NYT/AP: Gates, Rockefeller Foundations Fight Hunger in Africa

[DeepModem Mom]

Gates - Rockefeller Fight Hunger in Africa
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 12, 2006

SEATTLE (AP) -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said Tuesday it is joining with the Rockefeller Foundation to fight hunger in Africa, beginning with a $100 million pledge to improve agricultural productivity.

The Rockefeller Foundation pledged its own $50 million donation. Officials at the two foundations said the money was just the beginning of a much bigger effort to bring the ''green revolution'' to Africa.

In the original green revolution, the Rockefeller and Ford foundations led an effort to spread new farming technology and bring increased productivity to Latin America and Asia in the 1940s, '50s and '60s.

The Gates Foundation announced in May that it would spend more to combat poverty and hunger, and Tuesday's announcement is its first big grant in those areas.

The two foundations will carefully track results and will change course if things aren't working, said Rajiv Shah, director for financial services and agriculture for the Gates Foundation, founded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Gates-Foundation-Hunger.html

[badgervan]

1. Well Done

Gotta say "way to go" to Bill and Melinda Gates. Rather than hoard their bucks, or try to lord it over others, they put their immense wealth to some of the best uses out there. When pols talk about being a "Christian", it ain't the Decider and his enablers I think of- it's responsible and authentically moral folks like the Gates. They don't talk big - they act big. Very cool, and much appreciated.