Philanthropic donations – their role for agricultural development in Africa

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Philanthropic donations – their role for agricultural development in Africa Mer information
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Personal invitation only.

Philanthropic donations – their role for agricultural development in Africa

In recent years we have seen a growing interest among rich people in Sweden and many other countries to donate money to ends that aim at benefitting the agricultural sector in developing countries. The ultimate ends are similar for philanthropic foundations, national aid agencies, UN bodies, and other actors dealing with agricultural aid; yet, the former seem to have partly different priorities, ways of dealing with political hurdles, and means of handling quality assurance and accountability.

The overall aim of this round table discussion is to get a better insight into the way large, philanthropic foundations think and work, and to understand the similarities and differences between them and the governmental/UN agencies, with particular emphasis on issues relating to agriculture and R&D. There will be three speakers that will set the stage for the ensuing discussion, which will encompass the speakers and a limited set of invited attendees.

Program

Moderator   Torbjörn Fagerström, professor, KSLA

12.00 Lunch
13.00 Welcome by Carl-Anders Helander,
General Secretary and Managing Director, KSLA
13.05 Lecture by Lawrence Kent,
Senior Program Officer, Agricultural Development Program, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.Lawrence will share the philosophy of the Gates Foundation with regard to achieving highest impact agriculture investments. Particular focus will be on the decisions the foundation has made with regards to investments in research and development, and to highlighting opportunity for cofounding/collaboration. (40 min.)
13.45 Lecture by Lennart Båge,
Swedish diplomat who has spent much of his career in various positions relating to developmental aid and agriculture. Lennart will give an overview of the Swedish tax-funded (governmental) aid system – policies, priorities, accounting, etc. (20 min.)
14.05 Lecture by Bengt Ågerup,
Swedish businessman who founded and developed the biotech company Q-med in Uppsala.Bengt has set up a foundation which is supporting health related projects in Africa, and he will give the perspective of a Swedish philanthropic foundation (20 min.).
14.30  Coffee
15.00  Round table discussion 
17.00  End