2023 Gates Foundation Annual Letter文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14079.html
盖茨基金会2023年信文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14079.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14079.html
Mark Suzman, Chief Executive Officer文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14079.html
马克·苏斯曼，首席执行官文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14079.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14079.html
Does our foundation have too much influence?文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14079.html
我们基金会的影响力太大了吗?文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14079.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14079.html
Here’s how I see it.文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/14079.html
以下是我的看法。
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the remarkable, unprecedented progress made over the previous two decades in global health and development has stalled, and in many cases even reversed. Sadly, instead of accelerating efforts to fight infectious diseases, help reduce extreme poverty, advance gender equality, and address the effects of climate change, the world has so far failed to step up with the necessary political will and resources.
在新冠大流行期间，全球健康和发展领域在过去二十年中取得的空前进步陷入了停滞，甚至在许多领域出现了倒退。令人遗憾的是，世界不仅没有加速行动抗击传染病、帮助减少极端贫困并应对气候变化，反而迄今也没能拿出必要的政治意愿和资源来解决问题。
In that context, at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation we are proud to be doubling down on our commitment to our core mission: helping to ensure that every person has the chance to lead a healthy, productive life.
在这样的背景下，比尔及梅琳达·盖茨基金会很自豪能够加倍努力推进我们的核心使命：帮助确保人人都有机会过上健康而富有成效的生活。
Last year, we created a new, expanded board of trustees, co-chaired by Bill and Melinda, to hold the foundation accountable and ensure that our decisions incorporate diverse, outside perspectives. On January 11, the board approved our 2023 budget of US$8.3 billion, an estimated increase of 15 percent over the 2022 forecasted payout – keeping us on track to meet our commitment of increasing our annual payout to US$9 billion by 2026.
去年，我们成立了一个新的、扩大的理事会，由比尔和梅琳达担任联席主席，负责基金会的治理并确保我们的决策纳入多元化的外部观点。1月11日，我们批准了83亿美元的2023年度预算，预计比2022年年度支出增长15%左右，让我们朝着到2026年将年度支出提升到90亿美元的承诺稳步前进。
This puts us in the privileged position of being able to give away more money than any other philanthropy. It also raises an important question we hear often: Does our spending, along with the doors that it opens, give us too much power and influence?
这使我们比其他任何一家慈善机构都能捐出更多的钱。但同时，这也提出了一个我们经常听到的重要问题：我们的赠款及其带来的机会，是否给了我们太大的权力和影响力？
One line of critique is that our focus on certain problems and solutions draws attention and resources away from other important issues. Another is that we have disproportionate sway in setting national and global agendas, without any formal accountability to voters or international bodies.
一种批评是，我们对某些问题和解决方案的关注分散了对其他重要事项的关注和资源。另一种批评是，我们在设置国家和全球议程方面具有不成比例的影响力，但又不用对选民或国际机构承担任何正式的责任。
These are fair questions – and we have an obligation to be clear about how we try to use our influence and why.
这些都是合理的问题——我们也有义务清楚地说明我们如何利用我们的影响力以及为什么要这样做。
Since Bill and Melinda created the foundation 22 years ago, every choice we’ve made has been in service of our mission. Warren Buffett, who has generously contributed nearly half the foundation’s total resources, has always urged us to “swing for the fences” and take big bets – all to benefit the health and welfare of people whose opportunities are limited because of where they happened to be born. (You can read Bill’s Year Ahead 2023 for his take on some of those bets.)
自比尔和梅琳达22年前创立基金会以来，我们所做的每个选择都服务于我们的使命。沃伦·巴菲特慷慨地贡献了基金会近一半的资源，他一直敦促我们“放手一搏”、下大赌注——所有这些都是为了帮助那些因出生地不同而机会有限的人改善他们的健康和福祉。 （你可以从比尔·盖茨的2023年度展望了解他对其中一些赌注的看法。）
It’s true that between our dollars, voice, and convening power, we have access and influence that many others do not. It’s also true that we are able to act in ways that others cannot. Because of this, we can call attention to and help find solutions for problems that otherwise might be neglected.
的确，凭借我们的资金、话语权和号召力，我们拥有其他许多人没有的机会和影响力。 我们也确实能够以别人做不到的方式采取行动。因此，我们可以引起关注，并为那些本来会被忽视的问题找到解决方案。
People listen to Bill and Melinda because of who they are, and to others at the foundation because of where we work. We try to use that privilege to elevate the voices of those who don’t have a global platform and push relentlessly for world leaders to spend their funds to lift up vulnerable populations. We push, too, to ensure that innovations and solutions center the needs of women and girls, who are so often overlooked. Our staff use their access to learn from partners about what’s needed in the field and to direct resources to make the impact we all want to see.
