Empowering Hope: Join the IRC Co-Sponsorship Program in Seattle and Spokane
Posted on August 2, 2023.
By Lidet Gezahegne, Community Sponsorship Coordinator, IRC
Photo: Andrew Oberstadt for the IRC. Jacqueline stands outside her home with her son, Zoe who is one. Jacqueline Uwumeremyi, 43, fled the Democratic Republic of Congo to South Africa in 1998 because of escalating violence. She and her children were resettled in Boise by the IRC in October 2018. There she was welcomed by the local church community who helped Jacqueline navigate American customs and culture. Today, Jacqueline works as an interpreter, speaking five languages, and she is now the one helping other refugees adapt to their new community.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) Co-Sponsorship Program is a remarkable initiative that allows ordinary people to make a profound impact on the lives of newly arrived refugees.
This program sets a precedent for how communities can come together to create a nurturing environment, offer hope, stability, and solidarity, ensuring a smoother transition, and brighter future for those fleeing from difficult circumstances. Continue Reading
The Hidden Risks for Refugee and Displaced Women
Posted on August 2, 2023.
By Women’s Link Worldwide
Czarny Protest| Credit: Iga Lubczańska © Licensed under CC BY 2.0
At Women’s Link Worldwide, we seek to highlight the ways in which women, girls, and gender diverse people – existing at the intersection of varied marginalizations – uniquely live the refugee and migrant experience. We’ve borne witness to how their gender plays a role in their risk of trafficking, sexual violence, inadequate responses to their reproductive health needs, and other human rights violations. Continue Reading
Pangea Giving Joins Forces with Global Washington
(Seattle, WA – July 31, 2023) Global Washington (GlobalWA), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to support the global development community in Washington State, announced today that Pangea Giving, a Seattle-based giving circle operating since 2003, will become a program of GlobalWA starting August 1, 2023. The merger of the two organizations will create an unparalleled platform for global philanthropy and strategies to improve lives in low- and middle-income countries.
As a program of GlobalWA, Pangea will be able to increase its member engagement, capacity, educational activities, partner relations, and programs in Seattle. For GlobalWA, having Pangea as part of its growing number of programs increases the ability for GlobalWA member organizations to co-create and partner with organizations based outside the U.S. for increased impact, and will create additional avenues of involvement for philanthropists. All with the ultimate vision to create a more equitable, healthy, and prosperous world.
“This is an exciting moment for both organizations,” said Kristen Dailey, Executive Director of Global Washington. “We will have enhanced services, educational events, and opportunities for co-creation that will include more diverse perspectives and support localization for better outcomes. Merging with Pangea also builds on our work with our Women of the World program that supports female philanthropists who care about global issues.”
GlobalWA board member Jane Meseck is also looking forward to new opportunities, “GlobalWA members will now have more ways to collaborate with Pangea grantees and learn from in-country examples for global philanthropy. It also aligns beautifully with our new strategic plan, expanding our learning network to an impact network.”
“It’s a win-win agreement,” said Janet Pearson, Board President of Pangea. “When we formed Pangea in 2003 with the vision to promote more direct and positive international engagement, we could not have imagined a better outcome now 20 years later. By joining forces with GlobalWA we will be able to fulfill our mission even better and reach more individuals who want to join Pangea. And, this is really exciting and necessary, especially with the many challenges grassroots organizations and communities in the Global South face today.” Pearson then adds, “It satisfies our need for expanding grant development, partner relations, and Pangea member support.”
Pangea’s branding and name will be maintained as a program of GlobalWA. A Pangea Advisory Council will be formed within GlobalWA to continue the vetting, recommendation, and evaluation of grants. The GlobalWA board will have ultimate fiduciary responsibility and final approval of grants, and one Pangea member would become a GlobalWA board member.
For any questions about this announcement, please email Joel Meyers, Director of Communications at comms@globalwa.org.
Learn more about the Pangea Giving program.
ABOUT GLOBAL WASHINGTON
Global Washington supports non-profit organizations, businesses, foundations, and academic institutions in Washington state working to improve lives in low and middle income countries. We connect, promote, and strengthen our members, increasing their impact and advancing a vibrant, innovative, multi-stakeholder network. Our work is driven by the desire to create a more equitable, healthy, and prosperous world.
ABOUT PANGEA GIVING
Pangea Giving is a giving circle that gives their members and supporters direct, thoughtful, and effective ways to help grassroots organizations in the Global South to improve the quality of life in their communities. Their work includes leveraging resources, increasing visibility, sharing best practices, and advocating around education, global engagement, and foreign policy.
July 2023 Newsletter
Welcome to the July 2023 issue of the Global Washington newsletter.
IN THIS ISSUE
Letter from our Executive Director
Over the past two years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people forcibly displaced around the world. 19 million people left their homes in 2022 due to conflict, violence, climate change, and other factors making their living situation unbearable. This brought the total number of refugees and displaced people to 108.4 million – a staggering number of people – and solutions for support and resettlement are becoming increasingly challenging.
However, I am hopeful that refugees are finding safe places and services due in part to Global Washington members. This includes emergency responses in places such as Ukraine and long-standing crises in regions such as Yemen and Myanmar, and ongoing programs for settlement and self-reliance. The expertise and resources that our GlobalWA members are bringing to bear is admirable and is certainly making a difference. Read more about these efforts below.
Several of the programs described below are done in partnership with one or more GlobalWA members. Collaboration and building trusting relationships are what GlobalWA is all about. Our network is growing stronger each year as we respond to member needs, make valued connections, and promote innovative approaches to global development. We are extremely excited about our new strategic plan and centering the principles of co-creation throughout our work. We will have new member offerings and new member rates as of August 1st, 2023 to better reflect the growth and quality we aim to provide. You can read more about our new member benefits here. If your organization is interested in becoming a new GlobalWA member, please contact us at info@globalwa.org.
Kristen Dailey
Executive Director
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Issue Brief
From Survival to Self-Reliance – GlobalWA Members Untangle the Complexities of the Refugee Crisis
By Aneesh Chatterjee
Afghan children. Photo: Pixabay
Reducing inequalities for all, the central pillar of Sustainable Development Goal 10, is a sentiment exemplified in no small part by efforts to address the rampant and growing refugee crisis. The lack of access to resources, whether they be vital for survival or instrumental in economic success, is a persistent issue present in refugee communities the world over. The number of people displaced around the world due to war, human rights abuses, and persecution reached up to 108.4 million as of 2022, according to the UNHCR’s Global Trends Report. Increasingly strict refugee admission laws have exacerbated the disaster, highlighting a stark pushback against the acceptance of displaced persons.
From emergency relief to education, training and resettlement, GlobalWA members engage with the refugee crisis through unique and impactful interventions, shrinking the gap between these communities and the resources they need.
Building stability: Vital provisions for displaced communities
Displaced populations are at risk of malnutrition, violence, disease, and starvation. To address the lack of crucial survival needs, GlobalWA members have worked to provide effective, essential resources for refugees across the world.
For CARE, providing access to nutrition, sanitation, and healthcare is paramount when addressing the refugee crisis. With programs across the world focusing on multiple populations of displaced persons, CARE conducts exemplary work in providing vital resources.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), CARE has provided food rations, sanitation resources for women and disease and gender-based violence prevention training for local refugee communities. In Bangladesh, CARE has helped bolster the community’s healthcare resilience by building an isolation center during the COVID-19 pandemic, capable of housing up to 40 people and created for the Rohingya refugee population. Solar-powered, equipped with medicine and oxygen support, and staffed by doctors, the facility has been instrumental in servicing the local refugee community during the pandemic.
In Venezuela, CARE has taken vital steps to address the rampant displacement of nearly 3 million people due to rising hunger, political violence, crime rates, and inflation. With host nations like Ecuador requiring refugees to have Venezuelan passports to enter, and victims housed in Columbia facing xenophobic violence from locals, refugee populations are at risk of human trafficking, violence, and malnutrition. In 2018, CARE provided cash vouchers, SIM cards and public transportation tickets to displaced communities across Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, connecting them with tangible, practical resources to provide relief from hunger, isolation, and a lack of communication. Refugees in Peru were also connected with shelters and health clinics, while those in Columbia were granted access to legal counsel and other necessary information resources. CARE has taken similar approaches in assisting refugees from Syria, providing food kits, winter survival equipment and access to reproductive health support for women for up to 4.5 million displaced persons in Syria. Beyond provisions, CARE has also helped refugee communities build resilience with agricultural production support, paid work, microfinancing, and access to clean water.
Other GlobalWA members are working to address lack of access to a myriad of specific resources. Adequate water access is a priority for Oxfam America, exemplified by their work in Ethiopia. To supply clean water to refugee camps, Oxfam’s implementation of a 100-kilometer-long pipe network, drawing water from Baro River, treats and directs nearly 1500 cubic meters of water a day. Americares has focused on increasing access to medicine and healthcare for Ukrainian refugees, partnering with 77 local institutions and providing up to $84 million in grants to facilitate medical aid shipments.
Beyond preserving health and ensuring survival, other members focus on building structural resilience in refugee communities, teaching self-sufficiency, and ensuring sustainable economic engagement.
Investing in self-reliance: Training and literacy
Certain GlobalWA members focus on providing refugee populations with the skills, resource access and financial acumen required for self-reliance and long-term stability. To that end, organizations have prioritized financial training and employment as key areas of focus in addressing the refugee crisis.
The Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) highlighted the work of Starbucks in joining the pledge to hire and train 250,000 refugees in Europe, in the wake of displacement caused by the invasion of Ukraine. Announced at the 2023 Tent European Business Summit on World Refugee Day, June 20th, Starbucks is joining Amazon, Accenture, Adidas, Indeed, Randstad, ManpowerGroup, and others in providing real employment to Ukrainian refugees –numbering at nearly 6 million people displaced across Europe.
