Did you buy the 500 Gems "Red"

[dominic115]

Probably not, if I did, it would only be for the shield, but it's not permanent, so no. Why? The charity's aims aren't really what I support.

[SynysterGates]

Plan to because all the money goes to charity.

sure all the money? cos they said PROCEEDS.. so from 4.99, how much exactly goes to RED? full 4.99? just wondering..

[babblefish]

Kudos to those who have donated to a good cause and kudos to SC for being a sponsor. I've never bought any gems, but certainly would have done so to support the cause, but Android was not included in the mix. Maybe in the future...

[biggymaccy]

The ‘Global Fund’ – Not So Golden
Posted on June 3, 2014 by Jonathan Foreman
Having formerly bought into the idea that the Global Fund (whose full name is the the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria) was one of the better, more responsible international NGOs I was saddened to read an article in Private Eye (no1365) revealing that it has an ongoing, fundamental problem with corruption – and a strikingly careless attitude to corruption at the very top of the organization.


(The Global Fund has always had good publicity. It’s a hugely wealthy public-private partnership for which Microsoft’s Bill Gates provided much of the seed money. It gets more than £1 billion from the British taxpayer through DfID.)


According to Private Eye, the Global Fund sacked its Inspector General, John Parsons, after he “kept finding…damaging evidence of corruption and failure in the Fund’s oversight.” It then cut the budget for investigation the theft and the counterfeiting of anti-malarial drugs and for investigators’ trips to countries where money is being misspent or stolen.


Instead of sending 2-person teams from the Geneva HQ on sensitive investigations the Global Fund decided to employ locals, regardless of the fact that the Fund’s prior experience shows that such employees are all too often compromised by connections with criminal networks and corrupt government officials. .






It sounds as if the The Global Fund is yet another mega-charity that is putting Public Relations and Marketing concerns first, rather than effectiveness and honesty.


After doing a bit of research I found that back in January 2011, the Associated Press reported huge corruption in programmes funded by the Global Fund in countries including Mali, Mauritania, Djibouti and Zambia, corruption that had been discovered by the Funds Office of Inspector General (OIG). Sweden, a major contributor to the Fund suspended its contributions. The Fund responded with a tough, highly-effective PR campaign that included statements of support from the Gates Foundation and OpEds like this one by “independent” voices that might almost have been dictated by the PR department.


Remarkably, the original AP report ( “AP Enterprise: Fraud plagues global health fund”. Associated Press. 23 January 2011.”) is no longer available on the web, not even via papers like the Washington Post that carried the story.


Nevertheless a devastating follow-up piece by the Financial Times reported that on previous occasions the Fund’s Board of Directors had failed to act on concerns about accountability, even after external reviews showed that its procurement practices were problematic. A review by the FT itself found that “many concerns found in [Inspector General] Mr Parson’s reports had not been picked up either by staff in the Fund’s headquarters or by the external staff in each country – often from leading auditing firms – who monitor spending.”


Apparently it didn’t help matters that the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) which acts as the “principal agent” for the Global Fund in 26 “fragile states”, refused to share its audit reports or to permit the Global Fund’s Inspector General to audit its operations. (That is, as Aid-watchers know, par for the course for the UNDP an organization that has allowed or enabled the theft and misuse of scores of billions of dollars of donors money over the years.)


The upshot of all this is that while Global Fund is engaged in one of the most important and potentially effective forms of foreign aid – the eradication of infectious disease – it too suffers from that deep cultural aversion to genuine accountability and that preference for PR solutions when confronted by evidence of corruption or misuse that afflicts the Industry in general.


http://civitas.org.uk/aid/the-global...not-so-golden/

just sy google global fund bono and project red its had a lot of controversy and issues.

How nice to find an educated opinion on current affairs, kudos queeny

[Geronimosemiro]

I would rather donate money directly instead of doing it with gems. So no I didn't purchase any gems.

[xSYNC]

if they have it for android I would buy it

[Dinner07]

I will be buying some this weekend.
Need to get a google play card.

Great idea... and I am a sucker for RED.

- dinner

[Sukiawesome]

I wish I could, but I doubt my parent will let me.

[Dinner07]

I just realised I cannot purchase gems - not available on Android
This makes me sad. I hope those that are able to purchase the RED gems, please consider and do so.

Supercell pleases hurry and make this available for android users.

Thank in advance.

- dinner

[DarkHero]

I'm planning on buying it soon