FILE – Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Melinda French Gates smiles as she leaves June 23, 2023 the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, file)
Melinda French Gates is reflecting on what decades of global philanthropy have taught her—especially in countries like India and Vietnam, where even the best-intentioned solutions sometimes missed the mark.
“When you’re doing this kind of work, it doesn’t take long to see that solutions that seem great on paper may not work in reality,” French Gates wrote in a response to the Associated Press, as part of a reflection on the Gates Foundation’s 25th anniversary and its planned closure in 2045.
In India, one of the foundation’s sanitation projects built community toilets, but many women avoided them because they felt unsafe using them at night. In Vietnam, vaccines requiring refrigeration were packaged in a way that didn’t fit the smaller fridges found in most homes.
These kinds of missteps, she said, come from overlooking local realities.
“There are many ways to learn about the cultural norms and logistical issues that determine whether a solution is feasible—and they all boil down to engaging people with local knowledge and lived experience, and trusting what they tell you.”
French Gates, who now runs her own organization, Pivotal Ventures, is focused on more nimble, women-centered philanthropy—an approach shaped by experiences like these. She’s also pushing for deeper consideration of gender in global health.
“For too long, global health and development efforts treated women and girls as secondary—if they were considered at all.”
These days, she’s focused on backing ideas that don’t just work in theory—but actually make sense in people’s everyday lives.
Great Article . Would like to help underserved Seafaring communities . ZeaDigenous: rights for WaterFolk