Starbucks alone has pledged to provide skills training to 86,000 refugees and direct employment to over 13,000. Through their Refugee Employment Program, Starbucks has committed to training Ukrainian refugees in specific retail industry skills, including interview proficiency and customer service. Starbucks’ history with refugee assistance spans back to 2017 at the inception of the Refugee Employment Program, founded on the goal of hiring 10,000 refugees by 2022.
Providing financial assistance to displaced communities has been a cornerstone of development toward the reduction of inequalities for refugees, enabling a tangible distribution of access to the economy, to training resources, and investment opportunities. To that end, the Refugees, Innovations, Self-Reliance and Empowerment (RISE) initiative is a 2019 project by Opportunity International to provide financial literacy to refugees, engage them with the local economy and build long-term resilience and self-reliance for communities in Uganda. Host to over 1.5 million refugees from multiple neighboring states, with a majority coming from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the government of Uganda has developed response frameworks to allow equal access to sanitation, education and healthcare for refugees. Utilizing cooperation from local institutions, the RISE project partnered with Opportunity Bank Uganda and FINCA to deliver extensive financial literacy services.
Within a year of the program’s implementation, Opportunity International had trained 950 refugees in financial literacy, with 90% of them actively saving their earnings. 200 refugees also reported to be writing financial diaries, which Opportunity International reports has helped motivate participants to earn and save, develop mindsets built for sustainable finance and self-regulation, and worked as a vital window into the personal experiences of refugees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In June, 2023, Opportunity International entered into a two-year partnership with Rural Inclusion (RI) to use RI’s proprietary Ostrii platform to deliver financial literacy training for populations targeted by RISE (in a new phase of the project dubbed Refugees, Innovations, Self-Reliance and Empowerment—Transition, or RISE-T).
Other GlobalWA members have built additional sector-specific services and resources that address key necessities for refugee communities beyond survival. The Kiva World Refugee Fund, co-founded by USA for UNCHR, finances small businesses operated by refugees – a critical step toward financial freedom, growing beyond simply meeting the basics for survival. Launched in 2017, the Fund provides refugees with credit, financial counsel and zero-interest loans, enabling them to climb out of crisis and participate in the economy. The Global Mentorship Initiative aims to connect refugee candidates with professional networks, train them in digital skills, build resumes and teach other transferrable workplace skills to ensure career success for candidates.
Beyond financial and educational support, the full scope of refugee assistance can be seen in organizations built specifically to address the increasingly complex crisis of displacement.
Broad-spectrum: Dedicated institutions for refugees
Alongside NGOs with multi-sector focuses and specialized branches for refugee support, certain GlobalWA members are built on the foundation of helping refugees across the world restabilize and thrive. With efficacious branches in multiple areas of development, these organizations deliver rounded and comprehensive programs.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC), created to help people recover from disasters and displacement, provides programs across multiple sectors of focus, having reached over 32.9 million people worldwide. Providing structural resilience, the IRC inculcates safety training in schools and workplaces, ensuring women and children are protected from violence and abuse, and promoting healthy practices for safety and awareness around communities recovering from disasters. The IRC’s comprehensive healthcare goals focus on empowering locals in treating and preventing pneumonia, malaria, malnutrition-related fatalities, and other conditions targeting children. Advocacy services connect people with health insurance, provide access to the proper doctors and necessary facilities, and teach self-care in the long term for lifelong conditions. In the education sector, the IRC works with teachers and parents to ensure a nurturing and supportive learning environment, at school and at home. The provision of reliable and high-quality instructional material and other school facilities accompany their focus on building an enriching educational space for refugees.
In addition to these focuses, the IRC also provides financial assistance and extensive advocacy and empowerment services to ensure that refugees are not denied resources, connections, and opportunities.
USA for UNHCR is another organization built to reincorporate displaced persons into society, with a similar multi-sector approach. Their emergency relief efforts, cash provisions alongside other financial assistance, and education programs are accompanied by their focus on innovative, adaptable technologies. The remote Azraq refugee camp in Jordan was the first to run on solar power in 2017, allowing for nighttime operations, food refrigeration, and prolonged light availability, bringing predicted energy savings at $1.5 million per year – one example of USA for UNHCR’s successful impact in crises using versatile innovation. In the education sector, the organization had helped up to 250,000 refugee children successfully enroll in school by 2018, and had helped 4000 refugees win the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative scholarship, opening up opportunities to study at universities across the world.
In addition to developmental programs, USA for UNHCR also helps refugees resettle in the United States. A mentorship program called Hello Neighbor matches newly-settled refugees with locals, providing guidance and cultural acceptance for newcomers. Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) provides free legal counsel for child refugees who arrive unaccompanied, and the Refugee Congress is a delegation with representatives from all 50 states who advocate for refugees in a joint venture.
From preventing starvation at a grassroots level to reshaping mindsets and institutions, NGOs have worked to reduce inequalities for refugees at every level of engagement, across multiple sectors. A collaborative approach that utilizes the specialized focuses of these organizations, alongside the joint expertise of comprehensive refugee-dedicated NGOs, presents as the most reliable path to development in the refugee crisis.
In addition to the above organizations, the following GlobalWA members are working to help refugees, immigrants, and internally displaced persons through their programs in communities where they work.
CARE
CARE is dedicated to supporting refugees and people displaced by war, disaster and drought around the world. For those fleeing crises, CARE is there to provide urgently needed support. In places like Ukraine and Syria and across the borders where so many have fled, CARE distributes relief supplies such as food baskets, water, tents, hygiene and baby kits, dignity kits for the elderly, and kitchen sets. During harsh winters, we support families with mattresses, blankets, floor coverings, and children’s clothing. CARE’s and our partners also work with health clinics, and we place a special focus on the needs of women and girls, ensuring access to maternal and reproductive health care.
During protracted conflicts like the one in Syria, there is also an urgent need to rebuild livelihoods and encourage social cohesion and resilience to help people cope with a long-term crisis. Together with partners, CARE has developed programs that contribute to strengthening the resilience of communities affected by the crisis. This includes providing families with early recovery and livelihoods support, such as agricultural production, cash for work, women’s economic empowerment, microfinance, and psychosocial support programming.
ChildFund
ChildFund International promotes children’s development at each stage of life to ensure infants and young children are healthy and secure, children are educated and confident and youth are skilled and involved in their communities. ChildFund reaches over 10.5 million people across 24 countries – including the United States – through work with local partner organizations, governments, corporations and individuals. We work to strengthen child protection-focused institutions and policies by combining our programs with efforts to influence local and national leaders to prioritize the protection and well-being of children and youth. Approximately 200,000 Americans support ChildFund’s work through sponsoring individual children and investing in our programs.
Concern Worldwide US
Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty, whatever it takes. Concern believes that no human potential should go unfulfilled due to poverty, disaster, or crisis. Since 1968, Concern has saved countless lives – reaching 36.9 million people in 2020 alone – while working alongside communities to develop programs to help break the cycle of poverty, for good.
Covenant House International
Covenant House International builds a bridge to hope for young people facing homelessness and survivors of trafficking through unconditional love, absolute respect, and relentless support. Its doors are open 24/7 in 31 cities across six countries: Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Canada and the U.S. Its holistic programs empower young people to rise and overcome adversity, today and in the future.
Global Mentorship Initiative
Every college student, refugee, and early career candidates deserves a champion. One person to guide them as they navigate the transition to their first career. Through a structured, online, one-to-one mentorship with a business professional, we are connecting mentees to employment, transforming communities, and building a brighter tomorrow.
Global Rights Advocacy
Academics, defenders, immigrants and innocent persons can be unjustly detained or disappeared. GRA takes their cases to the United Nations or the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights.
Defending indigenous lands, the environment or immigrant rights could trigger retaliation. GRA represents defenders before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and the United Nations.
For years we documented human rights violations at the NWDC and reported direct voices from detention to the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission. We work to end immigration detention and partner with La Resistencia.
International Rescue Committee
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people in 40+ countries whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Since 1976, the IRC in Seattle has helped thousands of refugees, immigrants, and survivors of human trafficking to rebuild their lives in Washington State.
Jewish Humanitarian Response
JHR has been active since August 2021, providing relief, rescue, and resettlement to vulnerable Afghans facing inhumane living conditions and threats under the Taliban.
Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, Mercy Corps partners to put bold solutions into action—helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.
Operation Snow Leopard
Operation Snow Leopard has established an optimized network of Strategic Partners to support Proven Enablers to bring home from Afghanistan every US Citizen and Legal Permanent Resident (LPR), the immediate and extended family members of US citizen and LPRs, and our Afghan allies and partners who served the United States Armed Services faithfully as Afghan special operations, interpreters, security specialists, and intelligence analysts. The situation in Afghanistan is dire and their lives are in our hands, thus we will honor the promise our nation made to protect them.
Opportunity International
In June 2019, Opportunity International launched a pilot project in Uganda to help integrate and financially include refugee and host communities, promote self-reliance among refugees, and stimulate local economic activity in refugee settlements and surrounding communities.
The program began with extensive listening in the Nakivale Settlement. Researchers asked questions about refugees’ financial needs and behaviors, then used this information to develop tools and training designed specifically for these communities. By May 2020, 950 refugees had received financial literacy training and 90% reported that they were actively saving their earnings.
Building on that initial success, we continued to listen to the specific needs of this vulnerable population. With a primary focus on financial inclusion and access, we expanded to services to the Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement – as well as urban refugees populations in Kampala and Mbarra.
