We live in the age of data. It’s a well-used buzzword, a trending topic among a wide range of people from marketers and social media experts to business analysts and tech nerds. This is for good reason: data does help organizations manage themselves more efficiently and plan better.
Ghana is a nation that has always produced some of the world’s most essential national resources, from gold to cocoa. However, when the country discovered 3 billion barrels of sweet crude oil beneath its soil in 2007, it drastically changed the country’s standing in the global economy. With expected revenues averaging $1 billion per year, the question on everyone’s mind was how the country would choose to spend this revenue windfall.
On Sept. 22, Oxfam America, Global Washington and Seattle University’s Poverty Education Center hosted a panel discussion about Ghana’s Oil for Food Initiative. This initiative focuses on directing oil revenue towards the promotion of sustainable and inclusive development through agriculture modernization.
The 1994 Rwandan genocide crippled the country, leaving it torn by violence and death on a massive scale. The recovery from this atrocity was made more difficult because an estimated 75 percent of the Rwandan medical community was murdered or forced to flee the country, which left the healthcare system in shambles. The situation has since improved, however, there are still only about 400 physicians to treat a country of more than 11 million people.
Healing Hearts Northwest (HHNW), a Spokane-based Global Washington member, works to remedy this situation. Founded in 2008, HHNW began with a meeting in Rwanda’s King Faisal Hospital, which then inspired subsequent medical missions to perform operations on Rwandan patients. HHNW continued to provide medical training and equipment so that the hospital could better manage acute patient care and better handle complex patients. HHNW hosts annual training seminars and lectures for Rwandan nurses and physicians, and obtains funding for equipment that improves the capabilities of Rwandan medical facilities.