11.1.11 – Global Action Day
Posted on October 20, 2011.
The “99 percent” protesters occupying Wall Street, Seattle, and other U.S. cities have been in the news recently, protesting against the “one percent” of the wealthiest in the country. However, there is another “one percent” that perhaps should be in the news and on the minds of Americans. That is the one percent of the U.S. Budget that supports foreign aid.
Most Americans think that U.S. investment in foreign aid is much higher and therefore should be a target for budget cuts. A recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that most Americans think the investment is 25 percent of the U.S. budget, not the one percent that is true in fact.
This mis-match between opinion and fact is one of the reasons that Global Washington and several of its member organizations are sponsoring the Global Action Day Campaign. One of the goals of the Campaign is to have Washingtonians learn about, support, and join the more than 140 members of Global Washington that are working in the global development sector.
Another goal of the Global Action Day Campaign is to explain the many ramifications of the work done abroad by Global Washington members. Not only are member organizations impacting lives abroad by reducing disease, providing educational opportunities, and strengthening communities and economies around the world, but they are also supporting the local economy as well. One out of every three jobs in the State of Washington is, in some way, related to foreign trade and international development.
Seattle mayor Mike McGinn has proclaimed November 1, 2011 (11.1.11) as Global Action Day in the City of Seattle, and urges all to “celebrate the accomplishments, innovation, leadership and impact of Seattle’s global development sector for the betterment of the world.”
Other groups across the country are sponsoring other events to highlight the importance of foreign aid. Earlier this month, the U.S. Agency for International Development, along with other organizations including Global Washington members PATH and World Vision, launched a campaign called “The Power of 1%” to highlight the economics of global health, and the benefits that U.S. investments overseas have for Americans at home.
October 2011 Newsletter
Posted on October 19, 2011.
Welcome to the October 2011 issue of the Global Washington newsletter. If you would like to contact us directly, please email us.
IN THIS ISSUE
Note from our Executive Director
Greetings,
By now, you may have heard the news that 11.1.11 is Global Action Day. Seattle mayor Mike McGinn has issued an official proclamation declaring November 1st, 2011 a day to celebrate the accomplishments, innovation, leadership, and impact of the global development sector here in Washington State.
Please help us spread the word about this important day! As someone who is involved in global development, we ask that for the next two weeks you mobilize your mailing list, your volunteer base, your coworkers, your fans and your followers! We have created a website, a Media Toolkit and a hash tag to make it fun and easy to share with your networks.
I also want to remind you that our Third Annual Conference is coming up on October 31st and November 1st. Last year’s conference convened over 400 members of Washington’s global development sector and was an important time to share ideas and meet others in the field. This year, we will hear from exciting speakers like Dr. Victoria Hale, founder of the non-profit pharmaceutical company Medicines360, and travel guru Rick Steves, who will talk about travel as a political act. You can visit our website for a complete list of speakers and full conference agenda.
Please don’t miss out on Global Action Day, or our annual conference. These are exciting opportunities to connect to others in the field, to celebrate the many accomplishments of Washington’s global development sector, and to continue our work to make the world a more equitable and prosperous place.
In unity,
Bookda Gheisar, Executive Director
Featured Story
Celebrating Global Action Day – 11.1.11
11.1.11 is Global Action Day. November 1, 2011 has been proclaimed by the mayor of Seattle as a day to recognize the accomplishments, innovation, and impact of Washington State’s growing global development sector. Global Action Day is also an opportunity for Washingtonians to learn about, support, and join the more than 140 members of Global Washington who are working to create jobs at home and impact lives abroad by reducing disease, providing educational opportunities, and strengthening communities and economies around the world.
Global Washington has built a website as a landing page for all things global: http://www.globalwaday.org. It provides a quick way to learn about our state’s development sector and has simple suggestions for taking action today–from hosting an exchange student, to learning a foreign language, to shopping more conscientiously—anyone can make a difference!
Maybe you’ve already heard the buzz around this topic! To promote more awareness about global development on and around 11.1.11, Global Washington and 6 of its members are sponsoring promotional pieces in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Alaska Airlines’ in-flight magazine; radio announcements on KPLU and KUOW; advertising on websites such as Facebook and LinkedIn; and posters on select Washington State ferries.
Celebrate in person: Global Action Day falls on the second day of Global Washington’s 2011 Conference: Opportunities and Obstacles in Turbulent Times. Attended by over 400 members of the global development sector, this conference will be a great opportunity to network with like-minded individuals and learn from experts in the field. The morning of November 1st will feature a special presentation of our first annual Global Hero Award—honoring an individual who inspires us to take action and make a difference in the world. This year’s recipient for lifetime achievement is Professor Roy Prosterman, the founder of Landesa. We hope you will join us on Global Action Day to acknowledge his accomplishments and those of others who are working tirelessly to make the world a better place.
Don’t miss out! Register for the conference and join us on Global Action Day!
Share the enthusiasm: As an individual or employee of an organization that cares about global development, we need your help to spread the word! Mobilize your mailing list, volunteer base, coworkers, fans, and followers to start talking – and keep talking – about global development.
Some quick and easy ways to spread the word:
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The Global Giving Platform is the Latest Global Washington Member Benefit—Sign Up Now!
Global Washington is partnering with Jolkona–a Seattle-based nonprofit that uses technology to facilitate low-cost, high-impact giving to social causes online—to create the Global Giving Platform. This donation site will allow donors to support Global Washington members online in an easy, transparent, and innovative way. Very similar to the “GIVE BIG” campaign by the Seattle Foundation last spring, the Global Giving Platform will allow participating members to create fundraising profiles and begin collecting online donations quickly and easily!
Donors will use the Global Giving Platform to browse organizations that they may want to support. They can make credit card contributions by clicking a “donate now” button on the organization’s profile.
The Global Giving Platform will be permanently housed and accessible on the Global Washington website (www.globalwa.org) and it will also be accessible through the Global Action Day website (www.globalwaday.org). Members are encouraged to link to the platform in their own communications as well.
Eligibility: To have a profile on the Global Giving Platform, you must be a member of Global Washington and have either 501c3 status or a fiscal sponsor.
If you want to participate please contact Kate Lorenzen, kate@globalwa.org (or call for more information 206-547-9392).
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Spotlight on Washington’s Global Development Sector
Global Washington is proud to highlight the work of 6 of our member organizations. Please take a moment to learn more about them, celebrate their achievements, and consider supporting their work. This is just a small sample of the ways that Washington’s global development sector is impacting the world. Go to www.globalwaday.org to learn more and find out how you can get involved!
All as One
Description
All As One works in Sierra Leone, West Africa – a country still recovering from a decade of civil war. They provide children and women with education, health care and other basic needs through a children’s home, community school and medical clinic. Since 2000, over 25,000 infants, children and adults have been helped with food, shelter, education, medical care, and other assistance.
Story of Hope
Francis, an abandoned child, now has a loving home at the All As One Children’s Center in Sierra Leone. He’s one of nearly 600 kids who have found a short or long-term home with All as One since 2000. Francis now has hope, a future and the chance to enjoy his childhood!
Global Partnerships
Description
Founded in 1994, Global Partnerships (GP) is a nonprofit social investor whose mission is to expand opportunity for people living in poverty in Latin America. Working with local partner organizations, GP invests in and develops sustainable solutions to help impoverished people in Latin America earn a living and improve their lives, including microcredit, basic health care, business education, and technical assistance for farmers. At the end of the last fiscal year, GP had more than $36 million invested in 30 partner organizations in seven countries, positively affecting the lives of more than 250,000 people, and advancing business models that can serve millions of people in the future.
Story of Hope
In a rural community in Nicaragua, these two sisters and their mother are creating a new future for their family. Thanks to programs supported by Global Partnerships, Ana Elisa, Rosa Amelia, and Rosa Esmeralda Gonzalez have received access to microloans, technical assistance and other support that have helped them build thriving small farms. With their profits, they have been able to build homes for their families. A shared dream is to purchase a pump so that they won’t have to haul their water from the river.
Landesa
Description
Landesa partners with governments and local organizations around the world to ensure that poor families have legal rights to the land they till. Founded as the Rural Development Institute in 1967, Landesa has helped more than 100 million poor families gain legal control over their land. When families have secure rights to land, they can invest in their future to increase their harvests and reap the benefits – improved nutrition, health, education, and dignity – for generations.
