Welcome to the January 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
• Featured Organization: See Your Impact
• Changemaker: Mark Schlansky and Uplift International
• Announcements
• Global Washington Events
• General Events

Note from our Executive Director

Greetings,

Happy new year to all of you.

I want to thank you all for your support in 2010.  We achieved many important milestones in 2010 by building national visibility and recognition for all of our work here in Washington State . As a hub of diverse and active international development players, the state of Washington is creating a model for collaboration in the global development sector, providing innovative strategies and cross-sector, cross-issue partnerships to build a better world.

Global Washington will build on this success by continuing to convene our members and friends, offering workshops that can build the capacity of your organization, and advocating on behalf of your work and on behalf of Washington State.

Our goal is to deepen our work by focusing on some specific sectoral  work in 2011.  We have started with international education and convened a working group of representatives from k-12 schools, private schools, academic institutions. organizations working to connect young people from the U.S. to the developing world, government, businesses and corporations,  NGOs working on global education, and NGOs building schools in the developing world. Our goal is to organize this sector and build a shared strategy for global education that can be utilized by many institutions in our state.  We will continue to bring you more information about this work in the coming months.

Once again, thanks so much for all of your support and we hope to see you at our upcoming events.

In unity,

Bookda Gheisar, Executive Director

Featured Organization: See Your Impact

This past Christmas, I made two small donations to organizations helping seniors and children in need. How has the life of this elderly man changed because of the small gift card I bought to pay for his diabetic medicines?  This was the question that flashed through my mind several times.  I also tried to picture the little girl playing with the cooking toys I donated with a big smile on her face.  SeeYourImpact definitely understands how small donors like me feel.

“Give a small gift, and in about 2 weeks, we’ll tell you exactly who you helped and how” is their model.  SeeYourImpact’s mission is to “transform giving into a joyful and fulfilling experience for all donors by enabling charitable organizations to show the connection of each donor’s gift to the actual end beneficiary in an authentic and transparent manner.”  Their vision is to “impact billions of lives, in virtually any cause area, anywhere in the world – one small gift at time.”

While millions of people have the capacity to give $25, they do not receive incentives for giving.  SeeYourImpact identified this gap in the donor pyramid – small gifts from individual donors.  By focusing on small tangible impacts, SeeYourImpact allows individual donors to see the results of their gifts in two weeks by providing the story captured at the point of interaction.  Such fast turnaround requires well-trained on-the-ground staff and the support of stable and innovative technology.  Seattle’s vibrant technology sector certainly facilitates this objective.  SeeYourImpact leveraged innovative technology to build a platform, which personalizes each giving experience for small donors.  As a result, these donors give more often.  What also sets SeeYourImpact apart is that one hundred percent of the donations made by individual donors goes directly towards the gifts of choice by the donors themselves.  On their website, donors can easily find a need to support.  Some examples of their gift options are:  $10 Mosquito Nets, $85 Wheelchairs, or $15 to give 50 children in Kenya the chance to see a doctor.  Try it out for yourself by visiting their website: www.seeyourimpact.org. As a special incentive, a donor has offered to provide a $5 discount for the Global Washington community to be used towards any gifts on www.seeyourimpact.org , but hurry because it’s limited to the first 100 donors! Simply enter this code during the checkout process to receive your $5 discount: THUDN9LRWE.

Besides donors and innovative technology, the success of SeeYourImpact also relies on partnering with proven and certified charities around the world to deliver gifts to individuals in need.  To qualify as a partner, organizations must demonstrate integrity and passion in the work they do.  Every SeeYourImpact partner must pass a rigorous selection process ensuring that scalable and sustainable impact is made to the people within their communities.  The selection process includes certification by a trusted US-based non-profit organization and frequent site visits by SeeYourImpact staff.  In addition, before each gift opportunity is listed on the SeeYourImpact website, a financial review of the organization and a detailed vetting of individual projects will be conducted to ensure that each gift fits the SeeYourImpact model.  While very high standards are set for its partners, SeeYourImpact also ensures that each partner is well-supported by a SeeYourImpact regional office.   Their first regional office was established in Mumbai, India for supporting local partners in India and Asia.  Given their success, it is not surprising for SeeYourImpact to have a backlog of potential partners interested in their programs.  As a result, it is in their plan to scale out regional offices in Latin America and Africa in the future.

The lush international development community in Washington State also provides SeeYourImpact great opportunities to partner closely with nonprofit organizations and businesses in the region.  When asked if SeeYourImpact has partnerships with other Global Washington members, Bradley Krugh, Director of Business Development, was able to quickly illustrate two success stories.

Esperanza International – Supporting Prolonged Dental Health of Children in Dominican Republic and Haiti

Esperanza International works to free children and their families from poverty through initiatives that work to generate income and promote education and health, restoring self-worth and dignity to those who have lost hope.  As a certified organization of SeeYourImpact, the Esperanza International office oversees the distribution of donations given through SeeYourImpact to fund their work in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. With each $15 donation that Esperanza International received through SeeYourImpact, a child will receive a dental exam, as well as education on the importance of dental hygiene for both the child and their family.  The child is also provided with the appropriate resources to ensure the prolonged good health of their teeth.  A boy named Christopher in Dominican Republic now knows he must brush not only in the morning, but at night before bed if he wants to keep his teeth healthy and strong.  Thanks to an individual donor, he can now share this simple but vital information with his friend while playing baseball, his favorite sport, in his community! For more stories reflecting the partnership between Esperanza International and SeeYourImpact go to: http://esperanza.seeyourimpact.org/

Rwanda Girls Initiative – Improving Girls’ English Skills

Another real story example of partnership is with Rwanda Girls Initiative, which educates and empowers girls in Rwanda to be the next generation of leaders in their communities and country. Starting in January 2011, Rwanda’s public school system is experiencing a drastic linguistic transformation – from French to English.  English skills are critical to the passing of the secondary school entrance exam.  However, space is very limited and competition is fierce.  Rwandan girls, in particular, have a disadvantage given the current trend.  Only 13% of Rwandan girls attend secondary school.  Given all these challenges, if a Rwandan girl does not have the resources needed to improve her English skills, the chance for her to receive education beyond elementary school will be slim.  Mary Josine is one of the lucky girls to receive education sponsorship from donors through SeeYourImpact.  With just $40, the donor supports Mary Josine to attend a 12-week intensive English course on the weekends.  The donation pays for the costs of English teachers, tutors, one composition book and other classroom materials.  Through this program, Mary Josine is able to have the opportunity to work towards her dream of becoming a doctor!

