Welcome to the February 2018 issue of the Global Washington newsletter.
IN THIS ISSUE
Letter from our Executive Director
More than two years ago, we experienced collective anguish at an image of a toddler, face down on a sandy beach in Turkey. His picture was picked up by news outlets around the world. A Syrian refugee, whose name we later learned was Aylan Kurdi. He was three-years-old.
There are untold numbers of Aylan Kurdi’s in our world and although his story prompted an enormous outpouring of activism and donations to aid organizations working with refugees, the story eventually faded, to be replaced by the next breaking news story.
At Global Washington, we are committed to continuing to shine a light on urgent issues, like the Syrian refugee crisis and others that demand our attention, our understanding, and our collective action.
This month we hosted an event with three leaders of local organizations that are working with refugees both here and abroad: World Relief Seattle, International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Extend the Day. We wanted to talk specifically about the challenges faced by women and children fleeing conflict and natural disasters.
World Relief Seattle and IRC both work with refugees who have been resettled here in Seattle, while Extend the Day, a maker of rugged solar lanterns for children, partners with another Global Washington member, Spreeha Foundation, to help meet the needs of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
You’ll read about their stories in this month’s newsletter, and as you do, I hope you’ll reflect on the things that have changed as a result of the global development community’s work, the important progress that has been made. But I hope you’ll also contemplate the work we have yet to do.
This is the tenth year of our organization, and in each of our issue campaigns, we’ll be looking ten years ahead – asking ourselves what the world will look like. What do we want it to look like? And how can we, together, help usher in the best version of that future?
There’s more to come, and we hope you’ll join the conversation at #next10global.
Kristen Dailey
Executive Director
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Partnership Highlights
Spreeha and Extend the Day
By: Joanne Lu
Distributing solar lanterns to Rohinya refugees in a camp in Bangladesh. Photo: Extend the Day.
As the world continues to face the highest levels of displaced people since World War II, Bangladesh is grappling with its own refugee crisis of historic proportions.
Since August 2017, nearly 700,000 refugees have flooded across the country’s southeastern border, after neighboring Myanmar initiated a military crackdown against its Rohingya Muslim minority population. Aid efforts in the makeshift camps have been tightly controlled, but organizations like Spreeha and Extend the Day are determined to make a long-lasting impact on a population that has often been described as the “world’s most unwanted people.”
The Rohingya refugee crisis is a particularly troubling one. Though they have lived in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state for generations, the government and ethnic majority Buddhist population refuse to recognize the 1.1 million Rohingya as an ethnic minority. Instead, they are considered illegal migrants from Bangladesh and consequently denied citizenship and basic rights, such as freedom of movement.
The U.S. has condemned the brutal military operation that began last summer as “ethnic cleansing.” The U.N. said the violence – including executions, gang rapes, mutilation and arson – “may amount to crimes against humanity.”
So, they fled. And after a treacherous journey, on which many starved, drowned or were blown up by landmines, almost 700,000 Rohingya have made it to Bangladesh.
Though they’re no longer at risk from Myanmar’s security forces, the Rohingya still face daily perils in Bangladesh’s makeshift camps. The fact is Bangladesh has neither the resources nor the land to care for such a massive and sudden influx of refugees. Including those who were already in camps prior to Myanmar’s military operation, Bangladesh is now hosting about 900,000 refugees.
When the founder of Spreeha Foundation, Tazin Shadid, visited the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar, he told his team it was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Spreeha has been working in Bangladesh’s slums since 2012 to break cycles of poverty through health care, education and skills training. Still, even for someone accustomed to working with extreme poverty, conditions in the camps were shocking.
Jo Lonseth, co-founder and executive director of Extend the Day, had a similar experience. Extend the Day, which works in 10 countries, has been partnering with Spreeha for five years to provide solar-powered lamps to children in Dhaka’s slums.
“The sheer desperation and need that you can see in their eyes and the brutality and terror you hear from their stories are absolutely heartbreaking, and nearly impossible to believe.” Lonseth said.
Although Bangladesh’s military and government are coping as best as they can with the situation, Lonseth noted that “no one’s really willing to accept that it’s a long-term situation yet.”
“There’s definitely need for immediate relief efforts – like food, shelter, water and health care,” Spreeha’s CEO Ferdouse Oneza said, “but we also found that there is a need for something that creates long-term impact in the community.”
After the long walk to Bangladesh, many of the Rohingya were dehydrated, malnourished or pregnant by their rapists, so Spreeha immediately began with a health camp. They also saw a critical need for education, which had fallen to the wayside as families focused solely on survival.
“Under normal circumstances, these kids would be in school,” Oneza said. “This a crucial time for their behavioral and mental development.”
Kids showing off their solar lanterns. Photo: Extend the Day.
Spreeha is now running a health center and two pre-schools, with three more schools in the works. The facilities are run by Spreeha staff, their partners, and refugees from within the camps.
For Extend the Day, working in the camps fell outside of the organization’s stated mission of providing lights to kids through established programs and communities, like schools. So, Lonseth and her team set up a new fundraiser specifically for the Rohingya camps. When sponsors signed on, they moved in. So far, they have provided 2,200 solar lights. That means that almost half of the 5,000 families in the camp they’re working in have access to a clean light source. Extend the Day is focused on fulfilling their commitment to providing each of the 5,000 families with a solar light.
Lonseth says that “spending some time in the camps has really proved how valuable having the solar lights will be.”
For one thing, lamps go a long way to ensure one’s safety among hundreds of thousands of people camped out in pitch dark rice fields. They’re also helpful when navigating to the one bathroom shared by every 200 people. Women and girls especially face a high risk of sexual assault when they need to relieve themselves. And when rainy season turns the campgrounds into dangerous mudslides, pregnant women need to be particularly careful as they make their way to the bathroom.
Of course, solar lamps are also a clean alternative to fires that are turning into a crisis themselves with tents set up so closely together. Firewood is also quickly running out, prompting refugees to burn anything they can find, even infringing on neighboring wildlife sanctuaries. As a result, there have been several deaths from wild elephant attacks.
Although the immediate benefits of solar lamps are evident, Lonseth also hopes that whatever happens to the Rohingya and wherever they go, they’ll be able to take the portable lamps with them to live healthier, safer and better lives.
Ultimately, that long-term impact is Spreeha and Extend the Day’s vision for the Rohingya people. As Oneza noted, Rohingya youth can become targets for recruitment by terrorist organizations because of the “sub-human conditions” they have been subjected to. But with proper health care, education and eventually skills training, she hopes they can avoid that fate.
Repatriation to Myanmar looks like a long shot, and the Bangladeshi government seems to still be in denial that the Rohingya refugee crisis will last longer than just a few months. But Spreeha and Extend the Day say they’re in it for the long haul.
“As long as this community stays here, we need to ensure their safety and wellbeing,” Oneza said.
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Issue Brief
In Search of Refuge: Challenges for Women & Children Fleeing Conflict and Other Humanitarian Disasters
By Joanne Lu
Girls study math in an IRC-run school in Pakistan’s Jalozai camp, home to almost 10,000 people displaced by fighting between the Pakistani army and the Taliban. Photo: Peter Biro/IRC
The world currently faces a refugee crisis of unprecedented magnitude. According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), 65.6 million people had been forcibly displaced from their homes by the end of 2016. Almost 22.5 million of these people are classified as refugees, having crossed international borders while fleeing war, persecution, and violence.
Among the displaced is a subset of individuals who face some of the greatest risks: women and children.
The UNHCR says that more than half of the world’s refugees are under the age of 18. According to the agency, nearly 50 million children globally have been “uprooted,” and 300,000 were traveling alone in 2015 and 2016. Meanwhile, women and girls make up about 50 percent of the world’s refugees, internally displaced, or stateless persons.
In light of these numbers, it’s startling that less than one percent of the world’s refugees are ever resettled. What’s more, in 2017 the number of refugees resettled globally dropped by more than half.
Despite grim prospects for resettlement, ongoing conflict, violence, persecution, extreme poverty, climate change and natural disasters continue to compel people to abandon their homes. For women and children in particular, the risks are immense.
In addition to the physical risks – sickness, injury, or death – fear of sexual and gender-based violence also plagues women and girls along their journey. And even those who make it to a country of first asylum face tremendous challenges.
Conditions in refugee and detention camps are notoriously poor. Many are overcrowded with makeshift shelters and lacking in adequate sanitation, hygiene, electricity, water, security and health services. These conditions have led to dire health consequences. For example, diphtheria – an almost eradicated disease – recently broke out in Rohingya camps in Bangladesh, killing 31 people and infecting about 4,000.
In light of these challenges, international agencies and humanitarian groups are working tirelessly to help mitigate the suffering of refugee families, providing everything from food, shelter, and water, to medical care and mental health support.
Aid organizations have also found that giving cash or vouchers to refugees allows them to purchase what they need – food, medicine, school fees, etc – while also making them less likely to resort to harmful coping strategies. The strategy also directly benefits local economies and promotes better relationships between refugees and their host communities.
