Devex Pro Weekender: Atul Gawande’s Hollywood job share, and 1-0 to MacKenzie Scott

The transformation of the Open Society Foundations appears to be nearing the end. In big news last week, OSF President Mark Malloch-Brown announced that he’d be stepping down, having overseen a massive restructuring of the organization that he described as “largely completed” in an email to partners. It comes a little over a year after Alex Soros, son of founder George, was elected chair, and caps off a disruptive period for the foundation which has seen a lot of staffing changes. Binaifer Nowrojee, who is currently vice president of programs and is apparently well-respected within the organization, will step into Malloch-Brown’s role, becoming the first woman and first person from the global south to lead OSF. It might not be an easy ride at the top, though. Staff morale is low, which Nowrojee nodded to in a note to staff, referencing “a prolonged period of disruption” that “has not come without pain and loss.” And among the flood of congratulatory posts in response to the announcement on social media were others referencing the conspiracy theories that have long plagued the organization and its founder — and which are sure to ramp up in the lead-up to the U.S. election. - For Pro members: We looked at what else we might expect from OSF this year. Coming up: We’ve got two exciting events coming up for our Devex Pro members. Tomorrow we’re hosting a leader roundtable on the theme of gender equality, including how to advocate for women’s rights in politically hostile environments, and the role of men. Then on April 3 we’ll be exploring what’s at stake for aid in the upcoming U.S. election. Also in today’s edition: Atul Gawande now shares a job title with Priyanka Chopra, it’s 1-0 to MacKenzie Scott in the battle of the philanthropists, and Crown Agents says everything’s fine as it faces a restructuring. Jessica Abrahams Editor, Devex Pro Bits and pieces Three’s company. ActionAid UK has appointed three interim co-CEOs as part of what it’s calling a “feminist leadership structure.” The charity’s director of innovation and impact, Taahra Ghazi; director of people and culture Shade Odupelu; and director of advocacy and influencing Hannah Bond will continue in their current roles but share leadership decisions as well. Co-leadership models are becoming more popular among NGOs, partly in response to calls for more diversity and inclusion at the top, and as progressive organizations strive for collaborative decision-making. In ActionAid UK’s case, it follows a turbulent period with a lot of leadership turnover — it had three CEOs in two years — and allegations of structural racism that the charity is still recovering from. (It previously said its work on this had been hindered by the high turnover on its board and senior management team.) In a press release announcing the co-CEOs, it said they “see the distributed leadership model [as] supporting the organisation to be increasingly resilient and to enhance the culture of collective care and innovation.” + For Pro members: Why more NGOs are choosing co-leadership — and how to make it work Musk v MacKenzie. Elon Musk took a swipe at fellow billionaire MacKenzie Scott’s charitable habits last week. In response to a post on his social media platform X complaining about Scott’s donations to organizations that “deal with issues of race and/or gender,” thrice-divorced Musk replied that: “‘Super rich ex-wives who hate their former spouse should … be listed among ‘Reasons That Western Civilization Died.’” For some reason, Musk — not usually one to shy away from an online bust-up — later backed down and deleted the tweet. The contrast between the two billionaires’ giving styles was highlighted a couple of days later, when The New York Times ran an analysis of Musk’s philanthropy, concluding that his approach has been “haphazard and largely self-serving.” It notes that his foundation is in theory one of the largest in the country, having received tax-deductible donations of stock worth $7 billion. But in 2022, the last year for which records are available, it gave away only $160 million (that’s $234 million less than the law required to justify the tax breaks). Meanwhile, Scott has already given away $16.5 billion. In the battle of the philanthropists, I think we can mark that down as a knockout win. Atul goes to Hollywood. As you may remember from the Weekender last month, Atul Gawande — USAID’s global health chief — has an unusual credit to his name. In his life before government, he served as executive producer on an Oscar-nominated documentary film called “To Kill A Tiger,” which tells of a sexual assault survivor and her family’s fight for justice in India. I’m sorry to report that “To Kill A Tiger” did not come away with an award at last week’s ceremony. But it’s not all bad news. The documentary has been snapped up by Netflix, where you can watch it now — if you need further encouragement, it has an impressive 100% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s also attracted a host of celebrities to sign on as co-executive producers, including most recently Priyanka Chopra. This might just be the closest a USAID official has ever got to Hollywood stardom. ✉️ Do you have insights into any of this week’s bits and pieces? Let me know by replying to this email. Story of the week Given the punishing cuts to the U.K. aid budget over the last few years, it wouldn’t be that surprising if its development contractors were struggling — many have been quietly holding their breath until the next election for a while now. But Crown Agents, one of the best-established organizations in the space, says that’s got nothing to do with why it’s planning a restructure and shedding 8% of its London staff. (No word yet on whether that will affect the swanky office they moved into in central London a few years ago, before the pandemic.) It comes after the former president of its U.S. branch, Amanda Willett, claimed via a LinkedIn post that the nonprofit company was “facing accounting losses” and had been “struggling for many years to achieve and sustain economic profitability.” But a spokesperson said they are “restructuring the company to build in agility” and to “ensure our structures and processes do not overshadow our talent and commitment to delivering the best solutions for our