Overall, this initiative has created 1,194 jobs and improved 1,560 jobs for refugee youth. We established a branch of Opportunity Bank Uganda Ltd. in Nakivale, and it was officially opened by HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, in October 2022. In April 2023, we began a two-year pilot in partnership with FINCA International to help strengthen the capacity of Early Childhood Development centers in refugee settlements.
OutRight Action International
OutRight Action International is the leading US-based non-profit fighting for human rights for LGBTIQ people globally, especially in places where they face extreme violence, discrimination, and persecution. OutRight monitors and documents human rights violations, supports grassroots activists on the frontlines, and holds governments accountable at the United Nations and beyond.
Spreeha Foundation
Spreeha strives to break the cycle of poverty for underprivileged people by providing healthcare, education, and skills training. Spreeha envisions life without poverty where underprivileged people are empowered to improve their quality of life.
Women’s Link Worldwide
At every level of response to the crises that force people to leave their homes and seek refuge – from authorities setting border policies, to humanitarian groups working to respond, to media that is covering the issues – the ways that women are affected and migrate are overlooked. Issues of sexual violence, trafficking, reproductive health needs, and others remain unaddressed, increasing situations of vulnerability and rights violations. As long as efforts to protect the rights of refugee and migrant women lack this crucial gender perspective, responses will leave out the needs of half the population.
Women’s Link Worldwide works on trafficking, reproductive rights, and refugee and migrant women’s rights in East Africa, Europe, and Latin America. With our partners we identify rights violations and use legal strategies and advocacy to confront the lack of respect for the rights of migrant women. While we litigate single lawsuits, we structure them in a way that seeks changes in the larger systems that protect the rights of hundreds and thousands of other migrant women and girls. For example, our case before the European Court of Human Rights resulted in the end of policies that separated migrant women and their children by the Spanish government. Our client was separated from her son when she was en route to Europe from Africa. Despite having completed all procedures, child protective services did not take any action to reunite her with her son.
Our fight to protect and expand the rights of women, girls, and gender diverse people is a challenging venture, and is a critical contribution in contexts of mass forced migration.
World Affairs Council
The World Affairs Council advances global understanding and engagement throughout the Puget Sound region.
World Concern
World Concern provides humanitarian assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons to address their immediate needs, promote self-reliance, and support their journey toward finding durable solutions. Leveraging an inclusive approach that emphasizes resilience, World Concern provides aid to help mitigate the adverse effects of prolonged displacement, such as aid dependency and negative coping strategies.
World Concern, for example, has supported the refugees in Cox Bazaar in Bangladesh with protection systems that prioritize the most vulnerable people among the affected populations in identifying and mitigating risks and strengthening resilience.
World Concern has supported the Rohingya refugees with appropriate materials for making decent shelters and provided them with hygiene materials and cooking fuel to enhance their living conditions. World Concern has also partnered with others to ensure the refugees receive medical care and meet their food and nutritional needs. Among the youth, World Concern supports their mental health and acquisition of vocational skills.
Women are equipped to start income-generating activities while families are trained to reduce gender-based violence and women and child exploitation and abuse. Though the Rohingya crisis is becoming one of the major neglected humanitarian crises, World Concern continues to support the refugees and host communities by offering protection, education, WASH, and livelihood interventions.
World Justice Project
The World Justice Project 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. The World Justice Project conducts survey research and engagement activities in 125 countries and maintains a global network of strategic partners.
World Vision
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the root causes of poverty and injustice.
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Organization Profile
Organization Profile: Better Than a Movie: Operation Snow Leopard (Afghanistan)
By Tyler LePard
Afghan boy and family. Photo: ArmyAmber/Pixabay
Imagine that your country is in turmoil and you may need to flee your home. You’ll have to leave parts of your family, your livelihood, your community, and your belongings. Where can you go? When is the right time to leave? How will you get there? Maybe the fighting isn’t too close yet, maybe your city won’t fall. And then maybe it’s too late to get to safety. Or maybe your partner or child is too sick. Who can help? For many people around the world, this is a very real scene from their lives.
In the months leading up to August of 2021, it became clear that Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul was going to fall to the dangerous regime of the Taliban. Many of the veterans associated with the nonprofit group Veterans in Media & Entertainment began to come together to figure out how to evacuate and relocate at-risk Afghans–women leaders, human rights defenders, journalists, interpreters, athletes, musicians, filmmakers, activists, and other vulnerable minorities as the country fell apart.
Veterans form Operation Snow Leopard
This multigenerational group that includes veterans from the Vietnam War to the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars formed Operation Snow Leopard (OSL) with a mission to facilitate the safe evacuation and resettlement of 2,500 high-risk Afghans, primarily women and children on their manifest. It started with veterans who work in Hollywood as writers, directors, actors, producers, editors, accountants, cybersecurity techs, and logistics experts. A few of the people involved are social impact producer Bonnie Abaunza (Blood Diamond, Hotel Rwanda), writer/director Rebecca Murga (Apple TV’s Swagger), actor Caitlin Basset (NBC’s Quantum Leap), led by writer/producer Karen Kraft.
Bob Ness, a life-long humanitarian and OSL senior advisor, brought OSL several key supporters such as Phil Kaplan Fund, the Jackson Foundation, and the Peg and Rick Young Foundation. Bob also introduced the team to Global Washington.
The all-volunteer group has grown to include nurses, pilots, database builders, grad students, and other civilians. There are now nearly 100 volunteers who are part of OSL. They are a team of Christians, Jews, and Muslims from 10 countries who share a vision of solidarity and friendship across all religions and countries around the world.
“On September 1, 2021, over 20 million Afghan women and girls were effectively rendered voiceless under the new regime. We were driven to action by our commitment to keep the promise our nation made, so we will be their voice. This may seem like someone else’s problem, but it’s not, this belongs to all of us because this is a tragic human rights issue, with severe security and economic impacts.” – Karen Kraft, Operation Snow Leopard volunteer, documentary producer and former U.S. Army Officer.
Making progress over the past two years
Initially the main barrier was the mass chaos in Afghanistan and lack of guidance from the governments. No one had a plan. Many people and organizations wanted to help. OSL started calling people they knew at different agencies and embassies for guidance, finding people with relevant skillsets like former diplomats, building relationships, and learning the language of diplomacy and refugee resettlement so that they could figure out how to move Afghans to a safer place.
“When OSL sought to move Afghan Parliamentarians and senators, their Senior Advisor and former US Congressman Dr. Brian Baird of Washington stepped in and connected us to human rights champions like the incredible Juan de Dios Cincunegui, the Deputy Director of the School of Government at Universidad Austral in Argentina. De Dios connected us to the International Parliamentary Union to find support and grew our global circle” explained Kraft. “Meanwhile, OSL’s legal advisors, Christopher Dempsey, a veteran who served in Afghanistan and later as an attorney for President Obama’s Department of Justice, advocates with high-level DHS officials.
Jason Hatch (left), OSL volunteer, and Juan de Dios Cincunegui of Argentina at the 146th International Parliamentary Assembly in Bahrain.
OSL also works with many other nonprofit and faith groups as they have built an underground railroad helping legally move people out of Afghanistan to safety. Retired US Army officer and former diplomat, Jason Hatch, runs their Afghan Digest, a free online publication providing open-source daily analysis with the input from dozens of Afghans.
As OSL secured international connections, countries like Canada and Argentina stepped up to help, and more people joined the effort, they made progress in evacuating and relocating Afghans. OSL made a commitment for a 2-year mission, thinking that’s all it would take. But, of course, Afghanistan wasn’t the only world crisis. In February of 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, which moved the whole Afghan issue to the backburner. Without the constant attention, it got harder to put pressure on government officials who were now pulled in new directions. OSL had to learn to continually adapt to world stage changes and also to learn how to fit into existing programs with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Now, OSL has dropped the 2-year time timeframe.
OSL has achieved a lot in two years: they have evacuated and relocated more than 1,800 at-risk Afghans to date. They aim to evacuate at least 300 more families by early 2024.
Dost’s story
Dost Safi works as the Director of Security and Logistics for Operation Snow Leopard and has recently become an American citizen. He served as a U.S. Special Forces interpreter in Afghanistan for nearly a decade. He now leads a team of nearly 40 Afghan women and men in OSL helping to evacuate and resettle doctors, judges, athletes, and professors, as well as artists, musicians, and even a prominent actress. “I suffer for my people. I know the pain, stress, and anxiety of losing your home. I don’t want others to feel the same. The more you help others, the more inner peace you find, and the more you honor God,” said Dost.
Dost Safi leading a breakout session of Afghans sharing ideas on how to continue the evacuation of their families and friends in dire straits. Global Washington Goalmakers Conference, 2022.
Dost attended the 2022 Global Washington summit with four of his Afghan colleagues. “I was amazed by the diverse group of Americans and nonprofits all just wanting to help others. It’s humbling and encouraging to witness this goodness. I don’t know if the people of Washington understand how special it is to see this kind of gathering,” Dost shared.
Sam’s story
“After the Taliban’s takeover, I lost my home and hopes within a few weeks, even being alive seemed like a weak possibility. By evacuating me and my family to safety, OSL gave me the hope to build a home in America and the chance to live in safety,” said Sam, a young woman and recent Afghan college graduate.
“I now work as an Admin Assistant at the Mayo Clinic. I am a board member of a local legal nonprofit while serving as a human rights commissioner in the county where I live. I have been through a lot, but now I am safe and it is a reminder to make the world at least a penny better, and ensure no one will ever experience what I have overcome.”
Sam continued, “Thanks to OSL, and people involved in our evacuation, now, I am alive, hopeful about the future, and have somewhere to call home.”