Perhaps one of the gravest challenges for displaced children and adolescents is sporadic or nonexistent access to education, which directly impacts their economic futures. While 91 percent of children globally attend primary school, only 61 percent of refugee children do – a figure that drops below 50 percent in low-income countries.
On the education front, organizations are teaming up in powerful and surprising ways to provide early learning programs. The recent International Rescue Committee and Sesame Street partnership for Syrian refugees is one such development. And more and more programs that educate and empower refugees are emerging.
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Read more about what Global Washington members are doing to support refugees, particularly women and children. We encourage you to continue learning about these important issues, and if you wish, seek out ways to volunteer for the non-profits listed, as well as donate directly to them or to the Global Impact Refugees Fund (refugeesfund.charity.org)
American Red Cross
Armed conflict, international disasters and migration leave millions of people around the globe in urgent need of humanitarian assistance every year. As a truly worldwide network, the volunteers of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent are able to help families reconnect when they have been separated internationally as a result of conflict, disaster, migration or other humanitarian emergency. http://www.redcross.org/
Americares
Americares saves lives and improves health for people affected by poverty or disaster so they can reach their full potential. The organization is helping vulnerable families fleeing conflict in Syria and Yemen and delivering lifesaving treatments to Somalia where a prolonged drought has forced more than one million people from their homes. Americares programs support health care services for refugees as well as host communities. For the Syria crisis alone, Americares has provided more than $12 million in aid since 2012. By collaborating with partner organizations, Americares is able to reach vulnerable families with critical health programs, medicine and supplies. http://www.americares.org
Extend the Day
Extend the Day provides solar-powered reading lights, at no cost, to schoolchildren who live without access to electricity. These small, inexpensive lights last for years, and eliminate a child’s exposure to the fire hazard and toxic health effects from kerosene and other burning fuel – and allows them to study, read and complete homework after sunset. Extend the Day partners with local on-the-ground NGOs and has replaced thousands of toxic light sources with a clean solar light to children in nine countries around the world. Extend the Day has partnered with GlobalWA member, Spreeha Bangladesh, to provide Rohingya refugees with desperately needed lighting. Having a safe, clean and free light source has reduced the number of deadly home fires, has replaced the use of very scarce fossil fuels, and has provided a measure of safety during the very dark nights within the camps. https://www.extendtheday.org
International Rescue Committee
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) works in over 40 countries and 27 U.S. cities to help people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and regain control of their future. The IRC leads efforts to break down barriers faced by women and girls across all contexts and services it provides, spearheading global policy efforts to safeguard against and rapidly respond to violence against women and girls. In Seattle, the IRC is tailoring programs to ensure women and girls have equal access to services and are able to connect with others in their new community. https://www.rescue.org/united-states/seattle-wa
Medical Teams International
In partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, national ministries of health and other NGOs, Medical Teams International provides life-saving health care to refugees around the world. In Uganda, Lebanon, Turkey, Bangladesh and soon Tanzania, Medical Teams International is the health provider for more than 1 million people in critical need. Flashes of intense violence and persecution have sparked a resurgence in the number of refugees from Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Meanwhile, refugees from South Sudan continue to come across the border into cramped settlements in northern Uganda, where Medical Teams has more than 700 Ugandan health staff. More than 81 percent of all the refugees are women and children who require immunizations, supplemental nutrition, clean water, hygiene, and medicine to treat cholera and malaria. In Bangladesh and Lebanon, Medical Teams trains and empowers teams of refugees to act as volunteer health promoters to spread messaging in their communities and identify sick mothers and children. http://www.medicalteams.org
Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps empowers people to survive through crisis, build better lives and transform their communities for good. This means not only meeting the urgent needs of today but also building a stronger tomorrow by addressing the root causes of conflict and poverty.
That’s why Mercy Corps believes in investing in young women and girls so they can gain skills, build livelihoods and reach their goals, unleashing their potential to improve their lives and become leaders for their families and the world. Research shows when women are given an equal voice in their communities, their children are healthier, their lives are more stable and their societies are more peaceful. In each of the 40-plus countries where Mercy Corps works, it considers the needs of both genders and works to empower those most at risk. More than half of the people Mercy Corps is reaching today – about 15.2 million – are women and girls. https://www.mercycorps.org
NetHope
NetHope empowers committed organizations to change the world through the power of technology. For refugees, access to information is a necessity. NetHope provides Wi-Fi and charging station solutions in Greece, Slovenia, and Serbia that connect refugees to family, news, and resources. It also helps refugees rebuild their lives in Germany through the distribution of managed Chromebooks and is exploring ways to make education available to refugee children. http://nethope.org/
RenegAID Innovative Disaster Relief
RenegAID develops educational materials to help people understand catastrophe trauma and learn the differences between everyday language and the language of survival and regeneration. Disaster policies, procedures and plans are cognitively developed prior to a catastrophe. The language of survival and regeneration is not a cognitive language, but rather a language spoken by survivors within disaster. RenegAID advocates for those who speak the language of survival and regeneration, and believes their leadership is key to overcoming the difficulty that aid organizations face in scaling up and delivering timely relief. The catastrophic mass migration our world is currently experiencing cannot be managed using procedures mitigated in past disasters or written in less confusing times. This catastrophe can only be managed by appreciating the existence of two distinct languages and the indispensable leadership from survivors themselves. http://www.renegaid.org
Spreeha
Spreeha empowers underprivileged people by providing healthcare, education, and skills training. Spreeha’s work in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh builds on its core values of empathy, creativity, lean methodology, continuous learning, and partnership. The objective is to create longer term positive changes like healthcare and education for women and children. In most cases, those being served are pregnant and rape victims or children who have been orphaned. Spreeha’s early childhood development centers aim to create a safe and supportive learning environment for the refugee children with pre-school education. Spreeha strives to create lasting impacts on the lives of those who are in the most difficult of situations. http://spreeha.org
UNICEF USA
Fifty million children around the world are on the move – 28 million of whom have been forcibly displaced by conflict and violence, and millions more migrating in the hope of finding a better, safer life. Women and girls are vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence at all stages of migration journeys. UNICEF is working on the ground to ensure that programs and policies in response to this crisis put the rights and needs of all children first. UNICEF is also working to expand humanitarian services wherever needed on refugee routes, including providing water and age-appropriate food, and establishing child-friendly spaces, where children can play, learn and receive counseling, and women can rest and take care of their babies. UNICEF is working to find sustainable solutions to the root causes of the crisis, and addressing the long-term needs of child migrants and refugees. https://www.unicefusa.org
World Concern
World Concern is a Christian global relief and development organization. Faith compels the organization’s leaders to extend life-saving help and opportunity to people facing the most profound human challenges of extreme poverty. Many of those World Concern serves are displaced by crisis or conflict. Currently, this includes responding to the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh. World Concern is assisting with emergency aid, including shelter assistance. World Concern is also serving families displaced by conflict in South Sudan and drought in Somalia. World Concern meets critical needs of refugees and internally displaced people as a first step in paving the way for lasting, sustainable change. In partnership with its supporters, World Concern’s efforts reach deep into the most remote corners of the planet—beyond the end of the road. World Concern asks the people it helps to serve alongside—building the programs they need—enabling them to realize their God-given potential. World Concern operates transformational community development programs in Haiti, Kenya, South Sudan, Somalia, Chad, Uganda, DRC, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. http://www.worldconcern.org/
World Relief Seattle
World Relief Seattle provides vital services to refugees and immigrants as they rebuild their lives in Washington state. The organization provides foundational resettlement services, including, employment, economic empowerment training for women, Summer Camp for Refugee children, ESL classes, and a legal clinic. In 2016, World Relief Seattle resettled more than one-quarter of all the refugees entering Washington state (3907 refugees), a total of 1,205 individuals. Over the long-term, refugees build mutually transformative relationships that prepare them to become fully functioning and vibrant participants in their communities. https://worldreliefseattle.org/
World Vision
In and around Syria, home of the world’s largest refugee crisis, World Vision helps more than two million people per year. Beyond Syria, World Vision works with millions more refugees and internally displaced people around the world. WV serves in entrenched, decades-old refugee crises in places like northern Kenya and Lebanon. WV also takes swift action in escalating crises, such as the recent exodus of South Sudanese into Uganda, and of Myanmar refugees into Bangladesh. In addition to meeting urgent relief needs, the organization works in the world’s broken places on the root causes of fragility that perpetuate extreme poverty and drive conflict and forced migration. From places like Syria and Iraq, to Afghanistan, Somalia and South Sudan, World Vision partners with communities, governments and generous donors to provide food, clean water, child protection, education, jobs and health support. Wherever they may flee, World Vision works for lasting change in the lives of children and the poorest displaced people. http://www.worldvision.org
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Organization Profile
International Rescue Committee
By: Joanne Lu
Somali mother and daughter resettled by the IRC and served by its intensive case management program. Photo: IRC/Gillian Peckham
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has been front and center in tackling the ongoing refugee crisis that has gripped the world since 2016. With an impressive array of partners, the organization is distinctive for its large scale response internationally and domestically to the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
“We work with refugees from harm to home – whether that is home in a refugee camp, home in a third country or home rebuilding their lives in Europe or in the United States,” Nicky Smith, executive director of IRC in Seattle, said.
