The New Global Citizen - Spring 2014

S p r i n g 2014 | n e wg loba lc it ize n.c om

T HE

GLOBAL PRO BONO ISSUE

Spring 2014 Editor In Chief

Contributors

Alicia Bonner Ness

Stanley Litow, President, IBM Foundation and Vice President of

Executive Publisher

Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs, IBM

Amanda MacArthur

Asif Shaikh, Senior Advisor, CSIS

Publication Manager

Deirdre White, President and CEO, PYXERA Global

Melissa Mattoon

Jailan Adly, Director, MBAs Without Borders

Published Daily At: www.newglobalcitizen.com

Yasmina Zaidman, Director of Communications and Strategic Partnerships, Acumen Laura Asiala, Senior Director of Public Affairs, PYXERA Global

Contact:

Scott Jackson, President & CEO, Global Impact

editor@newglobalcitizen.com

Diane Rasmussen, Director, Center for Citizen Diplomacy

(202) 719-0656

Nathan Clark, Manager of Enterprise Citizenship, John Deere and Vice President, John Deere Foundation Harry Pastuszek, Vice President of Enterprise and Community

@BeNewGlobal

Development, PYXERA Global facebook.com/BeNewGlobal

Alice Korngold, President, Korngold Consulting Annessa Kaufman, MBAs Without Borders Advisor Today’s world demands individuals and organizations prepared to thrive in a globally interconnected network of challenges and opportunities. Greater social awareness and innovative approaches have allowed a growing number of individuals and organizations to cross borders and cultural boundaries to create shared value and understanding. The New Global Citizen chronicles the stories, strategies, and impact of innovative leadership and international engagement around the world. This publication seeks to capture the ground-level impact of these approaches, providing an avenue through which beneficiaries and implementers alike can showcase their impact.

Today’s transformed and increasingly interconnected world has spurred a revolution in our global culture, reinforcing collaborative approaches to addressing complex challenges. The New Global Citizen elevates the ways in which individuals, corporations, and others are championing a better future for our world.

THIS IS THE WORLD OF THE NEW GLOBAL CITIZEN. THIS IS YOUR WORLD.

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

CONTENTS 4

Inside the Issue EDITOR’S LETTER Ali c i a Bonner Ness

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Features 8

Comment MAKE YOUR PARTNER A TRUE PARTNER Am anda MacAr thur

58 Exclusive Excerpt A BETTER WORLD, INC.

Stanley Litow

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THE IMPORTANCE OF “SO WHAT?” D e i rd re Wh i t e

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Ali c e K o r ngold

Happenings

THE NEW DIMENSION OF LEADERSHIP

INVESTING CAPITAL TO CLOSE THE PIONEER GAP Ya s m i n a Za i d m a n

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HOW CHARITIES AT WORK CATALYZE CHANGE Scott Jackson

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THE RAPIDLY CHANGING CONTEXT OF DEVELOPMENT

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Al i c i a B o n n e r N e s s

SI D Wash ington Annual Gala

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IT’S EASY TO FLUSH & FORGET Unc lo g g ing the Blockages in Sani tati on Conf erence

WATER, THE SOURCE OF LIFE Mo de rn A f r ica Symp osium

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THE NEXUS OF GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT G lo bal Ties U.S. Annual Me e ti ng

SOCHI SEEDS GROWTH, PRIDE, & GLORY

Around the World

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A COMMITMENT TO SERVICE N a t h a n C l a rk

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EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE IN EAST AFRICA TODAY Ha rry Pa s t u s z e k

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DISCOVER THE BEAUTY OF SRI LANKA’S EASTERN PROVINCE An n e s s a K a u fma n

“The knowledge you have left us with will change our country.“ Christopher, Teacher

Focusing technology, resources, and partnerships to help people thrive Drawing on what has made us an industry leader, we develop scalable social initiatives designed to improve lives. The Intel difference starts with our people, who bring expertise spanning education, the environment, international development, and public policy. Calling on a track record of success and our commitment to accountability, we remain focused on working together in pursuit of positive social change.

Empowering the promise of a better world. Look Inside™ www.intel.com/education Follow us @IntelInvolved

Copyright © 2014 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved Intel, the Intel Corporate logo, Look Inside and the Look Inside logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

The Reward of Human Effort

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very year, the nation’s capital looks forward with great anticipation to the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Tourists come from all over the country—and from around the world—to witness the splendor of more than 3,000 flowering cherry trees in bloom.

