Bill Gates is known for two big topics: his digital business empire and his international development initiatives, where his foundation has spent billions over the past decade and a half.

Always a revolutionary, Gates has stretched his genius into the realm of international aid, investing millions in working to end extreme poverty. His dedication to the cause is based on his belief that 2015 will be a watershed year for saving the lives of children in the poor parts of the world by creating a global digital cause of invested citizens, along the lines of the civil rights or anti-apartheid movements of decades past.

In a recent conversation with Maclean’s (the Canadian publication), Gates spoke about the remarkable progress of the last 15 years, since the launch of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, highlighting the fact that since 1990 the percentage of children who die before the age of five has been cut in half.

In the inspiring conversation, Mr. Gates calls on people to increase their perspective globally. For many he asks if individual’s values can “go further than yourself and your family, or even beyond your region and your country,” to extend to being a “member of the human race.”

By “connecting yourself” as an individual to global improvements, such as the eradication of polio or poverty, Gate’s suggests it will create a “moral vacuum where people want to be associated with more than just their own success—they want to have knowledge and a sense of progress [to which] they contributed.”

But how do people connect in a world that is so complex, divided, and big? It’s not easy, Gates answer is to “ignite this desire for that connection,” through a “global citizen” movement. Referencing the Gates Foundation annual letter, he “calls for people to connect up digitally” through the Global Citizen platform (Yes, the one you are reading right now!).

Gates recognizes that individuals have diverse passions and offers the Global Citizen network as one where, “some people...will pick women’s reproductive rights, some will pick agriculture. And then there are NGOs in each of those areas that you can volunteer for, give money to, and feel connected.”

For me, the most impressive thing about the conversation with Gates is that you can get a sense of his vision on global development and the role of digital communication - two things that have MASSIVE potential to spark incredible change for good. Gates’ is imagining that the key to mobilizing people for change is to spark a digital global movement through laptops, tablets and smartphones! This trend has the incredible ability to assemble the global population, and reinvent the way we, as global citizens, think about protest, aid, development, and action!

Listen to the full interview here and, if you prefer to read, here is the full transcript. But either way you absorb the interview, I encourage you to follow Bill Gates and join Global Citizen!

Well, in countries like the U.S. and Canada, where a lot of people are doing quite well, this question of, can you take your loyalty and your sense of values and go further than yourself and your family, or even beyond your region and your country, can you have, as a member of the human race, the idea that you volunteer time, or your voice, or whatever means you have to give?

You’re connecting yourself with these improvements. Eradicating polio, for example. Or making sure there’s enough food for poor children. I think that that moral vacuum where people want to be associated with more than just their own success—they want to have knowledge and a sense of progress [to which] they contributed—I think that’s pretty gigantic. But I will admit that connecting people, because this stuff is far away, fairly complicated, sometimes the money goes through complex groups that you don’t understand if they do what they say they’re supposed to do … The question is, in a digital world where you can track things, and connect people up, and get more evidence back to them at very low cost, can we ignite this desire for that connection?

We call that our “global citizen” movement. In the [Gates Foundation] annual letter we call for people to connect up digitally. And they’ll get a few articles a month and hopefully they’ll pick some subtopics underneath.

Connecting to the overall cause, that’s too broad. So some people ideally will pick women’s reproductive rights, some will pick agriculture. And then there are NGOs in each of those areas that you can volunteer for, give money to, and feel connected. But that’s not an easy thing. Our challenge is largely that the poorest live far away from those who are well off. To me, the interesting thing about his answer is the way you can hear Gates talking his way toward a notion of how global development and digital communication—those two broad areas on which he’s an expert—might come together to change things. He’s imagining that the key to popularizing the development aims he champions is getting inspiring information about progress to people through their laptops, tablets and smartphones.

We’ll have more from our wide-ranging Gates interview in Maclean’s in the coming days, including the full conversation in next week’s magazine and coverage in this week’s Maclean’s on the Hill podcast and radio show.


Disclosure: Bill Gates is the co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a partner of Global Citizen.

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