人们倾听比尔和梅琳达的声音，是因为他们的身份，而倾听基金会其他人的声音，是因为我们工作的地方。我们试图利用这一特权来提升那些没有全球平台的人的话语权，并不懈地推动世界领导人运用他们的资金去帮助弱势群体。我们还努力确保创新和解决方案能够聚焦于常常被忽视的妇女和女童的需求。我们的员工通过他们的渠道向合作伙伴了解实地情况，并将资源用于产生我们都希望看到的成效。
And because our foundation doesn’t need to make a profit like corporations do or provide immediate results like governments do or raise funds like many NGOs do, we can make high-risk bets on novel solutions that may take a decade or more to pay off.
而且，因为我们的基金会不需要像企业那样盈利、不需要像政府那样产生立竿见影的结果，也不需要像许多非政府组织那样筹集资金，所以我们能冒着高风险押注于可能需要十年或更长时间才能获得回报的创新解决方案。
With this influence comes an enormous responsibility: to act where we can do the most good, play a role that’s appropriate for a philanthropic organization, follow the evidence, be transparent, and work in partnership with those we aim to help.
伴随着这种影响力而来的是巨大的责任：在我们能发挥最大价值的领域采取行动，扮演一个慈善组织应有的角色，遵循实证、保持透明，并与我们旨在帮助的人们开展合作。
Big bets to meet global goals
为实现全球目标而下的大赌注
One critique we hear a lot: “Why are a couple of unelected billionaires setting the agenda for global health and development?”
我们经常听到这样的批评：“为什么几个未经选举产生的亿万富翁要为全球健康和发展设置议程？”
Yes, our founders are billionaires. But neither they, I, nor the rest of our board of trustees set the world’s agenda; as a foundation, we respond to it. We are guided by the Sustainable Development Goals, a set of concrete, measurable commitments made by every country in the United Nations to their own citizens.
是的，我们的创始人是亿万富翁。但不是他们，不是我，也不是我们理事会的其他成员设置了全球议程。作为一个基金会，我们对全球议程做出回应。我们以可持续发展目标为指引，这是联合国每个成员国对本国公民做出的一系列切实且可衡量的承诺。
From those shared priorities, we identify a subset of areas – from improving vaccination rates to advancing women’s economic power – where we have the funds, expertise, and relationships to be part of the solution and where transformational progress is unlikely without our involvement. Geographically, we seek to help those who live in places with a high burden of disease and poverty.
从这些共同的优先事项中，我们确定了一系列的领域——从提高疫苗接种率到提升妇女的经济权力——在这些领域，我们有资金、专长和伙伴关系，可以成为解决方案的一部分。在这些领域，如果没有我们的参与，就不大可能取得变革式的进步。从地域上讲，我们希望帮助那些生活在疾病和贫困高负担地区的人。
We make all our investments public and strive to be fully transparent about our priorities and strategies. Finally, we find ways to join others who are tackling these challenges and carefully assess the landscape to determine our role. After all, while our payout is large, it’s typically only a small portion of the money the world spends on these issues. So we work with partners to amplify all of our contributions.
我们公开所有的投资信息，并努力让我们的工作重点和战略完全透明。最后，我们致力于与其他正在应对这些挑战的伙伴开展合作，并仔细评估形势来确定我们的角色。毕竟，虽然我们的支出巨大，但这通常只是全球在这些问题上所投入的一小部分。因此，我们通过与伙伴们合作，让我们所有人的贡献都能产生最大的价值。
To illuminate how we think about our role, let me address our influence through the examples of three of the important priorities reflected in our new budget and our long-term goals: helping smallholder farmers thrive despite the effects of climate change; ending malaria; and helping U.S. schools make math instruction more effective.
为了说明我们如何看待自己的角色，请允许我以我们的新年度预算和长期目标所反映的三个工作重点为例，来说明我们的影响力：帮助小农户在气候变化的影响下获得发展、 消灭疟疾，以及帮助美国学校提高数学教学水平。
Agricultural adaptation: Going all in where the need is the greatest
农业适应：在最有需要的地方全力以赴
Our work in response to climate change is a great example of how we seek to prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable – and do all we can to get others to, as well.
我们应对气候变化的工作是个很好的例子，它说明了我们如何优先考虑最脆弱群体的需求，并尽己所能让其他人也这么做。
It’s a harsh reality that the communities that have contributed least to the climate crisis are already facing its most severe consequences. Nobody knows that more than smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, who are experiencing devastating floods and drought, shrinking growing seasons, and in some places even famine.
一个残酷的现实是，对气候危机贡献最小的社区正承担着最严重的后果。没有人比撒哈拉以南非洲和南亚的小农户们更了解这一点，他们正在经历毁灭性的洪水和干旱和生长季节的缩短，一些地方甚至出现了饥荒。
We’ve focused on agricultural development for 16 years, because it’s one of the most effective ways to help large numbers of people lift themselves out of poverty. I recently announced at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference that we are accelerating that work with a $1.4 billion commitment over four years to help provide farmers with innovative tools and build more resilient food systems.