After what has seemed like an unbearably cold and long winter— especially here in the American Mid-Atlantic—the anticipation of trees in bloom is a rich reward.

Yet, it’s easy to forget the human effort that now, more than 100 years later, is responsible for the joy they bring today.

Many know that the cherry blossoms were a gift from Tokyo’s mayor to President Howard Taft and his wife, Helen. Few realize that the idea to plant the trees originally came from Elizabeth Scidmore, an average citizen, following her return from a personal journey to Japan, in 1885. Following her suggestion to the U.S. Army Superintendent of the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds, it took more than 27 years for the idea to come into being. Only after

extraordinary effort on the part of the first lady and any number of failed attempts—due to insect infestation or mislabeling—were the 3,000 trees now seen growing along the Potomac tidal basin shipped, received, and planted.

Human effort drives human impact. This spring, The New Global Citizen amplifies the game-changing effect of individuals and their talents. The Global Pro Bono issue focuses on the outcomes human capital can deliver in a multitude of markets, from impact investing to leadership development. It captures exciting progress combatting maternal mortality in southern Africa, the promise of new economic opportunity from liquid natural gas discovery in Mozambique, and inspiring advances in community development in India and tourism in Sri Lanka.

With human talent and determination, anything is possible.

Alicia Bonner Ness Editor in Chief

®™ The DOW Diamond Logo, Solutionism and design are trademarks of The Dow Chemical Company © 2014

Through Dow Sustainability Corps, the company’s skills-based employee engagement program, 36 employees worked virtually for five months and spent a week in Accra, Ghana in 2013 using their talent to address needs of local non-profit organizations and social entrepreneurs.

Dow is Proud to Join PYXERA Global to Address the World’s Most Pressing Challenges At Dow, we are committed to the success of our communities. When we invest in them, we invest in our future. Whether we support events and organizations, collaborate on high-priority needs, or roll up our sleeves to volunteer, we work to be solutionists, bringing together our employees, friends and neighbors to address local and global needs. We believe that together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything.

Solutionism. The new optimism.® THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY | www.dow.com Sponsored Content

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

COMMENT

MAKE YOUR PARTNER A TRUE PARTNER I n th e Real m of S o cia l Impa ct, Pa rtn e rsh ip i s A l way s Messi er Tha n Ex pe cted Amanda MacArthur

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very few years, a new silver bullet emerges that is believed to be the antidote to all the world’s ills. Developed with the best of intentions, the idea quickly becomes a buzzword inserted into ubiquitous concept notes, proposals, and expressions of interest with little regard for what it actually means or whether it is, in fact, relevant to the issue at

hand. In the rush to showcase the “next big thing,” it quickly collapses into the status quo, rather than fostering the disruption for which it was originally intended.

For some time now, partnership—especially public-private partnership—has captured the imagination of the social impact community. Yet, what is touted as a strategic partnership is

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

Partnership: An undertaking with another or others… with shared risks and profits.

•

Put “why” on the table from the start: It’s important that every stakeholder in a partnership is clear about why this particular initiative is important. The reasons don’t have to be the same, but they shouldn’t conflict!

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Be honest about strengths and weaknesses: Partnerships work because each party brings something to the table.

It’s important to respect these strengths for what they are and to recognize where one party excels or another falls short.

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Don’t be afraid to talk about money: In any partnership there is likely to be a majority and a minority partner.

Each stakeholder needs a clear understanding about how financial reporting should be done and the level of detail required.

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Talk early and often: A partnership isn’t done when the agreement is signed. Without open lines of communication, misunderstandings develop into real issues that waste not only time, but money and perhaps most importantly, trust.

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Know when to walk away: All partnerships start with the best of intentions, but not all partnerships work. There’s no reason to assign blame, but saving relationships—and reputations—sometimes means leaving the table.

The Oxford English Dictionary

often skin-deep. Too often, a public-private partnership in the international development context assumes that the private sector company provides funding (and perhaps product) in return for their logo on a website and a feel-good news mention or two; otherwise, the private sector is expected to get out of the way. Even with all the talk about creating shared value, there are still those that believe that altruism is the only way the private sector can and should be engaged with donors and social sector implementers working in emerging markets. Of course, providing philanthropic support, while generous, is not a true partnership. Such arrangements fail to capitalize on the inherent strengths of all parties involved.

