canadian. That’s well down from the $275 million Canada gave last year, and in line with the level of giving in the two previous years. Most countries’ donations have dipped in this recession year, and Canada’s donation is still considered a large commitment by the standards of what others give. But it’s a drop in the bucket when measured against need. For example, CIDA minister Bev Oda said in her announcement that $10 million of Canada’s extra $30 million will be earmarked for Kenya, where many parts of the country have seen a near-total failure of annual rains and where famine is already settling in. Yet the UN’s World Food Program is seeking $230 million US to meet the needs of the 3.8 million Kenyans it expects it will have to feed. And those 3.8 million ...
