Sessions related to systems change and the interplay between funders and social entrepreneurs are common in philanthropic circles and convenings like Skoll World Forum. Few sessions, however, directly tackle the complex funder/government dynamics that enable or hinder innovations and new approaches from taking root and scaling in the public sector. This fast-paced and interactive session will highlight the issues that inhibit shared power and identify tangible examples of how to help “close the distance” between the sometimes opposing systems of funders and governments, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
This session was curated in partnership with VillageReach and Emerging Public Leaders.
Director, Health, Africa, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Dr. Paulin Basinga
Title: Director, Health, Africa
Dr. Paulin Basinga serves as the foundation’s director of health for Africa, where he leads a growing team in the development and execution of the country plan to fulfill the foundation’s programmatic priorities in Africa. This work involves complex coordination across the foundation’s divisions and programs. As such, he also acts as the principal Africa liaison with key program leads and program strategy teams in Seattle.
Paulin joined the foundation in 2012 as a senior program officer on the HIV team (under the Global Health division). In June 2013, he joined the newly formed Integrated Delivery team as a senior program officer, developing and managing a portfolio of investments in community and child health. In 2015, he went for a year-long secondment to the Ministry of Health in Rwanda. Working with Rwanda Biomedical Center, where he supported efforts to maximize data use for decision making and developing the Rwanda Health sustainability plan. Upon returning to Seattle, he served as deputy director in the Integrated Delivery team’s Country Primary Healthcare Initiative. The initiative focused on integrating primary health care to provide treatment, prevention, and other essential services in Ethiopia and Nigeria (mainly in the states of Kaduna and Niger). He served as Nigeria Country Director before his new post as Director, Health, Africa.
Prior to joining the foundation, Paulin served as deputy director in charge of Research and Consultancies at the National University of Rwanda’s School of Public Health. There, he spent years designing, implementing and evaluating public health interventions for HIV, TB, and maternal and child health. He also led research into ways to strengthen Rwanda’s health systems.
Paulin completed his medical degree at the National University of Rwanda and holds a master’s degree and PhD in international development from Tulane University in the United States.
Former Economy and Finance Minister, Republic of Guinea
First female Economy and Finance Minister of the Republic of Guinea, Malado Kaba served between 2016 and 2018. She helped her country reached record macroeconomic results and significantly improved transparency and efficiency as well as reduced corruption.
An accomplished leader in international development and finance, Malado Kaba combines her high-level experience in public- and private-sector organizations to deliver measurable impact. Her knowledge of government, global institutions, and NGOs gives her a unique insight into the requirements for successfully navigating complex organizational structures. She produces positive results at the local, national, and international level.
Malado has received public recognition of her success with multiple awards and has written extensively about the need for improved governance, local content policies, accelerated digital transformation in the public sector and cooperation across Africa’s public and private sectors.
Founding CEO, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
Ngaire Woods is the founding and inaugural Dean of Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government. She also founded, and co-directs with Professor Robert O. Keohane, Princeton University, the Oxford-Princeton Global Leaders Fellowship Programme; previously she also founded and directed the Global Economic Governance Programme which was established in 2003 to conduct research into how global economic institutions could better meet the needs of people in developing countries.
Ngaire Woods has a particular interest in the governance of global institutions aimed at promoting global economic prosperity, development and stability, and has addressed governments around the world on these issues. She is currently Vice-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Meta-Council on Global Governance and project leader of a report on leadership in international institutions. In 2012 she co-authored a study for the President of the African Development Bank of his clients’ views of the institutions. She is currently helping the African Development Bank strengthen its impact on gender equality, both within the Bank and across its programming. Ngaire Woods has served as an Advisor to the IMF Board, to the UNDP’s Human Development Report, and to the Commonwealth Heads of Government. She also sits as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of ARUP, a global engineering and design company, and as a member of the Operating and Advisory Board of the Center for International Governance Innovation.
Ngaire Woods has published widely, her publications include 'The Politics of Global Regulation' (with Walter Mattli); 'Networks of Influence', and 'The Globalizers: The IMF, the World Bank and their Borrowers'.
She was educated at Auckland University (BA in economics, LLB Hons in law) before studying at Balliol College, Oxford (as a New Zealand Rhodes Scholar), completing an MPhil (with Distinction) and then DPhil (in 1992) in International Relations.
Jamie Cooper is the founding Chair and President of Big Win Philanthropy, an operating foundation that partners with driven and committed African leaders to deliver on their transformational visions for children and young people. Ms Cooper has more than 25 years’ experience in roles supporting and bringing leaders together from the public, private and philanthropy sectors to pursue innovative policy and programming around a broad array of economic and social issues. Prior to launching Big Win Philanthropy, she co-founded the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer. Jamie serves on several boards, including: the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development Board, the Advisory Board of the Ministerial Leadership Program at Harvard, the Board of Advisors to the Dean at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), the Board of Advisors to the Dean at the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government, the Board of the Elton John Aids Foundation, and the Greenwood Place Advisory Board. She is a High-Level Council Member of The Aspen Institute High-Level Council on Leadership & Management for Development. She also serves as a mentor at Mentore Consulting LLP. Ms Cooper received a Bachelor of Arts from Smith College and a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Ambassador Deborah Malac is a career diplomat who served 38 years as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. Most recently, she served as the U.S. Ambassador to Uganda (2016-2020) and the U.S. Ambassador to Liberia (2012-2015). Ambassador Malac also served overseas in Ethiopia, Senegal, Thailand, South Africa, and Cameroon as well as multiple assignments in the Department of State in Washington, DC. Most of her career was focused on sub-Saharan Africa and the challenges associated with fostering democracy, improving human rights, encouraging trade and investment, and supporting meaningful economic development. Throughout her career, Ambassador Malac worked with USAID, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Peace Corps and other U.S. government agencies and entities to build resilient health systems, broaden access to education, improve food security and create economic opportunity, especially for women and girls. Ambassador Malac retired from the Department of State in January 2020. She currently serves as the Chair of the Board of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Foundation and Secretary of the Board for Nyaka Global. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Population Institute.
Patrick Joram Mugisha (MOOGY) is a Ugandan born in Kinkiizi, Kanungu District.
Currently, He is the Commissioner for Innovations and Intellectual Property Management at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MoSTI)-Uganda. Very passionate about the strategic utilization of innovation and intellectual property in the attainment of the SDGs.
Brings in wealth of experience in new product development in industry tailored on the human centered design approach; Innovation and intellectual property value chain management as well as scaling up of innovations within the public space. He was central in the design and development of the journey to scale government tool. His Educational background includes; Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Chemistry from Makerere University, Kampala-Uganda; an MSc in Synthetic Organic Chemistry Research from University of Southampton-UK, and a Master’s Degree in Intellectual Property (MIP) from Africa University Mutare-Zimbabwe.
He is a Member of African Policy, Research and advisory group on STI and a Member of the steering committee for implementation of the Uganda National Intellectual Property Policy.