clients.” - For Pro members: Crown Agents plans layoffs amid ‘accounting losses’ claim Moving on Erastus Lokaale will take over as Kenya’s permanent representative to the U.N. in New York, as Martin Kimani’s term comes to an end. Lokaale is currently speaker of the Turkana County Assembly but previously worked for the UN Development Programme in Kenya. Former Ethiopian Health Minister Lia Tadesse Gebremedhin was selected as the new executive director of the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program, which provides support to ministers from Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America who focus on advancing human development. The appointment has been criticized by some as the minister served in the government during the Tigray War, which saw the destruction of Tigray's health system. Rajat Khosla was announced as the incoming executive director of PMNCH, the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. He is currently the director of the International Institute on Global Health at the United Nations University. Laurie Lee, the former CEO of Care International UK and a well-known figure in development circles, has been appointed CEO of the Guy's & St Thomas' Foundation, after serving in the role on an interim basis since last year. The foundation is the independent charity arm of the NHS Foundation Trust of the same name — which is part of the U.K.’s National Health Service — but also works on other health equity projects. Lee was CEO of Care’s UK team for eight years before stepping down in 2022, at a time when the NGO was struggling with the impact of U.K. aid cuts. He was previously Africa director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Meanwhile, Smile Train, the cleft lip and palate charity, named Sarah Hamilton as its first director of global advocacy and public policy, promoted from her current role as senior programs communications manager. She’ll be responsible for driving the organization’s advocacy strategy to win financing and support for cleft care at the multinational, national, and community levels. Former journalist Stacy H. Adams has been appointed global director of external communications for Children International. She most recently oversaw strategic communications for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Virginia. Living Goods, which works to digitally empower community health workers, has announced the beginning of a leadership transition. CEO Liz Jarman, who has led the organization for the past five years, will be moving on at the end of the year, with her deputy Emilie Chambert taking over in January. And Sarah Malm was announced as the new executive director of GOGLA, the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry. She previously led strategic communications and outreach for Power Africa. Up next CSW continues. U.N. negotiations over a critical declaration on women’s rights head into their final stage at the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women this week. Governments are still quarreling over everything from how to address sexual and reproductive health and rights to how to secure the hundreds of billions of dollars the U.N. says are needed to achieve its gender equality goals by the end of the decade. The aim is for delegates to finalize a 36-page draft declaration by close of business on Friday, to accelerate the path toward gender equality. But the talks have been complicated by a range of longstanding differences between liberal Western powers and more conservative nations, as well as the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. We’ll be sending out a special edition newsletter on Monday with more key stories from CSW. If you aren’t subscribed yet, sign up to Devex Newswire to receive it. Until March 22. The Adaptation Forum does what it says on the tin: It brings together experts and government representatives to discuss the climate adaptation-related outcomes of COP 28, and to brainstorm other opportunities to push ahead with adaptation. It’s organized by the Adaptation Committee of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, the wordily named organization that runs COP, and is being held at a beautiful venue near its headquarters in Bonn, Germany, that was built for balls and concerts in the 18th century — in fact Beethoven played there. This week’s event isn’t quite as glam, sure, but it might be more important. March 18-19. OECD. Carsten Staur, chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee, which sets the rules on official development assistance spending for most of the world’s biggest bilateral donors, is speaking at the Center for Global Development’s London office this week. He’s there to discuss the relevance of his committee in a changing world where nontraditional donors are becoming more central to global development efforts. But given that DAC recently rapped the U.K. over the knuckles for its erratic aid spending habits, that’s sure to come up too. It’s an invite-only event but I’ll be there to report back on what’s said. March 20. UK aid. Given the high level of interest we’re seeing in U.K. aid from our Pro members, with an election likely to take place this year, I thought I’d mention that Bond — the U.K. network for development NGOs — is launching its manifesto this week, laying out what it wants to see from the next government. Again it’s invite-only, but we’re dispatching Devex Business Editor Dave Ainsworth to report. March 20. Impact investing. The Asia Pacific Impact Investment Summit hits Sydney this week. Devex Senior Reporter Vince Chadwick will be there. He says to say hi if you’re there too: vince.chadwick@devex.com. March 20-21. Gaza. IPC — the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, used to determine food insecurity levels and identify famine situations — is releasing a report tomorrow on Gaza. In December it said that parts of the population were already facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity but the situation has deteriorated further since then, with the U.S. now attempting to build a floating pier off the coast to make food deliveries. March 18. + Read more: Food as a weapon in the new age of starvation — how the wars in Gaza and Ukraine are normalizing the weaponization of food. Did we miss one? Is there a change on the horizon? Let us know at devexpro@devex.com.