The People's Fund for Global Health and Development

Take the power back

Are you frustrated about so much power over the future of our planet being in the hands of corporations and politicians that are not acting in the interest of the world's poorest? About the wealthiest 1% soon owning more than the rest of the world's population? While the poorest people in the world die by the millions each year from perfectly preventable and treatable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases? From giving birth to a child and from not having enough to eat or access to clean water? And what about gender inequality, lack of access to quality education, poor governance and policies, legal injusticess and the failure of the global community to ensure even the most basic human rights for its people?

Do you wish you could take the power back into the hands of the people, try to affect these global issues and change the world for something better?

Well maybe you can.

The People's Fund for Global Health and Development is a humanitarian, non-profit, volunteer-based, democratic organization that aims to fund locally operated health and development projects and invest in businesses with the highest potential positive impact for the poorest people in the world.

Here are our Mission, Vision and Values:

1. We want to democratize the decision-making process for global health and development project funding by using global, systematized, collective decision-making, where the target country population and our members help decide which projects should receive funding.

2. We want to make a sustainable positive impact in the lives of the most vulnerable populations in the world, shaped by the interests of ordinary people and not by corporations’ or by politicians’ personal interests.

3. We will only fund projects that are initiated and operated by and for locals in low- and middle-income countries.

4. We will advocate with the aim of serving as a voice for the most vulnerable and voiceless populations in the world.

5. We will assess projects using models that weigh the most important predictors for the potential of a project to make a lasting and equitable positive impact in target communities.

6. We will positively credit those projects that mainly benefit the poorest members of society, the socially marginalized, women and children.

7. We want to shift the balance from the most publicly appealing or well-known causes receiving the largest amount of funds by preferentially funding project areas that are underfunded and may struggle simply due to the fact that their topic is less publicly appealing or less known of.

8. We will preferentially fund projects that directly aim to change systems, policies and governance, to equalize economic, political and social power inequalities and to increase the use of evidence in policy making.

9. We will preferentially fund projects with the highest social value for the lowest costs, to have as large an impact as possible with the means available.

10. Our members will vote directly for who should be on the board of directors.

11. Member fees will be progressive, so the widest shoulders carry the greatest burden, and people in the poorest countries can become full members of the organization for free.

Financial model

We aim to invest about half of net raised funds (after administration costs, advocacy work and investments in awareness and fundraising) in microfinance in low- and middle-income countries through The Triodos Microfinance Fund. With these investments we aim to:

• A: Stimulate sustainable, equitable and inclusive growth in recipient countries.
• B: Generate a sustainable capital base from which the interests will be used to fund health and development projects. The average annual return on Triodos microfinance shares has been 5.9% over the past 3 years.

The other half of net raised funds will be donated to local health and development projects (see below).

With this model we hope for our funds to be able to make a sustainable positive impact in the lives of those that need it the most - both now and in the future

Funding for Health and Development Projects:

Our priorities will be those of the target population, and we will fund projects in any field as long as it meets a clear need in the target population that is in alignment with the general mission, vision and values of our organization. Below are some of the project areas we may end up supporting, but this list will naturally never be exhaustive, as a core value in our organization is an understanding of and respect for the fact that the needs of different country populations are and will remain infinitely diverse.

• Education
• Energy and Environment
• Food security and Nutrition
• Health Systems Strengthening
• Infectious Diseases
• Infrastructure
• Maternal and Child Health
• Mental Health
• Peace, Justice and Human rights
• Policy, Governance and Institutional Strengthening
• Refugees
• Sexual Equity
• Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Please join us in our work to support local projects and put power back into the hands of some of the poorest people in the world.

Thank you for your support!