On February 15th, 2017 Global Washington hosted a digital communications workshop in their fantastic new office space, shared with Seattle Foundation. Led by Joel Meyers of FuseIQ, along with Tyler LePard of Wondershop Communications and Amie Newman, writer/blogger for Our Bodies Ourselves, the attendees were treated to an information-packed session on creating digital storytelling for the greatest impact.
The essentials of best practices were covered: What are your objectives? Who is your audience? What is your message? How are you going to measure success? These are key questions for organizations to keep in mind while building out the details of their communications strategy.
In particular, when figuring out your messaging, have you done your homework and figured out who your audience is? Of course we’d love to have everyone know about and support us, but we need to be realistic and recognize that the more detailed we can be about who we’re trying to reach, the more successful we will be in creating content that they will be inspired to read and even act upon through some type of support of our organization. We must know what type of social media they use – remember to take a look at those Google analytics! And by being more specific, we can also remove unnecessary competition for our audience’s attention.
In order to build these relationship based on trust and respect with our audience, Tyler LePard recommends creating a journey map in order to get “inside the shoes” of those we are trying to reach. Once we have gotten their attention, what are you trying to get your audience to do? Using simple calls to action and great visuals are key.
As final takeaways workshop, attendees were encouraged to appeal to hearts, not minds (personal stories are more effective than facts), be creative and think boldly!
By Loree Bolin, Director, Health & Hope Foundation
When she married, Elizabeth Gabrieli’s husband paid 20 head of cattle for her wedding dowry. Raised in a remote village of Kyagata Mara Province of Tanzania, Elizabeth grew up helping her family keep goats and sheep. Elizabeth was born in 1955, on a different continent, one year after me. Our lives took different courses, yet today we work together empowering women in the community through the teaching of leadership and business skills.
When Elizabeth’s husband died she was left as the sole support for 6 children and her mother. Elizabeth supported the family through farming with the help of her children. As her circumstances improved she saved and invested in other businesses. Through the sales of baked goods, charcoal, vegetables such as tomatoes and onions, and homemade charcoal she supported her children and ensured their health and education.
On March 8, 2017 the world will celebrate International Women’s Day. Leading up to this annual event, Global Washington will focus on various efforts to empower women in developing countries, and in particular, the economic empowerment of women.
Increasing income for women in developing countries is a catalyst for long-term economic development. Research shows that when women increase their earnings, they invest in their children’s education and health. Women entering the formal economy can also lead to review and improvements of legal frameworks and financial regulations.
Learn more about economic empowerment of women and GlobalWA members working to improve the lives of women around the world in this GlobalWA issue brief. And, join the conversation on March 1 at our panel event addressing women’s rights and economic opportunities.
Gender-focused development and other issues were addressed at the 2016 GlobalWA Conference last December. You can read about it in our conference report here and watch the videos from our plenary, and save the date for the 2017 Global Washington Conference on November 29th!
In addition to our monthly issue campaign, GlobalWA is hosting a workshop on February 15 about effective digital communications. I hope to see you at one of our upcoming events!
Women’s Economic Empowerment; The Key to a Sustainable World
By Amanda Pain
In 1970 economist Ester Boserup published Women’s Role in Economic Development, where she explained that women were being systematically left out of the development agenda, which in turn harmed the global economy because women are crucial to economic growth. Almost 50 years later, ending gender inequality and empowering all women and girls, is still crucial to development and is an important focus of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
While SDG5 outlines a number of goals to achieve gender equality, one issue at the forefront of achieving many SDGs is women’s economic empowerment: defined as women’s capacity to participate in, contribute to and benefit from growth processes in ways which recognize the value of their contributions, respect their dignity and make it possible to negotiate a fairer distribution of the benefits of growth. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) investment in gender equality produces the highest returns compared to all other development spending. Higher female earnings translate into higher investments in children’s education, health and nutrition; and when more women work economies grow.
So why aren’t women economically empowered? In countries all over the world constraints such as adverse social norms, discriminatory laws and lack of legal protection, failure to recognize, reduce and redistribute unpaid household work and care, and a lack of access to financial, digital and property assets have held women back from economic growth, which in turn have held back the world.
Unequal opportunities in employment and wages are a major economic constraint for women. According to the United Nations (UN) Women, 700 million fewer women of working age had paid employment compared to men in 2016. Women remain half as likely as men to have full-time employment and often earn up to one-third less than men, in part due to occupational sex segregation. Women are also likely to take on three times as much unpaid domestic work and care activities, and contribute nearly 58 percent of unpaid work to family enterprises and farms. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, the value of unpaid care work performed by women is $10 trillion, or 13 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP). If the employment participation gap and the wage gap between women and men were closed women could increase their income globally by 76 percent, which is calculated to have a global value of $17 trillion.