You may access more stories about the impact of Rwanda Girls Initiative’s and SeeYourImpact’s partnership at: http://rgi.seeyourimpact.org/

Partnership with Esperanza International and the Rwanda Girls Initiative are only a couple of examples of how SeeYourImpact reciprocates support from the global development community of Washington State. SeeYourImpact also receives support from local philanthropists, like Apolo Ohno, eight-time Olympic medalist and one of CNN 2010 Blue Ribbon Panelists.  He calls SeeYourImpact the “future of philanthropy”.  To find out why Apolo Ohno said “partnering with SeeYourImpact is what life is all about”, visit this CNN video link: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/10/20/cnnheroes.apolo.anton.ohno/

Next time when I make small donations, I know that meeting the lives I changed is possible!

To learn more about SeeYourImpact and their partners, and to meet the life you can change, please visit www.seeyourimpact.org. Don’t forget the $5 discount code: THUDN9LRWE.

*Photos courtesy of SeeYourImpact.

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Changemaker: Mark Schlansky and Uplift International

“The most wonderful moment I ever had working in international development was in a madrasah in Indonesia,” said Mark Schlansky, founder and CEO of Uplift International. Mark was visiting one of the many schools participating in Uplift International’s School Health & Nutrition Program, which benefits some of the poorest children in the country. Two days earlier, Barack Obama had been elected president of the United States and many Indonesians were aglow. “He lived in Indonesia for four years as a child and so they view him as one of their own,” Mark explained. “It was a big event for them – us too.”  Before the scheduled cooking demonstration, the head of the school mentioned the election, saying “Look at that! If an African-American can become president, then kids like you can grow up to become a president. I want you all to remember this lesson and pay particular attention to what you can learn about health and nutrition so that one day you can grow up to be a president too.”  This was an empowering statement for children who had grown up with very limited possibilities. “The message was delivered and the children responded with great enthusiasm,” Mark reflected. “It gave me goose bumps!”

That moment epitomizes what Uplift International is all about: educating and empowering people to advocate for their rights, which enables them to achieve a better future. Uplift’s focus is on health; their activities include health education, women’s health, policy analysis and NGO advocacy training. The Uplift approach is grounded in justice, ethics, and human rights and goes beyond the traditional biomedical model.

When asked if he was always interested in humanitarian work, Mark responded, “no it found me.” In 1995, he was working as an executive at McDonnell Douglas (which later merged with Boeing) in international government affairs in Washington, DC.  He received a request from a U.S. Senator, on behalf of a constituent, asking if he could find an airplane for a humanitarian aid shipment to Vietnam at no cost.  At the time, he was looking at Vietnam as a potential emerging market for commercial aircraft.  The request resonated with opportunity – introducing both the company and an airline customer to an emerging market, while providing much needed aid to the people of Vietnam. However, there were many obstacles to overcome. The U.S. and Vietnam did not have diplomatic relations in 1994. He needed to convince the company that this idea was a good strategic business decision — a way into a new market and a means of “doing good,” as well. He also needed the approval to find a customer airline to provide donated transport for the cargo. The initiative would go nowhere without the cooperation of the governments of The United States and Vietnam.

In April of 1995, on the twentieth anniversary of the end of the war in Vietnam, Mark stood on the tarmac at the airport in Hanoi and watched a FedEx cargo plane land and taxi in to unload medicines and medical supplies destined to be used in public hospitals for Vietnam’s most vulnerable people. It was then he realized that a great deal can be done to improve the health of vulnerable people around the world—and he could be part of it by utilizing the skills he developed as an executive and applying them to improve health in developing countries.

“In six phone calls, my life was transformed,” Mark said in reflecting back to what it took to make this opportunity work. He realized that business sense and contacts could be used to do even more compelling work in health. He was hooked. By 1997, after working on some other small health projects in Vietnam, he founded Uplift International, a nonprofit organization that would develop sustainable health programs in Southeast Asia. “Working in Vietnam on health projects made me realize a lot more about the world. Everyone has a right to health, which is fundamental to any development work,” he said.

The right to health is central to all of Uplift’s programs. They provide a school health and nutrition curriculum in primary level madrasahs (Islamic religious schools) that are attended by the poorest children, as their families cannot afford the fees charged by public schools. The program provides nutritious breakfast, as well as health and health education to the students. Uplift trains teachers to teach the curriculum to students in an age-appropriate way. Children and parents learn about healthy living and how to exercise their right to healthcare with the government. Uplift also works with local NGOs on women’s health issues, providing tools to analyze policy and law and helping them develop evidence-based arguments and advocacy plans based on a human rights approach. The goal is to make government budgets more equitable and transparent and to ensure that resources are allocated to the areas that are most needed, particularly towards often-overlooked women’s health issues.  They have also used rights-based approaches on programs designed to end violence against women. The organization has also brought millions of dollars in medicines and medical supplies to survivors of natural disasters in Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar. Mark has tapped into his aviation contacts to obtain free transport of medicines and supplies for humanitarian aid.

