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Global Education News – March 17, 2010

OneWorld launches in Jordan, refer to OneWorld article below for more information. Photo courtesy of OneWorld2011

OneWorld Now!:

One World 2011 events will take place in the summer and fall of 2011 in Seattle, Washington

Photo courtesy of OneWorld2011

Global Washington member, OneWorld Now, is a proud founding partner of OneWorld 2011. One World 2011 is an international cultural, arts, education, medical exchange and sporting event that will build partnerships, and a bridge for cultural understanding between the United States and the Muslim world. In addition, the One World 2011 Medical Conference will be held in Seattle, focusing on health care and research in a global context.

Seattle University:

Seattle University appoints new leader for global engagement initiative
Seattle University has appointed a new associate provost, Victoria Jones, PhD, for global engagement to lead a strategic academic initiative to extend the international reach of the university and advance the global education of its students.

Washington State University:

Southwest Washington Math, Engineering and Science Achievement program (MESA) will host its sixth annual MESA Day on March 20
WSU Vancouver houses, and is a partner of, Southwest Washington MESA. MESA provides enriching educational opportunities that help build a pathway to college and careers in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields for students who are currently underrepresented in those fields—African American, Latino, Native American, and female.

BRIDGES To Understanding:

BRIDGES offers a one-day workshop for educators on April 17th
BRIDGES is inviting to learn the basics of teaching their students how to produce digital stories about their lives, communities and common global issues, and then share them with their peers around the world.

BRIDGES is seeking international interns
Bridges’ international interns help middle and high school students at partner schools in Peru, India, South Africa or Guatemala and gain greater cross-cultural understanding by learning directly from their peers across the globe through digital storytelling.

EarthCorps:

EarthCorps welcomes new international participants
As part of its mission to build global community through local environmental service, EarthCorps brings emerging leaders from around the world to take part in environmental service programs. International participants live with local homestay families as they restore wetlands, plant trees, and construct hiking trails. Some of this year’s come from: Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Morocco, Russia, and Zambia

US Education:

United States has slipped from second to 14th in graduation rates among the world’s richest countries
The U.S. children of today will be competing in a global economy. That means their education needs to be world-class, which some troubing signs indicate they are not getting. An expert on global education systems told the U.S. Senate earlier this month that the United States has slipped from second to 14th in graduation rates among the world’s richest countries in the past decade – not so much because the U.S. is slipping but because other countries are doing so much better.

New US education report reveals boys are falling behind in reading and writing abilities
Despite the deadlocks regarding global warming, the domestic economy, and health care, Obama is making headway in education reform. His bottom line goal: the United States to have the world’s highest proportion of college graduates by the year 2020. The likelihood of the US jumping from the middle of the rankings of developed nations to the top in just 10 years is not plausible. However, it is drawing attention to further understand flaws in our current education system and those who need help the most. In a report by the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy, an in-depth look at who is and isn’t passing state tests shows gender disparities between males and females. The survey shows that girls tie with boys in math skills. The reading differences, meanwhile, are profound, with boys a full 10 percentage points behind girls. Boys are even farther behind in writing abilities.

Policy News Roundup – March 16, 2010

President Obama meets with Indonesia's President Yudhoyono, refer to article below. Photo courtesy of Brookings

Haiti:

Should Haiti be made a UN protectorate?   Some say that is the best option for this country whose governance is shaky in the best of times, while others are concerned about taking away its autonomy.  Read the debate at a Brookings event here.

Foreign Aid Reform:

Integrating the three D’s: Former USAID Administrator J Brian Atwood spells out how to elevate development assistance in US foreign policy, and what the challenges will be for diplomats, defense personnel, and development professionals.

With the release of initial findings from the State Department’s Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) expected very soon, MFAN has launched a blog series to spur debate on the review and its importance to foreign assistance reform and the future of U.S. development efforts.  The first post – “Time for Hard Questions on the QDDR” by George Ingram – poses candid questions to keep in mind as we read and respond to the release of the initial QDDR findings.  George’s piece will be followed by material from others across the Network on the QDDR, the Presidential Study Directive on Global Development Policy, USAID, country ownership, gender integration, and other reform-related topics.

Other Development News:

President Obama makes symbolic visit to Indonesia
Often described as the most important country in the world that people know the least about, Indonesia welcomed a visit by President Obama. Many feel it is the beginning to placing the country on the map. Furthermore, the “Comprehensive Partnership” that the two countries will formally launch represents the kind of long-term commitment that can go far in helping Indonesia pull its weight in global affairs.