Since its founding in 1933 at the suggestion of Albert Einstein, the IRC has been shaped by the conflicts and disasters to which it responds. At that time, it was Hitler. In 1976, it was the Indochina refugee crisis – when more than 3 million people fled newly established communist governments in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos – that prompted the IRC to open 16 U.S. regional resettlement agencies, including in Seattle.
Smith has been the head of the Seattle office for two years, but she’s been with the IRC for almost 15. According to her, the organization’s mission extends beyond refugee resettlement to health, safety, education, and economic support for communities in the midst of turmoil.
“We’re really looking along the continuum of support from the point of crisis, and even helping those who can’t flee,” she said – especially women, children, people with disabilities and the elderly who are financially or physically prohibited from fleeing.
For those who can make the journey, the IRC is there to provide support along the pathway to safety – in camps, in countries of transit, and, for less than 1 percent of them, in a destination country. That’s where resettlement agencies like the Seattle office step in with a range of services to help refugees rebuild their lives.
But as Smith pointed out, rebuilding is a huge challenge. Many have left large numbers of family members behind, and for those who’ve raised their children in larger families and who are used to having that support, family is everything.
“There’s a sense of bereftness and mourning when they come in,” Smith said. “They’re excited about rebuilding their lives and being in safety, but they can’t help but worry they’ve left their family in harm’s way. So, we try to be sensitive to those needs and have a trauma-informed approach in the services we provide.”
The IRC is federally contracted to provide initial resettlement services to refugees in the first three months upon their arrival, such as helping them find housing, go to the doctor, get jobs, enroll their children in school, register for social security cards, navigate public transportation, pay bills, use laundry machines and more. The IRC goes beyond those initial three months to provide additional services focused on empowering people towards self-sufficiency and long-term success, including providing immigration services for families to apply for citizenship as they meet the timeline for eligibility
For particularly vulnerable clients who need more than three months of support, the IRC has an Intensive Case Management (ICM) program, through which they can support clients for a year or even two. Because of IRC’s partnership with Harborview Medical Center, Seattle Children’s Hospital, and the Refugee Health Promotion Program, Smith says ICM clients tend to be those with significant medical needs – such as kidney failure, severe burns, or serious emotional and physical needs as a result of torture. A high proportion of them are women and children.
However, Smith says that most of the IRC’s services are actually geared toward women and children under the age of 18, because they make up more than 70 percent of the clients.
School districts, for example, have contracted the IRC in Seattle to offer after-school programs for refugee kids, including in-school and at-home tutoring. At-home tutoring is especially helpful, according to Smith, because it also helps mothers navigate the U.S. school culture of volunteering and parent teacher associations.
The IRC in Seattle has also partnered with the Seattle Theater Group and a rock-climbing group called Vertical Generation to help kids, especially girls, build assertiveness and leadership skills.
“Their confidence levels have just soared,” Smith said of the kids in the rock-climbing program.
On the other end of the age spectrum, the organization’s Senior Program has done a lot to help elderly refugees, who tend to have an especially hard time with resettlement.
“They struggle with English, and they have a strong sense of isolation, because their families go out during the day,” Smith said. “Then, they start to get depressed and have health issues.”
But English classes, learning how to use mobile phones and public transportation, and group outings help them build independence and a social network.
Sometimes, they even get a reminder of home. Recently a group of senior refugees, mostly from Bhutan, visited the Asian Aviary exhibit at Woodland Park Zoo. They were moved to tears, Smith said, because it felt “just like home” – which some of them hadn’t seen for decades.
Woman participating in IRC’s New Roots community garden program.
Photo: IRC/Hannah Letinich.
Smith has found that providing avenues for refugees to stay connected to their cultures is particularly good for mental and emotional wellness. Through the New Roots program, for example, 155 families are growing traditional foods in three community gardens – two in Tukwila and one in Kent.
“Many of them come from a farming background, so they feel a real sense of comfort by farming and gardening,” Smith said. “It gives them a sense of normalcy.”
A partnership with City Fruit also gives refugees the opportunity to harvest fruit from neglected trees around King County. Last year, within a matter of hours, gardeners harvested more than 600 pounds of fruit, which they then got to take home.
For some of the families, the produce and fruit they grow and harvest is not only a reminder of home, but also an extra source of income, which is an important step toward self-sufficiency.
That’s why Smith is especially excited about the IRC’s recent partnership with Starbucks. With its most recent commitment to hire 10,000 refugees globally over the next five years, Starbucks is building on its mission to use its scale to create opportunities for all, including commitments to hire 25,000 veterans and military spouses by 2025 and 100,000 Opportunity Youth across the U.S. by 2020.
“It’s obviously very clear that a resilient refugee is a refugee that can provide for their family and have sufficient funds to be above the poverty line,” Smith said. “Starbucks helps us do that.”
Instead of just a regular entry-level job, Starbucks offers refugees the chance to build a career. For some women, it’s a great opportunity to enter the workforce with a company that also supported the building of the New Roots community garden in Kent.
“It’s really remarkable working with Starbucks. They have such a commitment to community,” Smith said.
Especially at a time when governments around the world are slamming their doors on refugees, partnerships, like those the IRC has formed throughout Seattle, go a long way to hasten the journey from harm to home.
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Changemaker
Chitra Hanstad, World Relief Seattle
By Joanne Lu
Chitra Hanstad, World Relief Seattle Executive Director.
For as long as she can remember, Chitra Hanstad, executive director of World Relief Seattle, has been a champion for the marginalized.
“I’ve gotten in a few fights and scuffles in my younger years trying to get between a bully and somebody else!” she said with a laugh.
Though the mother of four is less likely to engage in fisticuffs these days, she continues to break down barriers for the world’s most vulnerable people. Hanstad is one of the few Executive Directors of color running a refugee resettlement agency in the state of Washington. But even as an immigrant herself, she believes no one is better-suited to lead refugee services than those who have experienced the journey first-hand.
“My family came to the U.S. because of the pull of the country, not because we were pushed out [of our home],” she said.
Hanstad moved from India with her family when she was seven years old. Her parents were both doctors in small village hospitals outside of Madras (now Chennai). She remembers helping her mother – one of the very few female doctors at the time – put on puppet shows to teach women about health, contraception, and other issues in even more remote villages than theirs.
“That sense of ‘the world is bigger than me’ came into my life quite early,” she said – instilled not just by her mother, but also her grandmother, who made enough rice and daal every Christmas to feed all the rickshaw drivers and beggars who passed their front yard.
When her family immigrated to the States in 1969, her parents continued to practice medicine through a country doctor program that moved them from one tiny Midwest town to the next. But having arrived right on the heels of the civil rights movement (1954 – 1968), they were truly an enigma to an America that primarily saw race as black or white. Hanstad says that white kids thought she was black because of her dark skin, but black kids thought she was white because she wore her hair in two long braids. Their confusion meant she and her three brothers would often be bullied.
But a tough childhood also helped Hanstad develop a deep sense of empathy for others. Even during her early career in marketing and advertising, she volunteered in India every chance she got.
“I always had this desire to alleviate human need,” she said. “I saw the structural injustices in India – it’s not racism; it’s colorism and classism – and how people that get stuck in the bottom rungs become very fatalistic and often surrender to the very system that discriminates against them.”
One day, while working at an ad agency, she found herself at an impasse between her career and values. A client wanted her team to create a campaign for tobacco rolling papers.
“I thought, ‘What am I doing? I’m creating human need. This is so far away from who I am at my core,’” she recalled.
Hanstad began to volunteer at an Opportunity International office in Chicago, where she fell in love with the idea of microenterprise. She knew she was good at business, but hadn’t realized she could translate those skills to pull people out of poverty. After almost five years in marketing, she decided to return to school for a second Master’s degree – this time in Development Economics and International Development.
In August 1990, Hanstad moved to Seattle to work on her thesis with Landesa. She was supposed to be there for three months and then go to the U.N. for an internship. But after two weeks, one of her colleagues admitted he was falling in love with her.
Tim proposed to her the day she turned in her thesis, and by July the next year, they were married.
With her new home in Seattle and soon four young children, Hanstad decided to shift her focus locally. She and her husband had been attending an African American church in Rainier Valley, which at the time was “one of the most under-resourced neighborhoods,” she said, “but it’s quickly gentrifying.”
She saw huge economic needs and lack of opportunity. She also saw lots of programs for single mothers and women. But what she didn’t see were a lot of men, because many of the neighborhood’s 18- to 35-year-old men were in prison. And when they got out, there weren’t programs to help them reintegrate into society.
So, in 1992 Hanstad founded Emerald City Jobs – a nonprofit to help black men find jobs out of prison. The organization was very successful, but eventually, she began to question why she – an Indian woman – was running this program. The board of Emerald City Jobs was already majority minority. And before long, Hanstad was mentoring a businessman from her church into the executive director position.
“He took it places I never could have taken it,” she said, “because when our guys walked in and looked all the way up the organization, they saw someone that looked like them. His story was very similar to theirs, and that was so powerful.”
That experience fundamentally transformed Hanstad’s vision for leadership, and specifically, diversity in leadership.