Another constraint to women is a lack of financial inclusion; which means that formal financial services such as bank accounts, loans and insurance, are not readily available to them. Women around the globe have less access to formal financial institutions as compared to men and are less likely to have a bank account. In addition the credit gap for women-owned businesses is estimated at $300 billion globally. According to the World Bank, which aims for universal financial access by 2020, most of the 2 billion people worldwide who lack a bank account are women. This lack of financial inclusion continues to promote gender inequality and reinforce women’s economic subordination.
Women are kept from financial institutions because of sexist laws, and/or misogynistic social norms. Legal barriers constrain women’s economic development in several ways. Not only do countries have laws that prevent women from opening a bank account, but according to the World Bank 155 of the 173 economies surveyed globally had at least one law blocking women’s economic opportunities. In 100 of those economies women faced gender-based job restrictions, in 46 economies women have no legal protection from domestic violence and in 18 economies husbands can forbid their wives from working.
Globally women make up 43 percent of the agriculture workforce, however, in many countries there are laws that prohibit women from owning land; in fact less than 20 percent of landowners are women. Women also have limited access to the resources and services they need for farming such as, fertilizers and seeds, education and extension services and livestock. If women had the same access to these resources, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), they could increase their yield by 20 to 30 percent, raise total agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5 to 4 percent and reduce the number of starving people by 100 to 150 million.
If gender inequality as a moral imperative is not enough to convince the world that women’s economic empowerment is important, there is mounting evidence that it benefits everyone. When women have access to the same economic opportunities as men, and the legal protections in place to ensure those opportunities they will: devote more of their household budget to their children’s education, save more money overall, have children that are less likely to become sick or be undernourished as well as grow the overall global economy.
The good news is the development world understands this, and has made women’s economic empowerment a major focus of the SDGs. Additionally, the UN Secretary-General established the High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment in January 2016 to provide concrete guidance to governments, the private and public sectors and civil society to implement change. Women’s economic empowerment is the pre-requisite for sustainable development, ending poverty and achieving a better world by 2030.
A number of Global Washington members work tirelessly to improve the lives of women, allowing them to look toward a brighter future for themselves and their families. Below are descriptions of just a few of these organizations, highlighting current projects. Learn more about these members and others on GlobalWA’s interactive map.
Agros: The mission of Agros is to see rural poor families own agricultural land, attain economic self-sufficiency, realize their God-given potential, and pass on to future generations the values and resources that enable them to flourish. A critical driver of successful rural development is ensuring equal access to opportunities and resources for women, and that they are full partners in the community development process, ensuring that women occupy positions of community leadership. agros.org
Awamaki:Awamaki partners with women’s artisan cooperatives to create economic opportunities and improve well-being. The women knit, weave and host tourists in the rural Peruvian Andes. The organization helps them start and run successful cooperative businesses so they can earn income and lead their communities out of poverty. awamaki.org
Health & Hope Foundation:Health & Hope Foundation delivers dental, vision, and medical care, via portable clinics, to communities lacking healthcare access. Needs for education, light, water, sustainable businesses, and sexual safety are addressed within our programs and partnerships with specialized NGOs. Our focus is impoverished women and children of Tanzania and the Philippines. healthandhopefoundation.org
Landesa: For nearly four decades, Landesa has worked in over 50 countries to help secure land rights for more than 120 million of the world’s poorest families. In 2016, 8.1 million women and men gained more secure rights to their own plot of land as a result of Landesa’s work. Given the centrality of women’s land rights to a host of development and human rights outcomes, the Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights works to prioritize and integrate a gender lens in all of Landesa’s projects and initiatives. The Center also develops and implements innovative pilot projects to strengthen women’s rights to land www.landesa.org
MonaFoundation:Since 1999, Mona Foundation has partnered with 32 grassroots projects in 16 countries assisting tens of thousands of marginalized children to receive a quality education and to raise the status of women and girls. In 2015, Mona supported 13 projects in 8 countries serving 150,000 children and their families in Mongolia, the Brazilian Amazon, India, Haiti, Panama, China, Vietnam and the U.S. Mona also seeks to collaborate with other organizations to share learning, participating in committees and fora such as the Brookings Institution’s annual CHARGE strategy meeting on the education of girls and Boston Foundation’s annual Haiti Funders’ Conference among others. monafoundation.org
Partners Asia:Partners Asia supports emerging leaders and community-led initiatives which improve the lives of the most vulnerable people of Southeast Asia. Partners Asia improves women’s access to the legal system by supporting lawyers who will defend women in court — and ultimately help change legal procedures and laws. The organization also supports the establishment of women’s savings groups to support one another and build community. partnersasia.org
Thriive:Thriive’s mission is building shared prosperity in vulnerable global communities. The organization does this by making pay-it-forward loans to small businesses so they can grow and create jobs. 51% of Thriive businesses are owned by women who became more successful, created jobs for other women, and helped strengthen their communities with pay it forward donations of products or job training. thriive.org
Women’s Enterprises International:Women’s Enterprises International reaches across cultures to transform lives and communities by partnering with women’s groups; empowering and equipping women to break the cycle of poverty and live into their God-given potential. WEi is a Seattle-based nonprofit, dedicated to creating opportunities that equip women in Kenya and Indonesia to overcome poverty and transform their lives and communities for over 16 years. womensenterprises.org
Today 10.7 percent of the global population lives in extreme poverty. While this percentage has fallen since 1990 it has not fallen equitably with many of the world’s poor being women due to gender inequality and lack of economic opportunities. Agros International, a non-profit based in Seattle, has been working for 33 years to help the most vulnerable people find a path to prosperity, and are part of a global push to empower women.