Story of Hope
Thousands of families across India are literally growing themselves out of poverty using one of Landesa’s innovative tools: the micro-plot. When Uttam and Kamala Mondal became owners of their tennis-court-sized plot of land, they finally had a place to build a home, a garden to boost their children’s nutrition, a place to start a home business, and a foundation for a better future. Landesa is actively partnering with 13 country governments to enact and implement land rights reforms and programs that have helped more than 2 million families gain control over their land in the last year alone. Over the last 40 years our partnerships have benefited 100 million of the world’s poorest families. Our goal is to help 20 million more in the next four years.
Mercy Corps
Description
Mercy Corps is a global humanitarian organization that helps people turn the crises they confront into the opportunities they deserve. Driven by local needs, their programs provide communities in the world’s toughest places with the tools and support they need to transform their own lives. Their worldwide team in 41 countries is improving the lives of 19 million people. For more information, see mercycorps.org.
Story of Hope
Until recently, 10-year-old Fatima spent close to two hours a day trekking around bone-dry northeastern Kenya to fetch water for her family. Often there wasn’t water to be found, or it cost too much money. Now thanks to Mercy Corps’ work trucking water, and repairing and fueling pumps, Fatima and her family can get water cheaper and easier. Fatima is just one of the 900,000 people Mercy Corps is helping in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia as they struggle with the worst draught in decades. We’re providing access to life-saving food, water and income, and empowering people to better withstand drought in the future through health services, veterinary care, improved water and livestock management, and other vital resources.
PATH
Description
PATH is an international nonprofit organization that creates sustainable, culturally relevant solutions, enabling communities worldwide to break longstanding cycles of poor health. By collaborating with diverse public – and private – sector partners, PATH helps provide appropriate health technologies and vital strategies that change the way people think and act. PATH’s work improves global health and well-being. For more information, please visit www.path.org.
Story of Hope
For centuries, children like Océane were helpless against the meningitis epidemics that ravaged sub-Saharan Africa. But today, Océane is one of more than 20 million people protected from the disease. In 2010, PATH and the World Health Organization introduced a revolutionary vaccine for meningitis A into Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. Among the millions of people who received the vaccine, not a single case was reported during last year’s epidemic season. PATH’s 2011 goal: Introduce the vaccine to several more countries in Africa – and give more than 50 million people a chance for a healthy life.
World Vision
Description
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 causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision’s dedication to the highest stewardship standards is unswerving. The excellence of the organization’s work has earned the trust of more than 3 million donors, supporters, and volunteers; more than half a million child sponsors; thousands of churches; hundreds of corporations; and government agencies in the United States and around the world.
Story of Hope
By equipping children like 12-year-old Rosa in Ecuador to attend school, World Vision is empowering families to break the cycle of poverty. And that’s just one of the many ways they are helping build a better world for children. In nearly 100 countries, World Vision is working to improve access to essentials like educational opportunities, critical healthcare, safe water, nutritious food, and more.
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Welcome New Members
Please welcome our newest Global Washington members. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with their work and think of opportunities for support and collaboration!
Create Good Foundation
The Create Good Foundation is committed to helping the lives of poor people who live and work in coffee growing regions around the world through water and economic infrastructure projects. Clean water and jobs for the developing world. www.creategood.org
Hands for Peacemaking Foundation
The mission of Hands For Peacemaking Foundation is to promote opportunities for self-reliance in rural Guatemala. www.handsforpeacemaking.org
East African Community Services
East African Community Services (EACS) was established in 2000 to provide culturally specific advocacy, information, referral and direct social services to Somali, Oromo, Ethiopian and other East African refugees living in King County. www.eastafricancs.org
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Announcements
Global Washington Seeking Stories Of Individuals Whose Lives Have Been Deeply Impacted By Global Education!
Global Washington’s Global Education Initiative represents a statewide collaboration among leaders from the education, nonprofit, government and business communities. Collaborators are united by their shared commitment to equipping the state’s students to be leaders in 21st century workplaces and communities and to maintaining the innovation and excellence that are synonymous with Washington State’s business, academic and civic institutions. Those involved believe that a globally-oriented K-20 education system is the engine that will power the state’s sustained success in these areas.
Credible research and compelling real-world examples are integral to this work. If you know of people, businesses, institutions or communities with great stories to tell about their successes in the realm of global education and global engagement, we’d love to hear about them! Send your stories to Bookda Gheisar, Bookda@globalwa.org by October 28, 2011.
Click here for more information about the initiative and the kinds of stories we are looking for.
A Gala In Support Of Guatemala
Guatemala Village Health and Pre-Vent will host a dinner on November 5th to raise funds for the maternal-child health services they provide for Healing the Children’s Monterrico Community Clinic and Health Education Center in Guatemala. The evening’s event, held at the Museum of Flight in Tukwila, will include live music, a formal dinner, guest speakers and a silent auction. Congressman Jim McDermott will be the keynote speaker at this event, music performance will be by Sin Fronteras, and dinner will be catered by McCormick and Schmidt. Festivities begin at 5:30pm. Purchase tickets ($75) before November 1st online.
Social Change Is Serious Business: An Innovative Workshop From UW Foster School Of Business
UW Foster School of Business will host the day-long UW Social Ideas to Global Ventures Workshop, Social Change is Serious Business, on October 22, 2011. Open to students of all disciplines, faculty, staff, and community members, the workshop provides a foundational understanding of global social entrepreneurship in developing countries and outlines the process of turning an idea into a viable business. Particular focus will be given to global health and technology. The daylong workshop includes interactive sessions on marketing, management, law, and funding, led by experts from Seattle-based organizations. Students participating in the GWEC competition will have opportunities to exchange ideas and network. The workshop runs from 8:30am to 5:30pm in Paccar Hall, and costs $20 for students and $50 for all other attendees. Register online.
Dining For Dental Care
Smiles Forever will host its 11th Annual Dinner and Auction, “That’s Amore,” on October 22nd. Smiles Forever, supported mainly through private donations, provides indigenous women and children in Bolivia dental care and has founded a dental hygiene clinic that provides job training and employment opportunities for the women. The fundraising event, complete with wine, jazz music, and vegetarian or gluten free dinner options, will be held at the Queen City Yacht Club, Seattle, starting at 6pm. Tickets cost $50 per person, or $350 for a table of eight.
Fighting Poverty Through Innovative Business Solutions: A Competition
Calling all university students around the world and across all disciplines and levels of study. The Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC ) invites you to submit innovative business solutions to poverty in developing countries. The application deadline is November 9th, 2011. Fifteen to twenty teams of students from around the globe will be selected to present their ideas to 400+ business professionals at GSEC Week 2012, held in Seattle from Feb. 27 to March 2nd, 2012, and compete for $30,000 in monetary prizes, including global health and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) prizes! Travel scholarships are available for international teams, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. GSEC is organized by UW Foster School of Business each year. Rules, guidelines, and applications are available on the Rules & Prizes page. You can also contact gsec@uw.edu with questions.
Creating Solutions, Awareness And Innovation In Global Health: Another Competition
Calling all high school, community college and undergraduate students in Washington State. Here’s your chance to broadcast your talents and innovation. The “Be the Change” competition, sponsored by Global Health Nexus, is an opportunity for student teams to design projects using technology, social media, the arts and more that create solutions, awareness and innovation in global health. The projects can range from innovative solutions to service delivery issues to advocacy and awareness campaigns through social media. Winning projects will receive a range of prizes, from cash awards to VIP-escorted tours of leading global health organizations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and PATH; and participation in the VIP awards ceremony at Seattle Center, as part of the Next Fifty Celebration. Initial project proposals must be submitted by December 15, 2011. For more information and application forms go to Global Health Nexus or contact info@globalhealthnexus.org.
Global Partnerships Adds Colombia To Its Map
The social investor and micro-finance organization, Global Partnerships, has made its first loans to two new partner organizations in Colombia: Fundación Amanecer and Contactar. Fundación Amanecer received a loan of US$1 million to help them build a more diverse economy in Orinoquía, a region of central-east Colombia that has been heavily dependent on the petroleum industry. Micro-entrepreneurship education will help clients boost their skills and income. Contactar, one of the few micro-finance institutions in Colombia focused on rural clients, received US $1.5 million, which will strengthen their program of offering clients access to financial education, savings accounts and basic dental services for their children.“We are excited to help these organizations increase their impact in Colombia, which is one of the most populous countries in Latin America and which faces unique challenges in fighting poverty,” said Mark Coffey, Chief Investment Officer of Global Partnerships.