“It’s not enough to just talk about [diversity]. Some of us have to push away from the table in order to let others sit, period.”
Diversity statistics are especially bleak in nonprofits and foundations.
“In so many organizations, it’s the service-provider level that’s diverse. The further up the organization you go, the less diverse it gets,” Hanstad said.
A recent paper that surveyed 315 of the largest nonprofits and foundations in the U.S. found that 87 percent of all the executive directors and presidents were white.
Sometimes, combating that homogeneity means mentoring others – as Hanstad often does young women of color – and casting a bold vision to replace yourself.
“I’m one year into World Relief, but in my head I’m going to be there five years,” she said. “In five years, it’s going to be a refugee or an asylee in my chair.”
After years of experience with various organizations in India and around the world, Hanstad has come to recognize the immense resources that refugees possess – including resilience, courage and an ability to take risks – that make them great entrepreneurs. They also know best what services they need.
First, Hanstad says, her team is there to “offer them a soft landing, because they’ve been through so much.” She witnessed this firsthand in her recent visit to Lesbos, Greece.
“It is chaos in the camps,” Hanstad says. “What especially broke my heart is the plight of women and children, who are thrown into this whirlwind of human suffering, and are especially vulnerable.”
World Relief Seattle welcomed 1,205 refugees and asylees from 28 countries in 2016; 463 were children. Staff and volunteers greeted them at the airport, helped them find jobs, enrolled them in English language classes and accompanied them to get their driver’s licenses and social security cards. A legal office also helps them with green card and citizenship applications.
But Hanstad wanted to hear from the refugees what they needed most, so they conducted several focus groups. Three things stood out: economic development, kids’ programs, and more legal services.
World Relief is now expanding its legal clinic and running its second annual refugee kids summer camp. Last year, they hosted a camp for 30 kids (out of 150 applications). This year, they are accepting 80.
They also recently acquired an acre of land. When they asked the refugees what they wanted to do with it, the refugees said they wanted a safe place to rebuild community, grow culturally appropriate food, and bring in supplemental income.
On May 9, World Relief will have a ribbon cutting ceremony for its new community garden. It includes 50 garden plots – six of which are accessible for the elderly and disabled – and plans for a kitchen where women can make chutney, pickles and canned goods to sell at pop-up stands. The garden will also be a conservation space, where local middle schools can teach science. Older refugee youth will lead tours as paid conservation ambassadors – an opportunity that could lead to lucrative, sustainable careers.
Organizations likes World Relief are aggressively developing creative solutions for refugees. But with only 0.8 percent of the world’s refugees resettled in 2016, amid an unprecedented migration crisis, sometimes it can barely feel like a dent.
“I think it requires a multi-decade solution, unfortunately, because as long as there is crisis in the world, there will be migration,” Hanstad said. “The first step is for the world to recognize that this is an entrenched challenge.”
Hanstad also suggested that urgent improvements need to be made in refugee camps, where families are living for generations. Refugees should also be granted temporary status so they can work and their children can attend school, she said. Of course, wealthier countries need to step up their intake to really make a difference in current figures.
“There are some creative initiatives being attempted in Jordan and Uganda but we need more of the world’s creative minds to work on this issue,” Hanstad said. “22.5 million people living in limbo—a silent nation the size of Sri Lanka—the world has to pay attention.”
But perhaps most importantly, Hanstad believes the people most affected by conflict need to have a say.
“Most peace negotiations have men at the table, but women and children are inordinately affected by conflict – they’re never at the table.”
That’s why Hanstad insists on refugee children, women and men being equals at the World Relief table – even at the head of it soon. Only then can every piece of their program be innovative and their people be thought-leaders in the field, as she hopes to see in the next 10 years.
“I know that the person who takes over after me – if they’ve already had that [refugee or asylee] experience – they’ll have more personal knowledge, than me. They can tap into that knowledge of what the community needs,” she said. “I get excited about that.”
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Welcome New Members
Please welcome our newest Global Washington members. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with their work and consider opportunities for support and collaboration!
Lynden International
Lynden International is a full-service domestic and international freight forwarder with over 50 offices worldwide. From complex projects to home deliveries, and everything in between, the organization has many services to meet your needs. Lynden.com
The Max Foundation
The Max Foundation is a non-profit global health organization that believes all people living with cancer deserve access to the best treatment, care, and support. The organization decreases premature mortality from cancer by channeling humanitarian donations of life-saving oncology products to underserved populations in countries where those products are not locally available. themaxfoundation.org
Starbucks
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting high-quality arabica coffee. Today, with more than 27,000 stores around the globe, Starbucks is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. Through Starbucks unwavering commitment to excellence and its guiding principles, the company brings the unique Starbucks Experience to life for every customer through every cup. To share in the experience, please visit Starbucks stores or online at news.starbucks.com and Starbucks.com.
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Member Events
Feb 24: Upaya // 2018 Gala: Celebrating Women Entrepreneurs
Feb 28: Washington Nonprofits // It’s Your Turn – The Role of the Board Chair (4-part series): Meetings that Matter
March 5: Seattle Foundation // How to Register for GIVEBIG2018
March 15: Landesa // Seed the Change
March 22: Splash // Just Add Water
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Career Center
Partnerships and Events Associate, Seattle International Foundation
Supply Chain and Logistics Manager, The Max Foundation
Director of Strategic Partnerships, Ashesi University Foundation
Asia Area Desk Officer, World Concern
Check out the GlobalWA Job Board for the latest openings.
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GlobalWA Events
February 22: Networking Happy Hour with Friends of GlobalWA, WGHA and World Affairs Council
March 7: Learning to Leap: Educational Advancement in the Digital Age
March 12: America’s Role in the World: Why Leading Globally Matters for Washington
Global Leadership Forum
SAVE THE DATE: GlobalWA 10th Annual Conference: December 6
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Welcome to the December 2017 issue of the Global Washington newsletter.
IN THIS ISSUE
Letter from our Executive Director
Photo: Kristen Dailey, Executive Director of Global Washington.
This year’s Global Washington Annual Conference explored the theme of “Renewing Global Leadership” and brought together over 400 members of the global development community. In a world grappling with the shifting economic, political and cultural implications of globalization, we exchanged ideas and expertise to define the leadership that is called for.
We also examined the roles of international non-profits and humanitarian aid workers, global companies and employees, leading academic institutions and students, philanthropists and community organizers, governments and citizens—and how each brings unique talents to thorny challenges.
We celebrated Northwest leaders who are truly global leaders, discussed disruptive leadership, and affirmed that some of the most powerful leaders in a community can be a mom or a young woman who is leading from the margins. We were also inspired to find authentic leadership within all of us and to connect our personal story to our work.
Photo: Kristen Dailey, Executive Director of GlobalWA; Akhtar Badshah, President & Chair of the board for GlobalWA; Alaa Murabit, Founder of the Voice of Libyan Women.
New, bold leadership is needed to navigate a more equitable and prosperous future for us all. We are extremely honored and inspired by those who joined us to renew an understanding of what it means to be global, refresh connections with others who are doing this work, and restore strength and a commitment to making the world a better place for everyone.
I hope you enjoy the recap below from this year’s conference. We look forward to seeing you at our next one, where we’ll also be celebrating our 10 year anniversary! Please save the date: December 6, 2018.
Kristen Dailey
Executive Director
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Opening Keynote Discussion
Photo: Opening remarks at the 2017 Global Washington Conference
The 2017 Global Washington conference got underway just shy of the one-year mark of the Trump administration. The opening keynote discussion, moderated by Akhtar Badshah, Chief Catalyst at Catalytic Innovators Group, included leaders from the nonprofit, for-profit, and academic sectors.
Richard Stearns, President of World Vision U.S., began the discussion of what it means to be a global leader by underscoring the sudden and seismic shift in international leadership. Today, he argued, the U.S. has stepped back from its historic leadership role.
“We are at a critical inflection point for development,” he said. “We can eliminate extreme poverty by 2020, but we need the leadership to do it.” Noting that leadership abhors a vacuum, he emphasized there are other actors who will rush to fill it if we do not.
Photo: John Kelly (Starbucks), Ana Mari Cauce (UW), Richard Stearns (World Vision U.S.), Akhtar Badshah (Catalytic Innovators Group).
“The real leadership challenge is to swim against the tide of nationalism and isolationism,” said Stearns. And one of the most effective ways to do that, he argued, is by changing the narrative through telling stories about the lives of individuals and families that humanize them, and help us see our common humanity.
Digging further into what it means to be a leader, Ana Mari Cauce, President of the University of Washington, noted that she teaches a freshman seminar every other year, the most recent of which focused on leadership. Rather than emphasize individual leaders, Cauce said, “A lot of what we talked about was the process of leadership, because we are all leaders.”
A Latina and a lesbian, Cauce says she grew up “leading from the margins,” which turned out to have advantages. When leading from the margins, she said, you can do things that you can’t when you’re leading from the middle – where you have to be more of a moderator.
Asked how she achieved her own leadership position, Cauce says it sounds simple, but the key is to “say ‘yes’ a lot” when new opportunities and challenges arise.
