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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 8, 2013
By Mark Olmstead
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been highlighting the national news recently when the government shutdown over whether or not to fund it with the continuing resolution stalled in Congress. In honor of the upcoming International Day of the Girl this October 11th; GlobalWA would like to highlight many benefits that the Affordable Care Act provides to women in the United States.
In the past, insurance companies reserved the ability to raise premiums on women based on gender or a pre-existing condition. More than half of women report delaying care for treatable medical conditions because of balancing finances of paying for treatment and normal cost of living expenses. Under the ACA women can no longer be denied coverage, and places a cap on what insurance companies can charge women out of pocket, thus taking the burden off women on affording medical treatment. If an insurance company does increase premiums they are required to submit justification as to why premiums have raised allowing consumer’s access to changes in their coverage. Continue Reading
Posted on September 19, 2013
There is more to focus on than just the US and EU vs. Syria debate these days. As political military issues rise, so has the issue of providing adequate education to the next generation of Syrians. Let's not forget the civilians affected within Syria and outside.
By Sandy Lam
Being a good neighbor is beginning to take a toll on Syrian’s neighboring countries and limited public resources, including impact on some of the most crucial parts of society: education. Countries such as Lebanon are facing unprecedented problems this school year as the number of Syrian refugees now outnumber the Lebanese students in public schools, causing a shift not only in educational resources, but the quality of education as well.
The increasing conflicts in Syria have forced the amount of fleeing Syrians to double in the last six months to over two million registered refugees, according to the European Union. Over 700,000 have been displaced in Lebanon, the smallest neighboring country which holds the most refugees than any other bordering country. Dana Suleiman, media official at the United Nations Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) reports 300,000 of those registered refugees are students who fled to Lebanon. The United Nations Children’s Fund believes that the amount of displaced Syrian students will reach half a million in Lebanon alone by the end of 2013. Continue Reading
Posted on September 18, 2013
Global Washington applauds the efforts of organizations working to better the lives of those living in poverty all over the world – at home and abroad. To help those living in the US find resources for assistance, tools for advocating for social justice, and other ways to get involved, check out this post by Carrie Watson, writer for MSWonlineprograms.com: http://mswonlineprograms.org/poverty-hunger