Sachs calls for private action vs. poverty

Jeffrey Sachs is a big fan of Rotary International and their global efforts against polio. He uses the Rotary example as a flag for rallying individual action against global problems:

Even when politicians don’t lead, it is still possible for committed individuals and voluntary organizations to change the world. The key is to link a bold idea with a practical and powerful technology, and then to push the idea and technology forward through mass citizen action…

We need not wait for the politicians. In a short period of time, the world’s citizens can make deep inroads in the fight against disease, hunger, and poverty. Then the politicians will follow.

The key is practicality, boldness, and, most importantly, a commitment by those who are better off to volunteer their time and money to bring practical help–in the form of high-yield seeds, fertilizers, medicines, bed nets, drinking wells, and materials to build school rooms and clinics—to the world’s poorest people.

Related, a note of ours that asks whether private loans and charitable giving are replacing aid?