UW Hosts Talk With Executive Director Of The International Gay And Lesbian Human Rights Commission
The University of Washington’s Gender, Sexuality, and Global Health Working Group is presenting a talk with Cary Alan Johnson, Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) on Tuesday, October 25th. Entitled “The Final Frontier: Why LGBT Global Rights are a Game Changer, and will Liberate Us All,” the talk will take place at the Foege Auditorium (3720 15th Ave NE in Seattle) from 4:30 to 5:30pm and will be followed by a reception. The IGLHRC is a leading international organization dedicated to human rights advocacy on behalf of people who experience discrimination or abuse on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. For more information, contact the Global Health Resource Center at ghrc@uw.edu or 206.685.7362
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center To Build Treatment Center In Uganda
The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center is collaborating with the Uganda Cancer Institute to create a new cancer training and treatment facility in Kampala, Uganda. This innovative project will be the first cancer center to be constructed in partnership between a cancer institution in the U.S. and one in sub-Saharan Africa. Once completed the new facility will be three stories tall and will include exam rooms, procedure suites, pharmacies, an infusion suite, and specialized diagnostic laboratories for both adult and pediatric care.
The groundbreaking ceremony on October 4th was led by Ugandan Vice President Edward Ssekandi and attended by other officials, global health experts, and community leaders. “We are gathered here today to celebrate a great example of a partnership between two institutions dedicated to saving lives – the Uganda Cancer Institute in Uganda and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington.” said Ssekandi in his remarks. “I offer my congratulations to the two institutions who have come together, dedicated to improving the health and well being of people in Uganda and worldwide.”
For more information on this project, visit: http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2011/10/11/uganda_groundbreaking_release.html
Tuesdays At iLEAP
The 2011 iLEAP International Fellows are hosting a series of candid discussions exploring critical questions around global philanthropy and development and the relationship between good intentions and impact. iLeap Fellows lead social change initiatives all over the world, including the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, El Salvador, India, Indonesia, Honduras, and the Philippines. You are invited to join these open dialogues each Tuesday starting October 11th and lasting through November 15th.
Upcoming topics are as follows:
October 25th:Food & Agriculture
November 1st:Environment & Community
November 8th:Youth Empowerment
November 15th:Gender & Development
Click here for more information on Tuesdays at iLEAP, visit www.iLEAP.org, or contact molly@iLEAP.org
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Global Washington Events:
October 31st and November 1st
Global Washington’s 3rd Annual Conference
November 18th
Summit on Global Education in Washington State
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Other Events:
October 18th – 29th
2011 National School Conference on International Youth
October 19th
Religious Tolerance and Global Cooperation
October 20th
Northwest Immigration Rights Project: An Evening at Wing Luke
October 22nd
UN Day Celebration
University of Washington Invention to Venture Workshop
October 25th
The Final Frontier: Why LGBT Global Rights are a Game Changer, and Will Liberate Us All
TUESDAYS @ ILEAP
October 26th
Veterans Services and Support
October 27th
The View from Karachi – What the Mega-City Tells us about Pakistan
October 30th – November 1st
IEEE GLOBAL HUMANITARIAN TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE (GHTC)
November 1
Save the Date: PeaceTrees Vietnam 16th Anniversary Luncheon
TUESDAYS @ ILEAP
Together We Can: Building Schools and Hope in Seattle Leone
November 5th
PRE-VENT and Guatemala Village Health dinner/Fund-raiser
13th Annual Africa Business Day Forum
November 8th
TUESDAYS @ ILEAP
November 15th
Seattle Int. Foundation: Women in the World Breakfast Event
TUESDAYS @ ILEAP
Gambia Help: 2011 Auction & 12th Anniversary Celebration
A Bright Future for Business Education in Rwanda
Posted on October 19, 2011.
The Sun is rising at Kigali’s School of Finance and Banking
By Dr. James Hembree
Sunrise at Mburabuturo Hill, home of Kigali, Rwanda’s School of Finance and Banking, is a splendid sight. Perhaps that is why the day starts so early here. It is early September and I am at SFB as a Fulbright Specialist from Seattle University working on a six week consulting project in resource development. The students have just completed their final exams. During finals week, each day unfolds in an unvarying pattern. At 4:30 a.m. the first cock crows in the distance. At 5:30 a.m. glimmers of daylight begin to brighten the rooftops and the plots of farmland on the surrounding hills. By 6:00 a.m., students are already streaming onto the campus from the neighborhoods where they live.
They come at that early hour to get a jump start on a day spent pouring over journal articles and class notes, rehearsing answers to practice questions, grilling each other on issues in finance, accounting, marketing, and human resource management. These are the four main disciplines taught at School of Finance and Banking (SFB), a public institution established by Rwanda’s government in 2002 to develop talent for the financial sector.
Another reason that students come early is to lay claim to a favorite study spot, not in a library, a campus café or a student lounge, but on spacious lawns among the trees, around outdoor picnic tables, in narrow stoned-paved passageways between buildings, and under clotheslines laden with freshly hung laundry from the school’s residence hall. (Two hundred nineteen of SFB’s 2,787 students live on campus, a benefit reserved for single women with security concerns and students with other special needs.)
Space is at a premium. The campus was built to serve 500 students but has grown to six times that size. By 10:00 a.m., every patch of shade will be occupied by students gathered in groups of 3 or 7 or 15. They also sit in hallways. Four students are packed into the stairwell immediately outside my office door as I write this paragraph. After sundown, the activity continues. Clusters of young people huddle under every available street light and security lamp on campus. It is as though they refuse to waste a single kilowatt that might be harnessed in the pursuit of knowledge. This is SFB during exam week. It is a splendid sight.
It is not that students here are any less subject to distractions than their peers elsewhere in the world. In fact, they are torn in many directions by the demands of work and family. Many hold part time jobs not just to pay for tuition but to contribute to the livelihood of parents and siblings. The US$955 per year price tag on an SFB education is tough in a country where most people earn less than US$2 per day. While the government heavily subsidizes the cost for students who pass with high enough scores on standardized tests (about fifty percent of the student body), the rest must pay their own way as best they can.
There are other challenges, too. Challenges not known by students in other, more privileged and historically peaceful parts of the world. The demographics of SFB reflect Rwanda’s difficult past. Many are child heads of households, HIV or genocide orphans, or recovering child soldiers struggling to change the destiny that fate or misfortune initially sent their way. I heard a young man say as much a few days ago in a public celebration hosted by Generation Rwanda, an organization that provides scholarships and mentoring for young people such as these. “The four years I have spent at SFB,” he said, “have changed my fate.” Sometimes the simplest truths directly stated are the most powerful. It was a riveting declaration, and a hopeful one.
In the midst of these challenges, the students’ thirst for knowledge remains my dominant impression at the end of a month at SFB. It is perhaps the greatest asset of Rwanda’s burgeoning school of business, a clear and early sign of its promising future. As an advisor for the school’s resource development strategy, I am also convinced that this thirst is a major reason why the world should pay attention to these students. It is why we should lend them both our moral and financial support.
Another of SFB’s assets is its strikingly beautiful and strategic location. Rwanda is known as the land of a thousand hills and SFB has been granted one of the best of them. Campus buildings cluster on 22.3 hectares of prime real estate atop a gently rounded knoll, originally the site of a secondary school established by Swiss Presbyterians in the 1960s. A walk around the perimeter reveals 360 degree views that elegantly evoke ideas about intellectual vision. Better still, this hill is adjacent to Kigali’s downtown business core which rambles over the crest of an adjacent rise. Two hills side by side, suggesting the partnership of gown and town, knowledge in the service of pragmatic goals.
SFB plays a crucial role in Rwanda’s effort to stimulate economic development through home grown entrepreneurship and investment in the private sector rather than through an excessive dependence on international aid. The country’s GDP grew by an estimated 7.4 percent in 2010 and SFB’s degree and certificate programs focus on high demand areas in this dynamic economy. Finance is the most popular degree with 682 majors currently. Accounting runs a close second with 510. Almost all of them will find jobs quickly. To ease the transition from school to work, a six week internship is required of every SFB senior who is not already employed. Many of these are hosted by the country’s major banks: Banque Populaire de Rwanda, Bank of Kigali, Access Bank, COGEBANK, and others.
