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 2, 2009
A provocative debate over Bill Easterly’s critique of The Gates Foundation’s questionable data reporting continues to incite controversy. Easterly’s assertion that the Gates Foundation cherry-picked data to validate the success of their malaria treatment and prevention programs has been met with mixed criticism. David Roodman’s post for the Center of Global Development challenges Easterly’s own vigilance in subjecting those who share his views with the same scrutiny as his adversaries. How does an organization’s need to show programmatic success in order to gather donor support compromise standards and best practices in data collection and analysis? Furthermore, are we biased toward judging those who agree with us less harshly, even in the name of scientific research? Let us know what you think!
Posted on October 28, 2009
by Global Washington Policy Coordinator Danielle Ellingston
The Center for Global Development released its 2009 Commitment to Development Index (CDI), and unsurprisingly, the United States ranked 17th out of 22, just below Portugal and above Greece. The CDI rates rich countries on how much they help poor countries build prosperity, good government, and security. Each rich country gets scores in seven policy areas, which are averaged for an overall score.
The United States scored worst in the aid and environment policy areas, where it ranked 18th and 20th respectively. In aid, the CGD found weaknesses in low aid volume, high tied aid, and poor targeting of aid to where it is needed most. The environment policy weaknesses were high greenhouse gas emissions per capita, low gas tax, and not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. The U.S. got some bonus points in aid for high private charitable giving- and we know that Washington State organizations had a lot to do with that.
The U.S. did well in the area of trade, where it ranked 3rd, behind Australia and New Zealand. Our (relatively) low agricultural tariffs and subsidies were cited as our strength in trade policy. Now if only we could get somewhere on providing duty-free and quota-free access to all poor countries, we’d be #1 in trade.
Who was #1 overall? Sweden. Read Sweden’s policy for global development and you’ll understand why – it reads like MFAN’s proposal for U.S. foreign aid.
There is hope for the United States in 2010- or maybe 2011, at the rate we’re going. Obama announced a Presidential Study Directive () and a Quadrennial Review on Development and Diplomacy, and there is a lot of talk about reforming the Foreign Assistance Act, which isn’t so much a policy as a hodge-podge of initiatives and constraints that have been put together over the last 40 years. It is hard to say where this will all lead, but it’s promising that there is finally a lot of energy and attention devoted to foreign aid reform in the United States, all the way up to the highest levels of government.
Many Washington State organizations are involved in this debate, including Global Washington member Initiative for Global Development, which has a lot of policy reform information on its website.
Posted on October 26, 2009
event re-cap by Global WA volunteer Saira Abbasey McDonald
El Centro de la Raza – Seattle, WA
October 21, 2009
Featured speakers:
· Valerie Nkamgang Bemo, MD, MPH – Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
· Carol Schillios – Founder and President of the Fabric of Life Foundation
Summary:
Originally from Cameroon, Dr. Valerie Nkamgang Bemo worked with several field-based health non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Africa before joining the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She is now engaged in work related to emergency medical response related to natural disasters like cyclones and flooding, food crises, and diseases like meningitis.
Dr. Bemo detailed some of the critical issues that affect development progress in West African countries today, including:
· Conflict. Though there is officially peace in most of the region, pockets of armed conflict remain in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Cote D’Ivoire.
· Population movement: Conflict often gives rise to population movement. Displaced people face a host of threats to their health and security, as well as issues of integration in their new environment.
· Climate change: Climate change has had great impact on the populations living near the Sahel, the arid band of land that stretches the continent. Inconsistent rainfall has had significant economic impact on farmers and others who depend on the rains.
· Health: In the last ten years, West Africans have made significant progress in health. Dr. Bemo noted several remaining issues, including:
o Maternal and child health: Many women are dying preventable deaths in childbirth, and child mortality rates remain very high.
o Malaria claims many lives—especially those of children—due to the high cost of treatment
o Meningitis outbreaks occur frequently due to the increasingly dry climate
Despite these troubles, Dr. Bemo noted that West Africa has great economic potential and an abundance of natural resources including diamonds, coffee, seaports, as well as the Niger River for irrigation. The people of West Africa, she described as “warm and colorful.”
Q&A
It was noted by an audience member that there seems to be collaboration between the countries of West Africa. Dr. Bemo was asked if West African collaboration with the countries of Central Africa will follow suit. She explained that though trade occurs between the two regions, political leaders impede the flow of people and ideas.
Dr. Bemo was also asked to describe a typical day in the field. Who does she meet? What types of things does she monitor? Dr. Bemo noted that she spends a lot of time on the road. She and her colleagues spend time examining a project to see what the challenges are, and what they can do differently to improve it. She gave drought as an example – how can one address future challenges associated with it?
Dr. Bemo was asked how she typically identifies organizations to fund. She noted that most funding is given mainly to international organizations, as it needs to be fast and flexible money. West Africa, she added, has a thriving civil society but is comprised mainly of community-based organizations that lack institutional capacity.
Carol Schillios of the Fabric of Life Foundation, spoke of her experience working in microfinance for the past 25 years. Working as a grassroots trainer, Ms. Schillios help to build institutional capacity of microfinance organizations. She eventually started a school for poor girls in Bamako, Mali – a city where the begging population is growing at 5% per year. Ms. Schillios’ school teaches the girls income generating skills to its members. Along with skill-building, the girls take classes in health and nutrition, family planning, AIDs prevention and literacy skills. The girls’ products are available for sale at a boutique in Edmonds, Washington, which is run exclusively through volunteers.
For more information:
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/global-health
http://fabricoflife.org/
http://www.upontheroofwithcarol.org/
Organizations represented by attendees at the event:
Kabissa, www.kabissa.org
Americans for UNFPA, www.americansforunfpa.org
Williamsworks, http://www.williamsworks.com/
Global Business Analysis, http://globalba.com/
American Red Cross, www.redcross.org
The Max Foundation, www.themaxfoundation.org
LINGOS, www.ngolearning.org
Grameen Foundation, www.grameenfoundation.org
Prosthetics Outreach Foundation, www.pofsea.org
Mo Tribe, Bamboi, Ghana
Real Life Church, www.reallifechurch.com
African Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific NW, http://www.africanchamberofcommercepnw.com