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.
Posted on December 14, 2015
By Heather Coleman, Oxfam America
Global climate negotiations begin in France on Sunday. Photo: http://bit.ly/1T4UMN8
A few top-line comments on the agreement coming out of COP21
We have been waiting for the world to act and today, more than 190 countries — including the US, have come together to do just that. Having been part of the climate movement for most of my professional life, it will be a moment I will not forget. It’s hard to overstate how important and historic a moment this is, with the US at the center of a global agreement that addresses one of the greatest challenges of our time. Continue Reading
Posted on November 30, 2015
By Kaitlin Marshall
American Red Cross
Since 2011, the situation in Syria has escalated from a series of peaceful demonstrations to civil war. Nationwide protests against President Bashar Al-Assad were met with violent crackdowns at the hands of the government and the Syrian army. In January 2015, the death toll surpassed 220,000 and has since been estimated to be as high as 310,000. As Syria has plunged further into violence, the country’s infrastructure has been left in ruins. More than 11 million Syrian refugees have fled their homes to find safety abroad. What began as an isolated conflict in one country is now a crisis that requires the world to come together to give displaced Syrians a new beginning. Continue Reading
Posted on November 13, 2015
By Kaitlin Marshall
Credit: Malaria No More
Two months have passed since the United Nations ratified the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which aim to eradicate poverty by 2030. The goals are lofty and include everything from equality of the sexes to ending hunger. Data that accurately reflects the progress being made towards achieving the SDG’s is going to be critical if each objective is to be met by the target date. As many as 350 million people in need, however, are virtually invisible to the international community because they are not represented by statistics. A third of the world’s births and two-thirds of the world’s deaths and their causes, for example, go unreported, and statistics about the number of people living in extreme poverty are out of date.
Technology and innovation are critical to enhancing data collection and analysis to the extent necessary to close the data gap. This is a time rich with opportunity to develop and harness new ways to use technology to capture and transfer data. From monitoring infectious diseases to supporting refugees along their journeys, a myriad of organizations are catching on to the power of data. Continue Reading