Indonesia urges US to reconsider ban on commando training
Indonesia’s special forces have concentrated on counterinsurgency issues in recent years, but were accused of major abuses in the former Indonesian province of East Timor in the ’90s. As a result, several countries, including the U.S. and Australia, suspended joint military training in Indonesia. The Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa expressed hope that full military cooperation between the two countries could resume. The issue is likely to feature in talks between President Barack Obama and his Indonesian counterpart, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, next week in Jakarta. 

The Overseas Development Institute launched a report on the key recommendations for ‘fragile states’
The meeting series on Development, Security and Transitions in Fragile States, organised by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, brought together an impressive array of experienced and respected politicians, analysts, policymakers and researchers from a vast range of disciplines and background. The speakers discussed the nature of fragility, relationships between development and security, and the challenges of supporting transitional and state building processes.

New aid program challenges traditional development community’s beliefs about poor people’s ability to make wise use of cash
Oxfam Great Britain’s “unconditional cash transfers” are cash payments with no conditions other than that it couldn’t be used for alcohol, drugs or gambling. Oxfam’s reviews of the program found that families had used the money to improve their household food security and overall income, School dropout rates decreased, and gender equity in the village improved, with women sharing control of the money.

Former Air Force sergeant asserts foreign development aid is critical to our national security strategy
Will Bennett, former Air Force technical sergeant, spent 12 years engaged in supporting peacekeeping and wartime missions in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq. He says despite many tough budget choices ahead it is imperative that Congress maintain U.S. investments in foreign development not only to help prevent vulnerable regions around the world from descending into strife but also to make the American public safer.

U.S. Contributions to Multilateral Organizations

With the request submitted by President Barack Obama for the FY 2011 International Affairs Budget, much emphasis has been placed on bilateral U.S. assistance programs, namely food security, climate change, and health. But there is another aspect to U.S. foreign assistance that is often overlooked: monetary contributions to multilateral organizations. The importance of providing such assistance is significant. As a leader in the international community, these donations can leverage funding for multilateral organizations from other wealthy nations. Also, these organizations often exemplify Global Washington’s principles of effective foreign aid: coordination, transparency and accountability, local ownership, and targeting aid to those most in need.

As a means to implement these principles on a global scale, the U.S. Government supports two types of multilateral aid organizations in the International Affairs Budget: international organizations and programs and international financial institutions.

Each international organization and program receiving funding from the U.S. has a specific objective to solve problems experienced on a global scale such as climate change, human rights violations, and refugee crises. Organizations that receive U.S. contributions include the International Development Association, The Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, the Organization of American States, and a variety of United Nations funds.

The two organizations that receive the most money from the U.S. Government, the Global Fund and UNICEF, are instrumental in delivering effective foreign assistance. While not engaging in implementation, the Global Fund receives and disburses funding from the international community to health programs aimed at those most in need. To ensure sustainable and positive results, each plan is developed by the recipient countries and chosen by the Global Fund on a performance-based system. The performance and results of each program are posted on the Global Fund’s website to make their implementing partners more accountable.

Focusing on child survival and education, UNICEF builds protective environments for children and equips local adolescents with the resources necessary to help their communities during and after national emergencies. Through communication and consultation with local populations, UNICEF promotes the participation of the community in meeting needs. Like the Global Fund, UNICEF posts the results of their programs online in an effort to monitor and evaluate progress for future decisions. UNICEF and the Global Fund are thus incredibly efficient in meeting the core principles of effective aid.

Apart from international organizations and programs, international financial institutions are generally focused on providing economic support in the form of loans and grants as a means to reduce poverty and build infrastructure. These institutions are integral to stimulating economic growth in the world’s poorest countries because they provide high-risk loans that private financial institutions would not make.

It is with this model that the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) satisfies a core principle of effective aid: targeting assistance to the people that need it the most. While addressing infrastructure construction, agricultural issues, health concerns, sanitation, and education with its loans, the IDA provides loans with no interest to countries selected by their relative level of poverty. Repayment plans of these loans are extended over a period of 35 to 40 years with a 10-year grace period. In doing so, IDA can be considered an effective tool to encourage and support economic growth in the developing world.

In sum, contributing to multilateral organizations is an effective way to leverage more funding for these organizations and a means by which sustainable development can be achieved.

Below is a list of the top ten multilateral recipients of U.S. funding. For a complete list of the funding levels received by each multilateral organization, please refer to the attached chart. Also, to learn more about the principles of aid effectiveness, read Global Washington’s white paper.