Cauce is looking to the future, to the challenges and opportunities the next generation will inherit. “We want our students to think of themselves as global citizens and therefore global leaders.” There is a false dichotomy in framing Washington state issues versus Global, Cauce said. “If you want to do the right thing for Washington, you’ve got to think globally.”
Photo: John Kelly (Starbucks), Ana Mari Cauce (UW), Richard Stearns (World Vision U.S.), Akhtar Badshah (Catalytic Innovators Group).
To illustrate his perspective on the role of corporate leadership, John Kelly, Senior Vice President of Global Public Affairs and Social Impact for Starbucks began with a story from his first day on the job at Starbucks four years ago. It was in late 2013, during a contentious federal government shutdown.
Kelly recalled he was standing in line, waiting to order a coffee, when someone poked him on the shoulder. It was Howard Schultz. Schultz said to him, “Can you believe this government shutdown? What do you think about that?”
Kelly responded that he used to work in government, and he felt it was a failure of partisanship and a national embarrassment.
Kelly will never forget what happened next. “He looks at me, and he pokes me in the chest, and he says, ‘What are YOU going to do about it?’ and he walks away.”
The exchange forever altered Kelly’s expectations of what corporate leadership means. Be it a failure of local, state, or federal government, the crises we face demand that we re-imagine what it means to be a leader.
Starbucks is guided by the question, “What is the role and responsibility of a for-profit company?” They believe it is about creating opportunities, Kelly said. In early 2017, Starbucks announced that it would hire 10,000 refugees around the world. “When our country rolled up the welcome mat to refugees, we took a different approach. We offered refugees a job.”
Yet, as Kelly emphasized, “It’s not charity; it’s good business.”
Along similar lines, Cauce shared a quote she often refers to from Eric Lui, co-author of the book, Gardens of Democracy: “We are all better off when we are ALL better off.”
The call to action for leaders is to recognize that self-interest is incomplete without accounting for the broader interests and needs of our communities. And to Stearns’ point about storytelling, we cannot really understand those needs until we begin seeing one another as people, not as faceless groups.
“When we label people, we diminish them,” Stearns said. “These are not issues; they’re human beings.”
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Fast Pitch
Following the morning keynote discussion, representatives from seven Global Washington non-profit member organizations had the opportunity to pitch their organizations’ missions to the audience. The challenge? They had just two minutes in which to do it.
This year’s Fast Pitch included live audience polling to determine an “Audience Choice Prize.” In what turned out to be a very tight race, Amplio (formerly Literacy Bridge) was awarded three free tickets to next year’s conference.
Photo: Cliff Schmidt, founder and executive director of Amplio (formerly Literacy Bridge).
Fast Pitch participants included:
- Joanna Bargeron, Vice President, Ashesi University Foundation
- Chris Collins, Executive Director, West African Vocational Schools
- Steven Kussick, Board President, Burkitt’s Lymphoma Fund for Africa
- Ferdouse Oneza, CEO, Spreeha
- Heidi Peterson, Executive Director, Mobility Outreach International
- Cliff Schmidt, Founder & Executive Director, Amplio
- Curtis Stuesse, Executive Office Manager, Mavuno
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Corporate Leadership for Crisis Response
Photo: Neal Myrick (Tableau Foundation) and Alicia Vermaele (Starbucks) on a panel about corporate response to humanitarian crisis & natural disasters.
2017 has been a year of extreme natural and humanitarian disasters. As we look at leadership through the lens of concurrent and overwhelming natural and man-made disasters, from hurricanes in the U.S. and the Caribbean, to earthquakes in Mexico, to the ongoing refugee crisis around the world, the need for immediate relief and recovery is immense. Increasingly, companies are taking bold steps to respond to crises, and helping communities brace for the future.
Photo: Frank Schott (NetHope) moderated the panel on what Northwest companies are doing to respond to global emergencies
Schott, Vice President of Global Programs at NetHope, led an interactive discussion between the audience and a panel representing leading Northwest companies: Starbucks, Microsoft, and Tableau.
“When emergencies hit, we try to think strategically so we look for a way to leverage our stores,” Alicia Vermaele, Senior Manager of Social Impact at Starbucks said. Starbucks stores are often a go-to meeting place, a “third place” where people go to connect with their loved ones.
According to Cameron Birge, Humanitarian Response Manager for Microsoft Philanthropies, Microsoft’s emergency service teams have been overwhelmed by the number of humanitarian missions they have undertaken this year. And Birge said he expects the trends to continue.
Photo: Cameron Birge (Microsoft Philanthropies) and Neal Myrick (Tableau Foundation) on the “Corporate Leadership for Crisis Response” panel.
addition to responding to natural disasters, Microsoft Philanthropies also has been working for several years to help Syrian refugees. These efforts include a focus on education, digital skills training, and software tools.
Starbucks, too, has stepped up in support of refugees with its promise in early 2017 to hire 10,000 refugees globally by 2022. This builds on the company’s 2015 commitment to support refugees by using digital platforms to raise funds for crisis relief organizations. Customers can use an app to donate by rounding up the dollar amount at the point of sale.
From a disaster preparedness standpoint, Neal Myrick, Director of the Tableau Foundation, talked about the company’s capacity-building project in Myanmar that strengthened data gathering and mapping skills prior to the crisis in Rohingya State. Myrick noted that you cannot eliminate emergencies, but if you have the right infrastructure set-up beforehand, it can enable a quicker and more sustainable response.
Looking to future crises, all the leaders agreed that preparedness is key.
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Survey Says…
Photo: Participant at GlobalWA conference using the app for a live poll.
Participants at this year’s conference made extensive use of a smartphone app called Whova to take part in live polling throughout the day, results of which fed into ongoing discussions.
So what did we learn?
To start things off, Global Washington’s Executive Director Kristen Dailey asked how many of the conference-goers had attended previous Global Washington conferences. An astonishing 50 percent of respondents said that this was their first conference. More than a third reported having attended between two and four conferences before, and over ten percent had attended five to eight conferences in the past.
A highly dedicated five global development wonks reported having attended all nine Global Washington conferences.
A poll later in the day found that conference attendees were feeling generally upbeat about the current state of global development. 69 percent said they felt optimistic, and expected that progress would continue to be made. Nearly a quarter held a more neutral stance, saying they were taking a “wait and see approach.” Only seven percent reported that current challenges have begun impacting their work.
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Love, Trust and Fear: Smart messaging to defend U.S. development assistance
“Foreign assistance is part of a broader conversation about America’s place in the world—what it means for America to lead,” said John Glenn, Policy Director, U.S. Global Leadership Campaign (USGLC).
Now, more than ever, visionary leadership is needed to buttress foreign aid funding against a brisk current of global disengagement. Glenn was among a panel of experts, including other leaders from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and World Vision U.S., discussing ways to counter growing isolationist sentiment in America.
Photo: Teresa Guillien (Resource Media), Christina Bradic (World Vision U.S.), Sara Rogge (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), and John Glenn (U.S. Global Leadership Coalition) on a panel about making the case for development assistance.
The panel moderator, Teresa Guillien, Managing Program Director for Resource Media, focused the conversation around how organizations, businesses, and advocates can work together and speak with one voice, while using effective messages, and messengers, to change the narrative and build sustained support for development assistance.
A robust messaging strategy demands careful consideration of the intended audience. It’s also important to remember that there are pervasive myths surrounding foreign aid. One example: While foreign aid makes up less than 1 percent of the U.S. budget, most believe the figure is closer to 25 percent.
So how do we build empathy, dispel misperceptions, and communicate the urgency in which foreign aid is needed? Christina Bradic, Policy Communications Manager of World Vision U.S. acknowledged that her faith-based organization—traditionally supported by conservative evangelical Christians—has an audience that carries great influence with the current administration. World Vision U.S., she said, is proactively working to bring its audience on board to support foreign aid.
Photo: Teresa Guillien (Resource Media), Christina Bradic (World Vision U.S.), Sara Rogge (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), and John Glenn (U.S. Global Leadership Coalition) on a panel about making the case for development assistance.
“It’s a balance of speaking to this audience and educating them about the issues,” she said, adding that World Vision U.S. is also engaging local pastors and providing them with messages to take to Congress.
Bradic also highlighted the organization’s investment in research to illuminate how audiences view foreign assistance, and how to use these insights to develop messages that would resonate with them. Some of the more effective messages included a focus on building independence within local communities, using foreign aid as a tool to build partnerships, and enabling the shared value of doing good. World Vision has discovered that messaging is most effective when the audience identifies with the person who needs aid, seeing them as “people like me.”
The panel agreed that there was great strength in storytelling to connect an audience with possibility and the prospect of being a changemaker. “We tend to be evidence and data-influenced,” said Sara Rogge, Deputy Director of Global Policy & Advocacy at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “But we realize that a variety of tools need to be used. How do you pair evidence and data with a compelling story?
What about the decision-makers in government who have the power to change policy? It is highly valuable to invest in and empower them.
“We commit our leadership voice to this effort and are continually thinking about how we influence the U.S. Government as they allocate resources to development issues,” Rogge said.