Beyond the local impact in Indonesia as a result of the programs, Uplift sees results on the national level as well. The organization sponsored the first national conference on health and human rights in Indonesia in 2003. This impacted the government’s push to incorporate human rights and bioethics into the national curriculum for first-year medical students. Uplift also has an influence here in the state of Washington through Mark’s wife, Beth E. Rivin, MD, MPH. Beth is a Research Associate Professor of Law at the University of Washington and is the Director of the Global Health and Justice Program.  She is also Vice President of Programs at Uplift. Her influence helped create The International Research Ethics Fellowship Program funded by the National Institutes of Heath at the University of Washington for Indonesian doctors to come and study at UW. Beth’s UW affiliation has also enabled students to work in Indonesia with Uplift to broaden their experience. Mark and Beth hope to continue developing partnerships and sharing Uplift’s rights-based approach with other organizations to bring a justice component to health programs. This approach identifies the most vulnerable and provides a mechanism to advocate for equity for all. In other words, a rights-based approach creates the greatest impact. Mark believes that focusing on justice, ethics, and human rights is central to success in global health because it creates an enabling environment for all other medical and public health interventions. Uplift International starts at the bottom, providing healthcare information on a local level, giving people access to services, and teaching them about their rights.  As Mark said, at the end of the day, “justice is what it’s all about.”

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Announcements

Global Washington is moving downtown!

We’re saying goodbye to our University District office and moving to the Logan Building on 5^th Avenue and Union Street in downtown Seattle. We are looking forward to having a larger office with more stations for volunteers, better access to public transportation, and our very own conference room to host events. We will continue to share office space with the Seattle International Foundation and would like to thank them for all their help in coordinating our move. We would also like to thank InterConnection for donating seven computers for our volunteer stations!

As of January 31^st, our mailing and physical address will be:

500 Union St., Suite 801
Seattle, WA 98101

Our phone numbers will not change.

Labors of Love:  People Changing the World — Shoreline Community College Hosts Symposium in February

The Global Affairs Center at Shoreline Community College is hosting a Humanitarian Assistance Symposium from February 2-24. The Symposium will feature four evening and five daytime presentations with 11 private aid organizations, including World Concern, Global Partnerships, Global Washington and others.  Sessions will address the following questions: What role do individuals and non-government organizations (NGOs) play in the delivery of emergency and development assistance overseas?  How are their efforts coordinated with those of national governments and international organizations?   Learn, be inspired, and get involved.  For details about speakers, dates and locations, go to http://www.shoreline.edu/gac/hum_assistance_2011.aspx.

Recruit Interns Through Shoreline Community College’s Virtual Engagement Fair

As part of its symposium on international humanitarian assistance, Shoreline Community College invites you to participate in an opportunity to promote the work of your organization and recruit volunteers and/or interns among students at Shoreline Community College.

SCC is organizing a “virtual engagement fair” where students can find out more about opportunities for volunteering and/or interning with specific organizations.  It works like this:

• You provide a website address for information about your organization’s work and about opportunities for volunteering and/or internships.
• You provide the name(s) and email address(es) of (a) specific individual(s) available during the month of February to respond to student queries.
• The name of your organization, along with the name(s) of contacts, website and email address, and any volunteer or internship opportunities (optional) will be posted on our “virtual bulletin board” and students encouraged are to contact your office.

If you would like to participate in this online fair, or for more information, please contact Larry Fuell, Director of the Global Affairs Center at SCC (lfuell@shoreline.edu) as soon as possible.

List your events on the Global Washington calendar

We would like to call your attention to the events calendar on our website, which highlights events that might be of interest to the global development sector in Washington. We want our calendar to be the web’s most comprehensive listing of global development events in the state.

We are now allowing our members to post and make changes to their own events in the calendar. This will help ensure that events are listed in a timely manner and that all information is accurate and up-to-date.  If you’d like to find out how to post to our calendar, please email admin@globalwa.org.

Non-members with events of interest to the global development sector can send an invitation or press release to admin@globalwa.org and we will review it for inclusion in the calendar.

World Affairs Council hosts event with Ronald E. Neuman, President of the American Academy of Diplomacy

On February 16^th, the World Affairs Council is hosting “The State Department & USAID: The Broken Civilian Component of National Security” with Ronald E. Neumann, President of the American Academy of Diplomacy. Newman will discuss why the United States must partner its military capabilities with the smart power of diplomacy and aid. Twenty years of systematically hollowing out USAID and the State Department have left civilian diplomatic and aid workers unable to meet their responsibilities and have led to an increasing militarization of our foreign policy. Ambassador Neumann will describe the problem and what needs to be done from the perspective of his service in four wars and 37 years of diplomacy.

The event costs $15 for non-members and $10 for members and students and will take place at the University of Washington in Kane Hall 110. Registration is at 6:30. There is also a networking reception prior to the event. For more details or to sign up, please visit http://www.world-affairs.org/calendar.cfm?eventID=1380&action=eventDetails.

Registration open for the 2011 Pacific NW Global Donors Conference

Local philanthropists and grantmakers should not miss the 2011 Pacific NW Global Donors Conference, which will take place April 1st and 2nd in Seattle. The theme of this year’s conference is “Giving for Sustainable Change.” It will provide education on many of today’s most significant global issues (including agriculture, climate justice, human rights and more!), explore best practices in international grantmaking, and—most importantly—will connect you with the growing community of global philanthropists in the Pacific NW. One of the keynote speakers will be entrepreneur, human rights activist, and philanthropist, Greg Carr, who is leading a bold philanthropic venture to restore Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park.

To register or find descriptions of more of the conference sessions, http://www.globaldonorsconference.org/. Early bird registration ends on February 28th.

Global Washington is Hiring!

Global Washington is seeking a Membership and Program Coordinator to support and recruit members and to develop quality programming. This person should be a self-starter with excellent communication and inter-personal skills. This position will represent Global Washington within the community and applicant should have experience in event planning and coordination be comfortable with public relations. Familiarity with the Global Development sector is a must, as this position will be responsible for identifying and supporting member needs and helping develop programs that best meet those needs.

Visit our website for a full description of this position.

For questions or to apply, send a cover letter and resume to admin@globalwa.org.

Friends of the Orphans – Remembering Haiti

Friends of the Orphans promoted two events this month in support of Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos/Nos Petit Freres et Souers, a network of homes in Latin America and the Caribbean that cares for disadvantaged children.  Since the earthquake NPH/NPFS has greatly expanded its programming in Haiti in order to care for the many children who were displaced or orphaned by the disaster. On January 12^th, there was an evening of prayer and remembrance, with pictures and updates about the progress made in Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake last year.  On January 19^th, Friends of the Orphans hosted “Hope and Healing in Haiti” to raise money for NPH/NPFS and their continued work in the country.