Founded in 1984 by Chi-Dooh “Skip” Li, Agros International’s mission is to see rural poor families own agricultural land, attain economic self-sufficiency, realize their God-given potential and pass on to the future generations the values and resources that enable them to flourish. What started with building one village in Guatemala has become an established program working in 43 communities across Central America, and has helped more than 10,000 individuals escape extreme poverty.
While Agros’s work is focused in Central America (an area chosen by Li due to its devastating civil wars in the late 1970s) Lisa Fernández, communications manager at Agros International, explained Agros’s community development model could be successfully exported anywhere. Agros’s model started with land ownership, and according to Fernández evolved over the years to concentrate on five areas: land, market-led agriculture, health and well-being, financial empowerment and education.
Agros International works like this, families approach Agros at one of its in-country offices and apply for the program. Agros, after extensive research purchases a sizable parcel of land that is then divided among families accepted into the program. Each family is given an initial loan with their land, and over time, typically in seven to ten years, pays off the loan and in turn owns their plot of land. One thing that is key to Agros’s program is that the names of both the man and woman, whether they are married or not, go on the title to the land once the loan is repaid. This, Fernández said, is non-negotiable for anyone who applies.
“Historically only men have been named on land titles in Central America,” Fernández said. “One of the key principles of Agros is equity, so every land title has the man and woman’s name on it. This protects her both legally and financially.”
Photo: Agros
Fernández said women play a major leadership role in Agros communities. When Agros decides to build schools in its villages women are instrumental in planning and running these schools. She said women also primarily run the community savings group program, which provides loans to families within the village in times of need. With initial funding from Agros, the savings group is eventually community funded and supported. A lot of women in Agros villages are also interested in starting their own businesses, which is something, Fernández explained, Agros encourages in order to economically empower women and in turn all Agros families.
“These businesses help the family diversify their income and pay off their loans even faster,” Fernández explained. “Women in the community serve as great role models for agribusiness.”
This summer Agros plans to start a new agribusiness program that aims to eliminate the middleman from the food supply chain (i.e., process of harvesting, storing and selling crops), and in turn put more money in the pockets of Agros community members. With families paying off their loans quicker Agros has more opportunity to be flexible in its programming for even more vulnerable populations. Recent ventures into livestock production and tilapia farming are examples of the model accommodating different needs. With additional funding from their agribusiness Agros hopes to increase the number of loans made to women and their families and help them move along the path to prosperity.
“The Agros development model recognizes the vast roles women play in a family and community so it’s important that we provide alternative farming opportunities that are not as labor intensive as cultivating acres of land, yet still allow for say a single mother or elderly member to be an active, productive worker in the community,” Fernández said.
Ending poverty and gender inequality by 2030 are two of six Sustainable Development Goals that Agros International has in common with the United Nations. In an Agros village, families are empowered to lift themselves out of poverty, and women play a key role in that success.
“Our focus has always been the family,” Fernández said. “The women in our program are the heart and soul of the family; if they are not successful no one is successful. Without the active engagement of women the Agros model would not work.”
Tzili Mor, Director of Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights
By Amanda Pain
Land is a feminist issue. This is something Tzili Mor, director of Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights, strongly believes. The issue of land rights was rooted in her during childhood and has continued to grow in importance throughout her personal and professional experiences. To Mor, promoting land rights is promoting women’s rights.
“At Landesa (an international non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Seattle) we call land rights an accelerator of rights for women and girls,” Mor said. “Women’s rights and control over land, especially the land that they till and depend on to survive, carries true potential for empowering women.”
Mor said growing up in the Middle East she witnessed conflict and disputes over land rights being at the root of socio-political crises there, and later saw such disputes fuel struggles around the world. She said this influenced her choices in both work and life, and eventually, it led her to study law and international relations at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.. She saw law as the tool and pathway toward the goals of global and local social justice.
“Law can be powerful, and the understanding of the law and how to use it can be transformative,” Mor said. “We saw that power just last week with legal action against the refugees and immigrant ban.” She was drawn to being a bridge between a complex legal system and those who needed support to access their rights. Mor, who taught law students in the US and abroad, said she enjoyed watching her students realize the core, creative power of law to reinforce human rights and constitutional values.
