Jacqueline Novogratz: Investing in Africa’s Own Solutions (TED.com, July 2005)
Summary: Jacqueline Novogratz, founder and CEO of the Acumen Fund, talks on the subject of aid and development in Africa; what needs to change within the current system in order to make it more effective, and how Americans and the rest of the world need to be finding ways for the people of Africa to help themselves, rather than “better” ways that donor countries can help them.
Topic: Should the state department of the Obama administration double foreign aid for Africa?
Category: Non-Profit Institutional
What Is It? Video footage of a speech
Title: Jacqueline Novogratz: Investing in Africa’s Own Solutions
Publication Information: TED.com, July 2005
Author (Speaker): Jacqueline Novogratz
Location: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jacqueline_novogratz_invests_in_ending_poverty.html
Accessed: March 6, 2009
Support:
• Personal Anecdote/Personal Experience
• Grameen, Microfinance bank in Africa
• Steven Levitt, prominent American economist
• Tony Blair, Bono, Bob Geldof, notable foreign aid proponents
• G8 Summit
• Acumen Fund
• Social entrepreneur in India (couldn’t catch his name)
• Jacqueline, African entrepreneur with whom Novogratz worked
Novogratz uses many personal experiences and anecdotes from her time spent in Africa to both build report with her audience and provide credibility for her arguments. She references the microfinance movement started by Grameen bank that has flourished since its inception. Steven Levitt is paraphrased and used an economical reference regarding incentives. Tony Blair, Bono and Bob Geldof are all used as examples of notable figureheads bringing attention to Africa’s plight. The G8 Summit is referenced in relation to their most recent meeting (at the time) and Novogratz was pleased with the work they’re doing to bring more attention to Africa as a whole. Novogratz’s own Acumen Fund was also referenced for the micro-level programs they’re starting on the ground in struggling African countries. A social entrepreneur in India whose name I couldn’t hear on the video is mentioned as an example as a native who is taking responsibility and helping his own people to create better irrigation for their crops. Finally, Jacqueline, a Tanzanian entrepreneur who is working her way up from the bottom and is involved in many growth and development projects with Novogratz.
Audience and Agenda: Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) started in 1984 as a conference were prestigious minds could freely share their ideas. It is now owned by The Sapling Foundation, which is a private non-profit organization founded by then magazine publishing entrepreneur, Chris Anderson. TED’s goal is to foster the spread of great ideas and does so by providing a platform for the world’s brightest minds and smartest thinkers. They strive to make global change and influence the world in a positive way. Their audience has grown exponentially in the last few years since they now post videos of their talks and speeches online, but previously the audience consisted of about 1,000 elite minds from around the world. They are working with the greatest minds and most forward thinking individuals, so they are probably fairly reliable and their only agenda seems to be to create positive change throughout the world.
Usefulness: This speech was originally addressing a rather elite audience of intellectuals, so it’s targeted toward people who already have a good background on things like economics and the foreign aid system. The speech was given to hopefully redirect how foreign aid works. It was intended to open peoples’ minds to the fact that we aren’t even close to the end of the battle with poverty, and it’s great that so much attention is being brought to it, but it’s going to take more than that. It’s addressing those who believe that our successes with foreign thus far are enough and we’ve done our duty and been morally absolved. Novogratz effectively argues for more ground level work, more microfinance projects, more input from those who are actually supposed to be receiving the aid, and lots of patience. So, should the state department double foreign aid to Africa? Well, doubling it is less important than just being more involved in it on a micro level and just throwing double the money at it won’t be effective.
Works Cited:
TED about page
Google video
Steven Levitt’s Wikipedia
