U2 lead singer Bono triggers action

"When aid works, it really works. The Secretary [US Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill] and I have seen some of the results, at national, local and community levels. Money is not going down a rat hole as a few people have said in London and Washington. It's more likely to be going down a waterhole — saving children from dying of diarrhea, guinea worm, water borne killers”.

Rock star Bono from U2, speaking at the annual meeting of the African Development Bank on 29 May 2002.

Source: quote in Source Weekly, 29 Jul 2002.

The Irish rock star Bono toured with O’Neill showing him development programmes in Africa that worked. This attracted a lot of media attention throughout the world. Bono Puts Africa on the Bush Administration's Map, IPS reported.

5 million Euro for WFP

The rock singer and the book Good Business (Steve Hilton and Gilse Gibbons) also inspired Peter Bakker, the new, 41- year old CEO of TPG, the largest employer in the Netherlands (148,000 staff in 65 countries) to join the fight against hunger in the World.

“Every five seconds a child dies from hunger. I didn’t know that”, Bakker said to the Volkskrant 24 Dec 2002. After visiting the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg last year and talking to UN Secretary General Koffi Annan TPG announced in late 2002 to start sponsoring the World Food Programme with Euro 5 million per year for the next five years. One million will be in money, the rest will be in the form of advice on logistics and voluntary work of 50 TPG staff. The TPG money for the WFP comes instead of the TNT Open Golf Tournament sponsoring.

Source: de Volkskrant, 20 and 24 Dec 2002

Last updated: 21 February 2003