Entrepreneurship is a major focus of SFB’s curriculum. Rwanda places great hope in college graduates who have the skills to forego job seeking in favor of job creation. A proposal is under review by the Rwanda Development Board to expand entrepreneurship training for SFB students. The school also offers a Women’s Entrepreneurship Program in partnership with the University of Michigan Business School and Goldman Sachs. Soon to begin its fourth year, the program delivers six months of specialized training to 60 small scale business women recruited from every corner of the country, including rural, agricultural areas. That’s 60 women annually, with a goal of reaching 300 women over five years.
The bond between gown and town extends in Rwanda to the public sector. A three way partnership between government, business and SFB yields promising new strategies for educational finance.
For its part, Rwanda’s Ministry of Education is committed to building physical infrastructure. Three major construction projects are underway at SFB at the same time: an Instructional Center, a Sports Center and, towering over the eastern rim of the campus, an impressive, multi-purpose complex that will transform the learning environment for SFB students. This eight floor facility will house some 50,000 square feet of classroom and computer lab space, two 300 seat auditoriums, faculty offices and public gathering areas. SFB is paying for the first two projects out of operating revenue, but the third and largest building is fully funded by the government.
Recognizing the limits of public coffers, however, SFB is putting its business acumen to work to generate funds through private enterprise. In the spring of 2010, SFB Rector Dr. Reid Whitlock received approval to establish Prism East Africa, a new, profit-making subsidiary of SFB in which the school has invested its own working capital. Enterprises planned include actuarial and appraisal services, executive training, mineral certification (important in mineral rich East Africa), management consulting, and publishing. A graduate of Harvard Business School and Princeton with an impressive executive leadership resume, Whitlock has the energy and the background to make the strategy work. If successful, Prism East Africa could be replicated by other schools not only in Africa but around the world.
A final asset of SFB cannot escape notice: The priority that many students place on religious faith. SFB is a secular campus in its administrative vision. Hence, it is not the imposition of executive leadership or a founding religious order or, of a church or government that brings about the intersection of faith and learning at SFB. It is the students themselves. And what has emerged is a multi-faith community.
Each morning at first light I hear from my apartment in SFB faculty housing the rising cadences of a Muslim call to prayer. Following close behind is the swell of praise courses from a nearby evangelical church. And, finally, as though in antiphonal response, the ringing of bells announcing an early morning Catholic Mass. Rwanda enjoys a mix of Catholics, Protestants, Seventh Day Adventists, Muslims, Pentecostals and other traditions. All are represented at SFB in an atmosphere of religious tolerance that appears to be working well.
And so three assets: A thirst for knowledge that brings throngs of students to campus at 6:00 a.m., a strategic location that fosters learning in the service of economic development, a grounding in values infused with the light of an inclusive transcendence. These are foundation stones upon which one could build, in any culture or country, a great and lasting center of learning.
The road may be long and fraught with challenges—too little space, not enough technology, a shortage of faculty, financial barriers for students and families, and so on. But SFB’s Rector is optimistic. Whitlock came to SFB by presidential appointment in March 2010. He had been in Rwanda for three and a half years as director of On The Frontier, a company specializing in national export strategies for underdeveloped or neglected post-conflict economies. For Whitlock, the move to SFB was a natural transition when Rwanda completed the initial rebuilding phase of the post 1994 Genocide era. “Now is the time,” he says, “to invest in the development of the human capital that will carry Rwanda forward.”
As a Fulbright Specialist working with SFB to advance this mission through creative partnerships and resource development, I feel privileged to offer what I can to bring this goal to fulfillment.
The author is the Senior Director of Development at Seattle University in Seattle, Washington, USA. He is in Rwanda for six weeks as a Fulbright Specialist grantee hosted by SFB (School of Finance and Banking) to work on resource development strategies.
jmhseattle@yahoo.com
First published in The New Times on Tuesday September 6, 2011
Take Action to Advocate for the International Affairs Budget
Posted on October 6, 2011.
Tell Senator Murray now: Protect the International Affairs Budget! As co-chair of Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (aka the “Supercommittee”) Washington Senator Patty Murray is in a powerful position to influence the recommendations the committee makes, by November 23, 2011, for at least $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reduction steps. Sign onto a letter to her to advocate for the International Affairs Budget.
The non-profit global development world is responding with a strong voice. Over 125 organizations (including Global Washington and eight Global Washington members) signed onto a letter to the Congressional leadership and the Joint Committee members supporting the International Affairs Budget.
Global Washington and Oxfam have prepared a similar letter to Senator Murray, both as the senior Senator from the State of Washington, and in her role as co-chair of the committee, to be signed by organizations based in Washington State. Would your organization like to be part of the action? Send your organization’s name and the name of the individual signing on the organization’s behalf to Bookda@GlobalWA.org, and we will add your organization to the list of signers. Act quickly! We will send the letter by the Joint Committee’s deadline for input: October 14, 2011.
If you would like to send your own letter to Senator Murray, you can visit the Global Action Day website, and click on the “Advocate” button. Global Washington and several of its members are sponsoring the Global Action Day Campaign. 11.1.11 is Global Action Day. Global Action Day has been proclaimed by the mayor of Seattle as the day when we recognize the accomplishments, innovation and impact of Washington State’s growing global development sector. Global Day Action is also an opportunity for Washingtonians to learn about, support and join the more than 140 members of Global Washington who are working to create jobs at home and impact lives abroad by reducing disease, providing educational opportunities and strengthening communities and economies around the world.
Stay tuned for the Supercommittee’s recommendation by November 23, and the Congress’ “up or down” vote by December 23.
Protecting Endangered Languages
Posted on September 30, 2011.
Endangered languages don’t attract nearly as much attention as endangered animals or plants. In fact, they get almost no media attention at all. Should they?
On Tuesday evening, September 27th, Global Washington and Microsoft (more specifically Microsoft’s Local Language Program) hosted a special screening of the documentary “The Linguists,” at MOHAI, followed by a talk with one of the linguists in the film and visiting specialist at Microsoft, Dr. David Harrison. The event brought together a diverse audience of high school students (kudos to Roosevelt High’s AP Human Geography class), educators, representatives from an array of local non-profits and Microsoft techies, among others.
The documentary follows Harrison and his sidekick Greg Anderson, of Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, to various parts of the world as they seek out languages that are disappearing, and provide each a resurrection through their interactions and recordings. It’s a documentary well worth the hour, not only to learn about the vulnerability of certain languages and their intersections with more dominant languages and cultures, but also for the humor, insights and adventures Harrison and Anderson share with the viewers. They take us to corners of the world seldom noticed, provide tidbits of curious information, and remind us that the answers we seek are often in the least likely of places.
The evening’s presentation brought to the fore the importance of learning from the languages before they vanish. Harrison emphasized that technology is now working towards elevating languages, but also pointedly stated that one does not need to travel to remote places, nor tap into technology to find endangered languages. Seattle, he noted, is a “fascinating linguistic mosaic,” with a variety of endangered indigenous languages. All that is required to seek out and appreciate these languages, Harrison stated, “is a shift in attitudes, the ability to value what people know.” He suggests that we “always be in tune to the linguistic environment around [us] and learn from that.”
“People light up when they see you are interested in their language,” Harrison shared. “People do love their language and do want to keep it.”
Harrison provided a number of reasons to value linguistic diversity: It provides intellectual diversity, makes you smarter, and broadens cultural knowledge. “It’s an intellectual asset to know another language.” Prioritizing language acquisition, and the intellectual benefits of such, will also be discussed in depth at Global Washington’s Summit on Global Education on November 18th. “Children don’t have to give up one language in order to learn another one,” Harrison opined. “But once they make that decision, it tends to be irreversible.”
Efforts towards maintaining languages are making inroads. Native People’s groups in the States, such as the Cherokee, have made a decision to keep their language, Harrison noted, while many other communities are pushing back at linguistic oppression to hold onto their language. “Linguistic rights are human rights,” he stated. “A connection needs to be made between the two.”
So, in this blogger’s opinion, yes, endangered languages and their cultures do deserve more attention and protection. And for those of us looking to learn a new language or travel, some wise words from the linguists: “You’ve got to breath it in, get out there and dance with the people.”
Global Partnerships Makes First Investments In Colombia
Posted on September 29, 2011.