At the beginning of Mor’s legal career, she focused on women’s reproductive rights but found herself dealing with issues around women’s access to land. While working in sub-Saharan Africa during the height of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, land and property rights became a serious issue in many rural communities. Mor said when a woman’s husband died from AIDS, she and her children lost all rights to stay in their home. As more men died, and more and more women and children were being dispossessed of their land, local leaders, governments, and NGOs realized something needed to change. She saw that when women were allowed to stay on their land the health and well-being of the family improved. These ripple effects from secure land rights she now knows extend to greater food security, educational gains, health outcomes, greater incentive to conserve the land, plant trees, and give women options out of abusive situations.
“Historically the way wealth was transferred was through marriage and inheritance,” Mor explained. “Often women were excluded from these two axes of power and resource transfer. A lot of the work (Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights) does now is addressing those historic injustices.”
Mor said collecting data on women’s access to land has been challenging especially because land rights are about more than ownership; they are a bundle of rights that include access to the resources on that land, as well as control over what can be done with it. She said globally on average less than 20 percent of women have secure land rights, but this is something that varies widely from country to country. Based on her legal experience in human and women’s rights, land rights are often at the source of realizing and upholding a number of rights and development needs. This is how she found herself at Landesa; the first non-profit organization solely focused on securing land rights for the world’s poorest people.
Photo: Deborah Espinosa
Mor, who has worked for organizations like Amnesty International, the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, and consulted for UN Women, enjoys working for Landesa because it provides for agility and space for creativity from a very focused lens. At the Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights, she leads work to champion and shape standards, policies, and tactics to strengthen women’s land rights, pursues innovative solutions to empowering women, and helps nurture a global network of professionals and organizations collaborating to strengthen women’s rights to land.
“There is increasing global recognition that women’s land rights and economic empowerment are crucial to development success,” Mor said. “Three of the 17 (Sustainable Development Goals) SDGs – on ending poverty, food security and gender equality – explicitly mention women’s rights to land and resources. Gaining rights to land can disrupt the intergenerational cycle of poverty.”
Mor said now more than ever women’s rights are coming under threat, with much of the progress of the past decade being undercut. But however distressed, she remains optimistic.
“Whatever accomplishments I have made in my path, this work is not something you can ever claim an ultimate win on,” Mor said. “Social Justice is not something that can be achieved with one success, no matter how significant. As an organization, and as advocates, we need to continue to focus on the principles that motivate us. Politicians and regimes come and go, but these principles remain and will carry us through.”
Please welcome our newest Global Washington members. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with their work and consider opportunities for support and collaboration!
Coopersmith Law + Strategy
Our law and strategic consulting expertise enables us to move efficiently and quickly. As a premier Northwest firm, we have deep roots locally, but have leveraged that knowledge into a powerful team of global experts. Our extensive expertise in both government and business allow us to offer you strategic guidance with global development, including work with multi-lateral organizations, global investment initiatives and business and strategic partnership opportunities. coopersmithlaw.com
Extend the Day
Extend the Day provides inexpensive solar powered reading lights, at no cost, to school children who live without electricity. We use adventure travelers and existing NGO’s as our distribution partners. extendtheday.org
Mavuno
Mavuno is a nonprofit organization that empowers local leaders in eastern Congo to end extreme poverty in their own communities. We organize communities and build businesses at the grassroots level. www.mavuno.org
Over the past five years, nearly half a million lives have been claimed by Syria’s civil war. More than 4.8 million people have been forced to seek refuge in neighboring countries and an estimated 6.5 million are internally displaced. The effects of the ongoing crisis have ravaged a nation and overwhelmed a region; millions of innocent civilians lack the most basic necessities and face grave risks, while host countries strain to meet the growing, desperate needs of millions of refugees.
Given the extreme refugee crisis and unprecedented devastation in Aleppo, we know many are seeking ways to help.
Global Washington was founded, in part, to be a platform for partnerships. Partnerships that will advance the work needed to improve lives in developing countries. Creating effective partnerships takes discipline, insight and a unique skill set to align objectives.
On December 8, 2016, over 400 people will gather to celebrate effective non-profit and business partnerships, learn from failed partnerships, and discuss the future of a multi-stakeholder approach to global development. The theme of this year’s Global Washington conference is Allies For Action and will feature work from Microsoft, Mercy Corps, Costco and TechnoServe. We will also be inspired by Shelmina Abji who is an advisor to the UN Foundation’s Girl Up program and is also a former IBM Vice President.
The packed agenda includes the presentation of our 2016 Global Hero, GlobalWA Fast Pitch, a CEO/Executive Director exclusive session, and 10 breakout sessions on current global development trends. This is the preeminent global development conference in our region and one not to miss if you want to make a difference in the world. I hope you can join us. More information and registration can be found here.
Lastly, I want to express my gratitude for Sara Atalla who has been Global Washington’s Director of Communications for the past three years. Sara is moving on to a fantastic career opportunity and the Global Washington family wishes her all the best.
Michael Bowers, Vice President of Humanitarian Leadership and Response, Mercy Corps
Powered by the belief that a better world is possible, Mercy Corps partners to put bold solutions into action – helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.
