Ray Chambers, U.N. special envoy for financing the health Millennium Development Goals, knows something about return on investment.
In 1981 his private equity firm acquired an $80 million greeting card company with only about $1 million in upfront capital, a groundbreaking “leveraged investment.” But Chambers also knows investors demand a clear picture of what it is they’re buying, before they are willing to front the cash.
As the third International Conference on Financing for Development kicks off in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Chambers is trying to make that picture clearer for one of development’s central goals: saving children’s lives.
Read more stories on child health:
► Include children in the SDGs for noncommunicable diseases
► Invest in Every Woman Every Child to save a generation within a generation
► What we've learned about reaching every last child
► Fresh perspectives on maternal, child and adolescent health
► The 'lottery of birth': How to give every child an equal chance for a better life
About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