Sayed’s story
“We are very blessed to be helped by OSL getting my family safely to the USA,” said Sayed Zewary, a former Afghan Army officer and linguist. “We came to San Diego, CA, where I found our biggest Afghan community and friends. My father started working in a retail store while taking care of my mother. My sisters are thriving: one is attending law school this fall, another graduated from high school, and the youngest is still in high school. This is something none of their girlfriends still living in Afghanistan can do under the Taliban today.”
Sayed Zewary (3rd from left) with his family and OSL Senior Advisor, attorney Jill Olen, and OSL Volunteer Marvin Heinze in San Diego, California.
Sayed currently works in an international organization as a coordinator for a program that serves asylees and survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence. “The attacks on women rights around the world will only stop if men step up and help. It is an honor to serve this way,” said Sayed.
Get involved and support Afghans
It doesn’t stop with evacuating people from Afghanistan. OSL gives monthly support to more than 200 Afghans in Islamabad, Pakistan. They also care for many other Afghans still in-country, which requires complex operational planning and support. They work hard to raise funds every month for lodging, food, medical needs from colds to pregnancies to heart issues, and documentation assistance such as passports and visas.
“I’d like to throw down a challenge to people reading this article: This is hard volunteer work, but it’s the most meaningful you’ll ever find. You will find yourself in the trenches with like-minded people. It will renew your spirit. You’ll find yourself super excited to be contributing. Please Get involved today.” – Karen Kraft
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Goalmaker
Elfatih Abdelnabi, Immigration Program Manager, International Rescue Committee
By Amber Cortes
Elfatih Abdelnabi, Immigration Program Manager, International Rescue Committee. Photo: IRC
It started with his own family. Now, Elfatih Abdelnabi helps refugees all over the world reunite with theirs.
Elfatih Abdelnabi never expected he would end up in Seattle. In fact, at first, he didn’t even know where Seattle was.
In 2000, he had started the difficult journey from his home country of Sudan and made it to Egypt, where he applied for refugee status and was awaiting placement with the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
His placement turned out to be in Seattle. This was before the ubiquity of the internet and cell phones, so he looked it up in books, but couldn’t find it.
“It’s because I was focusing on all the famous areas of the U.S.,” he says with a laugh.
When he asked where Seattle was during orientation, and they showed it to him on a map, he was incredulous.
“’What, are you serious? You’re going to take me all the way there?’ And that was exactly my reaction at the time,” says Abdelnabi. “But guess what, here I am! I fell in love with Seattle, actually, I call myself a Seattleite, and now I feel that that cannot live anywhere else.”
Elfatih assisting immigrant refugees in Seattle. Photo: IRC
Abdelnabi was born in Khartoum, Sudan, where he lived an idyllic childhood growing up with his large family of three brothers and three sisters. That is, until June 1989 when the Sudanese Armed Forces, with support from the National Islamic Front, took over the democratically elected government in a coup d’état.
“Our life just turned upside down,” says Abdelnabi. “We used to own a house, a car, we used to go to nice schools, you know, so, exactly that middle class kind of life, but then all of a sudden, when the coup happened, everything changed.”
The new Al-Bashir government banned all political parties, imposed strict dress limitations for women, and eradicated the free press.
Abdelnabi, along with his family, were harassed for their political beliefs and activities. His father lost his job, they lost the house and their family of nine started separating because they couldn’t all be safe in one place.
Once he made it to the United States, Abdelnabi had only one thing on his mind —helping get his family members get there, too.
“So the first thing I did when I immigrated here is start the process to sponsor my mom and dad.”
Abdelnabi managed to get his parents to the states, along with some of his brothers and sisters. All while working multiple jobs to support himself and seeking to complete his education, which had been interrupted by the coup.
One day in 2016, Abdelnabi dropped by the IRC office to check on the status of a family member. As part of his program in Business and Information Technology at Seattle Community College, he needed to fulfill an internship requirement of 150 hours.
That’s when he happened to notice the volunteers there that day.
“That immediately caught my eye. And I was like, I have 150 hours. Do you guys want them? So imagine, from the time I started doing the 150 hours until now, I’m still here; I have not left.”
At IRC, Abdelnabi tried on all the hats—volunteering, interning, and working the front desk— until he found himself “really knowing like everything going on at the IRC.”
Elfatih Abdelnabi, left. Photo: IRC
Eventually, Abdelnabi was offered a position as Immigration Assistant; today his current position is Manager. In his role, Abdelnabi provides direct services to refugees arriving in Seattle and oversees the Immigration department. He is also actively involved with IRC’s new branch in Spokane to start providing effective immigration services, which are in high demand in the area, by hiring, training, and supervising the immigration team.
Because IRC works to support refugees in all areas of their life: education, health, safety and economic empowerment, Abdelnabi’s team of colleagues under the Housing & Development Team also arranges housing logistics for the Seattle co-sponsorship program, which opens up opportunities for volunteers to get involved in IRC.
Immigrations service, says Abdelnabi, is more than just knowing how to fill out an application. “Clients, they come to us from a lot of different backgrounds, and have a lot of different needs, but the same need is always about safety. It is all about family.”
Having been through it, Abdelnabi knows this well. That’s why he is able to bring not only what he’s learned sponsoring his own family to the role, but also the depth of his lived experience as a refugee. This means a lot to his clients, who even call him family.
“It takes a lot of emotions to work with immigration clients. I try to advise my team or my new people, try not to be emotional when listening to their stories, but it is too hard.”
Elfatih Abdelnabi. Photo: IRC
And it also means quickly responding to each global crisis as it unfolds: during the Fall of Kabul in 2021, Abdelnabi woke up to hundreds of emails, and had to pivot fast.
But that moment when he gets to see families reunited at the airport makes it all worthwhile.
“The best reward I have in this job is when people get together, when families come together.”
As a former refugee himself, Abdelnabi wants to fight the stereotypes people may have of refugees. “One of the things that refugees are facing is that they have been discredited—discredited for their accent, for their native language, anything,” says Abdelnabi. “But actually, they prove themselves to be capable, if they are given the chance. You know, they are actually very trustworthy.”
Elfatih Abdelnabi, left. Photo: IRC
And recently on June 20 (World Refugee Day), the IRC launched a campaign sharing stories of refugees as changemakers who contribute to the culture and economies of the countries they end up calling home.
But if you are looking for changemakers, look no further than Elfatih Abdelnabi and his remarkable life path. After enduring his own refugee journey, he went from sponsoring his family to helping families all over the world find safety and a better life.
“What I learned from my own lived experience is what I’m trying to teach people right now.”
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Links for Issue Campaign
Highlighted Social Posts:
World Vision: What is a Refugee?
UNHCR /USA for UNHCR: Global Trends Report 2022 | UNHCR
International Rescue Committee: 110 million people displaced around the world: get the facts | International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Mercy Corps: Stronger together: Local partners provide critical aid in Ukraine and beyond | Mercy Corps
USA for UNHCR: Democratic Republic of the Congo Refugee Crisis Explained | USA for UNHCR (unrefugees.org)
CARE: Displacement continues to disproportionately impact women in the DRC | CARE International (care-international.org)
Concern WorldWide: Emergencies & Refugees | Concern Worldwide (concernusa.org)
Oxfam: Bringing relief to refugees | Oxfam (oxfamamerica.org)
Americares: War in Ukraine | Americares Emergency Response
Covenant House: Youth Migration | Covenant House
Mercy Corps: A big bet on helping refugees build their dreams | Mercy Corps
Opportunity International: Refugees | Opportunity International UK
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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!
Diversity Travel
As an award-winning travel organization for non-profit travel, Diversity Travel specializes in fully integrated travel services for the humanitarian, faith, and NGO sectors. Its non-profit travel experts support with travel arrangements to familiar and more obscure areas of the globe, with access to exclusive and flexible humanitarian airfares.
Diversitytravel.com
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Member Events
September 23: Mona Foundation: MONA 2023 GALA – 11:00am PT
October 6: Agros International: Tierras de Vida 2023 – 6:00pm PT
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Career Center
Administrative & Student Services Coordinator Remote Energy
Director, Business Development Splash International
Grant Writer Splash International
Operations & Administration Manager Amplio Network
Communications Officer The Max Foundation
Cultural Orientation Volunteer International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Airport Pickup Volunteer International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Fund Development Manager Mona Foundation
Grants & Contracts Manager Snow Leopard Trust
Director, Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) HCP Cureblindness
Vice President, Administration & Chief Financial Officer The Max Foundation
Engagement Manager Linksbridge
Trainee Consultant Linksbridge
Climate Engagement Officer FSC Investments & Partnerships
Director of Finance and Operations Seattle International Foundation
Check out the GlobalWA Job Board for the latest openings.
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GlobalWA Events
June 28: Building Bridges to Health: Advancing Global Access to Quality Healthcare – 1pm PT
November 30: VIRTUAL: 2023 Goalmakers Conference
December 7: IN-PERSON: 2023 Goalmakers Conference
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New Endowment for Grant Pool Established
Leslie Grace, March 2009. Photo by Dawnee Dodson, Courtesy University District Museum Without Walls
Pangea’s board of directors recently approved the creation of the Leslie Grace Grant Pool Endowment Fund. Seed funding for the endowment was made possible by a generous gift from the estate of Leslie Grace, as well as from four current Pangea members who expressed interest in contributing to the establishment of the fund. The fund’s initial principal, totaling approximately $70,000, will be invested, and a portion of this new endowment’s income and growth will be used to support Pangea’s grant pool each year.
