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 September 23, 2010
On the final day of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Summit yesterday, President Obama announced a new U.S. Global Development Policy. The global development community has been waiting for this policy for a long time, and it includes many of the elements that Global Washington and the rest of the development community have been pushing for over the past year. MFAN, the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, has led this charge through its cadre of thought-leaders on international development policy.
Here are some elements of development reform that MFAN has pushed for over the past year:
- Elevating development as a central pillar of our national security policy, equal to diplomacy and defense;
- Making a long-term commitment to rebuilding USAID as the U.S. Government’s lead development agency, including “robust policy, budget, planning, and evaluation capabilities” and “leadership in the formulation of country and sector development strategies”;
- Institutionalizing a U.S. Global Development Strategy to be approved by the President every four years that will clarify our development goals and how to achieve them;
- Ensuring that development expertise is represented in the policy- and decision-making process by including the USAID Administrator in relevant NSC meetings;
- Establishing an Interagency Policy Committee on Global Development to set priorities and coordinate policy across the Executive Branch (it is also noteworthy that the White House specifies that the NSC staff will stay involved to coordinate the implementation of the policy directive on development);
- Creating a U.S. Global Development Council representing the private sector and civil society to provide high-level input; and
- Committing to a close working partnership with Congress in establishing a shared vision on global development.
In its blog, MFAN has compiled links to news articles and opinion pieces about the new development policy. Also check out Larry Nowels’ article about the policy on the ONE blog, President Obama delivers at the UN. Now he needs to deliver in Africa. And read USGLC’s analysis of the new policy.
White House fact sheet on the new policy.
Watch President Obama’s speech announcing the new U.S. Global Development Policy at the UN MDG Summit.
Watch the webcast of President Obama and First Lady at the Clinton Global Initiative Meeting.
Posted on September 20, 2010
The UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals kicked off in New York today, and will continue through Wednesday, Sept 22nd. World leaders are gathering to discuss the progress made and work to be done toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). On Wednesday, the event will culminate with an address by President Barack Obama.
If you are looking for background and general information on the MDGs and the Summit, take a look at some of Global Washington’s previous blog entries on the MDGs. Bono also wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times on the importance of the MDGs, which serves as a primer for New Yorkers who are fed up with the Summit-related traffic jams on the upper east side. The UK newspaper The Guardian has a whole page devoted to live MDG Summit updates and news. Finally, the Brookings Institute has a page full of links with research and commentary on the MDGs.
This morning, the Gates Foundation sponsored a TEDxChange event, featuring a live broadcast from New York City coinciding with the Summit kickoff. Speakers at this event included Melinda Gates, Hans Rosling (“the most entertaining statistician in the world” according to Tom Paulson on the Humanosphere), India’s own “Mr. Condom,” (a family planning and AIDS activist), and Graca Machel (Nelson Mandela’s wife). You can view a recording of this highly engaging webcast here.
You can also view the actual Summit live on the UN Webcast, which features 6 different channels- you can watch each world leader’s statement with English translation or in the original language, if you want to practice your French or Croatian. The UN News Center also has rather comprehensive live Summit news.
MFAN puts the spotlight on the prognosis for US foreign aid reform, and tells us what to watch out for at the Summit. If you are interested in US policy, you should also take a look at a new bill introduced by Representative Barbara Lee (CA-9) last week, which is a resolution supporting the ideals and objectives of the UN Millennium Declaration and related MDGs and calling on the President to ensure the United States contributes meaningfully to the achievement of the MDGs by the year 2015.
The Center for Global Development offers a different perspective in What’s Not to Like about the MDGs? – a critical look at the MDGs.
Posted on September 17, 2010
Submitted by Linda Martin
On September 8, the world focused its eyes on education, in honor of International Literacy Day 2010. Yet as millions celebrated, results from the Millennium Development Progress Report 2010 concluded “Hope dims for universal education by 2015, even as many poor countries make tremendous strides.” Is it possible to mobilize the resources and political support necessary to turn the tide? Can a more integrated approach help accelerate progress in reaching all the MDG goals?
