George Soros
Open Society Foundations
10/4/2014
Five years ago my Open Society Foundations gave $50 million to support the launch of the Millennium Villages Project—a bold initiative aimed at ending extreme poverty in rural Africa. It’s a big challenge but the project has come a long way since 2005, when Jeffrey Sachs first told me about his idea. There are now 80 Millennium Villages in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda serving half a million people.
As the project embarks on its next phase, my foundations will contribute $27 million over the next five years. The Soros Economic Development Fund, a social investment fund that is part of my Open Society Foundations, will consider up to $20 million in investment-worthy business projects in the relevant countries.
Our continued support for the project will help scale up the experience gained in the model villages in the first phase, and link small agriculture with business structures. This will provide sustainable incomes for entire regions, not just for model villages…
The article continues at Open Society Foundations.
H/T Arlen Williams