Global Partnerships Makes First Investments In Colombia
Online press release
Seattle, Wash., – Global Partnerships (GP), a nonprofit social investor based in Seattle, Washington, and Managua Nicaragua, announced today that it has made its first loans to two partner organizations based in Colombia: Fundación Amanecer and Contactar. With the addition of these two partners to its portfolio, GP is supporting the work of 33 microfinance organizations and cooperatives in eight countries in Latin America, including Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru.
“By investing in the innovative work of Fundación Amanecer and Contactar, we are helping poor and underserved populations in Colombia access critical services to help them earn a living and improve their lives,” said Mark Coffey, Chief Investment Officer of Global Partnerships. “We are excited to help these organizations increase their impact in Colombia, which is one of the most populous countries in Latin America and which faces unique challenges in fighting poverty.”
In late August, 2011, Global Partnerships made its first loan to a Colombian partner, $1 million to Fundación Amanecer, a small, growing microfinance institution (MFI) that is helping jump-start a more diverse economy in Orinoquía, a region of central-east Colombia that has been heavily dependent on the petroleum industry.
Fundación Amanecer, a nonprofit, serves 4,200 people with a combination of microloans and micro-entrepreneurship education to help its clients boost their skills and income. For example, it offers a curriculum in computer literacy, technical assistance for farmers and job-skills training in fields such as clothing manufacturing, shoemaking, baking and carpentry.
In late September, GP disbursed $1.5 million to a second Colombian partner, Contactar, an established nonprofit microfinance organization in southwest Colombia that is one of the few MFIs in the country to focus on rural clients. Eighty-five percent of Contactar’s 13,500 clients are rural; the majority of clients work in agricultural enterprises. In addition to microcredit, Contactar has begun to offer its clients access to financial education, savings accounts and basic dental services for their children.
The loans were made by Global Partnerships’ Social Investment Fund 2010 (SIF 2010), a five-year, $25 million debt fund that provides affordable loans to a select portfolio of microfinance organizations and cooperatives. GP’s partners range in size and business model, but are similar in their focus on reaching people in need and providing not just microcredit but services such as business education, health services and agricultural technical assistance. SIF 2010 requires that 75 percent of organizations that it funds offer such “microfinance-plus” services.
SIF 2010 has disbursed a total of $20.25 million in loans to 20 organizations since the fund was closed in September, 2010, including 12 new partners to Global Partnerships.
About Global Partnerships:Founded in 1994, Global Partnerships (GP) is a nonprofit social investor based in Seattle, Washington, and Managua, Nicaragua, whose mission is to expand opportunity for people living in poverty. GP invests in and develops sustainable solutions to help impoverished people in Latin America earn a living and improve their lives, including microcredit, basic health care, business education, technical assistance for farmers and green technology. Find out more at www.globalpartnerships.org.
September 2011 Newsletter
Posted on September 20, 2011.
Welcome to the September 2011 issue of the Global Washington newsletter. If you would like to contact us directly, please email us.
IN THIS ISSUE
Note from our Executive Director
Greetings,
As Washington’s dynamic global development sector continues to grow, Global Washington urges you to join hands and celebrate the accomplishments, leadership and impact of our Global Development Sector’s work for the betterment of the world on November 1, 2011, 11.1.11, recognized as “Global Action Day” by the mayor of the City of Seattle.
Global Washington invites you to be a part of the movement on Global Action Day and explore the many opportunities to get involved through philanthropy, travel, volunteer opportunities and critical investment opportunities.
On the Global Action Day, join Global Washington and it’s 140 members to strengthen our global development sector and become a leader in making the world a more equitable, secure, prosperous, and sustainable place to live for all. We will be sending more information to you about the ways you can get involved with this day.
Global Action Day will take place on the second day of the conference. We hope that you have registered to attend our upcoming third annual conference: Opportunities and Obstacles in Turbulent Times. There are several ways that your organization can be a part of the conference:
- submit a proposal to present during a conference session on innovations
- become an exhibitor
- support the conference by becoming a sponsor
- attend and contribute to this growing community.
The annual conference is an important milestone in Global Washington’s work to convene, strengthen, and advocate on behalf of the global development sector in the state. Diverse players will find opportunities for collaboration and high-caliber speakers will provide valuable insight and the latest knowledge. All of this increases the impact of the work being done around the world, and enhances the reputation of Washington State as an international hub for innovative and effective development activity. Small and large organizations, businesses, government, academic institutions, and interested individuals are all encouraged to participate, joining our mission of working together to create a more equitable and prosperous world. I hope that you have seen the request for abstracts for our member organizations to present at the conference. Be sure to submit your presentations to us and use this opportunity to showcase your work.
We look forward to your participation in our many programs and our annual conference.
In unity,
Bookda Gheisar, Executive Director
Featured Story
Mayoral Proclamation Celebrating Global Action Day 11.1.11
Washington’s global development sector is a leading international force, making important contributions in the areas of global health, poverty alleviation, environmental sustainability and education.
Dedicated to finding innovative, sustainable solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems, hundreds of businesses, non profits, academic institutions, foundations and government entities in the global development sector are zealously working in all 144 developing countries, impacting billions of lives abroad and creating opportunities at home.
The international development sector impacts the economy both in our state and abroad. Washington State exports nearly $40 billion worth of goods and services to every country on the planet. International nonprofit organizations headquartered here such as World Vision, PATH and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation create hundreds of high wage jobs and attract top talent from around the world. Washington is also the largest exporter in the nation on a per capita basis and one in three jobs here is tied to international trade.
As our dynamic global development sector continues to grow, Global Washington and its members urge Washingtonians to celebrate the accomplishments, innovation, leadership and impact of our global development sector on November 1, 2011, or “11.1.11,” which has been proclaimed “Global Action Day” by the mayor of the city of Seattle.
Join this growing movement on Global Action Day, and explore the many opportunities to give, learn, support fair trade, advocate, travel, and become a member of Global Washington to make the world a more equitable, secure, prosperous, and sustainable place to live for all. Find your opportunity at globalwa.org.
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Featured Organization
PeaceTrees Vietnam: Healing After War
By Sarah Horrigan
Healing the emotional and environmental wounds of the Vietnam War by removing landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) and planting trees on the cleared land, was the original goal of PeaceTrees Vietnam when it was established in 1995. The seed for PeaceTrees Vietnam had been planted 26 years earlier, when PeaceTrees co-founder Jerilyn Brusseau’s brother was killed when his helicopter was shot down in one of Vietnam’s southern provinces. Her desire to turn sorrow into service resulted in the first visit of PeaceTrees “citizen diplomats” soon after the U.S. and Vietnam normalized their diplomatic relations.
In the intervening 16 years, the mission of PeaceTrees Vietnam –to renew relationships with the people of Vietnam and to promote a safe, healthy future for its families and children – has remained true, while the programs have greatly expanded. “It’s a holistic approach to mine action,” explains Executive Director Blair Burroughs, leading to community building on a broad scale, with a broad and complex impact.
Burroughs starts the story with the magnitude of the problem of mines and unexploded ordnance. The statistics are staggering. From 1945 to 1975, almost four times the amount of munitions was deployed in Vietnam than were used throughout the entire world in WW II. Over 15 million tons of explosives were dropped by U.S. forces—equivalent to the power of 400 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs. On average, ten percent of the munitions did not explode, which means that they pose an ongoing threat to people who might come across them in the countryside. One type – cluster bombs or “bombies” – had a particularly high failure rate and remain as dangerous today as when they were dropped. Sadly, these bombies can look like toys to children, who may be injured or killed when they attempt to play with them.
From its outset, PeaceTrees Vietnam chose to focus on Quang Tri Province in central Vietnam, once the northernmost province of the Republic of Vietnam. Already a poor region due to its geography of steep slopes, narrow valleys, and unproductive soils, Quang Tri was disproportionally affected by activities during the war. Located near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and the Ho Chi Minh trail, it housed many American bases, and consequently bears more than its share of war remnants. More than 40% of the ordnance used by American forces in the war was dropped in Quang Tri Province, which is roughly 1.2 times the size of the State of Rhode Island. If all the ordnance used there were to be spread out over the entire province, each square meter of land would have been bombarded with an average of 140 pounds of ordnance from both aerial and naval attacks.
