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A Revolution in Africa...Deaf Ears in Iowa

What can the government do for you? As politicians, pundits, and voters gear up for January's Iowa caucus, one consistent answer seems to float behind the talking points: pretty much everything. Whether it comes to government-funded preschool, subsidized community college, universal health care, tinkering with free trade, or saving the family farm, Democratic politicians are promising the moon - and, according to polls that could likely make Ron Paul weep, a surprising number of Republicans share similar ideas.

It has, in short, been a rough year for fans of economic liberty, and they're not likely to find consolation in Des Moines, Dubuque, or Davenport. They might, however, try looking 8,300 miles to the east, where a quiet revolution is taking place - a revolution that is shoring up education, providing better health care, thriving through free trade, and, yes, even saving the family farm. It's a revolution spreading through the poorest communities in Africa, fueled by a force often brushed aside by promise-happy candidates: free markets.

"Before the country of Kenya existed, before the government of Kenya existed, and before any of today's charitable organizations existed, there were people buying, selling and trading things," says Greg Starbird, vice president of the HealthStore Foundation, a Minneapolis-based organization working for better, accessible health care for Africa's poor. Founded in 1997, HealthStore bases its operations on a familiar, often vilified, and, for some, surprising model: McDonald's.

"The basic formula is to use the franchise model to deliver health care to the developing world," Starbird says. "For many of the top diseases affecting millions of people - and killing around 30,000 children a day - there are treatments and products that could be delivered for less than $5. But they're not getting to the people who need them."

Thus far, with a system based on local ownership, basic incentive structures, and, yes, charging for medicine rather than giving it away, HealthStore has thrived. Since 2000, their market-based drug shops and medical clinics have mushroomed throughout Kenya, treating 450,000 patients last year while addressing problems endemic to rural and slum-based health care: counterfeit drugs, shortages, scalability, and sustainable operations.

Around the globe, similar organizations are tapping into simple market economics to tackle massive problems - problems that, by extension, are related to the hot-button issues on America's political plate. The Scojo Foundation, founded five years ago in response to the lack of eye care in the developing world, has trained over 1,000 "barefoot optometrists" in nine countries, unleashing entrepreneurship with a multiplier effect.

In countries like Ghana, private schools for the poor are thriving, fueled by the leadership of scholars like James Tooley. The One Acre Fund, founded by recent MBA Andrew Youn, is "making markets work in places that they have not before" - namely, by training rural subsistence farmers in Kenya and Rwanda for better productivity and profits, part of which are repaid to the Fund. Youn's market-based practices tend to measure up: 98% of farmers repay while gaining up to 400% in food yields.

While the concept of free markets as a charitable force has gained steam - most notably in 2006, with the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to microfinance pioneer and "banker to the poor" Muhammad Yunus - it has yet to saturate mainstream political discourse in the US. "I think we're at a point in time where many people are really skeptical about free markets," says Matt Forti, One Acre Fund's US board chair. "We have people ask us all time: 'These are really, really poor farmers. How could you possibly take back some of the crops that they grow?' But we're working for a sustainable, scalable solution, not a handout, and that makes for a long-term impact for our farmers."

The handout mentality, however, can be hard to shake, even in the face of documented results. "I know that many people find it immoral to be selling drugs to the poor," says Starbird, whose organization was once criticized by Doctors Without Borders for exploiting the poverty-stricken and "McDonaldizing" medicine. For many US voters, long entrenched in government subsidies and a cultural narrative declaring McDonalds an evil organization, the free market message doesn't always sink in. Which is a shame, Starbird says. "The fact is, we think the McDonaldization of medicine in places like Africa would be good. In these areas, it would be fantastic to have the quality of drugs as consistent as McDonald's French fries. And it would be great if there was some real accountability for bad practices."

While American politicians debate tacking on to existing government bureaucracies - structures infamous for misfiring and inefficiencies - charitable startups are learning that a nimble organization is a successful organization. After viewing the reality on the ground in Kenya, the One Acre Fund successfully changed their model from focusing on subsistence crops to profit crops. California-based Growers First, which works with farmers to create sustainable and profitable operations around the world, entered Indonesia with their sights on coffee. Today, with training and support, Indonesian farmers are engaged in a far more profitable pursuit: converting local palm oil into biodiesel fuel.

Meanwhile, back in Iowa, the heart of corn country, John McCain recently and bravely took on ethanol subsidies in a local speech. It remains to be seen whether the allure of handouts will trump economic logic in this particular case. What is clear, however, is that the current debate, dominated by freebies and saturated with growing lists of problems that the government has to "solve," has yet to shift completely from top-down, handout-oriented assistance from Uncle Sam.

Fortunately, free market entrepreneurs around the world are moving forward, testing solutions to the world's most daunting problems - problems that make the US health care "crisis" look like a piece of cake. "We estimate that 700 million people around the world desperately need eyeglasses," says Scojo's chairman, Dr. Jordan Kassalow. "Because of the enormity of the problem, we very much have to rely on market forces. Nothing else is as scalable. Nothing else is as sustainable."

Slowly but surely, as the successes of free market based solutions build across the globe, the word will likely get out. Until then, hand Ron Paul the Kleenex. Chances are he'll need it in 2008.

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