Ayni Education International Seeks Executive Director

Ayni Education International is a small, impactful, Seattle-based international NGO that builds and equips schools in Afghanistan, strengthens the Afghan education system, and builds bridges of understanding between our countries.  It seeks to hire an entrepreneurial and self-directed Executive Director to develop, implement and expand its projects in Afghanistan and the U.S.  The applicant must have experience in organizational leadership, international project management, fundraising and working in the developing world, excellent communication skills, and a willingness to travel to Afghanistan.  Preference will be given to those with a master’s degree or its equivalence in international development, preferably in education.  Relocation fees are not available.  Resumes should be sent to info@aynieducation.org.

Donate Computers to InterConnection & Global Washington

InterConnection.org is donating computers to Global Washington. Now we would like you to help us donate computers to InterConnection!

InterConnection.org obtains used laptops and desktops from companies and individuals, refurbishes them and puts them in the hands of people in need. They create opportunity through computer reuse–from their Seattle-based computer repair vocational program to non-profits and organizations far and wide.

If you have an old desktop or laptop that you no longer use, just bring it to their facility and mention that your computer should be credited towards Global Washington.  If your business has three or more computers, InterConnection will pick them for free!  InterConnection’s address and contact details are at www.interconnection.org. If you have a laptop you can mail it to InterConnection for free– they will email you a prepaid shipping label.  Just fill out the form here: www.interconnection.org/give_mail.html Include a note with the laptop that says it is for Global Washington.

Fellowships for Social Justice Leaders through the Petra Foundation

The Petra Foundation seeks out and champions unsung leaders who are making distinctive contributions to the rights, autonomy, and dignity of millions who are marginalized in America. Each year grassroots leaders selected as Petra Fellows receive a no-strings personal financial award. In addition, the Foundation publicizes their innovative models for change, fosters their collaborations, and welcomes them to a national network of leaders who are working across the divides of age, ethnicity, class, and issue to build a more just society. Nominees should display a combination of activism and thought, force of character, independence of judgment, and clarity of expression. Nominations should be submitted by those who know the nominees and their work (without the knowledge of the nominees). The deadline for submitting nominations is February 11, 2011. Visit the Foundation’s website at http://www.petrafoundation.org/nominate.html to learn more about the program and the nomination process.

Register for The Global Health and Innovation Conference

The 8th Annual Global Health and Innovation Conference, presented by Unite for Sight, will take place at Yale University on April 16th and 17th.  The conference will convene 2,200 leaders, changemakers, and participants from all fields of global health, international development, and social entrepreneurship from all 50 states and from 50 countries. Confirmed keynote speakers include

• “Pharmaceuticals For Humanity,” Victoria Hale, PhD, Founder of Medicines360; Founder and Chair Emeritus, OneWorld Health
• Jeffrey Sachs, PhD, Director of Earth Institute at Columbia University; Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Columbia University; Special Advisor to Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon
• Sonia Ehrlich Sachs, MD, MPH, Director of Health, Millennium Village Project, Earth Institute at Columbia University

For more details visit the conference website at http://www.uniteforsight.org/conference/. Register by the end of January to receive the lowest price. If you are interested in presenting at the conference, submit your social enterprise pitches. Guidelines are available at  http://www.uniteforsight.org/conference/social-enterprise-pitch

SeeYourImpact’s Special Offer for the Global Washington Community

Are you looking for a meaningful gift to give to those in need around the world?  Would you like to know exactly who you helped and how?  SeeYourImpact is an organization that can help you achieve both goals. SeeYourImpact’s mission is to “transform giving into a joyful and fulfilling experience for all donors by enabling charitable organizations to show the connection of each donor’s gift to the actual end beneficiary in an authentic and transparent manner.”  Once you have picked a gift of your choice on the SeeYourImpact website, in about 2 weeks, they will tell you exactly who you helped and how your gift has changed the beneficiary’s life.

As a special incentive, a donor has offered through SeeYourImpact to provide a $5 discount for the Global Washington community towards any gift options—but hurry because it’s limited to the first 100 donors!  While the special offer lasts, try it for yourself and meet the life you changed!  Simply visit www.seeyourimpact.org and enter this code during the checkout process to receive your $5 discount:  THUDN9LRWE

“Classroom on the World” Series Will Feature South Africa in February

On February 8th, the World Affairs Council Tacoma and Bates Technical College are presenting, “South Africa: Transition to Democracy Through Reconciliation” as part of the “Classroom on the World” series. This session will feature Neal Sobania, Executive Director of the Wang Center for Global Education and Professor of History at Pacific Lutheran University. The workshop is designed to provide teachers with background to understand the history of how apartheid came to exist in South Africa and materials to use in providing this background to their students. It will also address the role that Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, has played in mediating South Africa’s transition to democracy and modeling what a vibrant, peaceful community should be.

The event will take place in the Bates Technical College Auditorium from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. The cost is $20.00, which includes three clock hours, teaching resources, and a buffet dinner. To register, visit www.wactacoma.com.

InterAction Releases 2011 Foreign Assistance Briefing Book

InterAction just announced the release of its second biennial Foreign Assistance Briefing Book (FABB).  The book covers 16 critical topics, from climate change to agricultural development and health, as well as countries deemed important to U.S. national interests, including Afghanistan. InterAction’s alliance of member organizations worked together to develop succinct yet informative policy papers, compiled by the best thinkers in the community, drawing from expertise and lessons learned from working in the developing world. The 2011 FABB presents the unified voice of the U.S. NGO community on foreign policy issues expected to draw attention in the 112th Congress. Browse the comprehensive FABB online by visiting www.interaction.org/fabb.

