Date: 2025-02-05 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00009125
Tr-Ac-Net archive material
From circa 2008
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Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
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October 2005
Posted October 26, 2005 Funding sustainable organizations
During the last 12 months there has been an unprecedented need for funding
for humanitarian relief and for recovery and development. People have been
very generous, but the diversion of resources from established good things
has been a sad and damaging side effect. And this is even more sad, when the
fact is that a lot of emergency funding has been badly used, and indeed,
downright stolen. Now Satellife and Afro-Nets need support
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Posted October 28, 2005 Making politics a positive for development
Putting together a collection of quotes. If you have a quote that demonstrates
how politics is being a positive for development, please send it to Tr-Ac-Net
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Posted October 26, 2005 Peter Burgess on 'Rural development and microfinance'
I wrote this message to draw attention to the need for multiple interventions
in a community in order to have sustainable development success. More and more
or just one thing does not optimise the use of scarce relief and development
resources. While microfinance has a role, it is not the only intervention
needed to maximize performance
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Posted October 26, 2005 An Evaluation of World Bank's Support for Community Centric Development
This evaluation is about the World Bank and done by the World Bank by their own internal
'independent' evaluation unit. A quick assessment would be that this is a big piece of work ...
without much verifiable numerical information to support the conclusions
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Posted October 26, 2005 Kill Malaria Mosquitoes NOW
The Kill Malarial Mosquitoes NOW initiative aims to get global attention to the failure of
the world's leadership over the past 30 odd years to stop malaria. I came back from Africa
years ago feeling pretty ill ... when I suggested that I might have malaria a medical doctor
practicing in the USA told me that was impossible because malaria had been eradicated! With
that level of ignorance is it any surprise that there is an ongoing problem.
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Posted October 26, 2005 Kiosks of Chaos: The GOI Plan to create 100,000 village knowledge kiosk
This essay by Satish Jai asks some useful questions about the
use of ICT in development, and a concern that I share about the
focus on hardware rather than a focus on system and particularly
content and value.
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Posted October 26, 2005 A review of Paul Driessen's book, Eco-Imperialism
This review as written in 2003. From time to time people take a hard look at
socio-economic progress and it becomes clear that some of the decisions we make
are absolutely the worst for the poor unempowered peoples of the 'south' even
though they may have benefit for the rich few. Banning DDT has set back the
anti-malaria initiatives by decades, at a huge cost in terms of children's death
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Posted October 25, 2005. Global Witness call for transparency
The need for clarity about value sharing is obvious, but the incentives to keep this information
private are bigger. Profit potentials are huge, and control by the 'authorities' is a source
of local wealth. The local communities are rarely benefitting and they see little but massive
local value destruction.
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Posted October 25, 2005. About Newmont in Peru
These notes were prepared as an aide-memoire based on a PBS program about the history of
Newmont Mining company's operations in Peru. The local community has value destruction. The
highly placed 'authorities' and the Newmont stakeholders get all the exploited value .
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Posted October 25, 2005. Burying differences to tackle HIV/AIDS in India by Rahul Kumar
This article, written by Rahul Kumar suggests that poverty is the main cause behind the sex
trade and both female & male sex traders are most vulnerable and high-risk groups for spreading
HIV/AIDS, and criticises the dialog about the situation while little is being done on the ground.
Nothing is said about the lack of meaningful reliable management information.
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Posted October 24, 2005. SCREAM ... about the earthquake disaster
This article, written by Umair Khan, CEO of Clickmarks, a VC funded silicon valley company
and an MIT alumni is a very much needed wake up call, and a challenge to all people of
goodwill. The death and suffering caused by the Pakistan (and Indian) earthquake is of epic
proportions and it is getting way too little global help
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Posted October 24, 2005. Foreign NGOs Map New Route to African Legitimacy
This article by By William Mclean is a useful summary of the current NGO situation.
It is an opinion shared by many, but it would be valuable also to have some facts and
some management type information so that a judgement can be made based on the reality
of performance rather than being a mere reflection of rhetoric and the ability to spin
perception.
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Posted October 24, 2005. An example of easy information about a community in Nigeria December 2004
This information is an example of the sort of detail that is relatively easy
to compile using local people with local knowledge. This was prepared by a young person in Nigeria
who had access to a computer courtesy of a local CBO .. done by CawdNet in Decemner 2004
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Posted October 21, 2005. Natsios of USAID talking to the CCA in Washington September 2005
The Administrator of USAID talking to CCA has the potential to be important, except that
the track record of both groups in addressing global problems is modest compared to the
history of profit augmentation within the globalization envelope.
