HEALTH INTERACTIVE WITH DR

HEALTH INTERACTIVE WITH DR. AMINU MAGASHI

Lessons from MacArthur Foundation

The 80 page report booklet on year 2003 activities of Macarthur Foundation globally made an interesting reading and has also provided an insight for critical analysis of some of the foundation’s programmes world wide and Nigeria in particular. I received a complementary copy of the report via a courier system and my over view of the report is neither an image making process nor a pat on the back but rather it is an independent opinion based on the issues I read in the report and my perception which may be found to be subjective and/or objective depending on the back ground of the reader.

Macarthur Foundation ( M f )being a private independent grant making institution is dedicated to helping groups and individuals foster lasting improvement in the human condition , through the support it provides, the foundation foster the development of knowledge, nurtures individuals creativity , helps strengthen institutions, helps improve pubic policy and provides information to the public primarily through support for pubic interest media.

MF which has its head quarters in Chicago ( USA ) with international offices in India ,Nigeria, Mexico and Russia , basically makes grants through 4 programmes ( The Programme On Global Security And Sustainability, GSS ,The Programme On Human And Community Development , The General Programme And The Macarthur Fellows Programme.

Among the 4 programmes of MF, the one that interest me the most is the Global Security And Sustainability , because of its wider coverage and being implemented also at the other international offices of MF and focuses on international issues including peace and security , conservation and sustainable development , population and reproductive health and human rights. Also the programme support initiative in Russia and Nigeria particularly concerning the improvement of higher education. In Nigeria , at least I know of 3 universities that are benefiting from the progarmme ( Bayero University Kano , Ahmadu Bello University , Zaria And University Of Ibadan )

The progarmme on GSS, in the report covers from page 11 to 32, on that chapter, my review will be restricted to Nigerian programmes. Under the sub area ‘Human Rights, 6 Non Governmental Organizations working on human rights and other related legal matters are benefiting from the foundation’s coffers and the grant authorization is to the tune of one million, twenty nine thousand, seven hundred and thirty dollars ($ 1,029,730:00) to be spent within the range of 2 to 3 years as the case may be.

On the sub area ‘Population And Reproductive Health, three United State Based Organizations, One United Kingdom Based Organizations and three Nigeria based organizations are being supported by MF to implement programmes in the area of population and reproductive heath, issues to do with advocacy initiative, education programme, awareness creation and service delivery, all in effort to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality in Nigeria. Unfortunately, Nigeria ’s maternal mortality rate of over 900 per 100,000 life birth is among the highest in the world. In year 2003, the grant authorization by MF to these 7 organizations ranging from 18 months to 3 years intervention is totaled 2 million and 85 thousand dollars ($ 2, 085,000:00). Another very interesting sub area ‘Fund For Leadership Development (FLD) which is designed to strengthen the leadership potentials of individuals across the country in addressing problems of sexual and reproductive health and rights. A lot of individuals in the past have benefited from FLD project. The 2003 set of grantees are the tenth set to be engaged by MF, there are 16 projects (14 projects manage by 14 individuals and 2 set of projects manage by 2 set of individuals). Looking at the issues to be address, I am of the belief that they have touched so many issues on HIV/AIDS prevention and control and reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality in Nigeria . The project will last for two years and the grant authorization is to the tune of five hundred and thirty six thousand dollars ($ 536,000:00).

Astoundingly, very few people know that the foundation is focusing Niger Delta area for intervention, the one people are mostly familiar with is the community support from Shell and other oil companies to the people of the area. This of course has to due with inadequate information dissemination on the part of foundation to the general populace. Never the less in year 2003, the foundation has authorized grants totaling four hundred thousand dollars ($ 400,000:00) shared disproportionately among three organizations under its Niger Delta initiative for a period ranging between 1 to 3years and issues to address are, improved partnership and communication between communities, government and oil companies and monitoring resource flows in Niger delta through community trust fund.

Lastly under higher education, MF is supporting 5 abroad organizations to provide support to Nigerian universalities and higher institutions in the areas of scientific and educational equipment, fund rising capacities, educational materials , books and conflict studies, the grant authorization totaled five hundreds and eighty nine thousand, five hundred dollars ( $ 589,500 :00 ).

All in all, the total grant authorized by MF to Nigeria in 2003 totaled four million, six hundred and fourty thousand, two hundred and thirty dollars ( $ 4,640,230 :00 ) base on $ 1 to N 125 conversion, the grant totaled in local currency is five hundred and eighty million, twenty eight thousand , seven hundred and fifty naira ( N 580,028,750 :00 ). With our low income status nation and deep rooted poverty and with more than seventy percent of Nigerian populace living below poverty line , that is quite a lot of resources to impact positively on the life of the populace and foster an overall development to the nation towards achieving The Millennium Development Goals ( Mdgs ). What is needed from those organizations and individuals that received the foundation’s grant is to demonstrate high sense of financial accountability and transparency and commitment to meet the target objectives, they should not be only accountable to the foundation but also to the beneficiaries of the projects as well. The partners should muster the courage at the end of the project to publish account statements based on how much they received and spent and fairly distribute such report to the populace, just like what MF has done regarding year 2003 activities. In essence the partners should emulate the foundation initiative towards transparency and accountability.

I will like to conclude this discourse by expressing some reservation that apart from the program on Global Security And Sustainable, the three other programmes of the foundation are highly concentrated in the U S A alone especially the Macarthur Fellows Programme on which for someone to be a beneficiary, that person must be either a resident or citizen of the United State. I believe that as the foundation celebrates its 25^th anniversary recently, there is the need to re-address the other three programmes which are concentrated in one country and of course widen the scope in the spirit of global partnership and development.

Dr Magashi Is The Executive Director, Community Health And Research Initiative, Kano, Nigeria.