Leslie Grace was a long-time member, and active in Pangea until her passing on May 1, 2022. The creation of the Leslie Grace Grant Pool Endowment Fund will complement our existing Education and Capacity Building Fund, a separate endowment that was established in 2019 to support Pangea’s member learning and engagement activities.
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Pangea Celebrates 20 Years of Grantmaking
On June 4, 2023, Pangea members and friends gathered at the Mt Baker Community Club to celebrate Pangea’s 20th anniversary. Below is an excerpt from the presentation made at the event by Janet Pearson, Board President.
When I look around the room….my heart is filled with joy. Because we are finally able to come together as a community. The last time we gathered for an annual meeting was in 2019. That seemed like a long time ago! For such a people-oriented group – it’s fair to say that these last few years have been a challenging time.
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The Founding of Pangea
By Allan Paulson, June 4, 2023
At our 20th year anniversary celebration, Allan Paulson, a founding Pangea member, shared his recollection of the early days that formed our giving circle.
In November, 2001, I received an email out of the blue inviting me to come to a discussion about how we could promote better understanding across cultures and countries. This was a few months after the 9/11 attack. One of the disconcerting back stories that emerged focused how much dislike and hatred there was toward Americans, and America in many parts of the world. I decided to go, and found myself in a large conference room high up in the Columbia Tower with 40-50 other people.
The meeting was convened by Martin King, a successful, serial tech entrepreneur who had a deep passion for social justice. “There must be something we can do to promote international understanding and peace, other than bombing brown people,” he said, referring to the start of the war in Afghanistan. It was a very eclectic group of academics, NGO leaders, and philanthropists that Martin and his facilitator Peter Blomquist had scraped from their rolodexes. I learned later that my name came off the registration list of a conference on international giving that Martin and I had recently attended.
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Meeting with Acento leader from Mexico
By Susan Sola, June 15, 2023
Left to right: Sharon Bissell, Lorraine Toly, Paul Silver, Susan Sola, and Christina Marra
Pangea’s Latin America Pod recently hosted a meeting with Sharon Bissell, former executive director of the MacArthur Foundation in Mexico. Sharon is now co-chair of Acento (www.acento.org), the MacArthur Foundation’s social justice and human rights legacy in Mexico.
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May/June 2023 Newsletter
Welcome to the May/June 2023 issue of the Global Washington newsletter.
IN THIS ISSUE
Letter from our Executive Director
The Pacific Northwest is known for innovation, technology, engineering, and an awareness to mitigate the damaging effects of climate change. That ethos is evident in our Global Washington members who are creating climate solutions that increase food security and reach the Sustainable Development Goal 2 of Zero Hunger.
This includes sustainable and resilient agriculture that are both high-tech and low-tech informed by proven indigenous knowledge. Read more about Global Washington members working on these issues below. To learn more about technology solutions to agriculture and land management, join us at a virtual event on June 21st featuring DE Design.
Global Washington is also hosting and co-hosting a number of up-coming events:
Hope to see you soon at one of our events!
Kristen Dailey
Executive Director
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Issue Brief
Rebuilding Agriculture for Growing Hunger | Sector Innovations in the Wake of Climate Change
By Aneesh Chatterjee
Water irrigation valves on an African farm. Photo: Toodlingstudio/Pixabay
The global hunger crisis is irrefutably linked with rampant climate change, where increasingly turbulent and destructive weather events contribute to growing challenges in the agriculture sector. Rising global temperatures and sea levels lead to droughts, unpredictable rain patterns, floods, and other extreme weather events, leading to widespread displacement of populations and damaging the durability of global food production systems. NGOs worldwide work every day to develop and implement versatile solutions to the growing impacts of climate change on the agriculture industry, and on food access as a whole.
The following GWA members are active in developing a robust response to climate change affecting agriculture, investing in innovative solutions to build an adaptable and sustainable future for food production.
Leading technological advances
Broad-spectrum digital innovation is vital to the deployment of solutions for climate change. Microsoft’s AI for Earth initiative is leading digital innovation in climate change, with 950 projects deploying 20 solutions across the world, working with 50 established partners. Their premiere cumulative work, the Planetary Computer, has built an elite and comprehensive database for climate data across every sector of study, an invaluable tool for any enterprise seeking to pioneer new solutions for the climate crisis and its impact on world hunger.
At a more focused scale of operation, DE Design + Environment Inc. has designed multiple projects to simulate and understand the complexities of climate change risks. Their agricultural risk maps for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, built simulations and conducting risk analysis for environmental disasters in the focus regions of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. DE has also built the TroFCAA (Tropical Forests and Climate Change Adaptation) project, analysing climate change risks posed in Africa, Indonesia, and Central America. The TroFCAA initiative was commissioned by the Centre for International Forestry Research to understand the best ways to develop climate policy, specifically to implement in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Mali, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Indonesia.
Heifer International, in partnership with Texas A&M, Engineers Without Borders, and the Milwaukee School of Engineering, spearheaded several innovative strategies to bolster the efficacy of cardamom farms in Guatemala. Deemed a fairly profitable but vulnerable crop, cardamom farmers are at odds with pests that can reduce crop value by up to 70%, and inefficient drying methods for their harvests.
The initiative developed solar-powered industrial drying units that call for smaller cardamom batches while drying, improving both crop yield and reducing environmental impact – in addition to introducing organic fertilizers and pesticides. Heifer has also taught simple preservation techniques in Honduras, such as using candles to remove the oxygen from bean storage silos, extending their longevity. Heifer Kenya has utilized technology to a great extent by implementing digital monitoring solutions for dairy farmers. Partnering with Farming Tech Solutions Ltd., Heifer provided farmers with access and training for the DigiCow Dairy app, through which they can share knowledge in chat rooms, schedule veterinary checkups for cattle, and engage with other virtual training opportunities.
The importance of reuse
Recycling waste material is an essential pillar of sustainability, as some members demonstrate through their projects. Heifer promotes the importance of recycling as a crucial step toward agricultural resilience. Working with farmers across the world, Heifer teaches pit composting and vermicomposting to revitalize and enrich soil, and the utilization of dung and water in biodigesters to create biogas, a methane-based clean energy source usable in cooking. In the Indian state of Bihar, for instance, the distribution of biodigesters via Heifer’s partnership with Sistema.bio has improved agricultural efficiency, reduced emissions from conventional fuel usage as well as from discarded animal waste, and drastically lowered household expenditure on conventional fuel.
The Starbucks Foundation also sees the importance of recycling. With an announcement of a $10 million investment in Circular Services, the largest private recycling enterprise in the US, the goals of this investment are to reduce the shipping of recyclable material to landfills and redirect them toward use in consumer products, packaging, electronics, and other sectors. Partnering with Nestle, PepsiCo, Microsoft, SK Group, Brookfield, Unilever, and the Partnership Fund for New York City, the Starbucks Foundation is contributing to a total investment of nearly a billion dollars in Circular Services to reduce landfill waste and redistribute recyclable materials, a significant step toward a more sustainable future.
Instruction and accessibility
Teaching vital skills and providing access to resources for farmers is essential groundwork for building a sustainable future for agriculture. Strengthening capacity for climate change resilience has been a priority for The Hunger Project (THP). Their approach includes sustainable farming, promoting access to modern agriculture technology, raising awareness of climate change and the necessity to adapt, and driving reforestation efforts to build back ecosystem resilience.
Across Africa, THP has built community farms that teach composting, techniques for increasing crop yield, rebuilding soil fertility, and other essential agricultural skills for local farmers. By providing training and credit, communities are empowered to invest in sustainable and resilient farming practices, building stable agricultural systems in the face of climate change. The Project’s Climate Committees invite all members of these communities to participate in workshops, activities, build skills, raise awareness, and foster leadership. In India, similar workshops are held to promote awareness of the climate change crisis and build leadership capabilities in local communities, inspiring them to take autonomous steps toward resilience.
In Malawi and Ghana, THP is building greater access to agricultural solutions in partnership with USAID, Microsoft, and Bluetown, through the Meaningful Access Initiative, emphasizing greater access for women seeking information, training on sustainable farming, and product markets. Ecostoves, an innovative solution to reduce reliance on wood for burning and improve air quality, have been installed in Mexico by THP in partnership with Water for Humans, and greatly alleviates the impact of deforestation and air pollution.
Another member building hands-on skills is Agros International. Engaging with local communities in Nicaragua and Guatemala, Agros is teaching sustainable agriculture through innovative irrigation practices, providing families with small farms where the philosophy of producing more with less is paramount. Modern technologies that can increase crop yields, maximize profits, and contribute to the problem of food scarcity, are being invested in and introduced to farmers. To address the versatile and complex problems of each region, Agros has developed Harvest of Hope Centers (HHCs) that provide specialized and tailored solutions to unique regional challenges, allowing ease of access to resources for locals.
Heifer International maintains the value in preserving the health of livestock, deploying versatile solutions to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of farm animals across the world. By providing farmers with information and training using extension services, Heifer has contributed to building better animal shelters, providing medical assistance, and connecting farmers with technology solutions to bolster efficiency and resilience. In the realm of livestock preservation, Heifer has led vaccination and deworming campaigns for farm animals in order to combat zoonotic diseases, preventing animal-to-human infections and preserving the wellbeing of livestock. In a 2017 initiative, vaccinations reduced the mortality rates of chickens in Zambia from 60% to 5%. Heifer health workers have also demonstrated widespread impact on cows in Malawi, preventing infections and preserving the health of up to 3150 cows across 380 households per worker – a number magnified by the 3461 total health workers trained by Heifer across the world as of 2019. Heifer Bangladesh built efficient and cost-effective hatching pots for chickens in 2014, increasing the yield of poultry farms, and built effective housing for poultry in Senegal, protecting them from direct heat – a major contributor to chicken mortality rates.