16年来，我们一直关注农业发展，因为这是实现大规模脱贫的最有效途径之一。我最近在2022年联合国气候变化大会上宣布，我们正在加速这项工作，承诺在四年内提供14亿美元，为农户提供创新工具，并建立更具韧性的粮食体系。
For years, leaders in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and other affected regions have been calling for dramatic funding increases for adaptation – that is, ways to adjust to changes in the climate, as opposed to preventing or mitigating climate change. These calls have been largely ignored. While US$632 billion was spent globally to combat climate change in 2020, just 7% of that went toward climate adaptation.
多年来，撒哈拉以南非洲、南亚和其他受影响地区的领导人一直呼吁大幅增加资金，以找到适应气候变化的方法，而非预防或减缓气候变化。这些呼吁基本上被忽视了。2020年全球用于应对气候变化的资金有6320亿美元，其中仅有7%用在了适应气候变化上面。
It’s not that the world hasn’t invested in agricultural innovation. It certainly has, with incredible advances in crop productivity over the last half-century. But shockingly little money has been spent to meet the needs of farmers in low-income countries – even by donor nations that have made public commitments to do so.
这并不是说世界没有投资于农业创新。在过去的半个世纪里，世界确实在这方面有所投资，作物产量大幅提升。但令人震惊的是，用于满足低收入国家农民需求的资金少得可怜——即使捐赠国已对此做出公开承诺。
For instance, the vast majority of research and development has targeted the major crops common in wealthy nations rather than crops that millions of African families depend on. Rich countries will invest in better approaches to producing the crops that their populations rely on whether or not the Gates Foundation gets involved. But that’s not true for cowpeas, millet, cassava, or direct-seeded rice.
例如，绝大多数农业研究和开发针对的是富裕国家的常见作物，而非千百万非洲家庭赖以为生的作物。无论盖茨基金会是否参与，富裕国家都将把投资用于他们自己国民所依赖的作物，而非豇豆、小米、木薯或直播水稻。
We fund a huge volume of research – in particular through CGIAR, a network of research centers around the world – on how these crops can be produced and livestock reared more reliably, prolifically, and sustainably. We also make investments to make sure that innovations meet the needs of smallholder farmers – for example by answering low-income countries’ call for better data and modeling to predict climate events.
我们资助了大量的研究——尤其是通过国际农业研究磋商组织（CGIAR），一个由世界各地的研究中心组成的网络，研究如何更可靠、更高效和更可持续地生产这些作物和饲养牲畜。我们还确保创新能满足小农户的需求，例如，响应低收入国家的呼吁，提供更好的数据和模型来预测气候事件。
One important component of our agricultural adaptation strategy is to prioritize the needs of women. Gender equality is a Sustainable Development Goal of its own – but it’s also a vital path to meeting all of the other goals. Diseases can’t be eradicated if researchers don’t understand the unique ways they impact women and girls; innovative sanitation technologies won’t effectively serve a community unless people of all genders are comfortable using them; anti-poverty measures won’t make a dent unless they capture the millions of women earning a living outside the formal economy.
我们农业适应战略的一个重要组成部分就是优先考虑女性的需求。性别平等本身就是一项可持续发展目标，但它也是实现所有其他目标的重要途径。如果研究人员不了解疾病给妇女和女童带来的独特影响，疾病就无法根除；如果不是所有性别的人都愿意使用， 那么创新的环境卫生设施也无法有效地为社区服务；如果减贫措施不能覆盖数以百万计的在正规经济部门之外谋生的女性，这些措施就无法取得成效。
With this in mind, several years ago we made a commitment to design strategies and investments to effectively serve women and girls. Nowhere is this more relevant than in agriculture, since women comprise half of smallholder farmers worldwide. We are using our influence to put women farmers at the heart of solutions – whether that means equal access to credit and markets, farming implements tailored to them, or training to equip them to be mentors and leaders in their communities.
考虑到这一点，我们在几年前承诺制定战略和投资，有效地为妇女和女童服务。这一点在农业领域最为重要，因为妇女占了全世界小农户的一半。我们正在利用我们的影响力，将女性农户置于解决方案的核心位置——这意味着她们将平等地获得信贷和市场机会、为她们量身定制的农具，或能够帮助她们成为社区领袖的培训。
Perhaps most importantly, we’re doing our agriculture work in partnership with regional and local institutions. While we’re sometimes accused of advancing corporate interests or pushing technologies that countries don’t want, in fact we work at the request of national governments and regional bodies like the African Union (which has developed a continent-wide climate strategy) and the African Adaptation Initiative (which helps governments get climate financing and coordinates advocacy efforts). We invest a lot to build up institutions, so that they can lead the work altogether. And we’ll use our influence to press others to step up too.
也许最重要的是，我们正与区域性和地方性的机构合作开展这项工作。虽然我们有时被指责服务企业利益或把技术强加给国家，但事实上，我们是应各国政府和区域机构的要求而开展工作的，如非洲联盟（已制定了一项覆盖整个非洲大陆的气候战略）和非洲适应倡议（帮助政府获得气候融资并协调倡导工作）。我们投入很多资源支持不同机构提升能力，以领导和协调这些工作。此外，我们还将利用我们的影响力推动其他组织采取行动。