The poverty of the province leads many residents to try to supplement their incomes by collecting scrap metal, much of which can be deadly. Indeed, scrap metal collection is the most hazardous occupation in the province. Farming, a more traditional occupation, is the second most deadly occupation, as farmers can unknowingly come across deadly ordnance while plowing their fields.
This grim picture is in stark contrast to Executive Director Burroughs’ excitement and enthusiasm. He clearly relishes the challenges of finding creative ways to address the problems, from individual victims to the community as a whole. To educate people about the risks from mines, PeaceTrees Vietnam has worked in local traditions, incorporating role-playing and skits along with traditional songs. Burroughs’ office walls are covered in colorful posters to warn about mines, the result of a poster contest sponsored by PeaceTrees Vietnam. Radio service announcements target vulnerable populations and those who collect scrap metal.
From its inception, PeaceTrees Vietnam has provided aid to victims of accidents. It strives to find creative ways to help such victims, particularly after their initial hospitalization. Sometimes a student needs an apartment in a nearby city so that he can attend high school and thus attain a more productive future. Children of accident victims need only $50 per child per year to stay in school, and PeaceTrees Vietnam provided scholarships to 200 such children this year. A farming family that lost its breadwinner now has a water buffalo to plow the fields, thanks to PeaceTrees Vietnam.
In recent years, PeaceTrees has expanded its programs in the community in partnership with local groups as well as other Seattle-based groups and the U.S. State Department. The Women’s Union of Quang Tri province is a strong community voice. With the Union’s input, PeaceTrees Vietnam has constructed kindergartens and libraries, which also serve as community centers for women in small villages. These centers may be expanded to provide temporary shelters for women who experience domestic violence.
Another project recently implemented in partnership with the Women’s Union focuses on growing nutritionally balanced gardens. PeaceTrees Vietnam’s role is twofold; initially to clear the land of mines and UXO, followed by training in sustainable agricultural techniques and providing necessary tools and seeds. Seattle-based Washington Women’s Foundation has provided the funding for 132 women in the province to be trained in growing nutritionally balanced gardens. In addition, over 200 acres of farmland has been cleared of UXO and restored for use with grants from the U.S. State Department. The land can now be used to grow cash crops such as pepper, coffee, and a fast-growing native acacia tree for pulp. Earned income can help reduce the economic need for scrap metal collection, turning the vicious cycle into a virtuous one.
The demining work begun in 1996 continues with former Vietnamese military deminers trained to UN standards. And citizen diplomacy trips continue to renew the relationships between the people of Vietnam and the United States. As Burroughs so eloquently states, “We must remember that everyone, from veterans to opponents of the war, always wanted what was best for the people of Vietnam.” Now PeaceTrees Vietnam is providing a living example of what “the best” can mean.
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Changemaker
Kristin Hayden, Founder of OneWorld Now!
By Carolyn Hubbard
Kristin felt the tension rising in the room as she danced with the boy at her host family’s party. She was 15 years old at the time, on a Rotary Exchange program in Johannesburg, South Africa, during Apartheid. “We were really making people uncomfortable,” Kristin recalls. “But I was having so much fun.” For the first time since arriving in South Africa, she had finally found someone she could relate to, a new friendship that felt genuine. The only problem: he was black.
It was hard for her to fathom that she couldn’t pursue this friendship because of politics. She was stuck between wanting to respect her host family’s rules and her own moral code. How do you deal with that kind of an injustice? Thinking back to that moment, Kristen pauses, and then explains, “There were forces way bigger than me at play, and I didn’t know how to navigate them in a way that felt empowering.”
It was a bitter lesson to learn for a young person whose parents instilled in her the values of social justice and self-empowerment. But it was also one that helped form Kristin’s conviction that she could be and needed to be an agent of change. Fast forward to today: Kristin Hayden is the founder of OneWorld Now!, the Seattle-based organization providing under-served high school students, leadership training, Chinese and Arabic language courses, and international study opportunities. This two-year program provides the students the tools to build their global awareness and to open doors to further international studies.
Growing up, Kristin knew she had the permission and the possibility to study abroad. She also knew that plenty of other students did not have that same access. “This is not a luxury of the youth now,” she states. But it is a luxury that she wants to make possible for others—especially communities of kids that are most often overlooked and marginalized—by providing them an opportunity to transform their lives.
Her experience in South Africa piqued her curiosity about other countries undergoing transformation, or countries where, as she describes it, “there was a lot of hype, [but] where few people have direct experience.” In 1990, she headed to Moscow, Russia, just prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, to study for a college semester. “Things were boiling,” she recalls of the oppression, but she also observed that, “when you are under oppression for a long time, you don’t see the change happening.” Having witnessed, almost first hand, the end of Apartheid and the fall of the Soviet Union, two historic moments her high school history teachers said would never happen in their life times, Kristen knows change is possible.
Her own transformation continued, as she picked up a triple major with honors in Soviet Area Studies, Russian Language, and International Relations, at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. She then honed her skills in global thinking and project management while living and working in London, Paris, Moscow, and Tbilisi, Georgia.
She returned to the States, ready to merge her entrepreneurial acumen with her interest in social justice and international learning opportunities. OneWorld Now! took its first 12 students in 2002, and has been growing ever since.
OneWorld Now! is now in it’s 9th year and has enrolled some 2,000 Seattle sophomore and junior high school students in the program. Philmon Haile is one such student that continues to excel. A son of Eritrean refugees in Sudan, Philmon started the OWN program his sophomore year at Garfield High School, studying Mandarin Chinese and building his leadership skills. “He was always late to class,” recalls Kristin, “and had no idea about what he wanted to do with his life.” OWN organized an internship for him to be a congressional page on Capitol Hill, followed by a scholarship to study in China. Philmon continued on with a scholarship to Swarthmore College, returning to China on a Confucius Institute Scholarship. “Students like Philmon are changing the world,” states Hayden. They also exemplify “what is possible and how these transformational experiences can shift the trajectory of a student’s life.”
Kristin surrounds herself with stories of transformation. Her favorite movie, “Billy Elliot,” tells the story of a scrawny boy who overcomes oppressive social codes and family expectations to become a star ballet dancer. For Billy, dancing is “this fire in my body. I’m just there. Flyin’ like a bird. Like electricity.” Like Billy, Kristin doesn’t question this drive she has; she just lives it. “In my heart of hearts, change is possible,” she says with impressive conviction. Sure there have been frustrations. She notes that her vision for OneWorld Now! exceeds the current reality. And she’s not so sure the U.S is ready for the kinds of changes she wants to see happen. But she sees social entrepreneurs as being the game changers that will create a shift towards a more collaborative and less self-absorbed national culture.
Another inspiration for her is the novella Jonathon Livingston Seagull, a story of perseverance, overcoming conformity and seeking self-perfection. Or simply stated, it’s a story of learning to soar above it all.
Kristin dons her motorcycle helmet and prepares to leave. She’s got Bali, her brand new sparkling cherry red Vespa, waiting for her. It’s what gives her a chance to soar, to feel some quick moments of bliss, before settling in to make sure more teenagers get a chance to travel, and that fewer have to endure a lost friendship because of intolerance and fear.
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Welcome New Members
Please welcome our newest Global Washington members. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with their work and think of opportunities for support and collaboration!
The Institute for Self-Reliant Agriculture (SRA) encourages farmers to grow what they eat to provide family nutrition through a progressive approach to self-sufficiency in agriculturally-fertile developing nations. SRA works in cooperation with international organizations, local governments, universities, NGOs, and others throughout the developing world to disseminate the Small-Scale Agriculture Family Self-Reliance Program. www.tifsra.org
Kirlin Charitable Foundation serve as a catalyst and innovative partner in positive social change, helping children and their families become lifelong learners and thoughtfully active, compassionate members of our global community. www.kirlinfoundation.org
Guatemala Village Health is a group of health workers, engineers, teachers, administrators, college students, kids, and more, working to help improve the health of a group of villages in Rio Dulce and in Monterrico – eastern and southwestern areas of Guatemala. They update community assessments, conduct health care screenings, provide clinical care and health education then work at ongoing village improvement projects. http://guatemalavillagehealth.org
- Individual Members
- Saira Abbasey McDonald
- Jennifer Geist
- Robin Hibbs
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Announcements
Global Washington Conference registration is now open!
