May 11, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and a research institute in Canada announced today a new effort to bolster think tanks in poor nations.
The three institutions have committed $90-million over five years to the “think tank initiative,” which aims to provide governments and philanthropies with research and policy recommendations that are based on the needs of poor countries.
Gates and Hewlett are each giving $40-million, while Canada’s International Development Research Centre is providing $10-million.
“One of the hard lessons of development over the last 30, 40, 50 years is that for it to happen successfully it needs to be driven locally,” said Mark Suzman, director of policy and advocacy with the Gates foundation’s global development program. “But in developing countries these groups often tend to be very underdeveloped and underfunded and that restricts informed debate.”
$30-Million Start
On Monday, the donors announced the first installment — $30-million — to 24 think tanks in Africa. In August, they expect to ask organizations in Latin America and South Asia to apply for the remaining two-thirds of the grant money.
Mr. Suzman said the Gates foundation developed an interest in this work two years ago when employees in its newly formed global development program saw a need for better research to inform their grant making. The foundation quickly learned that Hewlett and the Canadian research center had already begun to investigate how philanthropic dollars could support think tanks overseas.
Hewlett’s portion of the grant comes from a 10-year, $100-million commitment the foundation had decided upon a few years ago but waited to publicize until it drew other donors and made grants, said Eric Brown, communications director.
The hope is that the three donors’ money, which is unrestricted, can help think tanks grow and win grants from other supporters. Raising money is a huge challenge, and ill-funded think tanks have a hard time competing with governments and international organizations for talented staff members, Mr. Suzman said.
“We’re telling partners that these groups are worth taking a look at,” he said.
Grants to the African think tanks range in size from $434,000 to $2.08-million. The divergence reflects the diversity of the grantees, some of which are only a year old, while others have existed for decades.
The donors plan to hold occasional meetings for think-tank officials at which they can share lessons on topics such as getting news coverage for their research.
While the Hewlett foundation has made a decade-long commitment to the think-tank effort, Gates’s employees will not decide whether to renew their support until after a comprehensive review of the program at the end of five years, Mr. Suzman said.
