Gates Foundation prods UN, honors inspiration as Goalkeepers

NEW YORK (AP) — Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates combined characteristic optimism with sobering questions about persistent gender inequality and hunger at an event focused on reaching global development goals that the Gateses' foundation convened on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

Bill Gates again made the case for investments in agricultural technologies — like modified seeds that are drought resistant — to address food insecurity. But the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also announced Wednesday a $100 million donation meant to respond to hunger and malnutrition more quickly. The donation will fund projects like UNICEF's child nutrition fund and a private sector partnership to subsidize fertilizer for African farmers, as well as other initiatives.

French Gates lamented the slow movement toward gender equality in a speech, asking, “How can we go about changing the face of power in our institutions, in our communities, and, yes, in our families?”

The annual Goalkeepers events at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York took place for the first time in person since before the start of the coronavirus pandemic. They are meant to draw attention to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals related to poverty, hunger, equity, health, education and climate change mitigation.

Progress toward meeting many of the goals by 2030 has stalled and in fact, slid backwards, according to assessments by the Gates Foundation as well as U.N. agencies.

However, the foundation did mark some successes, honoring the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for her leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. It hailed the European Union’s export of more than a billion vaccine doses and promised new investments in health care manufacturing in African countries.

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