Sheri Flies, Assistant General Merchandise Manager, Global Sourcing, Costco Wholesale Corporation
In Private Sector Possibilities: Costco’s evolving sourcing practices, Sheri Flies discusses Costco’s sustainable sourcing strategy and how Costco works with local communities.
Please welcome our newest Global Washington members. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with their work and consider opportunities for support and collaboration!
Total Benefits Solutions
Total Benefits Solutions offers domestic and international health insurance plans for employees who are working at home or abroad. www.tbsmga.com
New organization to combine power of digital technology to end poverty with robust networks of women’s self-help groups in Africa, Asia and Latin America
WASHINGTON October 25, 2016 — Grameen Foundation and Freedom from Hunger, two global leaders in the fight to end poverty, announced today that they are joining forces to form a single unified global organization.
Rena Singer was the featured speaker at Global Washington’s October 12 Executive Director Roundtable.
“The ultimate goal of communication is to facilitate a change in behavior rather than merely to disseminate information.” Easier said than done. But after six years as Landesa’s Global Communications Director and a long journalistic career, Rena Singer started her own strategic communications consulting agency and now stresses that often. She mentioned it on October 12 while leading Global Washington’s latest Executive Director Roundtable.
Singer connects brain science, communication and culture. Knowing how to best grab an audience’s attention means understanding the science behind the inner workings of the brain. Singer cited The Narrative Project in her presentation. The Narrative Project interviewed over 1,000 people in the US, UK, France and Germany. They wanted to know if attitudes regarding global development were negative or positive, generally speaking. They asked questions like, “Do poor countries tend to stay poor?” and “Over the past 20 years has foreign aid made a difference?” Over 70% of respondents answered negatively. Singer went on to share tips on how to challenge and reverse this inherent cynicism, and promote optimism within the global development sector. Continue Reading
Fifteen years ago, I had the privilege of meeting economist and Nobel Laurette Amartya Sen. His rights-based approach to global development, the idea that a person’s quality of life should be measured by rights and freedoms rather than economic wealth, fundamentally changed my thinking. I see this approach in practice with several GlobalWA member organizations, most prominently in those that fight for human rights globally. We’re spotlighting several in this month’s newsletter.
I’m thrilled to announce the launch of the 2016 Global Philanthropy Guide and Member Directory. In partnership with Seattle Foundation and Seattle International Foundation, the guide spotlights ten GlobalWA members who received funding from Seattle Foundation’s Global GiveTogether, and also includes a full member directory of the 165 organizations that are working to improve lives in developing countries. An online version of the guide can be found here.
I hope you will help celebrate the vibrant community of global development champions we have in our state by learning more in the articles below, browsing the profiles in our Global Philanthropy Guide, and joining us at our annual conference on December 8. Conference details and tickets are available here.
According to Amnesty International, which monitors 160 countries and territories, in 2015 there were 113 countries that arbitrarily restricted freedom of expression; 30 countries that illegally forced refugees to return to their home countries; armed groups committed abuses in 36 countries; 61 countries locked up prisoners of conscience; 122 countries tortured or ill-treated people; war crimes were carried out in 19 countries; and 55 percent of monitored countries conducted unfair trails. While there has been progress made addressing human rights violations, atrocities still occur far too often.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is the basis for international human rights law today. Created by the United Nations in its 1948 General Assembly, the UDHR spelled out in its 30 articles the basic civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all human beings should enjoy, and requires all member governments to uphold these fundamental rights.
UDHR is the foundation for over 80 international human rights treaties and declarations, as well as regional and domestic laws established to enforce human rights. Of the 160 UN member States, each one has ratified one of the nine core international human rights treaties, and 80 percent have ratified four or more. The first two treaties were adopted in 1966 with one concerning civil and political rights, and the other economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR). ESCR includes basic human needs such as healthcare, education, clean water and access to food. Other treaties established the rights of children, the elimination of racial and gender discrimination, as well as the abolishment of torture.
When a country signs a human rights treaty, it assumes the responsibility of creating legislation to uphold those rights. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has a mandate to promote and protect human rights. It assists governments in enforcing human rights laws and treaties via technical training in the administration of justice, legislative reform and the electoral process. When domestic legislation fails to address human rights violations, the UN Human Rights Council, created in 2006, reviews the violations and make recommendations which may include addressing those violations at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Considered a last resort to seek justice for human rights abuses, the ICC, created in 2002 and located at The Hague, will review war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity (large scale attacks against civilian populations) and crimes of aggression (armed forces of one State against the sovereignty or independence of another State). From 2002 to present, The ICC has opened investigations in 10 countries and has issued three verdicts.