Glenn concurred: “From my perspective, our theory of change is engaging decision-makers.”
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Harnessing the Power of Technology to Build NGO/Corporate Partnerships and Sustainable Development Solutions
Photo: Carol Wylie (World Vision U.S.) and David Yunger (Pearson) on a panel discussing NGO/corporate partnerships that leverage technology.
Pressing global health and development challenges demand a fresh approach to leadership. Market forces and globalization require creative collaboration across sectors. This comes at a time when corporations both have a unique role to play and face a mandate to be good corporate citizens.
“Today more companies are getting involved with SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and shared value, often through marketing and communications work,” said Kirsten Gagnaire, Managing Director of FSG. “Companies can and do want to do more to leverage assets for social impact.”
Gagnaire led the panel discussion, probing the dynamics of cross-sector partnerships. The panel consisted of leaders with vastly different backgrounds, which allowed them to explore the various roadblocks companies face when engaging in the global development space.
It was also an opportunity to compare and contrast the strengths that businesses and non-profits each bring to the table.
“Do the work together and find the roadblocks as you go,” suggested Skye Gilbert, Deputy Director of Digital Health Solutions at PATH. “We invest in spending one-on-one time with new partners because this is better for trust-building, even if this process is not always efficient. We are very humble about what we are NOT good at, which makes us more open to partnering with someone who does it better.”
The conversation also touched on negotiating and establishing successful multi-stakeholder partnerships, as well as how to move from a “handout” to a “handshake.”
David Yunger, Vice President for Microsoft Business at Pearson, explained, “I work on the business side, and we are held accountable to a bottom line. So, if we stop at donations, in-kind or other, that misses something. So, how can the private sector work to help problem solve? Start with…what are the problems? A one-off donation stops there, but if you work it into core of business, it becomes natural.”
“In a good partnership, we can educate a business on the issue and then we can help them communicate a better understanding of the root of the issue,” said Carol Wylie, Vice President for Corporate Engagement at World Vision U.S. “Companies are more willing to listen to an NGO from a spirit of solving a problem, rather than criticizing businesses for what they are doing.”
Among the main threads to emerge from the discussion was the critical need to build technology and social responsibility into the core culture of a company, because only then does it feel and become natural. And when companies and non-profits come together, they must first discover mutual goals and work as “business partners.”
Photo: Kristen Gagnaire (FSG), Skye Gilbert (PATH), and Carol Wylie (World Vision U.S.) discuss successful partnerships that leverage technology.
“I am a big fan of ‘shut up and get to work,’” Skye Gilbert joked, reaffirming the overall conclusion that once mutual priorities are understood among all partners, great progress and impact can be made.
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Searching for—and Finding—Evidence of Impact
Photo: Panel on “Searching for—and Finding—Evidence of Impact.”
we are in the midst of the largest transfer of inter-generational wealth. Experts estimate that $20 trillion will be directed towards nonprofits.
“How do we influence those dollars for greater impact and how do we give it the greatest value for society?” asked Stephanie Fuerstner Gillis, Senior Advisor on the Impact-Driven Philanthropy Initiative for the Raikes Foundation.
This question was at the heart of the panel of policy experts and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) practitioners, who explored how we can enhance the relationship between donors and grantees, and address the disconnect that exists between impact and funding.
Perhaps it starts with how we define impact, said panel moderator Mary Kay Gugerty, a professor at the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington.
“Impact” has become a loaded term, as it is often synonymous with “the silver bullet…a life-changing revolution at almost no cost,” said Niketa Kulkarni, Senior Research and Evaluation Specialist for Landesa.
Photo: Niketa Kulkarni (Landesa) and Stephanie Gillis (Raikes Foundation) speak about program impact evaluation.
“A more responsible way of looking at impact is to evaluate whether we are moving towards the outcome that we desire.” Kulkarni pointed to the rise of microfinance nearly a decade ago. It was once heralded as a silver bullet for alleviating poverty. “We now know we need mechanisms in place to support microfinance,” Kulkarni said.
Measuring impact runs against a number of challenges: the duration of grants, unrealistic expectations and data collection, which is expensive, time consuming and a burden for smaller organizations. M&E, which is usually implemented at the end of a project, doesn’t always deliver a clear picture.
Gugerty suggested an additional strategy: “Map out your theory of change,” she said, and identify the short-term outcomes as you move toward a long-term goal.
The panel agreed it is important to be wary of the tendency to lean into “sexy statistics” at the cost of truly sustainable solutions.
How can M&E be aligned with the realities on the ground? Is it really possible to demonstrate impact for a broad project funded with just a two- or five-year grant?
There are clear benefits to developing reporting mechanisms early on and also expanding the language around M&E to reflect the ultimate goal, e.g. monitoring, evaluation, and learning; or monitoring, evaluation, and accountability.
Each panelist agreed that we could amplify performance and impact with collaboration and shared platforms, including a common theory of change. Landesa has readily adapted the idea of shared platforms, Kulkarni noted, drawing from modules developed by other organizations working in food security and women’s empowerment. “Financial resources are limited and we need to leverage what has already been done,” she said.
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Failing Forward: Learning from Responses to Epidemics
The threat of global pandemics is ever-present in the global health and development context. The Zika and Ebola outbreaks of recent years provide important guideposts to direct our preparedness efforts for future pandemics.
Erin Stucke, Program Officer working on malaria at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, led a breakout session focused on evaluating global preparedness to date, and the importance of the UN International Health Regulations as a mechanism to avert future threats.
Where are we now? Stucke outlined a number of benchmarks, such as centralized laboratory models, the ability to leverage new technology appropriately, vertical data integration, capacity-building, risk communications, and advocacy efforts.
Photo: Erin Stuckey (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) and Sumi Paranjape (Vulcan) on a panel about global health preparedness.
The three panelists agreed that data plays an important role across the spectrum of a well-coordinated response. Sumi Paranjape, Director of Technology Innovation for Vulcan, cited a recent outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo as evidence that vertical data integration is improving.
“People were prepared, they had the data and the vaccines, they were able to stop the epidemic in seven weeks,” Paranjape said.
When it comes to capacity-building, however, Paranjape suggested a different approach. “For example, how do we start to democratize the technologies that allow us to test and confirm the diseases as they are occurring and share data with a regional lab?” she asked.
When we consider data—and the ability to share it broadly— there are a number of powerful resources at hand, said David Pigott, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation.
“Together they allow us to look at epidemics from every point of view, creating a full picture,” he said. “But there is one missing piece, the translation of models and data to the work on the ground.”
As an example, Pigott pointed to the promise of mobile phone data sharing in the field. “At the population level, it is difficult to know the patterns of how people are moving. Also, it’s very difficult to tease apart within big data what is most important.”
Photo: Erin Stuckey (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), Sumi Paranjape (Vulcan), David Pigott (IHME), and Linda Venczel (PATH) on a panel about failtures in global health preparedness
Aligning all the essential components for the ideal global warning response system is no small task. Panelists agreed it takes rapid reporting, stronger health systems and national labs, a robust health workforce on the ground, a functional mechanism for emergency operations, and reliable transportation and supply chains. The panel put an emphasis on stronger disease surveillance, and data sharing across nations, borders and among all stakeholders engaged in the response. Further, emergency operation centers, a centralized decision-making process in each country, and the human resources to respond are also vital.
Delving into the role of vaccines in pandemic preparedness, Linda Venczel, Director of the Global Health Security Project at PATH, highlighted the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
“CEPI is the new GAVI,” she said referring to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations. “They have begun to pool resources and mitigate risks, so that the private sector will feel more comfortable to invest in vaccine development.”
CEPI has already identified eight epidemic diseases for vaccine development, she said, pointing to a vaccine success story: the successful treatment of yellow fever in Ghana.
In addition to the need to develop effective vaccines for emerging diseases, there’s another challenge to global health on the horizon. “I would also argue that climate change is a natural disaster that will impact epidemics,” Venczel said, “so this is an important cross-section.”
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Lunch Plenary: Alaa Murabit
Photo: Alaa Murabit, Ph.D., lunch keynote speaker at the GlobalWA conference.
There are number of lenses through which we can define leadership. Who is head of the household? Who has the power to determine the social and cultural norms in the community? Who will take charge of safety and security in an emergency? Who will secure economic prosperity for all? And who has a voice at the table to broker peace and rebuild a nation?
These questions came to the fore during a lunch discussion with Alaa Murabit, Founder of The Voice of Libyan Women and United Nations High-Level Commissioner on Health Employment & Economic Growth. Her unique journey as a feminist physician, global security strategist, and fearless leader is founded in two drastically different cultures. She grew up with one foot firmly planted in the bucolic Bible belt of Saskatoon, Canada, the other in Libya’s political upheaval; one a majority Catholic community, the other distinctly Muslim.
“Women have been told what their place is, regardless of culture and context,” Murabit remarked. Ironically, she quipped, in any given household, the women are the leaders with a reach that extends deep into neighboring households, schools, community, and religious organizations.