“A quality inclusive education for all is the key to achieving each and every one of the Millennium Development Goals, from reducing poverty to improving health, empowering women and ensuring environmental sustainability,”
Irina Bokova,
Director-General, UNESCO
UNESCO’s new Web site Education and the Millennium Development Goals illustrates ways in which education acts as a potent catalyst for human development. Examples include:
MDG Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases – A study covering thirty-two countries, “found that women with post-primary education were five times more likely than illiterate women to know about HIV/AIDS”.
MDG Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger – According to UNESCO, “Doubling primary school-age attendance rates for rural populations is associated with an average 20 to 25 per cent decrease in food insecurity”.
MDG Goal 4: Reduce child mortality – Examples of the impact of primary education include “Having a mother with primary education reduces child death rates by almost half in the Philippines and around one third in Bolivia”.
What does it mean to be literate?
A “bare bones” definition of literacy is the ability to read and write. UNESCO provides a definition more applicable to our increasingly complex and inter-connected world. Literacy is the “ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.”
Monitoring adult and youth literacy, and global trends.
UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics (UIS) monitors international literacy targets associated with the MDGs. Adult and Youth Literary: Global Trends in Gender Parity-UIS Fact Sheet, September 2010, states that in 2008, 796 million adults worldwide (15 years and older) reported not being able to read and write, of which 64% were female. The overall adult literacy rate was 83%. Adults who lived in Southern Asia and Sub-Sahara Africa comprised three quarters of adults worldwide, who did not read or write. Gender disparity was greatest in Southern Asia, where almost three quarters of all men but only half of the women had the ability to read and write. The literacy rate in Southern Asia was 62%, and in sub-Saharan Africa, 63%.
In comparison, the global youth literacy rate was 89% (92% for males and 86% for females), with 131 million youth worldwide lacking basic reading and writing skills, of which 61% were female (3% less than adult female rates). Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were home to 86% of all youths unable to read and write worldwide.
According UNICEF’s report, State of the World’s Children 2009, “although improving, the educational status of young women is still low in several developing regions”.
“Literacy programs, especially when linked to life and livelihood skills, empowerment and peace-building initiatives, have the potential to improve human security, promote reconciliation and prevent future conflict.”
The Global Literacy Challenge
Female net secondary school attendance
- World 44%
- Sub-Saharan Africa 22%
- South Asia 43%
Female youth (15-25 years) literacy rate
- World 85%
- Sub-Saharan Africa 68%
- South Asia 74%
*http://www.unicef.org/sowc09/docs/SOWC09-Figure-2.2-EN.pdf
At the primary level, the newly published report, Progress for Children – Achieving the MDGs with Equity (Sept. 2010), notes that 100 million children of primary school age were out of school in 2008, 52% of them girls. South Asia had 33 million children out-of-school, followed by West and Central Africa (25 million), and Eastern and Southern Africa (19 million).Learn more about Monitoring and Evaluation studies from UNESCO’s monitoring Web site.
MDG Summit in New York, September 20-22
Leaders in the international community will have an opportunity to suggest ways to accelerate progress at a High-Level MDG Summit being held in New York, September 20-22. This is an opportunity to share information about successful cross-sector programs, best practices learned from experienced INGOs and other innovative players, and to forge ahead in partnership to address unreached goals.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of this article, Barriers to Education and Bridges to Achieving MDG Goals.
Related Links
Education and the Millennium Development Goals
UNESCO – Education
Progress for Children: Achieving MDGs with Equity
Millennium Development Progress Report 2010
The Global Literacy Challenge
MDG Info 2010 and MDG Data Wizard
United Nations Girls Education Initiative
UNICEF- education and gender equality resources
UNESCO- The Global Literacy Challenge
The State of the World’s Children 2009
Global Literacy Program, Inc.
Safe Schools – Amnesty International
Center for Global Development
National Institute for Literacy