Submit Papers for the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference

The IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference 2011 will take place October 30 – November 1^st. The Conference Organizing Committee invites you to participate in the program! GHTC 2011 is the first annual conference designed to gather together scientists, engineers, technology professionals, academics, foundations, government and non-government organizations, and individuals engaged in humanitarian work to discuss and develop solutions for present and future humanitarian needs. Participation in GHTC 2011 is open to all technologists or organizations interested in applying technology to humanitarian goals and to non-technical individuals and organizations interested in learning about the application of technology to humanitarian challenges.

Following the Conference theme of “Technology for the benefit of humanity”, topics include but are not limited to:

• Health, Medical Technology and Telemedicine
• Disaster Warning/Response
• Water Planning, Availability and Quality
• Power for Off-Grid Users
• Power Infrastructure/ Renewable/Sustainable Energy
• Connectivity and Communications Technologies (data/voice) for Remote Locations
• Educational Technologies
• Agricultural Technologies

The deadline for submissions is March 11, 2011. For submission guidelines and more information on the conference, please visit: http://www.ieeeghtc.org/.

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Global Washington Events:

Friday, February 4

Utilizing Social Media in the Nonprofit Sector

Wednesday, February 16

Getting Started with Social Media: An Introductory Course– Session 1

Wednesday, February 23

Getting Started with Social Media: An Introductory Course – Session 2

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General Events:

Wednesday, February 2

Symposium on Humanitarian Assistance – Julia Bolz

Tuesday, February 8 – Friday, February 11

iConference 2011

Tuesday, February 8

Classroom on the World – South Africa, Transition to Democracy through Reconciliation

Wednesday, February 9

Symposium on Humanitarian Assistance – David Eller, President, World Concern

Thursday, February 10

Symposium on Humanitarian Assistance – Charles Brennick, Interconnection

Wednesday, February 16

Symposium on Humanitarian Assistance – Bookda Gheisar, Global Washington

World Affairs Council hosts The State Department & USAID: The Broken Civilian Component of National Security

Symposium on Humanitarian Assistance – Jacqueline Sherris, PATH

Thursday, February 17

Symposium on Humanitarian Assistance – Cindy Nofzinger, Schools for Salone

Wednesday, February 23

Community Coffee with PATH

Symposium on Humanitarian Assistance – Chris Megargee, Global Partnerships

Symposium on Humanitarian Assistance – Bolivia Smiles Forever (open to dental professionals and dental hygiene students)

Symposium on Humanitarian Assistance – Diana Fletschner, Landesa (Rural Development Institute)

Thursday, February 24

Symposium on Humanitarian Assistance – Student-led NGOs

Monday, February 28

World Affairs Council hosts Tim Johnson author of “Tragedy in Crimson: How the Dalai Lama Conquered the World but Lost the Battle with China”

Thursday, March 3

World Affairs Council presents The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan

Tuesday, March 22

Habitat for Humanity – Building Houses, Building Hope Breakfast

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The Center for Global Development recently released a new online interactive map tool to gauge progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the country level.  Through this tool, the CGD ranks countries on their overall progress on the 7 indicators with a score of 1-8.  When you click on a country, you will see seven graphs showing observed progress on each of the indicators against the required progress to meet the goals by 2015.  The seven indicators are: halve extreme poverty (people earning under $1.25/day); halve the proportion of the undernourished population; achieve universal primary education; achieve gender parity in schooling; reduce child mortality by 2/3; reduce maternal mortality by 3/4; halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS; and halve the proportion of people living without access to safe drinking water. 

Four countries are tied for best progress to date, with a score of 7: China, Ecuador, Honduras, and Tunisia.  The next few countries in the top 10 performers include Brazil, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Lebanon, and Vietnam, with scores of 6 to 6.5.  The worst performers, ranked in the 130s, include Burundi, Bulgaria, Congo-DRC, Marshall Islands, Afghanistan, and Guinea Bissau.

The map also shows which countries are the best and worst performers in each of the seven indicators.  A quick glance at the map shows the most progress globally in access to safe drinking water, and the least progress in halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Following the release of several other federal dashboard information websites earlier this year, the Department of State and USAID have launched the Foreign Assistance Dashboard on December 16, 2010. Like other federal dashboards, the Foreign Assistance Dashboard was created in response to Obama’s Open Government Initiative – for which he signed the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government on his first day in Office. The initiative aims to create openness in the U.S. government as well as engaging public trust by establishing “a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.” Besides ensuring greater accountability in government spending, another major objective of the Foreign Assistance Dashboard is to enhance foreign aid effectiveness and efficiency. The creation of this dashboard is also a part of U.S. commitment to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action.

The Foreign Assistance Dashboard ties in very nicely with the recently issued Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), which highlights the importance of embracing transparency for achieving efficiency and effectiveness in foreign aid investments. The goal of the dashboard is also consistent with Global Washington’s policy recommendations, Global Development through Aid, Partnerships, Trade and Education, which includes transparency and accountability as one of its four principles on aid effectiveness.

So, what does the Foreign Assistance Dashboard do and how does it work? Let’s look at several key features:

• • By Country – users may use maps to track where the money is going. You may, for example, click on a particular country to see how much funding the U.S. government overseas post receives in a particular fiscal year.
• • By Sector – thirty-five sectors are organized under seven broader foreign aid categories. For example, if you are interested in U.S. foreign aid investments in Economic Development, you will be able to see how much of the $58 billion foreign aid budget has been appropriated for several areas under Economic Development – e.g. Infrastructure, Agriculture, Macroeconomic Foundation for Growth, Trade and Investment, etc.
• • By Initiative – even though not all foreign aid funding is attributable to an initiative, there are three significant interagency targeted initiatives that are highlighted on the dashboard as they all have received “unprecedented investments” from the U.S. government to make improvements in critical development areas. They are the Global Health Initiative, the Global Climate Change Initiative, and the Feed the Future Initiative. You will see detailed funding information for each of these initiatives.
• • Top 10 Things You Should Know – it contains a simple explanation of the goals and limitations of this dashboard, a quick overview of the entire U.S. government budget process, and definitions of what the data means.
• • FAQS – users may find answers to their general and data questions from this page.

