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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 October 7, 2009
by Global Washington Policy Coordinator Danielle Ellingston
Welcome to development policy posts on the Global Washington blog! You may wonder why we need another development policy blog, since there are so many great global development blogs already out there. Well, this blog is different- we will bring you the news and noteworthy ideas on a weekly basis, with a special emphasis on issues of interest to the development community in Washington State. Our state is second only to the “other Washington” in organizations committed to global development, and now the many voices of development in Washington State have a venue to come together to discuss and influence policy.
Here’s what you can look forward to in future posts to this blog:
· Foreign Aid Reform status– progress with legislation and the administration’s efforts, such as the Presidential Study Directive
· Ideas for making aid work better
· Development and Policy News from around the state
· What’s happening in other countries and the multilateral organizations
· How you can become involved
First and foremost, the Presidential Study Directive is picking up steam and the Obama administration is looking for your input on where to focus foreign assistance. We sent out a survey to our mailing list asking for input, which we will compile and send off to DC. If you’re on our mailing list and you didn’t get this survey, you might check your email spam box. We’ll be looking for more input in the future, so please make sure to put Danielle@globalwa.org on your safe list! (And of course, sign up to be on our mailing list if you haven’t already done so.)
If you didn’t get a chance to respond to our survey, you can still make your voice heard by commenting on the Center for Global Development’s blog, where they are also collecting ideas.
Need more information? Check out this link to background information on U.S. Foreign Aid policy, with lots of helpful information and links, from the Puget Sound Millennium Development Goals Project.
And finally, some food for thought on aid – MCC chief economist Franck Wiebe writes about a new (and controversial) standard for aid effectiveness, making aid at least as good as cash from a helicopter. Read it here.
Globe photo by ToastyKen at Creative Commons
Posted on September 21, 2009
Global Washington volunteer Michelle Alten reports on our September 16th event
Kristin Hayden, Founder and Executive Director of OneWorld Now! spoke to a gathering at Global Washington’s Salaam Maleukum Middle East Networking Event on Wednesday, September 16th. The event was part of Global Washington’s ongoing series of Global Socials the 3rd Wednesday of each month that convene development organizations around geographic regions or issue areas. Kristin spoke about how she created OneWorld Now! and talked about her separate but related project, One World 2011.
Kristin came upon the idea of starting OneWorld Now! in 2002 when she returned to the United States after living and working abroad. She recalled that at the age of 15, she went on a student exchange to South Africa when the country was still under Apartheid. The sojourn was a life changing experience for her and led to a passion for learning languages. Upon her return to the United States in 2002, after living overseas, Kristin was disturbed by the reaction in the United States to the events of 9/11. Witnessing the fear and stereotypes that Americans showed towards Arabs and Muslims, Kristin started OneWorld Now!, a program that provides language and leadership training as well as study abroad opportunities for low-income and minority youth.
The program of OneWorld Now!, Kristin pointed out, deliberately focuses on Arabic and Chinese because these languages are strategically important but not typically offered in the public schools. Students also learn leadership by digging into underlying beliefs and stereotypes. They commit to a year of the program, and then go abroad in summer to work on their language skills, participate in community service, and live with families. Currently students go to Morocco, Egypt, and Jordan. Upon their return they participate in a give-back project.
Proud of the impact the program is having on its participants, Kristin explained that 100% of the youth go on to college. OneWorld Now! serves 150 youth per year and has arranged for students to receive credit for the program through Seattle Public Schools. In the last year and a half, Kristin and her mentor, Bob Walsh, have taken the philosophy behind OneWorld Now! and the experience of the successful 1990 Goodwill Games to develop an important and large scale project called One World 2011.
Bob and Kristin are planning a month-long “mega-event” that will open in Seattle on September 11, 2011. The goal of One World 2011 is to build a bridge between the U.S. and the Muslim world. The extensive program will include a press conference on the Middle East, athletic events, a health summit, a trade bazaar, music, art, and film festivals, and a large youth exchange program with countries from the Muslim world. Funding and support for the program are beginning to take form.
The U.S. government has shown support for the project along with Farah Pandith, the U.S. special representative to the Muslim world, and the Washington State Congressional delegation. Kristin is hoping to have Michelle Obama, Melinda Gates, and Queen Rania of Jordan act as co-chairs of the event. Seed funding has been provided by the Gates Foundation through the Tides Foundation and from philanthropist, George Russell.
