This week, the Skoll Foundation joined President Biden’s Global COVID-19 Summit, where government, private sector, and civil society leaders joined together to begin the work on a coordinated plan to end this pandemic and prevent future pandemics. The Skoll Foundation has made a $100 million commitment over the next five years to support the goals of the Summit. This new commitment, on top of a $100 million commitment in 2020, will continue the Foundation’s work to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, support coordinated, cross-sector pandemic response and prevention, and help strengthen health systems globally for the long term.
-Don Gips, CEO of the Skoll Foundation
The Skoll Foundation’s current COVID-19 and health systems strengthening work builds on Jeff Skoll’s longstanding focus on pandemic prevention—from launching the Skoll Global Threats Fund in 2009 and producing the Participant film Contagion in 2010, to funding innovation in disease detection and global surveillance networks through Ending Pandemics. Jeff Skoll has worked for a dozen years to raise awareness of the dangers of a global pandemic, to strengthen the capacity of health systems, and support social innovators who change global health systems for the better.
“The Skoll Foundation is committed to working alongside governments and doing what philanthropy does best: take risks, support civil society voices, and test out solutions that government can adopt,” said Don Gips. “Philanthropy is uniquely positioned to connect civil society and governments—a critical need in an all-in moment like the global COVID-19 pandemic.” Additional commitments made at the Global COVID-19 Summit can be found in the Chair’s Summary (here).
Investing in life-saving measures
The Skoll Foundation made an early investment in Oxygen Hub, an innovative approach to lowering barriers to oxygen production in Africa through a franchising model. This was an opportunity to use philanthropic risk capital in the short term to solve a longer-term business challenge for public health.
Community health workers are the face of public health for much of the world, so getting them the resources they need continues to be critical to the COVID response, including PPE and medical resources. The Foundation has invested significant resources in community health worker organizations and in efforts like the COVID Action Fund for Africa—which moved PPE where it was needed most across 18 countries.
Supporting coordinated response and prevention
Given the existing gaps in healthcare in Africa, Skoll quickly identified the opportunity to invest in a coordinated response through the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). The Africa CDC was able to coordinate across government, business, civil society, and philanthropy through a unique Africa Donor Collaborative.
Even as our partners work to save lives today, the Foundation sees the COVID-19 crisis as a moment to also build a strong, well-resourced pandemic preparedness system while strengthening health systems for the future. The Skoll Foundation continues to fuel innovation in its support for efforts like Ending Pandemics, the Global Alliance for Pandemic Prevention, and the Sentinel global infectious disease surveillance system based in West Africa.
The Foundation has also supported efforts to implement recommendations made by the International Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response. The Panel was established by the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General to provide an evidence-based path for the future, grounded in lessons of the present and the past to ensure that countries and global institutions effectively address health threats. Skoll’s investments in ONE and the Pandemic Action Network support their work to advocate for policy changes and increased support and resources to ensure countries are better prepared to prevent, detect, and respond to future pandemic threats.
“The pandemic knows no boundaries or political alignment. The evidence is clear that pandemics exacerbate existing inequalities, both globally and within countries,” said Don Gips. “Ending this pandemic and preventing future ones is the ultimate public good. As a global community, we must come together urgently and coordinate to bring an end to pandemics forever.”
For details on the Skoll Foundation’s COVID-19 grantmaking to date, visit: https://skoll.org/skoll-foundation-covid-response/
