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Contributor Guidelines
Submitting guest blogs is open to Global Washington’s members of the Atlas level and above. We value a diversity of opinions on a broad range of subjects of interest to the global health and development community.
Blog article submissions should be 500-1500 words. Photos, graphs, videos, and other art that supports the main themes are strongly encouraged.
You may not be the best writer, and that’s okay. We can help you shape and edit your contribution. The most important thing is that it furthers an important conversation in your field, and that it is relatively jargon-free. Anyone without a background in global development should still be able to engage with your ideas.
If you include statistics or reference current research, please hyperlink your sources in the text, wherever possible.
Have an idea of what you’d like to write about? Let’s continue the conversation! Email comms@globalWA.org and put “Blog Idea” in the subject line.
Posted on November 15, 2010
Submitted by Nina Carduner
Rogers Weed gave the closing keynote for the first day of the Global Washington Conference. As the director of the Washington State Department of Commerce, he summarized the current status of Washington’s economy as well as the increasing importance of global development for growing and improving the state of jobs in Washington.
After losing 3 million jobs in a period of 6-9 months, Washington has been hard hit by the recession. While the state is now gaining in employment, it is doing so very slowly. In Washington, the highest unemployment rates exist in the NE and SW counties of the state. The governor has been forced to make deep budget cuts and the state budget is in crisis. A big chunk of this budget is protected by the state constitution, which is focused on K-12 education and this limits flexibility. Unfortunately, the latest election results have squashed efforts to create opportunities for new revenues with sale taxes.
Weed did offer some good news for the state. Global trends including prevalence of software, the clean energy transition, and also the increasing influence of Asia are set to disproportionately benefit Washington. Thanks to the abundance of international non-profits and the general growth of development organizations in the state of Washington, Weed explained the development sector will enable Washington to achieve its goals of increasing international exports, study abroad programs, and building a broader international agenda. Meeting these goals, Weed stressed, will be essential for improving and growing jobs for the state and improving our local economy.
Posted on November 15, 2010
Submitted by Melissa Bird-Vogel Wilkes
Highlighting the emerging role of youth in international development, this panel offered insight into best practices, challenges and the future impact of youth involvement in finding solutions to global social and economic issues. Four young leaders who hold senior level or founder positions at Washington-based organizations lead the conversation.
Key takeaways from the conversation were:
– These young people are doing great things and bring a lot of new enthusiasm to the development community. The underlying voracity for social connection made possible through technology provides a unique opportunity to encourage others to contribute and helps build momentum behind projects and share new ideas. Additionally, the ability to for those young philanthropists to engage directly with potential beneficiaries through technology, increases awareness and fosters passion for making a difference.
– Lack of experience can be a challenge. As a result there is a need to find ways to integrate young people’s enthusiasm with institutional knowledge, so that new ideas thrive by leveraging best practices. For example, Jessica Markowitz, founder of Richard’s Rwanda, a local NGO has a board of older development experts who provide historical perspective.
Notable quotes from the conversation:
“We’re making things an EXPERIENCE and bringing it to the individual vs. making the individual come to us.”
“Our demographic grew up on Facebook, growing up on Twitter now, and utilizing mobile applications. It’s happening in general in the sector, but it’s really on the forefront of our organizations.”
“Crowd-sourcing is a huge advantage in solving problems- a tool that can help someone find the best hotdog in San Francisco can also be used to find the best loan in Ghana.”
Panelists:
Jessica Markowitz, Founder, IMPUWE/Richard’s Rwanda
Cole Hoover, Outreach Coordinator, Lumana Credit
Nadia Khawaja, Co-Founder & COO, Jolkona Foundation
Nandie Oothuizen, Founder & Executive Director, Hand and Heart Now
Moderater: Britt Yamamoto, Executive Director, iLEAP
Posted on November 15, 2010
Submitted by Sarah Mosely
Moderator Dr. Lisa Graumlich of the University of Washington’s College of the Environment led discussion with these well-informed panelists, practitioners affiliated with notable organizations – such as Seattle University, the Woodland Park Zoo, The Nature Conservancy, Water for Humans and Water 1st International – doing work to improve quality of and access to water, sanitation and conservation programs in communities throughout the developing world. Panelists discussed achieving sustainable and scalable results from their programs stems from a common set of activities: strong local partnerships; working with governments at the local level; gaining trust within the communities; and strengthening systems for monitoring, evaluation and communication, which is at the core of the work discussed. The panelists largely agreed that major challenges they all face include: a difficult economic environment; lack of sustained funding; chaos caused by redundant organizations working in the same areas; and first-world behaviors, namely consumerism. Overall, the panelists detailed their thoughtful approaches to program planning and implementation, and stressed that strong partnerships with local actors and government have been vital to success.
Panelists:
Kari Vigerstol, Hydrologist, Freshwater Program, The Nature Conservancy
Rick McKenney. Exec. Director, Water for Humans
Marla Smith-Nilson, Founder & Executive Director, Water 1st International
Lisa Dabek, Senior Conservation Scientist, Director of the Papua New Guinea Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program, The Woodland Park Zoo
Phillip Thompson, Engineers Without Borders and Associate Professor and Chair, Environmental and Civil Engineering, Seattle University
Moderator: Lisa J. Graumlich, Dean and Virginia Bloedel Professor, College of the Environment, The University of Washington