Don’t forget to register for our 3rd Annual Conference, Opportunities and Obstacles in Turbulent Times. This conference, the largest gathering of the international development community on the west coast, will take place on October 31st and November 1st at the Microsoft Conference Center in Redmond. Early bird registration ends on September 28th, so reserve your spot today!
For more information or to register, visit our website.
Join a Community Conversation & Help Us Improve Our State’s Global Education System
Global Washington invites individuals in education, nonprofits, and businesses, to participate in the Community Conversations, a key component of the Global Education Initiative. Community Conversations provide those interested (or even just curious) about encouraging change in our state’s global education priorities with an opportunity to have their voices heard by a wider audience at the Summit on Global Education on November 18, 2011.
These conversations will be held in September and October throughout the state. Check out this link for the dates and locations: https://globalwa.org/our-work/global-education-initiative/community-conversations-on-global-education/
Contact Eugenia Ho at eugenia@globalwa.org for how to get involved.
To Catch a Dollar: A Movie about Micro-finance in America
Looking for a thought-provoking movie? If you’ll be in Los Angeles or New York City from September 23rd to 30th, grab some popcorn and settle in to enjoy To Catch a Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America. This full-length documentary, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2010, follows Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Yunus as he brings his unique and revolutionary micro-finance program, Grameen, from Bangladesh to the US. Grameen America is a non-profit organization that provides education, resources, support, and affordable non-collateral micro-loans to help low-income entrepreneurs achieve the American dream.
Funds raised at the screenings will be used to increase distribution of the movie and to bring financial literacy campaigns to schools and communities across the country. To support the movie and Grameen America, Kickstarter receives donations. Read more about the movie, find other screening dates, and learn how to request a screening at http://www.tocatchadollar.com.
4 th Annual 2011 National School Conference on International Youth Exchange
For all educators, international school administrators, and everyone interested in broadening their awareness of youth exchange programs, the 4th Annual 2011 National School Conference on International Youth Exchange, “Building Generations of Youth Exchange,” will provide opportunities to network with colleagues, as well as attend seminars on best practices and more. The Conference follows the two-day 27th CSIET Annual Conference. Mr. Kelly Aramaki, Principal of Beacon Hill International School and the 2010 recipient of the prestigious Milken Educator Award, will deliver the keynote address. The International Youth Exchange conference is cosponsored by Global Washington’s Education Initiative, iEARN, Global Washington member One World Now, as well as the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of Washington.
The Conference will be held on October 29, 2011, from 9am to 5:30pm, at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel, 515 Madison St. To register, go to the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET) website http://www.csiet.org/index.html. Registration is now open.
Don’t forget to utilize Global Washington’s Career Center for your employment or staffing needs
Global Washington has recently launched a Careers in Global Development Center on our website—your resource for attracting quality talent to your organization! Global Washington members have full access to postings—from paid jobs, to internships, to board positions, to consultant opportunities. Non-members can also post paid global development positions by emailing their job descriptions to us at careercenter@globalwa.org. Job seekers, don’t forget to look here for new positions at our member organizations!
Schools for Salone hosts 1st Annual Together We Can: Building Schools and Hope in Sierra Leone dinner and fundraiser
Global Washington member Schools for Salone will celebrate their past year achievements with a star-studded dinner and fundraiser. Margaret Larson, host of KING-5’s New Day Northwest, will be the Master of Ceremonies. Ishmael Beah, best-selling author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, will be there to sign books and discuss his book, and professional soccer players from Sierra Leone will be in attendance. This 1st Annual “Together We Can: Building Schools and Hope in Sierra Leone” will highlight the work Schools for Salone is doing to rebuild rural schools destroyed during Sierra Leone’s civil war.
The dinner and fundraiser will be held on November 3, 2011 at Herban Feast, 3200 1st Ave. S, Seattle. Purchase tickets by October 15th at the Schools for Salone website http://schoolsforsalone.org/Pages/ProjectEvents-AP.html.
Women in the World Breakfast
Tickets are now available for the second annual Women in the World breakfast, presented by the Seattle International Foundation. Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro, president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, will be the keynote speaker for this event, which celebrates the work Seattle’s organizations are doing to advance the economic and social status of women around the world.
This well-attended breakfast will be held from 7:00 to 10:00 am on November 15, 2011, at the Seattle Four Seasons Hotel, at 99 Union St. Purchase tickets at www.womenintheworld.eventbrite.com.
New Online Tool Builds Awareness about Land Rights
World Resources Institute and Landesa have launched the online education tool, Focus on Land in Africa, which aims to help policymakers and practitioners understand the links between land rights and critical development outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa. Using slideshows, timelines, maps, videos and more, the site aims to provide an engaging way to learn about these crucial issues. For more information, see Landesa’s guest post on the Global Washington blog!
Bringing Business Together for a Better World
Net Impact hosts its 2011 Annual Conference in Portland, OR, from October 27th to 29th. With over 2,500 attendees, 300 speakers and some 100 panels and workshops, the Conference brings together changemakers and leaders to find creative and sustainable ways to use their business savvy to bring social and environmental health to the world. Speakers will include Sally Jewell, President and CEO of REI, and Lord Michael Hastings, Global Head, Citizenship & Diversity, KPMG International.
Register for the conferences at www.netimpact.org/conference. (Early registration ends September 23rd.)
Washington Global Health Alliances Releases New Study
The Washington Global Health Alliance recently completed a study that tallied and mapped the work being done by Washington global health organizations. 59 organizations were included, working in 156 countries on more than 2500 projects. The full study is available here and the economic opportunity portfolio can be accessed here.
The study was released at a special event on Tuesday, September 13th, attended by 60 legislators and members of the global health community. If you missed this event, the program can be viewed here. Other media coverage is listed below. Congratulations to WGHA for this important accomplishment!
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Global Washington Events:
September 27th
Special Showing of The Linguists, with Dr. David Harrison
September 29th
Perspectives on International Development at Microsoft
October 31st and November 1st
3rd Annual Global Washington Conference, Opportunities and Obstacles in Turbulent Times
November 18th
Summit on Global Education in Washington State
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Other Events:
September 21st
Grameen Foundation Breakfast: How Mobile Phones Can Improve Health Outcomes in Developing Countries
September 22
Lumana Benefit Dinner and Silent Auction
September 24
Make Strides Walkathon
Medrix’s Enchanted Moon Festival – Benefit Dinner and Auction
Agros’ 2011 Tierras de Vida Dinner and Village Experience
October 1
UNA Seattle Annual Membership Meeting
October 6
Power Up Your Giving, The Seattle Foundation
October 10
Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World of Men
October 12
Business of Hope Luncheon
October 13
How to Change the World One Dead Mosquito at a Time
Jeffrey Sachs: A Plan to Rebuild Our Economy and Politics
October 14-15
WASCLA 2011 Language Access Summit
October 20
Northwest Immigration Rights Project: An Evening at Wing Luke
October 22
UN Day of Celebration
University of Washington Invention to Venture Workshop
November 5
PRE-VENT and Guatemala Village Health dinner/Fund-raiser
Contributors: Bookda Gheisar, Megan Boucher, Anamika P. Ved, Carolyn Hubbard, Sarah Horrigan
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Global Washington’s Global Social – Bringing Some Attention Back to Latin America
Posted on September 15, 2011.
Signs of a successful gathering? Tasty food, chilled drinks, compelling conversations, and people still talking way past closing.
Global Washington’s Global Social on Wednesday evening scores high marks on all four, as more than 40 members and guests came to mingle, listen and connect. Four panelists shared their observations and concerns about development work in Latin America. While each brought unique stories, all agreed that Latin America is hard to define as one region and that the current focus on the region’s economic progress is overshadowing the issues of increasing economic inequalities and rates of violence, both of which impact how organizations interact with countries in the region.
Following are summaries of the four panelists’ presentations.
Mauricio Vivero, the Executive Director of Seattle International Foundation, began the presentation by noting that in relation to the rest of the world, Latin America is currently being ignored. “It worries us,” he stated, noting that this lack of attention has created a window for China and Brazil, who are exploiting natural resources (China) and political leadership (Brazil) within Central and South America. While this kind of investment leads to economic progress and an overall percentage drop in poverty, inequality is growing. “Inequality in most countries has gone up in the last ten years,” cited Vivero.
