Devex Pro Weekender: The philanthropy jackpot, and an MDB president quietly ousted

Jackpot! We learned last week that nine new philanthropists have joined the Giving Pledge over the past year, including at least two billionaires — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and private equity investor Jahm Najafi. That means they’ve committed to giving away at least half their wealth, which is, according to some quick math, a lot of money. So, do we have any idea what they’ll spend it on? According to their pledge letter, Altman and partner Oliver Mulherin are, unsurprisingly, intending to focus on technology — specifically, “technology that helps create abundance for people.” Meanwhile, Najafi and his wife Cheryl say they’ll continue supporting education, the arts, and social justice and equity. “We give to programs with tangible results through economic empowerment, employment and career advancement. And as the world suffers more upheavals, we’ll keep adjusting our philanthropy to the areas of greatest need,” they write. Meanwhile, Melinda French Gates has already started her spending spree after walking away from the Gates Foundation. Read on for more on that. Coming up: Alert! On Tuesday, we’re inviting Devex Pro members to an exclusive conversation between Liz Schrayer, president of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, and Raj Kumar, president of Devex, to discuss how the aid community managed to push the $95 billion aid supplemental through the U.S. Congress. Learn about the coalition-building and advocacy techniques that won the day, and gain insights into how to navigate and influence the legislative process effectively. Also in today’s edition: A mystery at the Caribbean Development Bank, a far-right surge predicted in this week’s EU election, and a U.N. veteran takes on his toughest job yet. Bits and pieces Melinda’s moment. It was but two weeks ago when we learned that Melinda French Gates would be parting ways with the foundation she co-founded, armed with $12.5 billion to put toward good causes — and like some other high-profile female philanthropists, she seems to be taking a speedy, and novel, approach. As of the time of writing, she’s already allocated $690 million, including $240 million that’s being split between 12 individuals to spend as they see fit. That’s right — $20 million for each person. They include Sabrina Habib, co-founder of Kenya’s largest childcare network, Kidogo; Jacinda Ardern, former prime minister of New Zealand; and Shabana Basij-Rasikh, an Afghan education activist. There are virtually no strings attached: Each person will be set up with a grantmaking fund and asked to “direct the money to organizations doing urgent, impactful, and innovative work to improve women’s health and well-being.” Speaking to my colleague Elissa Miolene, Habib described it as an “incredible experiment.” Read more in our report for Pro members. Missing Gene. A reader reached out to me last week asking if I could find out what was going on at the Caribbean Development Bank, where they’d heard about an unexpected leadership change. Since your wish is my command, I have done just that. According to a reliable source, bank President Hyginus “Gene” Leon was put on administrative leave back in January, after complaints were raised through the bank’s whistleblower mechanism. He tendered his resignation in April, shortly before an independent investigation substantiated most of the allegations, the nature of which remain unclear. Board members have now been asked to vote on whether to accept his resignation or terminate his contract. However, a letter from Leon’s lawyers, seen by the Caribbean Media Corporation, contends that he has only been given “barebones” details of the allegations against him and that the bank did not follow its own policies when it suspended him. I understand that Vice President-Operations Isaac Solomon has assumed responsibilities until a new president is elected. The bank has made no official statement on the situation. Kaseya’s say. Africa CDC chief Jean Kaseya has experienced his fair share of controversies — there have been various allegations of leadership lapses almost since the beginning of his tenure. Now, he’s having his say, telling Devex that he was surprised by the whistleblower complaints against him. When he joined Africa CDC, “I was briefed by the senior management that every day people are sending anonymous letters against each person,” he said. “It's not my culture. I was even surprised. But I'm leading an organization where I want transparency, accountability to be the rules, the principles.” To that end, he said he’s creating an ethics office and ombudsman to promote a culture of speaking out. “We are there to take seriously all allegations, to address them, and to move on.” ✉️ Do you have insights into any of this week’s bits and pieces? Let me know by replying to this email. Moving on Garry Conille, UNICEF's regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, was named as Haiti’s new prime minister by the transitional council. Conille, who had a previous stint as prime minister from 2011-2012, has been in his current post at UNICEF for just a year and a half, but has served with the U.N. in various roles for many years. He could hardly be taking on a tougher job, as violence grips the country and his predecessor found himself stuck in exile. Jirair Ratevosian, former acting chief of staff at PEPFAR, is starting a new role as associate research scientist at Yale University. He tells me he'll be focusing on the rollout of new HIV prevention modalities in the southern U.S., as well as artificial intelligence applications among priority populations globally. Judd Devermont is heading back to the Center for Strategic and International Studies after serving as senior director for African affairs at the White House’s National Security Council. Devermont left the Biden administration back in January to take up a role at Africa-focused investment firm Kupanda Capital. He’ll now also be a nonresident senior adviser with the CSIS Africa program, which he previously directed. Speaking of CSIS, Kimberly Flowers, who used to lead the global food security program there, has started as a senior counselor with Tetra Tech, supporting USAID's Board for International Food and Agricultural Development. Dr. Patrice Matchaba, formerly president of Novartis US Foundation, was appointed CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute. He succeeds the current CEO, Emilio Emini, who is about to retire. The nonprofit research institute is dedicated to the development of new biomedical interventions for global health and is an affiliate of the Gates Foundation. While on the subject of the Gates Foundation, Thoko Elphick-Pooley is moving on from Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases, which she’s led for the past decade. She’ll be joining Gates as deputy director for program advocacy and communications, Africa. Karthik Venkataraman is Accion's new chief operating officer starting tomorrow. He was previously a partner at Bain & Company. Panayota Bird, who previously served as global health strategy and access director at GlaxoSmithKline, is joining MedAccess as senior health markets access director. Did we miss one? Is there a change on the horizon? Let us know at devexpro@devex.com. Story of the week The U.K. government has called a snap election for July 4, which means — unless every opinion poll is wrong — that the Labour Party will be in power in five weeks’ time. What does that mean for aid? For Pro members, Devex U.K. Correspondent Rob Merrick explains what we know so far. Want to dig in deeper? On June 12, we’ll be hearing from a panel of experts about what’s at stake for aid in the U.K. election — join us and put your questions to the panel! Up next Bonn Climate Change Conference. This annual event marks the halfway point to COP and helps to set the agenda and lay the groundwork for the main event in November. This year, the New Collective Quantified Goal — the next climate finance target for high-income countries to meet — will be at the center of many of the discussions. (If you’re interested in that, the Center for Global Development is hosting a side event to discuss the way forward.) Other hot topics include the use of wealth taxes to finance climate action, a review of the Lima program on gender and climate, and a look at the lessons learned from the first “global stocktake,” which will be key to developing the next batch of nationally determined contributions. June 3-13. EU elections. Elections for the European Parliament are taking place across the EU this week. Although the impact on aid policy will be somewhat indirect, with an anticipated surge for anti-aid and anti-migration parties, some experts are describing it as a “dangerous” moment for the world’s third-largest donor. Read Rob’s report. June 6-9.