“For women to fulfill their amazing potential, they tell me over and over again, they need the power to decide when to have children, so they can keep their families healthy, well-nourished and educated,” Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes in a New York Times opinion piece. “Now, after nearly a year and a half, the seed planted [at a summit meeting on family planning in London in July 2012] is starting to bear fruit for women in more than two dozen countries,” she states. “And for the first time we’ll be able to observe the progress because … a groundbreaking family planning data-collection project is just beginning,” Gates continues, noting, “As I write, eight countries in Africa and two in Asia are beginning to roll out data systems.” She writes, “In 2014 we’re going to start making progress on the global goal of ensuring that 120 million more women have access to contraceptives  —  and we’re going to be able to track that progress” (11/27).