Impatient Optimists
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Authors / Biography

David J. Olson

Title Global Development Consultant

David J. Olson is a global development consultant with 20+ years of nonprofit management, communications, and policy experience in 40 countries. Current clients include Futures Group; DKT International; Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (WHO); PSI and AMREF USA. He is also a board member of Christian Connections for International Health.

After serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, he founded a grass-roots network in Mali and managed successful social marketing programs in Zambia, Bangladesh, and Paraguay.

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Posts By David J. Olson

In Costa Rica, Strengthening Health Systems Has a Human Side

February 28, 2013 / David J. Olson

For me, the most exciting thing was to see the hospitals taking tools that were developed specifically for people living with HIV, and also using them to strengthen the broader health system.

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My Top 10 Communications Stories in Global Health and Poverty for 2012

December 21, 2012 / David J. Olson

As a global development communicator, here’s my take on the top global development communication stories of the year.

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Faith-Based Organizations Believe in Family Planning

July 19, 2012 / David J. Olson

Faith-based organizations (FBOs) were well represented at last week’s London Summit on Family Planning thanks to the summit organizers, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the British government. Ten faith leaders participated and thought the summit was a smashing success by securing financial commitments to reach an additional 120 million women and girls with voluntary family planning services.

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In Advancing Food Security at G20, Civil Society Can Learn From Business

June 20, 2012 / David J. Olson

One of the remarkable developments of this G20 Summit is the meteoric rise of the B20 (Business-20) and its championing of an issue that is also a priority for non-governmental organizations (NGOs)—food security and nutrition.

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What NGOs Want From the Mexico G20 on Food Security and Nutrition

June 18, 2012 / David J. Olson

On the eve of the G20 Summit, which opens here on June 18, I've been looking into what nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) want to get out of the G20 Mexico on an issue that is a priority to NGOs as well as the Mexican presidency of the G20 -- "enhancing food security and addressing commodity price volatility," in the words of the Mexican government.

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  • "Our desire to bring every good thing to our children is a force for good throughout the world. It’s what propels societies forward." —Melinda Gates

  • The Global Fund has helped to deliver more than 190 million bed nets to protect families from malaria.

  • "The world faces a clear choice. If we invest relatively small amounts, many more poor farmers will be able to feed their families." —Bill Gates, 2012 Annual Letter

  • "When it come to global health, Bill and I are optimists—but we're impatient optimists. Tremendous progress is being made. But there is still so much we're impatient to see done." —Melinda French Gates

  • In Senegal, 80% of households now have a bed net, helping the number of malaria cases there drop 50% in a single year.

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