Multi-sector engagement
Several GWA members are approaching the same complex problem with unique angles, such as Landsea. Landesa’s mission to secure autonomy and land rights for farmers in rural communities contributes to developing a resilient agricultural model in the face of climate change. Landesa states that if land rights are granted to local farming communities with full autonomy, it opens the way for them to invest in sustainable farming techniques, improve their irrigation practices and implement developing technologies in agroforestry and terracing at a faster pace – thereby strengthening adaptability in agriculture from the ground up.
Landsea’s Climate Program brief highlights the connection between securing land rights and combating the effects of climate change on agriculture and food scarcity. The implementation of direct land ownership is designed to incentivize investments in soil restoration, planting more trees to combat deforestation, build healthier ecosystems and prevent further erosion of agricultural prospects. These investments can also go on to adapt existing farming infrastructure, incorporating novel methods and technologies to combat the dynamic impacts of climate change.
Other organizations, like Argos International and the Earthworm Foundation, also recognize the importance of localized land ownership as a cornerstone of agricultural resilience, as participatory governance and local development capacity are both essential in building the groundwork for resilience. The Earthworm Foundation, consulting on the compositions of supply chains, places the farmers and producers at the core of their development model, building strong ground presence, promoting land autonomy, and using data to measure the impact of these developments. Their model predicts that a stable agricultural economy where farmers are their practices are prioritized will in turn stabilize a fragile ecosystem, generating a systemic approach to withstanding climate change.
Another specific angle of approach is deployed by the Starbucks Foundation, with their charitable initiatives targeting some of the most prominent resource scarcity issues – such as lack of access to clean water. Partnering with other members of the UN Water Resilience Coalition, the Foundation has pledged $25 million to WaterEquity’s Global Access Fund IV, part of their 2030 goal to reduce their water waste footprint by 50%. A total investment of $50 million will be invested in reaching water access, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) goals by 2030, with low-income populations in South Asia, South America and Sub-Saharan Africa targeted as the primary beneficiaries of these initiatives.
The Foundation’s water conservation efforts have also brought investment in the Qiandao Lake water replenishment project, an initiative to test methods for improving water quality in China’s basins, reduce soil erosion and runoff, and build pollution resistance by revitalizing wetlands to act as natural carbon sinks. Qiandao Lake’s water supply reaches nearly 10 million people in the Zhejiang Province, emphasizing the importance of this investment. In Mexico, the Starbucks Foundation has partnered with Alsea Foundation, World Vision and Planet Water Foundation to build 25 water towers and provide local populations with clean water access – the beneficiaries of which number around 45,000.
In addition to their advocacy for land rights, Landesa participates in widespread systemic change through their corporate engagement initiatives. Advising company policy on matters of land ownership and supply chains, Landesa has helped corporate giants like PepsiCo, Unilever, and Coca-Cola – an example of which is the ACRE Framework, used by PepsiCo to monitor land rights in their supply chains. GROW Africa is an example of grievance and complaint mechanisms developed by Landesa that may be used to submit and address land rights disputes. Landesa has worked closely with Illovo Sugar, Wilmar, and PepsiCo to train their staff in handling present and future land disputes and develop policies, addressing supply chain grievances, and build tracking systems to measure progress on meeting land rights commitments.
Beyond water access, the Starbucks Foundation aims to bring sustainable and resilient agricultural practices to coffee production. As per their 2022 Global Environmental and Social Impact Report, precision agriculture methods – such as the use of environmentally-friendly fertilizer that maximises coffee yields, using eco-wet mills to separate beans from coffee cherries such that water usage may be conserved (a system that projects up to a 90% increase in water conservation compared to traditional methods), and planting up to 100 million trees over 10 years that are engineered to be resistant to climate change-linked diseases like rust – demonstrate immense promise in the Foundation’s 2025 and 2030 benchmarks.
Mercy Corps is another member that takes a multi-tiered approach to addressing agricultural development against climate change. With a focus on promoting community-based management of land and water resources, increasing accessibility, promoting sustainable practices and actively mitigating conflicts using dialogue platforms and incentives, Mercy Corps aims to develop versatile resilience in the agricultural sector. The deployment of sustainable irrigation technology, financing and renewable energy sources also forms the backbone of their approach. Beyond the realm of how farmers conduct themselves and their businesses, Mercy Corps also aims to evaluate market needs and promote the diversification of products accordingly, so that farmers may maximize profits. Post-harvest value is also a priority, seeking to mitigate food waste and reuse products wherever possible. Across the supply chain, the enforcement of uniform quality and safety standards are prioritized to raise the credibility and efficacy of product distribution.
A Climate Pledge
The importance of addressing climate change is solidified in no small part by the declarations of influential actors. The Climate Pledge by Amazon and Global Optimism is one such ambitious framework for building global sustainability, with the target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 – a decade ahead of the milestone set by the Paris Agreement.
The initiative demands strict self-regulatory principles for signatories in order to meet this goal, including regular measurements and reports of their greenhouse gas emissions, build decarbonizing business models in accordance with guidelines set in place by the Paris Agreement (such as streamlining processes, investing in renewable energy and reducing the organization’s carbon footprint), and combating existing emissions with credible offsets – tangible and long-lasting contributions to the environment that can withstand and undo the damage wrought by human-made climate change. Amazon’s $2 billion contribution to helping signatories implement sustainability measures has secured the participation of industry giants like Verizon, Infosys, and Reckitt Benckiser.
With 414 high-impact signatories across 39 countries, the Climate Pledge is an exemplar framework for restructuring the global industrial ecosystem to work toward environmental resilience and healing.
Institutions are developing and deploying solutions from every sector in their mission to build resilience against climate change. The global food production industry requires consistent innovation and reinforcement at every tier of production, from the individual farmer to the grander systems, supply chains and economies that connect them. The benefits of specialization are evident, as members deploy unique solutions through exhaustive collaboration.
In addition to the above organizations, the following GlobalWA members are working on Climate Action (SDG 13) and Zero Hunger (SDG2) through their programs in communities where they work.
Agros International
Founded in 1984, and inspired by the teachings of Jesus, Agros International’s mission is to break the cycle of poverty and create paths to prosperity for farming families in rural Latin America.
Climate change, agriculture, food security and poverty are deeply intertwined. Current farming methods do not meet the world’s growing demand for food, do not generate enough income for those growing the food, and contribute a third of all greenhouse emissions worldwide. Our work to bring climate-smart agricultural systems to small-scale farmers in rural Nicaragua significantly increases the number of harvests and increases the yield of each harvest—meaning more income and more food is generated on less land with fewer emissions. Using hydroponics and protected structures, our farmers have already contributed to savings in water, use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and are mitigating soil erosion with crop rotation and reforestation efforts. Food security and poverty are issues we care deeply about, and we strive to bring solutions that are mutually beneficial to both the farmer and mitigate the effects agriculture has on the environment.
ChildFund
As climate change intensifies, families living in poverty in low-income countries bear the brunt of its impacts, from increases in temperature and changes in precipitation patterns to extreme weather events and reductions in water availability. ChildFund does everything we can to help families navigate the changing environment, including:
- Introducing famers to resilient crops such as moringa, which is fast-growing, nutritious and drought-resistant, and teaching them how to tend to these crops.
- Promoting crop diversification and intercropping — or growing multiple types of crops on a single plot of land, which decreases susceptibility to pests and diseases and minimizes the need for harmful pesticides while promoting biodiversity and increasing yields.
- Teaching farmers improved methods of land management and crop protection, which helps them grow high-yielding crops while preserving farmland through erosion prevention, soil fertilization and organic farming such as using natural pesticides and manure.
- Establishing rainwater harvesting systems, which help to conserve water by redirecting water runoff to storage tanks for later use.
Through these strategies and more, ChildFund is working to improve food security and quality, and helping agricultural households secure a more sustainable income.
To learn more, please visit www.childfund.org or email jlundgren@childfund.org.
Heifer International
Heifer International supports smallholder farmers with the training and tools they need to strengthen local food systems and reduce hunger through sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture.
In partnership with a local farmers’ association in Senegal, ARLS, Heifer International’s Climate Services for Resilience and Productivity project is supporting smallholder farmers adapt to the effects of climate change by providing training, short-cycle seeds and — crucially — climate information through a service that sends agriculture and weather alerts to rural farmers via text and voice messages, as well as information on crop market trends. The project also supports a women-run community radio, which aggregates reports from the field to disseminate climate-relevant information.
In Central and South America, Heifer works to integrate women and Indigenous populations into agricultural value chains including meat, dairy, spices and shellfish. The Green Business Belt program in Guatemala, for example, is supporting 6,250 farmers to close the living income gap in the northern rainforest through sustainable spice production. Farmers are trained in agroforestry practices and linked with technology like more efficient spice dryers to bolster livelihoods while preserving their fragile ecosystem.
The Heifer Ranch Center for Regenerative Agriculture in Arkansas is one of 33 accredited Savory Hubs across the world — a best-in-class agriculture institution training smallholder farmers on holistic land management and regenerative practices. This effort will be instrumental in scaling up regenerative agriculture to meet U.S. climate commitments, training farmers across the country in methods that will generate healthy farmland, while creating more economically viable farm businesses.
Landesa
Landesa champions and works to strengthen land rights for millions of those living in poverty worldwide, primarily rural women and men, to promote social justice and provide opportunity.
Climate change is threatening the land 2.5 billion people depend on to feed their families and grow livelihoods. Land rights are a powerful tool to flip the script from degradation and hunger toward resilient environments and thriving communities. With the knowledge one’s land is secure, rural land users have the incentive and opportunity to make long-term climate-smart investments such as tree planting, soil conservation, and irrigation infrastructure. Ultimately, these investments offer a path to a restored planet and a resilient, food-secure future.
