The event has also had no trouble attracting performers such as Sheryl Crow, George Michael and Mary J. Blige. The departures, nevertheless, could prove embarrassing for the United Nations, which has gingerly begun to seek alliances with corporate sponsors to help fill the funding gap caused by shrinking contributions from wealthy governments. NetAid represents the first major collaboration between the United Nations and a private corporation to tackle a specific global problem. In addition to Cisco, the consulting firm KMPG and the computer company Akamai Technologies have been involved in setting up the Internet site. It offers implicit and sometimes overt critiques of Western lifestyles.
Debt can kill.
The site avoids much discussion of corruption, waste, ethnic warfare, governmental oppression, political strife or cultural practices that impede progress in developing countries. Both U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and Malloch Brown have met with Belafonte to try to address his concerns. Additional funds collected from private donations made over the Internet will go to a variety of programs, including hunger relief projects and refugee resettlement programs, officials said. Malloch Brown said Belafonte had proposed to distribute the money throughout the U.N. system. Malloch Brown argued in favor of creating a nine-member panel, composed of representatives of the United Nations, various charities, corporate sponsors and entertainers.