I think the Foreign Assistance Dashboard is successful in terms of enabling the public to examine, research, and track foreign aid investments in a standard and easy-to-understand format. The data is shown in very digestible ways of color-coded, 3-D charts and maps, and the data can be searched by country, by sector and by year. The data sets can be further filtered in a variety of ways. However, one thing to note: this dashboard is still in the very early stages of development. The current data only contains foreign aid budget information for the Department of State and USAID, but it aims to integrate all U.S. Government foreign aid budget, financial, program, and performance data. The dashboard does not make any promises on when this next phase will be completed. Hopefully, this will happen very soon. Then, we can have an accurate and full picture of foreign aid spending, and the efficacy of this dashboard can be maximized.

A Review of Enhancing U.S. Education and Competiveness
an article in Foreign Affairs by Arne Duncan

Review by Linda Martin, guest blogger 

In Enhancing U.S. Education and Competiveness, an article which appears in the November/December 2010 issue of Foreign Affairs, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan links U.S. economic competitiveness directly to the American educational system. The news is sobering. U.S. competiveness is sliding. The causes− low educational performance of U.S. students; teaching systems that fail to deliver on preparing students for 21^st century employment; and protectionist attitudes towards international educational investment.

Through eye-opening statistics, Duncan demonstrates how the problem starts early in the education cycle and continues through college.  By the end of 2010, “the portion of U.S jobs demanding a postsecondary education will be 63%” and the discrepancy between supply and demand is growing.  Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce estimates that the United States will be short 3 million college graduates by 2018. According to Duncan, potential solutions include:

• Implementing reforms, including STEM (Science, Technology and Math) programs; new Pell Grants and new K-12 competency standards.
• Upgrading language requirements, expanding multicultural learning opportunities and offering incentives to boost the number of  teachers in foreign languages fields;
• Channeling spending toward the most challenged students;
• Relinquishing protectionist views towards international education, and embracing an ethic in which “advancing education everywhere brings benefits to everyone.”
• Supporting new technology based knowledge delivery systems; and higher quality teacher training.

Duncan paints the picture of a U.S. economy with growing needs for an educated workforce, and an education system that is not keeping pace.  Technology has dramatically increased the demand for skilled college graduates, who compete worldwide for positions in the global marketplace. Yet in one generation, “the U.S. has fallen from first to fifth position among developed countries with the most college graduates, and ranks ninth in college completion rates among 25 to 34 year olds”.  

In an unprecedented effort, the U.S. government is investing $3.7 billion in STEM (Science, Technology and Math) programs, including $1 billion for K-12 initiatives. Yet research has shown that money alone will not suffice. “With the exception of Luxembourg, the United States spends more per elementary student than any other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nation.”  At the secondary level, only 3 countries spend more per student, and no other country spends as much as the U.S., at the college level. 

Developed nations with higher educational performance rates than the U.S. target their resources to students with the most need. In the United States, however, school funding often depends on tax levies that reflect the affluence of local communities. Duncan quotes an observation by Dennis Van Roekel, the president of the National Education Association,  that “other developed nations are more successful at recruiting talented teachers, providing first-rate teaching preparation and professional development, and honoring the teaching profession. Unlike in the United States, in South Korea teachers come from the top ten percent of graduates — and those who teach are viewed as making an important contribution to building their nation”.

Duncan makes the point that investments in STEM, while laudable, need to be balanced with investments in other areas. Employers lament the inability of the educational system to cultivate the skills they want – “the ability to adapt, innovate, synthesize data, communicate effectively, learn independently, and work in teams.”  New and expanded initiatives in multi-cultural learning, language acquisition, and the arts and humanities, can provide a more fertile ground for building the combination of intellectual, creative, humanistic, and professional skills needed to compete and collaborate in the 21^st century.

The dilemma the U.S. faces in foreign language acquisition exemplifies the systemic nature of the problem.  Elementary school is a time where language is perhaps easiest to learn, yet only 1 in 4 schools offer foreign language studies.  At the secondary level, according to Duncan, “only 10 U.S. states have foreign language requirements in order to graduate, while 75 % of states have reported shortages in foreign-language teachers (2007-08 figures)”.  Without exposure to other cultures and languages, what motivation do students have to consider teaching language as a profession, or to consider other occupations where the ability to communicate with colleagues from diverse cultural backgrounds is critical?  Duncan points out, “In 2002, just months after 9/11, U.S. postsecondary institutions nationwide awarded only six bachelor’s degrees in Arabic language and literature. By 2008, the total had risen only to 57”.

One thing we can all do that does not require money or other resources, is to realize that “expanding educational attainment everywhere is the best way to grow the pie for all”. Better-educated populations abroad mean greater markets for U.S. goods; a globally educated population can better meet challenges that the U.S. cannot achieve alone; research confirms that a better educated world is a less violent world; and well-educated immigrants help our economy. Per writer Ben Wildavsky, “from 1995 to 2005, immigrants started one-fourth of all engineering and technology companies in the U.S.” 

Along with our global competitors, we can gain from sharing best practices. For example, the American traditions of free inquiry and peer-reviewed research are held in esteem by many countries, and we are unrivaled in providing educational access to students of all socioeconomic levels.

Given American innovation in the field of technology, we can choose to take a leadership role in expanding educational access globally while responding to new U.S. student demographics.  We can do this by combining successful classroom based experiences with “technology-rich learning environments, online classes, distance learning, and electronic instruction.”

Improving the U.S. educational system, and in so doing so, the U.S. economy, requires a strong and serious commitment at all levels of the U.S. government, partnerships with the private sector and community activism. It requires collaboration with other nations and sharing of best practices, to the benefit of all concerned. Success depends on a new mindset of mutual and shared progress; a stronger valuing of the teaching profession and higher quality teacher training; new ways to deliver knowledge; and a balanced investment at all levels of education. Working together, schools can cultivate the skills employers want and the world needs to solve global problems. Duncan delivers a thorough analysis of the challenges and the solutions that can help the U.S. restore its educational capital, and establish itself as 21^st century world leader in educational innovation.  

