Melinda Gates Answers Your Questions

Last week, we linked to an opportunity to submit questions for Melinda Gates and Nick Kristoff as Ms. Gates travels throughout Bangladesh. This week, Impatient Optimists has posted the first of the responses. A second installment will be published soon.

Her responses from part one include thoughts on how people of average means can make a difference and monitoring progress on Gates funded projects:

I believe that each of us can do important and meaningful work to make the world a better place. It’s not about the money. It’s about using whatever resources you have at your fingertips to try to improve the world.

The foundation is data-driven in everything we do, from making grants to estimating and evaluating their impact. For example, here in Bangladesh, we are funding several research studies to better understand which viruses and bacteria cause the most cases of pneumonia. Only by generating solid data will we be able to make well-informed decisions. And, of course, we need to know if our work is having impact. Measurement and evaluation is built into every single grant so we can analyze the results of programs that we fund.

Check back later for the second installment!