In 2013, UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon launched the Human Rights Up Front initiative with the goal of ensuring the UN system takes early and effective action to prevent and respond to large-scale violations of human rights. Large advocacy organizations such as Amnesty International and Human’s Rights Watch monitor human rights abuses and advance the protection of people’s rights all over the world. Global Washington members are also doing their part to advocate for human rights and bring about justice.
iLEAP’s programs are centered around learning themes of social innovation and leadership and balance personal inquiry and reflection with social action and collaboration. An emphasis on relationship-building and hands-on learning connects participants with influential leaders and innovative organizations from a wide range of sectors including: global health, social media, environmental conservation, youth leadership, sustainable agriculture, human rights, technology and education. iLEAP programs are designed to inspire personal growth, deepen a sense of vocation, spark creativity, advance professional development and lead to social transformation.
The International Rescue Committee provides opportunities for refugees, asylees, victims of human trafficking, survivors of torture, and other immigrants to thrive in America. Each year, thousands of people, forced to flee violence and persecution, are welcomed by the people of the United States into the safety and freedom of America. These individuals have survived against incredible odds. The IRC works with government bodies, civil society actors, and local volunteers to help them translate their past experiences into assets that are valuable to their new communities. In Seattle and other offices across the country, the IRC helps them to rebuild their lives.
OutRight Action International is a leading international human rights organization dedicated to improving the lives of people who experience discrimination or abuse on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. OutRight Action International strengthens the capacity of the LGBT human rights movement worldwide to effectively conduct documentation of LGBT human rights violations and engages in human rights advocacy with partners around the globe.
One of the biggest challenges of working in Myanmar is the lack of trust created by five decades of military rule, in which the law was used as a weapon of control. Lawyers often have limited education, and are not respected in a system in which corruption is not just an add-on, but the very oil that makes the wheels turn. Partners Asia assists local groups in their efforts to fight back and bring fairness back to the justice system. The Rule of Law program works to build capacity and support reform advocacy through both smaller more flexible “action grants” and larger organizational grants, particularly to communities in ethnic and rural areas. In its first two years, the program provided 126 grants to 85 organization.
Seattle International Foundation (SIF) supports worldwide poverty alleviation efforts through grant-making and other activities, with a strategic focus on Mexico and Central America. SIF was founded in 2008 as a supporting organization to Seattle Foundation for the purpose of increasing and enhancing international philanthropy and development from the Pacific Northwest. In addition to grant-making, SIF convenes and partners with organizations from the non-profit, philanthropic, government, and private sectors to address root causes of poverty by piloting and advocating for innovative approaches to improving lives. Since 2008, SIF has granted more than $19 million to 188 high impact organizations in 68 countries, including $11 million in grants to Central America.
The World Justice Project (WJP) is an independent, multidisciplinary organization working to advance the rule of law around the world. Effective rule of law reduces corruption, combats poverty and disease, and protects people from injustices large and small. It is the foundation for communities of peace, equity and opportunity – underpinning development, accountable government and respect for fundamental rights. The WJP engages citizens and leaders from across the globe and from multiple work disciplines to advance the rule of law and seeks to increase public awareness about the foundational importance of rule of law, stimulate policy reforms, and develop practical programs at the community level.
Vista Hermosa Foundation (VHF) was established by Ralph and Cheryl Broetje in 1990 to carry out the mission of “bearing fruit that will last.” In addition to supporting local education programs in the Vista Hermosa community, VHF invests in the development of holistic, sustainable communities in East Africa, India, Haiti, Mexico and the U.S. They focus on community-based initiatives that are people-focused and locally-led. Rather than address needs through projects or inputs, VHF seeks to nurture mindset change. As people are able to embrace their own sense of worth, purpose and agency, build trusting, supportive relationships with those around them, and see available resources differently, they are empowered to affect change in their own lives.
WJP Chief Research Officer Alejandro Ponce provides highlights of the Rule of Law Index results, measuring how well countries adhere to their own laws.
The World Justice Project works to create a more level playing field, starting with the system of laws that determine people’s access to opportunity and equity. “Rule of law” is defined as a system with four universal principles: government, private entities and individuals must be held accountable; laws must be clear, public and equitable; laws must be administered fairly and efficiently; and justice must be delivered by competent and ethical individuals who have the resources to protect their communities.
“Rule of law is broader than human rights,” explained Radha Friedman, Director of Programs for World Justice Project (WJP), a nonprofit located in Washington, D.C. and Seattle, WA. “If the four principles of rule of law are in place in a society, then your human rights should be protected.”
WJP was founded in 2006 by William Neukom, former president of the American Bar Association and general counsel at Microsoft. “(Neukom) realized that not enough people understood the rule of law, how it impacted them and how to become agents of change,” said Friedman. Neukom founded WJP based on two premises: the rule of law is the foundation of peace, opportunity and equity in society; and multidisciplinary collaboration is the most effective way to advance the rule of law. “Traditionally, laws are viewed as the domain of lawyers, judges and police. But issues of safety, governance and justice affect everyone. WJP provides platforms for everyone to come together and generate solutions.”