*according to a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research, China

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the release of the long-awaited Quadrennial Diplomacy & Development Review (QDDR) final report today.  The QDDR is a sweeping assessment of how the Department of State and USAID can become more efficient, accountable, and effective- it aims to be a blueprint for elevating American “civilian power” to better advance our national interests.  One of the four key areas of the QDDR is to “elevate and modernize development,” which includes focusing investments on areas of comparative advantage, and building the capacity of USAID to be the world’s premier development organization.

This review has been ongoing for over a year, and its release has been postponed many times since last spring.  The development community has been waiting, sometimes impatiently, for the QDDR’s release, because it could spell important changes for the way development assistance is carried out by the U.S. government.  There were concerns about a power struggle between USAID and the State Department, and that the QDDR findings would be in conflict with the concurrently developed PSD (Presidential Study Directive) on development, now known as the PPD (Presidential Policy Directive) on Global Development (read in our blog about the PPD here). 

We have only had a short time in which to digest this 200+ page document and the summary materials, but it seems that some of the worst fears about the QDDR have not been realized.  It puts forward some important support for USAID, and makes positive statements about the direction of development policy in general.  USAID is named as the leader of the White House’s Feed the Future initiative, and the Global Health Initiative.  It also supports the “USAID Forward” program, with specific objectives for strengthening USAID.  For the most part the QDDR seems to support the PPD.  There are however some important areas of concern, namely that short-term political objectives may override longer-term development goals.  As InterAction puts it, “With State Department officials having ultimate oversight of development strategies and budget proposals, it is unclear how short-term political objectives will not harm the delivery of longer-term development outcomes, namely poverty reduction and local ownership by key stakeholders.”

Quick Links for the QDDR

Download the QDDR in its full 240 page glory from the State Department’s website here.

View Secretary Clinton’s town hall event releasing the QDDR here.

Download the official QDDR fact sheet here.

Download the QDDR executive summary here.

Read Secretary Clinton’s prepared remarks at the town hall here.

News and Views about the QDDR

InterAction analyzes the QDDR, breaking down the positive elements and areas of concern. 

See InterAction’s QDDR page here.

MFAN Statement on the QDDR.

Oxfam’s Press Release: “State’s QDDR vision is compelling yet incomplete”

The Cable (Foreign Policy blog) reports on the QDDR release

As a hub of diverse and active international development players, the state of Washington is creating a model for collaboration in the global development sector, providing innovative strategies and cross-sector, cross-issue partnerships to build a better world. On November 15^th and 16^th, 2010, 430 members of the global development sector convened on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington for Bridges to Breakthroughs: How partnerships and innovation are changing the world, a two-day conference hosted by Global Washington.

Bridges to Breakthroughs, Global Washington’s 2^nd Annual Conference, brought a wide array of actors in the sector together to network and to learn from dynamic speakers, including representatives from USAID, Global Impact, Interaction, The Grameen Foundation, PATH, World Vision, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The United Nations Millennium Campaign, and many other innovative companies and organizations. Over the two days of the conference, these leaders discussed strategic approaches for strengthening cross-sector partnerships; promoting scientific and technological breakthroughs; and harnessing the collective leadership of the region’s scholars, entrepreneurs, business leaders, scientists, philanthropists, and advocates.

The two days of the conference were packed with great information about the most relevant issues facing the global development sector; attendees and speakers also explored how Global Washington can best achieve its mission to promote, support, and advocate on behalf of the development community in the state and beyond. The organization has put together a recap report summarizing each conference session, as well as overall trends and future steps for Global Washington and the development community. This conference will help put Washington State on the map as an example in partnerships and innovations that will hopefully be followed by other states in the near future.

To find out more about the conference, please explore the links below:

Read the conference recap report.
Watch the videos submitted for our Conference Showcase here.
Click here to see a video of the keynote delivered by Ambassador Verveer.
Click here for a Flickr photo collection from the conference.
Click here to read bios of dynamic Conference 2010 speakers.
Click here to read the blogs about the event discussions and speakers.
Click here to Read a recap of the News coverage of the event.

Xieng Khuang Province, Lao PDR – Looking down from a window of our airplane, I see that the lush green landscape of the high plateau is pockmarked with brown craters, still empty of vegetation more than 30 years after they were made.

These are the scars of the U.S. government’s nine-year-long “secret” bombing campaign over this small, landlocked country that borders Vietnam to the east. U.S. bombing records show that over 20,000 missions involving the release of roughly 46 million cluster munitions occurred over Xieng Khuang Province.

The area was of strategic importance as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, used by North Vietnamese forces with the consent of Lao revolutionary forces to send supplies and personnel around the de-militarized zone in central Vietnam, cut through Xieng Khuang’s forests and mountains.

Six groups of foreign delegates, diplomats and representatives from international nonprofit organizations visited the province and a number of unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance sites during the recent First Meeting of Sates Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane, the capital of Lao PDR. Three of us from Clear Path International, myself as communications director, our executive director and the manager of a program we’re starting here in Laos, were among the visitors.

CPI is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that provides medical and socio-economic assistance to UXO survivors, their families and their communities in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan. In Laos, we are partnering with the Lao Women’s Union to provide low-interest loans to female heads of households in Xieng Khuang Province to finance home-based businesses.

Our funding for this and other programs comes from the U.S. Department of State Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement. During the convention, there was a good deal of discussion in side events about the United States not being a signatory to the convention, which establishes international law to ban the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions and mandates their destruction. To date, 108 countries have adopted the convention.

And while the US was without official representation, officials from the embassy here did attend many of the workshops. In September 2008, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the US has not participated in the convention because there are no good substitute munitions and that the “elimination of cluster munitions from our stockpiles would put the lives of our soldiers and our coalition partners at risk.”

Under the current policy issued by the Department of Defense in 2008, by the end of 2018 the US will no longer use cluster munitions with more than a 1 percent chance of not exploding upon impact. Of the estimated 3 million tons of bombs dropped on Lao soil, about a third failed to go off when dropped. They continue to claim lives, usually those of Lao children, long after the fighting ended.