Of prime concern is the assumed economic equality because of recent progress. For example, Vivero noted that in 2010, citizens in El Salvador received US$3.8 billion in remittances, mostly from family members and connections in the U.S. He went on to explain that these remittances now dwarf corporate investment and complicate development policies. But they don’t provide a country security. “How do you do development in a rich country?” posed Vivero, also noting that in El Salvador, and throughout Central America, the main issues of the day for people are crime, violence, and insecurity caused by the growing inequalities.
Sam Snyder, Executive Director of the Create Good Foundation, shared how his perception of the region was far removed from the reality of what he saw in Guatemala. He had gone there to meet with coffee co-ops and farmers as part of the Pura Vida coffee business, but was “surprised to see the exact same poverty as I saw in Africa.” (Before joining Create Good/Pura Vida, Sam was a Peace Corps volunteer in Cote d’Ivoire.) “There was no water, sanitation, they didn’t have enough land.” Snyder’s focus quickly transitioned to asking the farmers what their needs are and focusing on those through the Create Good Foundation. They started to partner with Ecofiltro, a Guatemalan-owned water filtration business, to handle their distribution to many communities from which they buy their coffee. Crime does concern him. He’s aware of the impact it has on the people with whom he works and questions how to deal with such a complicated issue.
Dick Moxon, Special Projects Coordinator for Global Partnerships, focused on the status of micro-finance programs in the region. He pointed out that “this is a relatively optimistic time in South America,” making it easier for organizations to be successful. While the U.S. still muddles through a financial crisis, “Latin American countries have come out of their crises and are doing well.” All of this bodes well for investors, and thus for micro-finance programs. The problem begins with the political models of the various countries. “There are two models in vogue,” Moxon explained. “The Chavez model and the Lula model.” Countries with the more authoritarian, or left of center, Chavez model are perceived as more risky. “Our funders don’t want us to put too much money in those countries,” Moxon stated, giving Nicaragua as an example. That said, Moxon pointed out that many countries, such as Bolivia, have excellent micro-finance laws and have regulated interest rates, while “our friends in Mexico have their own unique system.” Moxon also noted that crime has many impacts on their work, citing how organizations in El Salvador now have to pay into a protection racket. Global Partnerships has begun to also focus on short-term financing options, and has partnered with Sustainable Harvest.
Serena Cosgrove, Assistant Professor at Seattle University and author of Leadership from the Margins: Women and Civil Society Organizations in Argentina, Chile, and El Salvador, wrapped up the presentations by looking at the issues from a “micro level.”
“Ethnographic detail absorbs me,” Cosgrove stated as she focused on how violence and insecurity is impacting El Salvadorans on a daily basis. She noted that the country has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Cosgrove lived in El Salvador from 1989 to 1993, during some of the gravest years of the country’s unrest. But today, she states, “it feels more unsafe now than in 1989 [a particularly gruesome year during the 12-year civil war.]”
She provided a poignant example of the issues of security with a story of a friend’s daughter whose cell phone is stolen each time she takes the public bus. Yet, if she doesn’t take a phone with her, what does she do if something happens to her? Cosgrove encouraged all of us to imagine what it would be like if our daily lives were dictated by such choices of personal security. She noted how these increasing levels of violence and crime impact all levels of society, citing that young women in the middle class have very limited movement because of the violence.
Further challenging the illusions of progress, Cosgrove impressed the need to notice the income inequalities and extreme poverty in Latin America. One woman in El Salvador even mentioned to Cosgrove “we are worse off now than during the war. At least during the war we had a dream.” Despite the fact that big donors are investing less money into the region, Cosgrove noted that some sectors of civil society are doing great, mentioning that many organizations that are successful are women-directed. “The struggle has only just begun,” finished Cosgrove. “There is still so much that needs to be done to address the inequalities that lead to the conflict.”
Many of the attendees stayed to meet with one another to discuss their programs and strategies. It was an evening charged with energy and intention, and one that will no doubt lead to more people paying a bit more attention to this complex region we call Latin America.
Global Washington convenes Disaster Relief organizations to share experiences with supermodel Petra Nemcova
Posted on September 14, 2011.
Supermodel Petra Nemcova’s surviving the 2004 tsunami while in Phuket, Thailand, led her to establishing the Happy Hearts Fund, a charitable organization to address what she called “the hopelessness in the eyes of children” that she saw when she returned to Thailand after the tsunami. She wanted to close the “gap” that exists after first responders leave a disaster site and before full-scale reconstruction has begun by providing “islands of safety” for children in the form of sustainable schools. She explained the model behind the Happy Hearts Fund to a gathering of representatives from 8 different disaster relief organizations that are members of Global Washington.
Following Petra’s brief presentation, the Global Washington members had a lively discussion about their experiences – both positive and negative – in disaster relief work. Beryl Cheal of Disaster Training International pointed out that there are certain places in the world where you know there are going to be disasters (such as the Philippines), so disaster preparedness is important. John Scanlon of Oxfam shared the names of four initiatives – the Sphere Project, People in Aid, the Humanitarian Accountability Project (HAP), and the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance (ALNAP) – that are trying to improve quality and accountability in the humanitarian sector. Mercy Corps shared its experience using information and communications technology (ICT) to collect information on maternal health in Indonesia.
Many agreed that having a local partner “on the ground” in a disaster area is important. Petra commented that the Happy Hearts Fund criteria for taking on a project include having a local NGO or corporation in place, as well as needing good local community engagement, reflecting Global Washington’s principle of local ownership.
Member Guest Blog: Web-based Education Tool Aims to Mainstream Land Rights into International Development Thinking
Posted on September 12, 2011.
By Anna Knox and Peter Veit
Regardless of what matters to you – access to education, universal food security, strengthening women’s rights, or a healthier environment – land rights plays a key role in achieving these goals.
When people have secure access to land, it can lead to:
- Economic development through increased agricultural productivity,
- Improved childhood nutrition,
- Increased school attendance and investments in basic education,
- Increased environmental stewardship,
- Reduced potential for social instability and conflict,
- Reduce vulnerability to domestic violence
Focus on Land in Africa, a recently launched web-based tool focused on sub-Saharan Africa, aims to help policymakers and practitioners understand the links between land rights and critical development outcomes. Designed by World Resources Institute and Landesa as an online education tool, the site is interactive and uses slideshows, timelines, maps, videos and more in order to appeal to and engage users. Currently, the tool features lessons drawn from six sub-Saharan African countries: Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda. These lessons were developed with funding support provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. More countries will be featured as the tool grows.
The education tool helps connect the dots between in-depth research and what gets filtered onto the front page of our newspapers now and then. How are the conflicts between herders and farmers in Mali connected to land rights? How are some women in Ghana using customary rules to gain greater control over land? Do villagers in Tanzania have legal rights to land that they do not have title to? Is the expansion of biofuels threatening people’s land rights in Africa? The site deepens understanding of these critical issues beyond what a simple newspaper or magazine article can convey, but without having to wade through dense research reports and complex language.
The transformational nature of access to land and secure rights to land has been illustrated by land to the tiller programs in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, which were instrumental in spurring economic development after World War II. More recently, a number of tenure reforms have been implemented in sub-Saharan Africa, in such countries as Burkina Faso, Mozambique, and Tanzania. Increasingly, African governments are ackn0wleding the importance of legally recognizing the land rights of communities who have farmed, herded, lived on and otherwise depended on the land and its natural resources for years. In the wake of these promising changes, sharing lessons of experience is critical to nurturing new land reform efforts and continuously improving current strategies. The tool supports this sort of cross-fertilization.
NGOs working in the fields of maternal health, children’s nutrition, education, women’s rights, and the environment can increase the effectiveness of their work when they understand the role of land tenure and integrate this thinking into their own poverty alleviation approaches. Often dismissed as too complex, land tenure issues are regularly overlooked by other development sectors. This web-based tool helps untangle the complexity by presenting the issues in lesson formats tied to real-life challenges and solutions.
Focus on Land in Africa is meant to be a free educational resource for development practitioners, policymakers, students, researchers, academics and other audiences interested in learning more about the intersection between land rights and international development issues.
Comments on the Focus on Land in Africa tool and on this blog post are welcomed.
Anna Knox is the senior director of Africa Programs at Landesa, a non-governmental development organization working to secure land rights for the world’s poorest people.
Peter Veit is the project manager for the Equity, Poverty and Environment Initiative at World Resources Institute (WRI). WRI is a global environmental think tank that goes beyond research to put ideas into action, working at the intersection of environment and human needs.
