I am not a banker, a politician, a diplomat or an economist. I grew up in a complex country with plenty of development challenges and a healthy supply of obstacles to thwart progress. As a researcher at the interface of global health, engineering and development, I have learned to appreciate that organizations tasked to improve the human condition and the quality of life not only need to respond to the challenges of today but also need to create tools to combat the problems of tomorrow and the day after. The solutions not only have to be sensitive and specific, but have to be innovative and transformative, not just incremental. This notion of creating, nurturing and fostering innovation is what I hope Jim Yong Kim, if elected, will bring to the World Bank.
The World Bank has, and continues to shape and alter the development landscape of my country, Pakistan. In many circles in Pakistan the name "World Bank" is synonymous with inefficiency, bureaucracy and long-term debt, in other words, it means life-saving development projects and sustained progress. The same contradictory messages are echoed in developing countries big and small. The calls for reform within the bank and a greater understanding of the complex realities of the developing world are unanimous. Thus I believe that the World Bank, due to its size and potential impact, needs a leader who is going to change it from a reactive organization to a proactive and an innovative one. The organization needs someone who is methodical, rational and detail-oriented. It needs the logical approach of an academic and the pragmatism of a practitioner who is cognizant of local constraints and global challenges. Jim Yong Kim, an academic and a physician, a practitioner and a visionary leader in global health, brings these skills.
In my mind he is a great choice by President Obama to lead the institution, but not because of his heritage or because he is not a Washington insider. The argument about him being a great choice because of the country of his birth, a developing Korea of the 1960s, is not particularly strong. He was fortunate to be raised by highly educated parents in the U.S. and went to some of the best institutions in the country for his training. To me, it was what he did with that training is the most interesting and exciting part. It is his deep conviction to change the status quo in global health, and his innovations in both research and practice that set him apart. From "Partners in Health," a paradigm shift in global health practice, to WHO, Harvard and then leadership at Dartmouth map the course of a man who has the necessary intellect to create bold and transformative changes for some of the most pressing problems of our time.
While the idea that either an economist or a banker should lead the World Bank has some merit, the fact remains that many of the most pressing problems in poverty and development, across the globe, are connected directly or indirectly to public health and education. A pragmatic practitioner, who in his arsenal has the experience to create innovative tools, with a proven record to create potent multi-disciplinary teams is well suited to transform and impact the development landscape.
While I am enthusiastic about Dr. Kim and his future role at the World Bank, I want him to bring with him a vision that is transformative and inclusive of the most creative ideas, not just from the developed world but also from the developing world. I want to see a World Bank that will be more transparent and ready to foster field-changing innovations. I want to see a world bank under Jim Yong Kim that empowers societies to create Harvards and Dartmouths in the Haitis and Djiboutis of the world. Above all, I want to see a World Bank that emphasizes the fundamental values of dignity, poverty alleviation and human development under all circumstances -- the core values that define Jim's academic and research profession.
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In 2004 Kim directed the World Health Organization's HIV/AIDS department and led the "3x5" initiative, which set the bold target of putting three million people on AIDS anti-retroviral treatment by the end of 2005. Critics said it was impossible to expand treatment to millions of people in only a few years, but Kim maintained, "We need to bring a sense of urgency that matches the devastation of the epidemics that we face." In no small part, because of Kim's early and visionary leadership, 6.6 million people in developing countries now have access to life-saving treatment.
Kim has a vision global health equity, which you, I and so many others share. Kim is also well known for his contributions to fighting tuberculosis, demonstrating that quality, life-saving treatment could be effectively delivered in resource poor settings. For his decades of work with the poor, he is the right person for the job.
For over 30 years the WB has been a bastion for imposing neo-liberal policies throughout the developing world. It's not alone, as other powerful institutions (IMF/OECD) have also been followers to the same paradigm. The result has been catastrophic for all but a handful in each nation where their policies have been put into practice. We have more poor today than 30 years ago as a testament to this ideology.
The appointment process is hopelessly corrupt and to be certain, no US anointed head of he WB will deviate from past practices.
The world is changing and in 2010 alone, the China Development Bank / Exim Bank extended more loans to the developing world than the WB.
The developing world contains 85% of the world's population and Western controlled ideological institutions are losing their influence. Whether that is good or bad is besides the point, now developing nations have a choice and are taking it.
The appointment of Jim Yong Kim to a position that is technically an elected position is all about form over substance.
A perfect study in jargon. What it means is there will plenty of talk, and no action.
See: www.worldometers.info , if you want to see why talk won't do the trick.
Who wants to bet that in four years (or however long Dr. Kim's tenure is) there will be more people starving to death, and less arable land, and another optimistic statement about the results to be achieved by the new head of the World Bank?
If you have the information provided, publicly, by the Central Intelligence Agency you won't take the bet.
Google "world factbook", a publication of the CIA.
My argument in all this:
Joel E. Cohen, a Mathematical biologist and the head of the Laboratory of Population at Rockefeller University and Columbia University. “How Many People Can the Earth Support?”
“Providing modern family planning methods to all people with unmet needs would cost about $6.7 billion a year, slightly less than the $6.9 billion that Americans are expected to spend for Halloween this year”.
The New York Times, Op-Ed October 24, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/opinion/seven-billion.html?pagewanted=all