Murabit was in her fifth year of medical school when the Libyan Revolution broke out, and she was inspired by the decision-making role women claimed in the movement. She sought to harness the inherent interconnection women possess and put it to work for the future of her country. So she founded The Voice of Libyan Women, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering women in civil society, politics, and policy. She was just 21.
Photo: Alaa Murabit, Ph.D., lunch keynote speaker at the GlobalWA conference.
“We need a new definition of leadership,” Murabit asserted. Forging peace from Libya’s political turmoil would depend on inclusion and empowerment of women, she said. “Without women at the table, the risk of failure is high—90 percent in the first five years.”
She went on to mobilize the Noor network, using Qur’anic scripture to advance the voice and position of women in Libya. Once being granted the stamp of approval from Libya’s religious council, Murabit then gained access to all sectors, from schools to media and ultimately reaching two million people in a country of six million.
“When women have a seat at the nation-building table,” Murabit continued, “they place an emphasis on fundamental services, such education, health and infrastructure, which ultimately leads to greater stability and security.”
Murabit looked to her mother, who cultivated leadership through compassion and—most important—by listening. “Why don’t we hold our political and business leaders to the same standard?” she asked.
Then she turned to the future: What would happen if there were more women leaders? “If you educated and equally employed the women and girls in the world, we would have greater economic growth than China and India combined.”
She noted that education is directly tied to economic prosperity and avoiding conflict.
“We need to educate girls, because women reinvest 90 percent of their income into their communities,” she said.
Murabit also touched on privilege, philanthropy and the escalating migration crisis, which has led to an increase in child brides, slavery, and human trafficking. We are applying a Band-Aid solution to a crisis that demands strong and visionary leadership, she said. So she returned to the question of the day: What does it take to truly engage as an effective leader?
“Leadership is looking at what you can do with whatever action, capacity, monetary, time, you have and say ‘this is what I’m going to do in my own community.’”
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2017 Global Hero Award
Photo: Tom Waldron, global philanthropist, as well as the founder and CEO of Waldron.
This year’s Global Washington Global Hero Award was presented to Tom Waldron, a global philanthropist, as well as founder and CEO of executive search firm, Waldron. Bill and Paula Clapp presented the award in memoriam to his brother, Dennis Waldron.
Photo: Bill and Paula Clapp present the GlobalWA Global hero award to Tom Waldron, in memoriam.
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Business Leaders Take a Stand for the Global Goals
Photo: Panel Session, “Business Leaders Take a Stand for the Global Goals.”
As we work our way toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the private sector has an essential role to play. Yet business needs a thriving world to function, reaffirming Eric Lui’s maxim “We are all better off when we are all better off.”
While companies increasingly understand that incorporating SDGs into a corporate and global strategy is important, some companies still struggle to make them part of their corporate culture and structure. In a 2015 PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) survey, only 13 percent of participants could identify specific tools for using SDGs for company progress.
James Bernard, Director of Technology for Development at SSG Advisors, led a conversation among representatives from the private sector. Together, they explored how to make global development goals a part of the overall business strategy and how the SDGs are guiding corporate engagement.
Some argue that companies take on SDGs as a marketing effort under a different cloak. Bernard noted that the question is often whether business or philanthropy is driving the SDG initiatives within companies. It can be both, said Clinton Moloney, Managing Director of Sustainable Business Solutions at PwC.
“Right now, many companies are ‘cherry picking’ SDGs based on what goals are unintentionally already underway within the company,” he said. “Other companies are being very intentional about selecting goals, approaching the selection not just from a philanthropic perspective but also a business perspective.”
Katherine Cheng, Head of Global Corporate Citizenship and Community Relations at Expedia, concurred and offered insights from the world’s largest travel company.
“Today a CSR program does not cut it. Instead, this needs to be part of the overall business strategy,” she said, adding that Expedia is focused on eight SDGs, based on the size of the company and offices around the world. “SDGs provide focus for corporate goals, so we picked SDGs to make a business case, which allow us to have a focus and employees are much more engaged.”
Microsoft has set a global theme which cascades down regionally, explained Steve Lippman, Director of Corporate Responsibility at Microsoft.
“We let regions pick local partners. For example, our corporate philanthropy is about empowering youth for different opportunities. But then we let India, China, or others select the actual partners that they want to work with.”
The panel agreed that there is a lot to consider in SDG selection. What is important to the organization and to stakeholders? What can have the greatest impact in different regions? “Eventually it all comes down to leadership,” concluded Clinton Moloney. “What is the company willing to stand up for?”
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Authentic Leadership Development
Photo: Panel session, “Authentic Leadership Development.”
“We need to realize that there are people in the community who understand the local culture and the dynamics,” said Adaobi Egboka, Executive Programs Director at the Legal Defense and Assistance Project. “We need to listen to these people before we hear ourselves.”
Photo: Adaobi Egboka, Executive Programs Director at the Legal Defense and Assistance Project.
Egboka’s statement reflects a clear shift in how NGOs engage with the communities they serve. At such a critical moment in the broader global development agenda, visionary and effective leadership is most needed from the communities themselves and from the bottom up. Dena Morris, President & CEO of the Washington Global Health Alliance moderated the panel discussing best practices for capacity-building and how NGOs can better empower, cultivate, and mentor leaders.
What does authentic leadership development look like in Africa, where only six percent of the college-eligible population has the opportunity to attend university? They are the future leaders. But they also need great courage to change an entire continent, constrained by a weak educational system and riddled with corruption, explained Emer Dooley, Vice-Chair of Ashesi University Foundation.
“We want to give the students the passion to build their country,” she said, but first, they must rise above a system of rote learning to become critical thinkers.
Izumi Yamamoto, Director of Learning at iLeap, described how her organization works together with community-based social justice leaders, from the executive director level to the community leader who has no official title. To mentor leaders, she suggested, it is critical to facilitate opportunities that allow community members to learn from one another.
“People don’t need more skills and information, they need a space to find meaning in what they are doing,” she said. It is also important to have an approach that allows you to tap into the leadership expertise in the community.
The panel agreed that to create the next generation of leaders, the most important message is: leadership matters. Yet it will require funding K-12 and higher education.
“No one is talking about funding the institutional leadership deficit,” Dooley pointed out, with general agreement among the panelists.
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Data Defense: Protecting Donor & Beneficiary Privacy
Photo: Panel on “Data Defense: Protecting Donor & Beneficiary Privacy.”
We have become increasingly aware that no organization, business, or sector is immune to data breaches. In May 2018, the European Union will launch the General Regulation on Data Protection (GRDP), which will provide a new framework for an organization’s use of personal information, including employees, donors, and beneficiaries, no matter where they are located.
The GRDP has yet to garner the attention it requires, said Cameron Birge, Humanitarian Response Manager for Microsoft Philanthropies, who led the session. And non-profits are grappling with the challenge of convincing donors to support the increased costs associated with greater protection and controls. So how are they preparing themselves to adhere to this new framework and the significant penalties they may face for non-compliance?
“The biggest potential breach is beneficiary data, thus harming the reputational risk of a nonprofit,” stated Frank Schott, Vice President of Global Programs for NetHope. Most non-profits don’t have the underlying capital to absorb the financial penalties of a data breach, he added, underscoring the challenges that exist when a nonprofit shares data with an implementing partner. However, the regulations are slightly vague, Schott continued, and therefore open to interpretation. “We advocate that federated and non-federated NetHope members work together to define a way forward, and then use that consensus as our North Star.”
Photo: Panel session, “Data Defense: Protecting Donor & Beneficiary Privacy”
Katherine Spelman, Shareholder at Lane Powell PC, suggested that small- and medium-sized organizations would benefit from board engagement to prioritize GRDP. “It has to be a part of the fiber of the organization,” she argued.
Many NGO country offices still work in a paper environment, adding another layer of ambiguity to the new regulations. Yet the prospect of a massive breach should reinforce the need to have systems, policies, and practices in place that represent good faith in compliance, said Brendon Lynch, Chief Privacy Officer at Microsoft, for there is much at stake: data is valuable.
“Organizations are increasingly effective because of data, so there is increasing value attached to data,” Lynch continued. “The new regulations will be requiring organizations to understand what data they have, how they use it, and what activities should be in place to mitigate the risk of a data breach.
“We talk about ‘privacy by design,’” Lynch added, noting that data privacy needs to be developed alongside program development, with consideration for what makes sense in a particular context.
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Big Bets for Global Goals
Photo: Panelists on Big Bets for Global Goals.
Some of the most intractable challenges we face require a significant influx of financial resources, and philanthropy remains a powerful vehicle to mobilize social change, said Elizabeth Dale, Assistant Professor, Nonprofit Leadership, Seattle University, who moderated the panel.
We are at a crossroads: New wealth continues to grow as does philanthropic giving. In 2016, giving by individuals, foundations, and corporations, reached an all-time high for the third consecutive year, with an estimated $380 billion dollars raised. Yet while 80 percent of the world’s largest donors say they prioritize making “big bets” ($10 million or more) for high-impact social change, their giving doesn’t always reflect this objective. Traditional institutions, such as hospitals or universities tend to get the lion’s share of gifts, 80 percent, with only the remaining 20 percent directed to social change.