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Posted October 21, 2005. CCSD Aide Memoire about the Shenge Project 1988
This Aide Memoire about the Shenge Project in Sierra Leone in 1988 has all the
elements that justify the use of a CCSD approach to having development success.
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Posted October 21, 2005. Managing information - fact and opinion
AW from the People to People Forum points out the role of the idealogue (Robert Goldberg)
in putting a spin on facts to the detriment of understanding.
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Posted October 21, 2005. Conflict - Northern Uganda
Getting conflict into the mainstream information flows requires media friendly
activities. This is about an event to highlight the very long running conflict
in Northern Uganda
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Posted October 21, 2005. Malaria and the use of DDT by Richard Tren
Richard Tren wrote this article in November 2004 about malaria and the inability to use
DDT because of its banning after massive DDT use in agriculture for many years. Classic
example of throwing out the baby with the bathwater
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Posted October 21, 2005. Richard Tren on controlling malaria - and the use of DDT
Richard Tren says that Malaria in Africa is a colossal human tragedy and yet it is
both preventable and entirely curable. The challenge is to make enough people aware
of this so that decision makers are held accountable.
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Posted October 21, 2005. Malaria can be solved
This essay by Roger Bate, Donald Roberts, Christopher Curtis, Richard Tren, Brian Sharp and
Clive Shiff makes it clear that the constaints being placed on use of DDT are unjustified
and that malaria is a much bigger problem that could relatively easily be solved if there
was a total commitment to doing it.
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Posted October 21, 2005. Malaria being reduced by effective program in Southern Africa
Dr. Brian Sharp has been associated with a very successful comprehensive program
to eliminate malaria in a large area of Southern Africa. It has been done using
available techniques. This success reported in 2001 is a remarkable contrast to the failure of the
initiatives of the WHO and the international official development assistance community.
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Posted October 21, 2005. Malaria success in Southern Africa from USINFO
This note prepared by a spokesperson of the US administration in 2005 is not at clear about
how very successful the anti-malaria initiatives have been in Southern Africa compared to
the efforts of the international organizations like WHO and the US supported
initiatives. The only large number referred to is what the US might do in the
future, but nothing about what it has done, or better said, not done.
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Posted October 21, 2005. Malaria progress in Southern Africa reported in 2001
A comprehensive program to make progress against malaria in Southern Africa has been
in progress since 1999 under the management of Dr. Brian Sharp. This information
is from the website of the Medical Research Council in South Africa
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Posted October 20, 2005. USAID fights malaria blindfold.
Essay by Roger Bate, April 2005 describes some of the background about the malaria crisis,
and delivers a critique of the efforts being made
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Posted October 20, 2005. War on Global Poverty Should Be Fixed, Not Ended
This essay by Gene Sperling about USA relief and development assistance is very depressing. While
President Bush appears to have made moves to increase development assistance, the
Washington establishment as a whole has done relatively little.
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Posted October 19, 2005. Proposed Liberia Malaria Project (draft for review only)
Draft of Liberia Malaria Project prepared by Bill Nesler and others. This is only
in draft form ... feedback is welcome
Contents
Executive Summary
Significance of the proposal
National Characteristics
Malaria
Malaria in Liberia
The Vector
Planning and Coordination
Government Commitment
Vector Control
Responsibilities of Contractor
Cost Information - Overview
Cost Information - Detail
Management and Technical Experience
Summary
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
References
Performance Characteristics of Equipment
Posted October 19, 2005. About Google's philanthropic arm
Guido Sohne alerted me to this information. It is very encouraging to find
Google entering the philanthropic space. Needless to say, the skills that made
Google a great commercial success may not easily transfer to helping in the
philanthropic mode
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Posted October 19, 2005. Eco-Sustainable Development
The potential for an improved quality of life is very much available to us, based
on what is technologically possible, but not based on the way the global society is
organized and available resources are allocated for investment and development.
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Posted October 19, 2005. About NGOs in development
In an article in Le Monde Diplomatique in November 2004, Arundhati Roy raises the
question of NGO involvement in international development. Help that hinders.
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Posted October 19, 2005. Tsunami Accounting and Accountability
These notes were prepared about two weeks after the Tsunami hit, and it had become
clear that a lot of resources were being mobilized, and little system was in
place to handle the accounting and control of these resources.