It is the hope of the Cluster Munition Coalition, an international civil society campaign working to eradicate these weapons, and other INGOs including ours that the US will eventually join the treaty and ban their use altogether. President Barack Obama’s administration has not yet conducted a review of U.S. policy on cluster munitions, but Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA) along with 14 other members of the Senate have written to the president, urging him to conduct a thorough review of the national policy on the weapons.

The US has acknowledged use of cluster munitions in Afghanistan in 2002 and in Iraq in 2003. In June 2010, Amnesty International reported that it appears the US used cluster munitions in an attack on an alleged al-Qa ‘ida training camp in Yemen in December 2009, but neither the US nor Yemeni governments have responded publicly to the Amnesty International allegations.

Despite unwillingness by the US to completely abandon use of cluster munitions, it reportedly has been and will continue to be the largest contributor to UXO clearance and victim assistance here in Laos, having spent $51 million to date. In 2010, the US will have spent $5.1 million on UXO efforts by the year’s end, an amount that is expected to increase to $7 million for 2011.

During the visit to one of several clearance sites in Xieng Khuang, CPI staff and others witnessed – from a safe distance – the detonation of 36 cluster bombs. The blasts, timed to go off within minutes of each other, sent enormous plumes of smoke, dirt, stones and shrapnel into the pale blue sky and the explosions echoed off the surrounding hills.

Each time, I felt a thud deep in my chest. At one point, I exhaled deeply, not realizing I had been holding my breath, thankful that no lives had been lost, no injuries sustained – this time.

Heavy Bombing Campaign In Lao Leaves Scars, Live Munitions
Karen Matthee | Clear Path International | November 20

Susan Jeffords and Bill Clapp wrapped up the conference with a discussion of next steps and reflections for future Global Washington Conferences.

Jeffords voiced some key lessons for Global Washington, “people have different investments and priorities they bring to partnerships…[Global Washington] has an opportunity to construct places for these people to share these different stakes and articulate them.” She added that Global Washington can take a stronger role in facilitating these interactions and is also committed to helping small organizations have a voice in Washington DC among larger organizations while gaining access to larger types of partnerships. Also, Jeffords commented on the repeated theme of improving conditions for global women and girls. She asked, “that everyone should walk out of this room and think of how to incorporate a focus on women and girls in everything we do to really build up a better world.”

Clapp concluded, the “quality of the dialogue has been a step up from last year” and “this has been an extraordinary two days.”

Submitted by Nina Carduner

The panel discussion focused on the growing pressure in the development sector for effective monitoring and evaluation in measuring the successful impact of of programs from aid and relief work to development. Much of impact evaluation often doesn’t take into account the various challenges that successful implementation of programs face on the ground and the panel discussed the challenges as well as some best practices for large and small organizations to move forward with useful evaluation methods.

Moderator Jodi Nelson, of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, opened the panel with a quote pulled from a recent news article asking, “how do we ask the do gooders to prove they really do good,” which underscores the growing need and desire to hold non-profits, NGOs, and aid programs accountable to their goals and good intentions. In the past, NGOs were thought to be exempt from traditional oversight, Nelson explained. “Intention alone was considered enough proof to prove they were accomplishing their goals.”

After fielding many questions from the audience, the panel took turns in the informal discussion. Holta Trandafili, of World Vision International, discussed the shift towards applying lessons learned in the past decades and how impact evaluation can help tailor future programs for more effective implementation and greater impact. There was some question in the audience about whether evaluation was important for small organizations, which Trandafili affirmed and emphasized the need to define the type of evaluation for each organization. She explained that it’s important for small organizations to focus on asking the questions, “can we actually measure our impact and when we do, what are we going to do with what we find?” Gretchen Shanks, from Mercy Corps, added that monitoring may be more efficient for short term programs like relief and crisis programs, while long term programs really do require more evaluation to stay in line with their missions and consistently respond to the data for improvement. One of the ways that Mercy Corps champions this is by looking at the “theory of change” that is motivating their programs. While there is not one set of tools that is ideal for community mobilization in these programs, continuous resource allocation, building in participatory channels for the communities that are being served, and monitoring processes are key.

Innovation was also discussed by the panelists. Many times, the funding environment for non-profits and NGOs does not create space for failure. The environment is competitive and the structure of funding and project cycles disincentivizes monitoring and evaluation. Shanks expressed, “we feel like we can’t talk about failure openly,” which makes innovation difficult. Nigel Biggar, of Grameen Foundation, shared that successful innovation will come when experimental programs require less cost and time to be evaluated. Doing so will enable ineffective programs to fail quickly without much cost, “so we can learn and build on those quickly,” and lead the way for more innovation.

Submitted by Nina Carduner

Submitted by Pam Kahl

Steven Gunderson, President of the Council of Foundations and former WA-state congressman and Renee Acosta, CEO of Global Impact opened Day 2 of Global Washington. Steve highlighted the growth in global philanthropy, citing statistics such 300% increase in giving by Brazilians, $5.5 billion contributed in India in 2006 and the fact 800 new foundations have been established in China in the last five years. In addition to the financial statistics, Steve noted that overall philanthropy is taking a more central role in society. Younger generations are more focused on contributing to global issues than previous generations.

In the last five years the notion of philanthropy has evolved from competitive grant making to a focus on strategic investments – most recently with a focus on integrating with public and other private entities around common goals. As a result, many now look to philanthropy to lead innovation instead of the traditional drivers such as government and corporations. During the Q&A Steve made the key point that philanthropy and charity are not the same – charity is about passive periodic giving whereas philanthropy is about making strategic investments with multi-year commitments in mind.

Renee emphasized the importance of individual donors, noting that in the last three years individual donations represent 75% of Global Impact’s revenue. Global Impact stats also indicate that individual donors are more likely to give to a variety of organizations. Global Impact recognizes the importance of the giving sector acting as a knowledge-base to help donors make giving decisions. Renee closed by emphasizing the following:

No single tactic or giving challenge is as important as the quality of message and the ability to inspire and engage hearts and minds of donors.

Panelists:
Steve Gunderson, President Council on Foundations
Renee Acosta, CEO Global Impact
Moderator: Bill Clapp