Women are powerful agents in building climate resilience due to their unique roles and possession of knowledge on natural resources within rural and Indigenous communities. In Maldives, Bangladesh, and Nepal, Landesa is building coalitions of women-led organizations to spur climate action and advance women’s land rights. These national coalitions, comprised of civil society organizations, develop and implement strategies to strengthen climate resilience and disaster risk reduction through capacity-building efforts and advocacy at local, national, and regional levels of governance.
Learn more about Landesa’s work on climate change at http://landesa.org/land-rights-for-climate-justice.
Oxfam
Climate change is deepening hunger in 10 of the world’s worst climate hotspots: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Somalia and Zimbabwe. These countries – which had the highest number of UN appeals driven by extreme weather events – have repeatedly been battered by extreme weather over the last two decades. Today, 48 million people across those countries suffer acute hunger (up from 21 million in 2016), and 18 million people of them are on the brink of starvation.
For millions of people already pummeled down by ongoing conflict, widening inequalities, and economic crises, repeated climate shocks are becoming a backbreaker. The onslaught of climate disasters is now outpacing poor people’s ability to cope, pushing them deeper into severe hunger.
Meanwhile, as humanity faces this existential crisis, the biggest polluting countries continue to make extraordinary wealth: the oil and gas industry has amassed $2.8 billion per day in profits for each of the last 50 years. Less than 18 days of those profits would cover the entire $48.82 billion UN humanitarian appeal for 2022.
Oxfam is calling for rich polluting nations to immediately inject lifesaving funds to meet the UN appeal. To stop the next climate crisis, they must also drastically cut their emissions, guarantee adequate climate financing to help poor people adapt, and above all compensate low-income countries impacted by the climate crisis.
Spoon Foundation
SPOON is a global nonprofit with a mission to empower caregivers around the globe to nourish children who are highly vulnerable to malnutrition. We focus on children with disabilities and children without family care, including children at risk of family separation and children leaving institutional care. These groups of children face particularly high rates of malnutrition, and are often excluded from health and nutrition programs.
We work towards No Hunger through training, tools, and advocacy. Together with local partners, we train professionals and caregivers on nutrition, feeding, and disability. We provide customized support for trainees to assess and respond to issues in nutrition, feeding, and anemia through our app, Count Me In. SPOON and our partners advocate for changes in policy and practice so that all children with disabilities and children without family care have a chance to grow and thrive. Learn more in our annual report.
Our work and the communities we serve are increasingly affected by rising food insecurity, heightened global conflict, and the effects of climate change and the global pandemic. SPOON works in coalition with other organizations to promote a strong, inclusive response to those challenges. This includes pushing for disability inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals and increased support for early child development globally.
The Hunger Project
The Hunger Project is committed to the sustainable end of world hunger. The impact of climate change on local food systems is already being felt by many around the world. To combat this, THP is working with communities to build resilience and implement practices that will support the regeneration of nature. The solutions vary based on the context and local challenges. For example, in Ethiopia, THP is working with communities to plant millions of trees, restore landscapes and return vital nutrients to the soil to support better food production. In Bangladesh, youth leaders are developing floating gardens that can support the nutrition of families living near floodplains. Finally, in Mexico, we are working with indigenous communities to create nutrition guidelines focused on locally-available crops that respect their food traditions and sovereignty. Through a diverse set of individual and collective actions, like these and others, THP is supporting the food security of communities most impacted by climate change.
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Organization Profile
DE Design + Environment Brings Intersectionality to Climate Change
By Tyler LePard
DE at UNCBD COP15 Meetings in Montreal. Photo Credit: DE
DE Design + Environment is an environmental consultancy, design atelier, and a technology company that works around the world. The company was incorporated in Vancouver and launched in Montreal, Quebec, in 2005 by David Oswald.
Origin Story
David was interested in the environment from an early age, which set the stage for the development of this company. When he was young, David spent time in nature and was interested in solar power, making generators, and experimenting with technology. His formal education at the University of Waterloo, Royal Roads University, and McGill laid the foundation for the basis of DE. Before launching the company, David worked in systems engineering, various types of software and tech roles, and in media (film, multimedia, graphics, etc.). David describes himself as a Designer and Environmental Scientist with classical training in Environmental Science and Physical Geography. The majority of his professional experience has stemmed from a technical and scientific creative foundation.
David founded DE Design + Environment to blend creative design work (interior, graphic, and advertising) with environmental work (engineering, consulting, and site assessments) and technology. Eighteen years ago, sustainability wasn’t recognized as central to so many issues as it is today. David started local and then jumped to global work. DE has developed from a small consultancy in Montreal to an internationally recognized and respected company at the forefront of innovation in areas such as climate change, impact analysis, and cross media communications design.
When he started DE Design + Environment, David looked at global environmental problems and tried to figure out how to get work on helping to solve those problems. His goal at the time, was that in 10 years, he’d love to work on a project for an international organization dealing with serious environmental problems in developing countries and helping vulnerable communities. At the same time, he wanted to be doing high-level design work.
Rio Conventions Pavilion – outside of RCP. Photo credit: DE
DE Design + Environment has been on an interesting journey. In the early days, DE did carbon footprinting for the biggest oil refineries in Canada. Then DE brought David’s unique expertise to the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity and the Rio+20 Summit (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) in Rio de Janeiro. He also worked on developing software and doing consulting for countries and organizations that are concerned with vulnerable parts of the world, specifically the Caribbean and Latin America. DE’s first international project on site was in the Caribbean to design a regional environmental and atmospheric information system, a database for storing and managing environmental and atmospheric data for the whole Caribbean region to help people make decisions about climate change.
Now DE has become an environmental information systems company – a lot of the work they do now is related to data acquisition and analysis, software development, communications design and systems development for environmental decision-making in various capacities. One of those capacities is to help countries report to the United Nations for the climate convention (UNFCCC). They’re currently working with the government of Jamaica, a few think tanks, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, UN Development Programme, and the UN Environment Programme. DE is also looking to expand into the corporate sector again.
DE presenting on environmental information to support sustainable land management at the UNFCCC COP Conference in Ordos, Mongolia. Photo Credit: DE
Addressing Climate Change and No Hunger
“Food security is a huge issue, as most of us are aware. With the SDGs and climate action, we can’t separate social issues from environmental issues. We have to look at them together. A lot of the projects we work on, they’ll be mandated to address data acquisition and decision-making for food security in addition to climate change,” said David. “A community that is vulnerable to hunger is also vulnerable to climate change, and vice versa.”
For example, DE worked with Guyana and the United Nations (UN) on their green state development strategy to analyze it and come up with indicators to benchmark its progress. Guyana had created that strategy to plan up to 2040 and become food resilient (among other things). DE looked at the levels of poverty, levels of education, agricultural productivity, etc. in addition to greenhouse gas emissions, climate adaptations, and other environmental factors.
On the data side of the business, DE works on the intersection between hunger and climate adaptation for vulnerable communities. On the mitigation side, they address issues like how to make agriculture more climate benign. For instance, they look at different modalities of agroforestry for sequestering carbon and consider how best to monitor that and look at data that supports those decisions. In the middle of all that, DE also works on risk management, specifically related to disasters. They’ve done work on agricultural disaster risk management in Trinidad and Tobago. When there’s a flood, it wipes out food production. Plus, the transportation infrastructure goes, roads get washed out, and it becomes a huge economic and social problem in addition to the physical impacts.
Impact of Floods in Trinidad & Tobago with IICA (Interamerican Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture). Photo Credit: IICA
Intersectionality Between Issues
DE has done a variety of intersectional work between climate adaptation and other issues like gender. “We have to look at all the related impacts–health, security, etc. Some of the conflict issues that arise from climate change, like droughts and water shortages causing social distress can eventually lead to small- or large-scale conflicts. We really need to think about those things in an integrated way,” said David.
Gender is becoming a more prevalent part of the work DE is doing. In the Guyana project, DE was developing a Measurement & Evaluation (M&E) program for their policy framework. DE took a deep look at the framework and how it was structured, then came up with credible metrics they could measure over time and set goals for those metrics. They looked at what it would take to be a “gender positive” country and how to tangibly advance that. For instance, education is an important factor for that goal. Guyana wanted to significantly advance matriculation because very few people were graduating from the equivalent of high school. Considering that the workforce of the future is an educated workforce, DE set the indicators and then an economist identified what it would cost to make that happen. DE disaggregated the data to see education by gender and explored what measures they needed to see advancements on certain policy initiatives.
Last year, DE worked with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) to design and launch a platform showing National Adaptation Plan (NAP) data. IISD’s resilience program has a group focused on adaptation that works with countries ranging from Fiji to Bolivia to help with their NAPs and analyze them. They established core indicators (100+ variables) and gender is one of them. They focus on a number of different aspects of gender, such as the number of NAPs that mention gender, the context for reference for gender (as a guiding principal, is it a priority, is it cross-cutting, equality as an objective, etc.), and the positioning of women (as a vulnerable group, leaders, etc.). DE created a web-based platform to show the NAP data. It’s a live database that shows the trends. For example, currently 95% of the NAPS submitted mention gender. Another example related to gender is that 51% of NAPs mention sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
What’s Next
DE Design + Environment has been doing a significant amount of work on designing information systems for countries in the developing world. What David is interested in next, is to take the lessons they’ve learned from the impact that DE has on the ground in vulnerable parts of the world and with countries and social groups, and bring that back into the corporate world, particularly the tech world.
