Blog


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.


Investing in Farmers (and Technology) to Expand Sustainable Agriculture

By Elsa Watland

Graphic

On November 2nd, Global Washington and the World Affairs Council partnered to host a panel discussion on Financing Sustainable Agriculture. The panelists represented a range of stakeholders involved in various aspects of agriculture financing. Panelists included Matthew Arnold, managing director and global head of sustainable finance at JPMorgan Chase (JPMC); Steve Hollingworth, president & CEO of the Grameen Foundation; and Paul Moseley, who leads agriculture finance strategy for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMFG). The conversation was moderated by Kristen Dailey, executive director of Global Washington.

The future of global food security is a significant challenge humankind will face in the coming years, and smallholder farmers hold the key to this challenge. 2.2 billion people depend on agriculture for their livelihood and 80 percent of the world’s poor are smallholder farmers. By 2050, food production must double to feed the projected global population of 9.8 billion. This means that we must focus on finding sustainable, long-term solutions to ensure agricultural systems are more efficient, and can meet our planet’s rising nutritional needs in three decades. Continue Reading

An Evening with Muhammad Yunus in Celebration of Global Philanthropy

© Rozarii Lynch

On Wednesday, October 11, together with Seattle Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Washington honored global philanthropists at a dinner with Bill and Paula Clapp, and the Clapps’ longtime friend and mentor, Nobel Laureate and founder of the Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunus.

In his talk Professor Yunus shared his philosophy on charity, his views on the nature of poverty, and his new book, A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions.

David Wertheimer, director of community and civic engagement at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, welcomed the assembled philanthropists and other distinguished guests. Afterwards, Tony Mestres, President & CEO of Seattle Foundation, gave remarks about the importance of global giving to Seattle Foundation, including observing that in a recent report from Council on Foundations, the Seattle region ranked number two among its community foundation peers across the nation in terms of percentage of total international giving. “I think we should all aim for number one,” he said, drawing a round of applause.

Continue Reading

Congressman Adam Smith Meets with the Global Development Community in the State of Washington

Congressman Adam Smith Meets with the Global Development Community in the State of Washington

On September 18th, together with Global Washington, Congressman Adam Smith met with about two dozen members of Washington-based non-profits to discuss issues of concern to the global development community. The meeting was held at the offices of World Relief Seattle in Kent, WA.

Congressman Smith represents Washington’s Ninth Congressional District, which comprises the central Puget Sound region, including parts of King and Pierce Counties. Continue Reading