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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 February 23, 2010
A girl uses bottle tops to count in a math lesson in Ghana. See girls' education in Ghana article below.
US Global Development Policy:
Rajiv Shah, the new USAID Administrator, will testify at the upcoming House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing March 3, 2010– U.S. Policies and Programs for Global Development: USAID and the FY 2011 Budget Request. Check this link after March 3rd for the webcast.
Can donors find a better way to deliver aid? The Center for Global Development is promoting a potential new way to disburse foreign assistance called Cash on Delivery Aid. COD Aid seeks to devise simple, results-based contracts that reward developing countries for making progress towards previously agreed goals—such as increased primary school completion rates, vaccination coverage, or access to clean water. This would increase local ownership as developing country governments would come up with their own solutions and hire consultants of their choosing, rather than the current model where donors impose solutions and consultants from outside.
In response to questions triggered by the disaster in Haiti, a PBS program interviewed development experts on foreign aid effectiveness and strategies. The program, “Making Foreign Aid Work,” included interviews with William Easterly (author of White Man’s Burden, NYU professor), David Beckmann (Bread for the World President), and Andrew Natsios (former USAID Administrator, Georgetown professor). For extended interviews click here:
Andrew Natsios extended interview
William Easterly extended interview
David Beckmann extended interview
The President’s 2011 budget request includes a fund for largely neglected health problems in developing countries. Ten countries have been named as priority recipients for support from this $200 million fund. These countries include: Bangladesh, Nepal, Kenya, Tanzania, Mali, Senegal, Benin, Malawi, Zambia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala and Honduras.
Other Development News:
After last week’s coup in Niger it faces a potentially severe food crisis. The US suspended all non-humanitarian aid to Niger including the $23 million program focusing on girls’ education and government corruption reduction.
One town is using the country’s obsession with football (ie soccer) to promote girls’ education. In Ghana, only 79% of girls finish primary school and by the time they complete junior high school just 54% of girls are still in lessons, according to the lobby group the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition.
UNICEF Seeks to Keep Kids Out of Haiti Orphanages. Marie de la Soudiere, coordinator of the separated-children program in Haiti for UNICEF– the U.N. Children’s Fund– wants to make sure that folks like the 10 US missionaries don’t get many more chances to try reckless engagement in “rescue efforts.” The high-profile case of the 10 US missionaries who were arrested in Haiti for allegedly abducting children has raised an important issue regarding children in devastated areas such as Haiti. Subsequently, she recently initiated a campaign to register Haitian youths, who were among the world’s most vulnerable to trafficking even before the quake. The Haiti list is also designed to prevent children from being placed into Haiti’s muddled orphanages, many of which have long been sources of child trafficking.
“If you give a man a fish, he can eat for a day, but if you teach a man how to fish, he can eat for a lifetime” — Joshua Sperling, a volunteer with EWB-International
The US-founded Engineers Without Borders (EWB) has been a worldwide success in their mission of encouraging young engineers to become leaders in global development. The improvement of the living conditions of people in developing countries has been successful in developing new successful branches such as EWB-India, which has become a major volunteer organization attracting more and more students and organizations despite budget constraints. EWB-India hopes it can motivate its 1.5 million engineering students into helping solve global challenges.
Global Washington members who are involved in Engineers Without Borders chapters:
Gonzaga University, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle University, University of Washington, Washington State University, Western Washington University.
Posted on February 19, 2010
With the recent earthquake in Haiti and the subsequent reconstruction effort, many different models for rebuilding a nation have been suggested for Haiti. Some argue for a centralized, coordinated aid effort focused on rebuilding Haiti’s economic and social infrastructure. Others warn against the usual development approach to reconstruction, contending foreign aid is no more than a stopgap.
Robert Maguire and Robert Muggah of the Christian Science Monitor present a “middle way,” offering five suggestions for the Haitian reconstruction effort: Decentralize relief efforts, establish a national civic service corps, emphasize public-private partnerships, target capital flow to the poor, and focus on political and social inclusion through responsible investment. To read the full article, please visit the Christian Science Monitor.
Many of these suggestions are in line with Global Washington’s Principles of Aid Effectiveness: Transparency, Coordination, Local Ownership, and Targeting. To learn more about GlobalWA’s Principles of Aid Effectiveness and our suggestions for aid reform, please visit our website, and read our white paper.
Posted on February 18, 2010
Image from the new IFPRI book Millions Fed: see below
THE FY2011 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS BUDGET AND US DEVELOPMENT POLICY:
Secretary Clinton will appear before the full House Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a hearing on the FY2011 International Affairs Budget and “Promoting Security through Diplomacy and Development,” on February 25.
Aid advocates seem happy with the international affairs budget request, which proposes an increase of 2.8 percent over fiscal 2010, including supplemental funding. See a summary of the international affairs budget request in the Global Washington blog.
The Initiative for Global Development has a new Policy Update on its website, which includes a paper written by IGD on the Business Case for Foreign Aid Reform. It also includes a letter written to Jim Jones and Larry Summers (co-chairs of the Presidential Study Directive on US Global Development Policy) recommending greater coherence between trade and aid policy.
The US is a strong player back on the map, according to the Ethiopian Review.
The United States is missing its opportunity to get in on the clean energy gold rush, while other countries seize the opportunity.
HAITI:
Why Not Do for Haiti Now What We’ve Already Done for Africa? Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) recently introduced legislation to improve opportunities for Haiti to export to the United States. However, the proposals being floated so far do not address the fundamental problem and still lack long-term recovery ambitions.
Most experts say Haiti’s history as an aid recipient has made it a poster child for how not to administer development assistance. So it is not surprising that ordinary Haitians would be cynical about the prospects of post-earthquake aid being substantially different from the past. Despite an estimated nine billion dollars in aid over the years, Haiti remains near the bottom of global poverty and development indexes.
NGOs Ask USAID: What About Non-Haiti Programs? The UN has expressed concern that the donor community–particularly the US– has forgotten about other crises and is only focused on Haiti.
AFRICA:
Kenya has lost out on more than $270 million in funding for HIV and malaria treatment from the Global Fund on Aids, TB and Malaria.
Sudanese officials met with representatives of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to discuss $36 billion of debt relief and the possible cancellation of sanctions against Sudan.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT NEWS:
Global Washington member Agros International was featured in CATALYST Design Magazine. This article features a case study of Agros’ work in Central America, and it shows how Agros’ development model embodies the principles of a sustainable, holistic, and strategic solution to poverty.
Developing country debt loads are becoming unsustainable due to IMF and World Bank lending, and this looks like déjà vu all over again.
Millions Fed is a new book recently released by IFPRI (the International Food Policy Research Institute), which examines successes in agricultural development over the past 50 years. This book offers a counterpoint to criticisms of green revolution-type development programs, such as the Gates Foundation’s agricultural development program.