Gates Foundation To Restructure

The size of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation makes it incredibly influential with governments’ world wide and other major donors. Hence its announcement to restructure the organisation is making headlines.

From 1 May 2006 the Foundation will be organised into four groups: US Program, Global Development Program, Global Health Program, and Operations.

On an international scale the Foundation says that the Global Development program will include new areas that offer potential to reduce the tremendous inequalities associated with extreme poverty, including Agricultural Development and Financial Services for the Poor. International Libraries, Global Development Advocacy and Special Initiative, including Water, Sanitation and Hygiene will also be included.

The Foundation says Global Health will continue to focus on conditions that disproportionately affect the developing world including HIV, TB, Reproductive Health, Avahan (HIV program in India), Global Health Strategies, Infectious Diseases, Global Health Technologies, & Global Health Advocacy.

The Foundation says it has spent a great deal of time thinking about how it can best make progress against its goal of improving people’s lives by reducing inequities around the world.

CEO
Patty Stonesifer says the Foundation believes these changes will help set the stage for greater impact from its efforts over the next 10 years.

Stonesifer says that in order to position themselves for the opportunities that lie ahead, along with Bill, Melinda, and Bill Gates Sr. they have decided to organize their foundation into three program groups—each of which will be led by a president—and an expanded core-operations group led by a chief operating officer.

U.S. Program, will be led by President Allan Golston. Allan has been with the foundation for six years, most recently serving as chief financial and administrative officer. Before joining the foundation, he worked as a consultant in health care, software, and other fields, helping businesses develop their strategies. Under Allan’s leadership, the U.S. Program will focus on addressing major inequities in the United States.

Global Development Program will be led by President Sylvia Mathews. Sylvia has been with the foundation since 2001; before joining she served for eight years in the Clinton administration, including stints as deputy chief of staff at the White House and Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget. For the past 16 months, Sylvia has been leading our Strategic Opportunities team, which has been exploring new areas of giving that offer potential to reduce the tremendous inequities associated with extreme poverty.

Global Health Program, will be led by President Tachi Yamada. Tachi will join the foundation June 1. He is a physician, scientist, and business leader, most recently having served as chairman of research and development for the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. The Global Health Program will continue to focus on diseases and health conditions that disproportionately affect the developing world. Its portfolios will include HIV, Tuberculosis, Reproductive Health, and Avahan (our HIV program in India); Global Health Strategies; Infectious Diseases; Global Health Technologies; Global Health Advocacy; and Special Initiatives.

Operations will be led by a new chief operating officer (still to be filled). This team will provide the platform on which we will build our grantmaking programs and will set a standard of operational excellence. Operations includes the following teams: Foundation Advocacy, Legal, Impact Assessment and Improvement, Financial Planning and Analysis, Finance and Administration, Human Resources, Information Technology, and Security.

The CEO says the Seattle-based Foundation has very ambitious hopes for what it can do in collaboration with its partners to improve lives at home and around the world.

The Gates Foundation has delivered more than $US10 Billion in aid since its inception in 1994.