WJP’s work focuses on three overarching goals: encouraging government reform, either directly or indirectly; inspiring and catalyzing people to create programs on the ground globally that enhance the rule of law; and increasing the understanding and importance of rule of law.
WJP convenes diverse leaders in Senegal to examine Senegal’s scores in the WJP Rule of Law Index.
Friedman explained that the multidisciplinary approach is important because effective rule of law helps reduce corruption, improve public health, enhance education, lift people out of poverty and protect them from injustice. To be most effective, educators, religious leaders, health professionals, business and community leaders all need to come together.
One of the WJP’s first goals was to find a way to measure the rule of law in each country. With the help of a Rule of Law Research Consortium, comprised of scholars from multiple fields producing research on how rule of law affects society, WJP developed the Rule of Law Index, which measures how the rule of law is actually experienced by average citizens in a country. In its first iteration, the index published data for six countries. An updated index will be released online this week, including data from 113 countries. In 2015, WJP also released the Open Government Index, which takes a more detailed look at one of the factors its indicators in the Rule of Law Index.
Friedman explained that, based on data from the Rule of Law Index, WJP holds engagement activities to encourage people to utilize the data for change. One of these activities is convening groups of multidisciplinary actors globally at the World Justice Forum. WJP also holds regional gatherings and recently started working at a country level to address rule of law issues locally. For example, WJP convened community leaders in Malawi — from local grassroots NGOs to the country’s president Joyce Banda — to examine Malawi’s scores in the Rule of Law Index and explore opportunities to improve. The convening inspired a local project, which WJP supported, to harmonize informal and formal justice systems in the country. To date, WJP has convened local leaders in Tunisia, Malawi, Senegal and Indonesia to discuss rule of law issues specific to those countries and design solutions.
WJP grantees “The Peacetones” are teaching musicians how to protect their intellectual property rights in Haiti, Sierra Leone, Brazil, and Kenya.
Another engagement activity is WJP’s World Justice Challenge which grants funding to nontraditional leaders worldwide that are strengthening rule of law. WJP has funded 90 experimental pilot programs in 61 countries, and provided over $1 million in seed grants. Each year, WJP funds approximately 10 new programs to improve justice, led by unorthodox leaders including engineers, athletes, and musicians. “This can be a challenge because, when our grantees are leading a project that may be critical of the government, they can experience a lot of barriers, resistance, and slow progress,” Friedman explained. “Funders don’t usually invest in new ideas or unlikely leaders, so a lot of our grantees tell us that WJP’s seed grant gave them the credibility to seek additional funding.”
“Unlike other organizations that may be better known, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, WJP’s theory of change is not about shaming and blaming governments for not following laws,” said Friedman. “Change does not happen the same way in every country. WJP is trying to contribute impartial data for public discourse so local people can in turn take action.”
World Justice Project will launch its 2016 Rule of Law Index on October 20th, 2016 in cooperation with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Please contact Matt Harman at mharman@worldjusticeproject.org for more information.
Jessica Stern, Executive Director, OutRight Action International
By Amanda Pain
While working as a community organizer for an organization in Philadelphia, Jessica Stern learned an important lesson: no matter how isolated you feel, you can find community anywhere. When the organization utilized international human rights law to advocate for homeless women occupying abandoned buildings in the city, the group found a landless peasant movement in Brazil that was working in similar fashion. Stern, currently Executive Director of OutRight Action International, said being part of this collaboration changed her life.
“I learned that, even if you don’t have community right around you, if you are willing to look far and wide you will always find a friend,” explained Stern. “For isolated LGBTIQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Questioning) communities, it is important to be able to access community anywhere it’s available to you. That’s what we do at OutRight — connect grassroots organizations to resources.”
After her experience in Philadelphia, Stern found herself drawn to human rights advocacy work. In 2000, she received the Ralph J. Bunche Human Rights Fellowship at Amnesty International USA where she researched domestic human rights abuses experienced by the LGBTQ community. In 2004, Stern became the first researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW) to focus solely on LGBTQ human rights abuses. She explained that it was difficult work because mainstream human rights organizations paid little attention to LGBTQ issues up to that point. Her work involved persuading the LGBTQ community to trust HRW to take on their issues, and changing the internal culture at HRW to more deeply commit to and advocate for the LGBTQ community.
Mainstream human rights organizations haven’t always helped when it comes to awareness of LGBTIQ human rights abuses. OutRight, established in 1990 as the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), was created in part to encourage Amnesty International to include LGBTQ human rights abuses in its platform. “OutRight was among the first to take on these larger organizations and demand they recognize LGBTQ rights,” explained Stern. “You can’t get governments to understand the concept of universality of human rights if the advocates themselves don’t include everyone. Thankfully, we and many others in the movement have been successful in changing mainstream organizations’ discourse.”