Dale led the discussion exploring how to better understand donor intent, while also strategically guiding donors toward smarter giving practices.
The critical moment for non-profits to focus on big bets is now, said Alison Powell, Senor Director of Philanthropy at The Bridgespan Group.
“Donors and high-net worth individuals are transferring their wealth to the next generation,” she explained. “We see an important moment with our clients and how they can drive change.”
Many large donors have aspirational goals, such as ending sex trafficking, eliminating malaria, or conserving wilderness areas. They want to make an impact, yet it’s difficult to measure change in the social sector. Meanwhile, big institutions are ready with a list of big bets, shovel-ready projects, such as a new university building or hospital wing.
So what does it take to be a big bet candidate? Lisa Ellis, Chief Operating Officer for Landesa, outlined her organization’s strategy.
Lisa Ellis, Chief Operating Officer for Landesa, on the panel “Big Bets for Global Goals”
“Have a roadmap for where you want to go as an organization and be prepared for a long-term relationship, one that goes beyond money,” she said. This includes ensuring that stable leadership is in place. Be prepared to provide a seat on the board and demonstrate a willingness to make use of all the resources the donor has in place, she added. “Help your donor be a part of the movement that your organization is taking forward.”
Seattle has become nearly synonymous with big philanthropy. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation alone gives approximately $5 billion every year. Relationships are important, said Sandra Laney, Senior Advisor in Discovery and Translational Sciences for the Foundation, “But it’s also about developing a track record in a topic area of interest.” “Looking across all Foundation giving, 97 percent of funds were targeted to those we knew, such as GAVI and WHO.”
Laney pointed to the Grand Challenges program, which provides grants of $100,000 to fund early innovative ideas to solve key global health and development problems. “It’s open to anyone, anywhere and it’s a blinded review process, you don’t even need evidence,” she explained, “you just need to have a good idea.”
In the course of the audience Q&A, the panel identified additional considerations for landing a big bet. Does your approach take a new, promising tack? Has your organization provided a clear outline of the problem alongside a clear path to a robust solution? Does your solution align with donor funding interests? A key point to remember is that donors are not homogenous and they all have different preferences in how they want to be involved.
“Ultimately, the proposed big bet plan has to be big enough to matter, yet small enough to be believed,” Powell concluded.
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Afternoon Keynote
Photo: Scott Jackson, CEO of Global Impact.
Inclusive of all sectors, Global Washington is a supportive community with common goals. These goals reflect the value and the many benefits that interconnectedness delivers. Just as one SDG cannot be delivered without another, we all have to be in it together, and together, we’re off to a strong start.
Working as partners and collaborators, we are all global citizens with a legacy to leave behind. How can we tap into the most impactful leader that resides inside each and every one of us?
In the closing keynote of the GlobalWA conference, Scott Jackson, CEO of Global Impact offered a simple, yet profound suggestion: Make it personal.
Delving into his own, deeply compelling journey, revealed in his newly released book, Take Me With You, Jackson examines the signposts that steered him toward a life of service in the nonprofit sector.
Jackson, a white, middle-aged executive, is the unlikely figure for a childhood steeped in racial discrimination, intolerance, and injustice. In the closing keynote address, speaking to his life-long colleagues, fellow practitioners and friends, Jackson shared his own, and very unconventional story of growing up in a racially integrated family.
The book recounts the unexpected twists in his young life as the son of a long-battered white woman who left her abusive husband and married an African-American pastor in a small Kansas community.
Leaping ahead to his early career in the nonprofit sector, Jackson recounted a trip to a small village in Uganda, a community in the grip of violence fostered by the Lord’s Resistance Army. In a tense moment, a tiny little girl grabs his hand and whispers, “Take me with you.” It was the same plea he had made as young child each time his mother fled the home and the violence of her abusive husband.
Be it the shadow of Jim Crow or Joseph Koney, Jackson reflected on the deep and painful imprint left upon so many lives, thousands of miles apart.
“My call to action to each of you is to connect to your own story and connect it to the change you want to see in the world,” Jackson said. “You need to choose your charity every day and remember that each of us has a journey that is not only important to us, but also to those around us. It helps us help others, and this is why you need a community like Global Washington – to connect with others.”
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Closing Keynote Discussion
Photo: Carol Dahl (The Lemelson Foundation), Harry Bader (USAID), Bill Hilf (Vulcan), Neal Keny-Guyer (Mercy Corps).
“Disruption” is a word that enjoys great cachet on the global development agenda. So what kind of leadership is needed for true disruption when we find ourselves in very tumultuous times? Carol Dahl, Executive Director of The Lemelson Foundation, raised this question for the panelists in the closing keynote of the conference.
At Vulcan, it starts with the question “What if?” that is then backed by determination to change the arc of the problem while rejecting convention, said Bill Hilf, CEO of Vulcan. He outlined the highly charged engine at Vulcan that also drives the Paul G. Allen Foundation: an eclectic mix of philanthropy, real estate, technology and more. Stitch them all together, apply core organizational strengths, and you have Vulcan’s formula for disruption, Hilf said.
Hilf pointed to homelessness, ocean acidification, pandemics and other global challenges. They require systems thinking because technology alone won’t address the problem. “So we are looking for the bad actor—it could be a country, a system, a chemical—and then we use the ‘follow the motherboard’ approach.” Rip the problem apart and look at every single component in the value chain to understand the entire system.”
Hilf described the innovative use of satellite imagery to combat illegal fishing as an example. We build a technology-based solution in tandem with policy recommendations to have greater impact, he said, then “we use story-telling to illuminate it.”
To be truly disruptive requires us to acknowledge we face three significant trends in the world, said Harry Bader, Acting Executive Director of the U.S. Global Development Lab at USAID. “We’re capitalizing on two”—the revolution in digital technology and the shift to private sector capital flow—“to ameliorate the third,” which is extreme poverty, exacerbated by the digital divide.
The flip phone, for example, leads to financial inclusion in developing countries, as well as education and health programming, he said. These are the important opportunities to be had in mobile technology. Yet they could be undermined by two emerging, worrisome trends: corruption and conflict.
“Vertically integrated cartels, which include government, private sector and criminal rings, create almost an impenetrable problem,” Bader said, pointing to the rise of block chain, a promising technology that could transform business operating models and unravel the unprecedented complexity of corruption.
The rise of conflict and extremist violence has fundamentally altered the global development landscape. We grapple with an overwhelming refugee crisis. To be disruptive, we need to change our approach, said Neal Keny-Guyer, CEO of Mercy Corps.
We often focus on the “What,” Keny-Guyer said. But for leaders of impactful organizations, we need to turn this around. “What about the ‘How?’ How do you foster disruption in the organizational culture?” he asked.
It comes from a fearless embrace of innovation and risk. Leading an organization that is working on “last-mile” solutions demands an emphasis on thinking big and a willingness to borrow from successful organizations. Mercy Corps turned to Apple to train front-line leaders and to reinforce bigger thinking at every touch point, be it company culture, programs, incentives or awards.
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Welcome New Members
Please welcome our newest Global Washington members. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with their work and consider opportunities for support and collaboration!
Dalberg
Dalberg is a global group working to build a more inclusive and sustainable world where all people, everywhere, can reach their fullest potential. dalberg.com
The Forest Trust
The Forest Trust (TFT) is an international non-profit organization that helps international retail and manufacturing companies to source responsibly-produced products, meaning products that respect the environment and improve people’s lives. Since 1999, TFT’s main focus has been to provide solutions to the issues of deforestation and the empowerment of forest dependent communities through market- based incentives. tft-earth.org
Global Family Travels
In partnership with non-profit organizations and schools, Global Family Travels provides sustainable travel itineraries in support of education, preservation of local cultures, conservation, and economic growth, which foster cross-cultural understanding and global citizens. “Learn, Serve and Immerse and Expand Your Family Circle!” globalfamilytravels.com
Global Peace Foundation
Founded in 2009, Global Peace Foundation (GPF) is an international non-sectarian, non-partisan, nonprofit organization, which promotes an innovative, values-based approach to peace building, guided by the vision of One Family under God. GPF engages and organizes a global network of public and private sector partners who develop community, national, and regional peace building models as the foundation for ethical and cohesive societies. globalpeace.org
Remitly
Remitly is a digital remittance company that supports immigrant communities in developed nations including the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. They help people send money to loved ones in developing countries, money that is sometimes their only source of income and provides them upward mobility. Transferring over $4 billion in annualized volume from its customers to loved ones throughout the world, the company’s proprietary global transfer network includes its easy-to-use mobile app, which makes the process of sending money faster, easier, more transparent and less costly by eliminating the forms, codes, agents, extra time and fees typical of the traditional, century-old money transfer process. remitly.com
Remote Energy
Remote Energy provides customized solar electric curriculum development, training, and educational programs. It partners with organizations looking to use renewable energy to address issues relating to jobs, health, clean water, education, gender equality, and poverty. remoteenergy.org
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GlobalWA Events
Feb1: Women in Global Health and Development Professions
Mar 7: SAVE THE DATE – Speaker from Brookings Institute Center for Universal Education
Fuse IQ Offering a Tech Audit Package for GlobalWA Members
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