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Posted October 19, 2005. Government and Society
A well written essay about the relationship between African Government and the
public institutions and the African public. It is not a pretty picture, but it is a
critical aspect of understanding Africa at this point in history.
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Posted October 19, 2005. Malaria Control
Getting information from different parts of the world should be valuable. Trying to get some
information from India.
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Posted October 19, 2005. About Transparency and Corruption
The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index is out today. The pattern of corruption seems to change rather slowly ... the reduction in the
absolute value of corruption seems to be as high today as at any time in the recent
past.
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Posted October 18, 2005. An essay about bad drugs and the malaria epidemic
Activists against Africa, by Robert Goldberg is a very thought provoking
essay. I don't think I agree with the conclusions though I certainly think the
issues being raised are very much worth putting into the calculus
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Posted October 18, 2005. Tsunami disaster being assisted by corporate sector
The International Business Leaders Forum offered support in January to address the
expected issues of rescue, relief and recovery. This prompted a response from Tr-Ac-Net
about the probability of scams and ripoffs because of the lack of priority about resource
accounting and control.
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Posted October 18, 2005. UN Tsunami Sham Exposed by Auditor-General in Sri Lanka
Members of the Tr-Ac-Net organization drew attention to the lack of accounting and
accountability in the immediate days after the Tsunami disaster struck. The report by
the Auditor General is confirmation of this issue. More feedback on this is needed.
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Posted October 18, 2005. Fund raising message from the Clinton Foundation
The message is very clear about the need for help ... and the Clinton Foundation is
doing a great job of fund raising. There is mention of 'helping efficiently', but there
is nothing about what this phrase actually means, and how this efficiency is going to be assured.
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Posted October 18, 2005. About Transparency International's 2005 report
This report from the BBC aboutTransparency International's periodic
assessment of the state of corruption in the world. Not much different from
the last report. Big issue, but really not much progress to report.
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Posted October 18, 2005. About change in Ethiopia
This dialog from the People to People Forum identifies the complexity of
change, but nothing that people cannot do with information and commitment.
It identifies key charactersitics of change.
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Posted October 17, 2005. M&E Software by Business Programme Management Ltd. (BProM)
Free download of M&E software is being offered by BProM. The idea for this software
is good ... whether it meets expectations is the challenge.
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Posted October 17, 2005. Failed Development
A day's worth of news reports distributed by UN Wire ... and nothing
that talks about success and great performance. Instead news of hunger spreading
as World Food Day is celebrated. This small collection of news items shows quite
clearly that there is an institutional crisis in relief and development.
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Posted October 17, 2005. Health and Prostitution
The fight against HIV-AIDS needs to be comprehensive. The 'illegal' status of
commercial sex workers, and also of homosexuals, both high risk groups, limits
the potential for AIDS interventions to be successful. India considering law reform. Text from
the Times of India.
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Posted October 17, 2005. Africa's Economic Future
An essay prepared by Peter Burgess and Kirimi Kaberia for presentation at the
INR Roundtable on April 19th, 2002. The ideas were framed based on concepts supported by
the African Trade Consultants Network (ATCnet), a community of mainly African professionals
in Africa and the diaspora.
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Posted October 17, 2005. Mugabe invited to FAO in Rome
An uproar about Mugabe being invited to Rome to attend the celebration
of the 60th Anniversary of the FAO. Text from the BBC.
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About the old Wiki. The old Wiki was set up in November 2003 with the intent to
demonstrate that certain information was relatively easily available, and then to
be able to migrate it to a more sophisticated system later
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About Tr-Ac-Net. About the vision and the mission and the strategy that is being
used to make progress with limited financial resources.
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The information era can make a huge difference MORE TO COME
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Community Centric Sustainable Development (CCSD) is a part of the strategy that Tr-Ac-Net
has come to embrace ... MORE TO COME
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Organizational performance is important, but only within a context where the work being done
by the organization is delivering durable social and economic value ... MORE TO COME
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Transparency has become a 'fashionable' problem to be addressed. From the Tr-Ac-Net viewpoint
rather little has been done to implement transparency, though it has been the subject of
considerable study and discussion.... MORE TO COME
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Accountability has also become 'fashionable' but there is also a lack of action to provide
accountability ... MORE TO COME
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Experience should be a source of learning so that performance is continuously improved. Designing
development so that experience is a source of improved performance has not been done. ... MORE TO COME
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The website gives access to many pdf files. Find lists of these pdf format files here.
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SOMALILAND ... feedback about the election
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