Real partnership is like marriage—joyful, frustrating, and occasionally, rather messy. The public, private, and social sectors necessarily have different end goals; in many ways, objectives are what ultimately differentiate them. Yet, a difference in purpose does not necessarily require opposition to one another. In fact, these differences can often be what make a partnership succeed. As Gina Tesla, Director of Corporate Citizenship Initiatives at IBM said recently, “Innovation and great ideas do not always come from agreement.”

So what makes a good cross-sector partnership? How should they be constructed so as to do the most good for the largest number of people? Here are five things I’ve learned over the past thirteen years, most of which I have spent designing, implementing, and sometimes, saving partnerships:

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The truth is there is no silver bullet, which is exactly why cross-sector partnerships are critical to continued success.

Some will fail, some will thrive. They are iterative and rarely, if ever, progress in a straight line from launch to completion.

Making your partner a true partner requires humility, candor, and above all else, trust.

That said, the most fun and fulfillment I’ve had in my career has been working on programs that bring together groups that don’t usually interact. There is a special energy that comes from looking at the same challenges from different perspectives and then constructing a solution and testing it out.

The quest to address the world’s toughest challenges is a long road, and one no sector can navigate alone. Forging ahead to the elusive promise of progress in partnership, perhaps we should all think less about the standards of perfect, and worry more about getting things done.

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GLOBAL PRO BONO

THE NEW DI ME NS ION O F LEA D E R S HIP C olla b o rat ion on High-Sk ill Projec ts D e l ivers a “ Tri pl e Benefit” Stanley Litow

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orporate citizenship and close cross-sector alignment is integral to the new model for leadership in a globally-integrated world, but what is “corporate citizenship” exactly?

The turn-of-the-twentieth-century model of corporate philanthropy—taking first and giving back later—is obsolete. But the differences between the post-1960s model of corporate philanthropy and the future of what it means to lead in government, nonprofit organizations, and business are just as important. Today’s corporate citizenship agenda must incorporate a company’s core values and approach to doing business while also addressing three key goals: 1. Solving the pressing problems faced by communities around the world, 2. Developing the next generation of leadership, and 3. Creating sustained business value by opening new markets and building capabilities.

The pursuit of these integrated goals guides IBM’s approach to citizenship while building strong cross-sector partnerships, reinforcing client relationships, deploying the company’s technology and top talent, and overcoming challenges of culture and geography. The new model for global leadership is a potent blend of citizen diplomacy, innovative partnerships, and cross-sector collaboration that delivers real and sustainable community and business value.

High Skills for Sustainable Change In collaboration with public-sector, civil society, and private-sector partners, IBM Corporate Service Corps, known as CSC, has been pioneering an effective approach to global leadership.

In South Africa, CSC is working with Novartis and Vodacom to support the NGO

Kheth’Impilo AIDS Free Living in their efforts to improve public sector health care capacity and fight HIV and diabetes across low-income communities.

In partnership with the Ghana Health Service and the Yale School of Medicine, a CSC team is working to support Ghana in its quest to become the first sub-Saharan country to eliminate the transfer of HIV from mother to child.

In May, a CSC team will partner with Becton Dickinson in Peru to bring efficiency to the early diagnosis, treatment and tracking of cervical cancer.

These are only three examples of how teams of IBM’s top talent have engaged in real problem solving in the early months of 2014 alone. Nearly 2,500 of IBM’s top talent from 55 countries have participated in more than 850 CSC engagements in more than 35 locations over the last five years. If billed at standard consulting industry rates, these efforts, which have addressed issues

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

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N e a r l y 2 , 5 0 0 o f I B M ’s t o p t a l e n t f r o m 5 5 c o u n t r i e s h a v e p a r t i c i p a t e d i n m o r e t h a n 8 5 0 C o r p o r a t e S e r v i c e C o r p s e ngagem ents i n m o re t h a n 35 l o c a t i o n s o ve r t h e las t fiv e ye ar s .

that include health care, education, and economic growth, would be valued at nearly $65 million. Yet, even more significant are the growth and transformation experienced by both clients and program participants on the ground.

Whether it is helping young technology entrepreneurs in Dakar, Senegal bring locally created tech solutions to market, advising the Indonesian Licensing Agency on efficiency improvements to help businesses start up quicker and contribute to local economic growth, or working to secure the futures of organizations providing vital services to thousands of women in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, IBM’s CSC contributes expertise that’s far more valuable than cash.

Yet, this approach doesn’t only solve problems and create value. It also builds skills and capabilities that can contribute real and sustainable solutions to many of the world’s toughest challenges.