Stern has served as OutRight’s Executive Director since 2012 and has already accomplished several of her goals. She grew the budget by 100%, raised funds to have a second full-time staff member working at the UN (OutRight is the only LGBTIQ organization in the world focused on UN headquarters), and acquired consultative status for OutRight with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the UN. In its 25-year history, OutRight has helped increase the number of LGBTIQ community organizations and brought them together to advocate for LGBTIQ rights; helped produce open dialogue with governments to discuss LGBTIQ rights, laws and public policy; and helped produce a normative shift in international human rights discourse.
“I have worked in mainstream organizations and they trained me well,” said Stern. “But any vulnerable group needs their community members speaking for them, and not routed through an organization that is not wholly committed to their issues. I have been very grateful to come to work for OutRight, an organization led by LGBTIQ people with the single-minded focus of advocating for the rights of LGBTIQ people around the world.”
Stern’s next goal for OutRight is to develop a Research Action Task Force. “One of the struggles we have is producing credible data that reflects our community’s reality,” explained Stern. She wants her team to gather data on human rights violations and discrimination towards LGBTIQ people to help influence public policy in every country. “The idea is to go from micro research projects that we and our partners have been doing, and start aggregating that data at the global level,” she said. “I hope this will be my legacy at OutRight. By contributing to knowledge production, we will have a clearer picture of the problems that our community faces.” Stern is able to tackle this project because a private donor has pledged to match funds that OutRight raises over a four-year period.
While Stern’s work has allowed her to travel all over the world investigating human rights violations, the country that has influenced her the most is Iraq. “I’ve traveled to Iraq multiple times and, when I first went in 2013, I couldn’t find LGBTIQ organizations or any organizations advocating for LGBTIQ rights,” Stern explained. “Over the years, I have seen the most amazing development in Iraq with LGBTIQ community members organizing and advocating for themselves. Watching them find their footing as a movement is the greatest thing in the world to witness.”
Stern is optimistic about the future of LGBTIQ rights. “I have been doing this work for 15 years, and every year we experience bigger setbacks than I thought possible, and more progress than I could have dreamt of,” she said. Like many NGO leaders, her ultimate goal is to put herself out of business, but she knows there is still much work to be done. “In my lifetime, I know I will see major progress, we already have,” Stern exclaimed. “If I can tell you that I know about LGBTIQ organizing in Iraq, I am telling you that I think anything is possible.”
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A view of the convoy as Major General Robert Mood, head of the newly established U.N. Supervision Mission in Syria, leads a delegation to the Khalidiyyeh neighborhood of Homs to meet opposition members. Governments and donors must take a transformational resilience approach to Syria’s refugee crisis. Photo by: Nadine Kaddoura / United Nations
The Syrian crisis has shaken an entire region and been at the epicenter of a global displacement crisis for the past five years. This crisis has turned some 20 million children, families and communities into refugees and 40 million into internally displaced persons within their own countries, according to UNHCR.
The humanitarian community has been under massive strain to deal with this global crisis. The cracks of this strain are evident in a string of significantly under-resourced humanitarian appeals across fragile states, including Syria and the regional response.
By Bill Clapp, co-founder of Global Washington and Seattle International Foundation
and Dan O’Neill, co-founder of Mercy Corps
More than 65 million people today, more than one out of every hundred on the planet, are on the run as refugees or otherwise displaced from their homes and communities. More than half are children.
These are stunning numbers, representing a refugee crisis the likes of which the world hasn’t seen since World War II. But this crisis also represents an opportunity for all of us living in comparative safety and wealth to take actions that truly embody our values and responsibilities as global citizens.
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Land is a feminist issue. This is something Tzili Mor, director of 
“Law can be powerful, and the understanding of the law and how to use it can be transformative,” Mor said. “We saw that power just last week with legal action against the refugees and immigrant ban.” She was drawn to being a bridge between a complex legal system and those who needed support to access their rights. Mor, who taught law students in the US and abroad, said she enjoyed watching her students realize the core, creative power of law to reinforce human rights and constitutional values.
WASHINGTON October 25, 2016 — Grameen Foundation and 
While working as a community organizer for an organization in Philadelphia, Jessica Stern learned an important lesson: no matter how isolated you feel, you can find community anywhere. When the organization utilized international human rights law to advocate for homeless women occupying abandoned buildings in the city, the group found a landless peasant movement in Brazil that was working in similar fashion. Stern, currently Executive Director of 
Stern has served as OutRight’s Executive Director since 2012 and has already accomplished several of her goals. She grew the budget by 100%, raised funds to have a second full-time staff member working at the UN (OutRight is the only LGBTIQ organization in the world focused on UN headquarters), and acquired 
Stern is optimistic about the future of LGBTIQ rights. “I have been doing this work for 15 years, and every year we experience bigger setbacks than I thought possible, and more progress than I could have dreamt of,” she said. Like many NGO leaders, her ultimate goal is to put herself out of business, but she knows there is still much work to be done. “In my lifetime, I know I will see major progress, we already have,” Stern exclaimed. “If I can tell you that I know about LGBTIQ organizing in Iraq, I am telling you that I think anything is possible.”
