COMMENTARY
This letter from more than 10 years ago aims to draw attention to the sad situation in the official relief and development assistance (ORDA) community where money funded into the 'top' of the system just does not reach the 'bottom' of the system where the beneficiaries are located.

TGhe results of my efforts to get this matter taken seriously have been inconsequential ... the issue remains one that should be taken very seriously. As I reflect on my career and the experiences I have had, I realize that the issue of fund flows and how they get used is even worse than I ever imagined at the time. As time goes by there are more and more little bits of information that show that there are very good reasons why the rich and poweruful do not want any transparency and accountability. Bluntly put, a huge amount of money is diverted to the rich and powerful no matter how the funds got mobilized in the first place.

Rule of law includes rules that make it almost impossible to indict people and organizations for the misuse of funds because the evidentiary requirements are at a level that makes it difficult if not impossible to bring a case. How convenient. I was trained to 'connect the dots' so that I could understand fund flows ... but this is usually not enough to satisfy a court, especially one that has connections to the rich and powerful that control the system. What is this ... a Catch 22!
Peter Burgess

[roundtable] Fund Flows for Global Health Interventions
To: roundtable@comminit.com
Subject: [roundtable] Fund Flows for Global Health Interventions
From: Peter Burgess
Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2001 22:19:42 EST
Sender: owner-roundtable@comminit.com
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Dear Participants

I am writing to the roundtable rather sooner than I planned. The urge to send this message now was triggered by the posting of Dr. Everold N. Hosein who talked about the WHO COMBI program and then went on to tell us about a WHO New York University three-week summer programme called 'Integrated Marketing Communication for Behavioural Results in Health and Social Development'

I have not been able to obtain hard numbers about how the global health fund flows work, but my impression is that for every that is mobilized to be spent on health programs, the amount actually used to directly benefit the sick and people living with HIV-AIDS is probably less than $100 million.

Please folks ...... we have got to start getting fund flows so that there are practical benefits SOON for PLWHA and others around the world who are in a health crisis. Our organization knows a lot of African PLWHA who hear about the workshops and conferences and teach-ins and studies and research ...... but they don't see even a tiny amount actually disbursed in ways that deliver benefits to PLWHA.

I do not think there is any international NGO ...... or official development assistance (ODA) organization ....... or NORTH university ....... or US government agency that have programs where the dominant disbursement is on the ground to directly support services for beneficiaries.

The fact that numbers are difficult to obtain is the first indicator that my impressions are right. Frankly, it should be easy to get numerical information about fund flows through the ODA community, but it is not, and the reasons are likely to be that fund flow information would be extremely embarrassing.

ATCnet has developed a methodology to introduce a new era of 'accountability' in the work that is being done in the name of socioeconomic development. It will take time to get all the pieces in place, but the basic concept is very simple. While most of the ODA community talks about the disbursements that they have made for their projects and programs, the ATCnet Accountability Project will be evaluating results achieved on the ground relative to the material and financial resources used to accomplish the results. The data flow is going to be from the intended beneficiaries in the SOUTH to the NORTH ....... and from what we already know from considerable experience in the field in many parts of the world over a considerable length of time ..... the information will not be pretty.

But the good news is that this same methodology will help to indentify the absolutely wonderful work that is being done .... quite often outside the mainstream of development assistance ..... and with limited material and financial resources.

The ODA community is quick with numbers to impress the media. What is needed are numbers that will impress the volunteers and staff of ATCnet who are working on the ATCnet Accountability Project .... and will impress the PUBLIC both NORTH and SOUTH.

This is not a pipe-dream. It is perfectly possible for ODA activities to benefit from the very best accountability practices, and for the ODA community to start to think in terms of financial analysis and data mining with the same mind-set that Walmart addresses its data about retail sales and its supply chain.

At the moment however, it is still a big deal for the public to be able to get even the most basic information about ODA fund flows, and the costs of the various activities that are funded in the name of the global underclass.

Peter Burgess
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T. Peter Burgess
Member ATCnet
New York USA