David Oswald, DE President and Founder, delivering keynote presentation on Green Economic Transitions – An International Perspective at Mongolia Mining Week in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Photo Credit: DE
“I think we can bring a lot of value in that respect. Many of these banks and big tech companies are trying to do good work, but what’s problematic for them is that they are accused of green washing. We’d like to work with those powerhouse companies and bring our tech and our expertise–what we do in environmental science and design–but also have a bigger impact where we can. Where is climate change coming from? It’s not small island developing states (SIDS) – they’re subjected to it. I want to come back to the northern developed tech and corporate world and figure out how to do things differently. We’ve got the expertise to work with them on this,” said David.
DE Design wants to be more active in the United States and work more in WA and CA. David says he wants to get back to his creative roots and do more design and multimedia work.
“If there’s one thing that we need to do as a global society, it is to pivot and be creative. We’ve got to find different ways of doing what we’re doing. We need to find ways to decouple environmental and social degradation, or negative externalities, from economic activity and economic development. The sweet spot is using creative approaches, technological advances, agile approaches, and an open mind to look at ways to advance social and environmental agendas, while at the same time making sense from an operational standpoint,” said David. “Leading with design means doing something, not just talking. If we focus on bringing integrated solutions together in very concrete ways, we’ll be successful.”
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Goalmaker
Kevin Mugenya, Mercy Corps
By Tyler LePard
Kevin Mugenya is a Director of Food Systems for Mercy Corps.
“Climate change found me. I wasn’t looking for a career in this area,” said Kevin. “I chose a course that was not popular–dryland resource management. I didn’t go for engineering, medicine, or law because of the context where I’ve lived. Kenya is approximately 80% arid and semi-arid land. That set me up to be where I am now.”
Kevin’s work has journeyed through several issues spanning community level, national and global level, all related to climate change. Kevin started working in dryland resource management (which included work on the environment and climate change) covering the Horn of Africa, then shifted a bit to urban livelihood with short terms assignment in Asia and Latin America. Then he went deeper into working with displaced populations and refugees (both for South Sudan and for Somalia) with a focus on food security and social safety net programming. He left programming in East Africa and worked on food security in Southern Africa and Madagascar (which is one of the countries most affected by climate change). Kevin subsequently left Africa altogether and went to the Middle East and Iraq. Then Covid-19 happened, and he was excited by the job with Mercy Corps and to be back home, closer to family.
Kevin Mugenya working in the field. Photo: Mercy Corps
“Believe in something and let it drive you toward a certain path.”
Kevin is motivated by his upbringing. He was raised by a single mother. His father passed away when he was six years old. From a very early age, there was a lot of responsibility placed on his shoulders as the first born. In that context, Kevin says, “Life happened – I saw the good, the bad, and the ugly and that propelled me to work hard but still determined to pursue happiness. I buried my head in books.”
Life has thrown many challenges Kevin’s way, but he finds that motivating too, even when things were hard. “When you think you are the best, you interact with someone, and you realize you are not. There’s someone else better than you. When you think you’re down and out, you interact with someone else, and you realize you’re much better off.” He finds inspiration from interacting with other people.
Kevin was inspired by several people early in his career. The first was one of his undergraduate lecturers at The University of Nairobi, Kenya, Dr. Wellington Ekaya. They developed a good rapport and Kevin felt as though Dr. Ekaya had adopted him as one of his sons. The second person was Maurice Makoloo, Kevin’s first supervisor at the Institute for Law and Environmental Governance (ILEG). Mr. Makoloo impressed Kevin with his self-awareness, humility, and ability to interact with people from all walks of life – from a guard to the judges in the supreme court. “One day he would be facilitating a community dialogue, the next day or next week, he’s in a high-level meeting in Mexico representing Kenya,” said Kevin.
Lastly, Kevin was inspired by Dr. Wangari Maathai, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 (the first Black African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize). Her story stood out for Kevin because she believed in something and fought the political leadership. “If you visit Nairobi, the Karura Forest and some of the public spaces we enjoy today and hopefully many other generations will is because of what she championed,” said Kevin.
Kevin also gives credit to other people he has worked with, saying they were always two to three steps ahead of what was happening, provided mentorship for him.
“They were all way ahead of their time but stood for a cause. And for me, they taught me to believe in something and let it drive you toward a certain path,” said Kevin.
“In the world we live in, there shouldn’t be anyone dying of hunger.”
Kevin came to work on resilience and food security by working with communities towards sustainable development through natural resource management. Terms change, but Kevin’s early work looking at wetlands, forests, land issues, and how people bounce back from natural disasters was the beginning of his work on resilience. Natural resource management is a bedrock to address and sustain food security. His food security work has focused on different angles, including the emergency perspective of working with refugee camps. In the Middle East, the focus was on early recovery – a bridge between humanitarian and development work, food security, inclusive economic growth through markets, social cohesion and embedding psychosocial support to build the resilience of communities to bounce back and achieve food security. In his current role as Director of Food Systems, Kevin looks at how to build resilient food systems to ensure they deliver food and nutrition security for all and provide equitable livelihoods opportunities in a sustainable way.
Somalia 2022. Photo: Ezra Millstein/Mercy Corps
“In the world we live in, there shouldn’t be anyone dying of hunger,” said Kevin. However, the world is not equitable and Covid-19 pandemic reversed a lot of gains made towards reducing inequality as it increased a lot of poverty rates and exposed how food systems are vulnerable. If we look at the climatic trends, globally – not just in Africa, but also in the United States (whether it’s forest fires or flooding) and down to Latin America (where there’s displacement of population because of certain weather patterns), you begin to see changing climatic conditions that are expressed as weather conditions, especially depressed rains in most African countries and flooding in most Asian countries. This impacts food production systems and sources of livelihoods for majority especially for rainfed smallholder farmers thus hindering progress towards Zero Hunger.
The increased climate variability is affecting the stability of food production, food supply chains and utilization posing a threat food sovereignty in most countries. Climatic changes pose a challenge to countries striving to be self-sufficient in terms of producing food for their own populations. Every government must pay close attention to the “Zero hunger” Sustainable Development Goal because actions in one country affects another country.
“It’s already happening. Food is the next place where war is happening. For example whoever controls access to inputs such as seeds and fertilizer, agricultural technology, will dominate or control the supply chain of food, control food markets globally, regionally and even nationally thus strongly influencing progress towards Food Sovereignty and most importantly Zero Hunger. The No Hunger SDG is fundamentally important. It’s tied to climate change,” said Kevin. “We all have a common responsibility, but it varies depending on the capacity you have and the resources.”
Kevin says his biggest accomplishment is his ability to reinvent himself again and again throughout his career. He’s thankful for the opportunities he’s received and credits his ability to understand the subject matter, add value, and be curious about what other factors are at play. “Be curious enough to open yourself up to learn. And be humble enough to spend time with people and listen. In any space, I’m able to be relevant,” said Kevin.
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May/June Blogs
Heifer International The “Famous” Farmer and Environmental Leader on Senegal’s Community Radio
S M Sehgal Foundation Reviving Millets: A Climate and Nutrition-Smart Cereal
The Hunger Project Planting Seeds of Change
ChildFund The Intersection of Children and the Environment: ChildFund Works with The Coca-Cola Foundation on a Model to Help Kids Secure their Futures
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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!
Committee for Children
For more than 40 years, Committee for Children has been championing the safety and well-being of kids. A leader in the field of social-emotional learning (SEL), we’re dedicated to helping children develop the life skills they need to thrive in the classroom and beyond. Cfchildren.org
Malaria Partners International
Malaria Partners International (MPI) is a group of Rotary members committed to inspiring a broad international Rotarian campaign for global elimination of malaria. MPI believes that malaria can be combated through a comprehensive Rotarian campaign similar to Rotary’s successful Polio Plus campaign. Malariapartnersinternational.org
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Member Events
June 8: Construction for Change: Reunite & Rebuild Auction and Gala
June 15: Association for Fundraising Professionals Annual Conference
June 16: Association for Fundraising Professionals Annual Conference
June 21: The State of Humanitarian and Development Cybersecurity
June 24: World Refugee Day – Global Village Festival
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Career Center
Senior Consultant, Corporate Communications APCO Worldwide
Program Manager – Partnerships The Max Foundation
Executive Assistant The Max Foundation
Communications & Development Coordinator The Max Foundation
Director, Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) HCP Cureblindness
Vice President, Administration & Chief Financial Officer The Max Foundation
Director Global Supply Chain The Max Foundation
Development & Administrative Assistant Amplio
Check out the GlobalWA Job Board for the latest openings.
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GlobalWA Events
June 15: Storytelling to Leverage Mainstream Momentum, Yet Stand out From the Crowd (members only)
June 21: Tech Solutions for Climate Action: Harnessing Innovation to Address Climate Change
June 28: Building Bridges to Health: Advancing Global Access to Quality Healthcare
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The Intersection of Children and the Environment: ChildFund Works with The Coca-Cola Foundation on a Model to Help Kids Secure their Futures
By Sarah Leitner, Advisor Sr., Global Corporate Partnerships
ChildFund Kenya Country Director Alice Anukur chats with youth participants during the Tunawiri na Taka project launch. / Photo Credit: ChildFund Kenya
Close your eyes and picture East Africa. What do you see? Perhaps you envision abundant wildlife roaming a pristine landscape, an untouched village with rolling hills, or maybe a fisherman casting a net into water. But across the world, plastic pollution and climate change are altering environments to the detriment of those who live there, and East Africa has not been spared. That’s why ChildFund has partnered with The Coca-Cola Foundation to help mitigate the impacts of plastic pollution and climate change in Kenya and Uganda.
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