Q&A
At a Q&A following her presentation, Kristin was asked about the organizations she works with to provide exchange programs abroad. She explained that she arranges exchanges through American Field Service for Egypt, AMI for Morocco, and the Jordan River Foundation for Jordan.
When asked about further funding for One World 2011, she said that funding is being sought from corporations such as Nike, foundations, and organizations in the Middle East.
In further discussion about world language education in the U.S., Kristin pointed out that 1% of U.S. high school students study abroad, less than 1% study Arabic, and less than 3% study Chinese. It was pointed out that Startalk is an organization that provides funding for their summer language programs for Arabic and Chinese.
Kristin was also asked about challenges she faces with planning One World 2011. She feels that visas are frequently a problem and that visa complications are discouraging wealthy business people from the Arab world from coming to the United States. She explained that they hope to push the visa issue in general with One World 2011.
Kristin also pointed out that many Arab and Muslim nations feel that they have lost a generation, because young people are being educated abroad. She added that 60% of the Arab and Muslim world population is under the age of 25. This, she explained, means a large number of people who don’t have positive feelings about the U.S. and OneWorld 2011 aims to change that!
Some of the other organizations represented at the Global Social who are also doing work or share an interest in the Middle East include:
International Organization of Folk Art, http://www.iovworld.org
Middle Eastern Legal Association of Washington, http://www.melegal.org
Associates in Cultural Exchange, www.cultural.org
EarthCorps, http://www.earthcorps.org
Arab Center of Washington, http://www.arabcenter.net/
Crooked Trails, http://www.crookedtrails.com
Growing with Books, http://www.growingwithbooks.org/
Brown Eyes Gallery, http://www.browneyesgallery.com/
Surge Consulting
Posted on August 28, 2009
Jackie Peterson reports on our August 19th event
This month’s Global Social focused on East and Southeast Asia as well as China. Ketty Loeb from Wokai was invited to present briefly on Wokai’s micro-credit work and poverty in China.
Currently the poverty rate is 8-10%, Loeb notes, and there is a growing divide between rural and urban populations. According to Loeb 75% of the people in China do not have access to credit. In China, it is not legal to loan to individuals so micro-finance organizations serve as brokers or intermediaries in that process, using a model somewhat similar to what KIVA does. The micro-finance organizations in China are the entities to which outsiders can loan money and the organization matches funding with individuals. The microfinance organizations also determine the loan rate.
The process has a number of challenges. Those who loan will not be repaid in the traditional sense of recouping their money. The loans are repaid to the micro-finance organization but the principle amount is then re-invested so the loans should be considered more as a donation rather than a traditional loan. It is also a challenge to find reputable micro-financing organizations using sound training practices, transparency in lending and solid risk analysis measures. Wokai has, to-date, found about 100 reputable organizations and continues to look for more.
There is also a general lack of a philanthropic culture directed toward those outside the family in China. Donations or giving in the way thought normal in the US is illegal in China but there appears to be some shifts beginning in cultural norms around that philosophy. There is also some hope for banking reforms and that the high demand for credit may encourage opportunities.
As is true in many areas, the greatest poverty is in the rural areas and isolation and poor infrastructure contribute to the fact that less help gets to those areas and people.
About 98% of the money Wokai loans is to women who live on less than $1.00/day and they use that money for things like agricultural pursuits and purchasing animals etc. in rural areas and sales of textiles and establishment of produce stands in more urban locations. The average loan is about $350.
Some of the other organizations represented at the Global Social who are also doing work in East and Central Asia and China include:
Lutheran Community Services, www.refugeechildren.net
Bridges to Understanding, www.bridgesweb.org
Peace Winds America, www.peacewindsamerica.org
Women’s Enterprises International, www.womententerprises.org
The China Club of Seattle, laoBao206@aol.com
Sankara Eye Foundation, www.giftofvision.org
Breakthrough Partners, www.breakthroughpartners.org
Prosthetics Outreach Foundation, www.pofsea.org
Crooked Trails, www.crookedtrails.com
Antioch University, www.antiochseattle.edu/academics/creativechange/index.html
Representing Global Washington was Bookda Gheisar, Executive Director. Gheisar encouraged attendees to access the Global Washington website, www.globalwa.org, to register their organizations and post upcoming events. Gheisar also spoke to the benefits of membership in the organization.
Gheisar solicited input from the group as to how Global Washington can help facilitate communication between various groups doing work overseas and noted that the first annual convention for Global Washington members will occur in December of 2009.