Photos: IBM

No single company or economic sector can address—let alone solve— all of the world’s critical problems.

Leadership and Partnership No single company or economic sector can address—let alone solve—all of the world’s critical problems. Solving them requires deep collaborations and partnerships among local, regional and national governments, nonprofit organizations, corporations and others who are committed to finding solutions and bringing them to scale, an innovative approach to corporate citizenship, extending to citizen diplomacy.

Through innovative projects that have focused on health and education, small business development, and government service delivery, IBM’s CSC has helped support economic growth, and social and community development in growth economies around the world. Critical to this impact are the partnerships that extend and intensify these engagements. Our partnership with USAID, the Center of Excellence for Interna-

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

IBM CSC participants collaborate while on assignment in Morocco. tional Corporate Volunteerism, enables CSC consultants to be linked directly into ongoing USAID programs, ensures sustainability, and extends taxpayer dollars. Working with and through our implementing partners, Digital Opportunities Trust, Australian Business Volunteers, and PYXERA Global to support logistics and project development enables us to focus on providing the best service possible in target geographies.

At the recent Global Ties U.S. conference in Washington, D.C., I had the opportunity to share IBM’s perspective on corporate

As new and innovative approaches to corporate citizenship transform the world around us, this new model of leadership will be a game changer.

citizenship with ambassadors, private sector partners, and participants in the U.S. Department of State’s prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program. And in April, my team and I will meet with U.S. Congressional members and their staffs to discuss the complementary efforts that corporations and the federal government can undertake to advance our mutual agenda of global cooperation, economic development, and political stability.

To serve that agenda, IBM Corporate Service Corps participants have helped to empower women in India by increasing access to health services. They have restructured lending practices to reduce loan default rates and improve financial training for small entrepreneurs and farmers in South Africa. In the program’s early years, one IBMer single-handedly developed a cloud computing solution that would bring services to 20,000 children in Brazil. In Vietnam, IBMers supported a key tourism provider to achieve 600 percent growth in their contribution to the tourism industry.

And in Nigeria, a CSC team collaborated with the Government of Ekiti State to im-

prove the operational effectiveness of its educational institutions.

It is not just partnerships across the public, private, and social sectors that make these programs so powerful. Working with other companies with different areas of expertise has multiplied our ability to more deeply impact complex challenges. IBM has invited numerous clients to participate in our CSC teams. JPMorgan Chase & Co., John Deere, and FedEx are among those who have intermingled their expertise with IBM’s to help address complex societal issues. In May 2011— IBM’s Centennial year—four FedEx employees were part of a CSC/Brazil team that worked with a cultural institute in Bahia to increase education, economic opportunity, and political engagement among the state’s African Diaspora. Later that year, John Deere contributed expertise to our team in India to work with educators and farmers to improve IT operations in the agricultural supply chain. These leading corporations join IBM in understanding the importance of building relationships in new markets through collaboration and knowledge sharing—the essence of citizen diplomacy.

Return on the Human Capital Investment Efforts from IBM and our clients are only the beginning of what is possible.

While IBM selects 500 of its top talent to participate in CSC teams each year, imagine if all FORTUNE 500 companies contributed the expertise of only 20 percent of that number. In this new era of leadership— fueled by the global awareness, cultural sensitivity, and cross-sector collaboration of citizen diplomacy—thousands of teams of talented problem-solvers could address the world’s toughest challenges. As new and innovative approaches to corporate citizenship transform the world around us, this new model of leadership will be a game changer.

IBM Corporate Service Corps: Creating leaders IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC) sends teams of some of our most talented employees to provide pro bono counsel to countries in the developing world that are grappling with issues that intersect business, technology, and society. As of spring 2014:

2,500 IBMers from 55 countries worldwide

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Sent to countries

850

140,000

completed assignments

lives positively impacted

Employees say…

82%

“My CSC experience increased my desire to continue my career at IBM.”

90%

“CSC increased my leadership skills.”

93%

“Compared to other leadership experiences at IBM, this was the best.”

97%

“I would recommend a colleague to apply for the CSC program.”

“... It’s the best program I know of to experience personal and professional growth on such a large scale in only a few short weeks.”

— CSC participant

Managers say…

“The CSC program allowed my employee to see his potential within IBM and how we can effect real change. He has been able to inspire others by relating his experiences.”

— Senior manager

78%

“Employee shows improved attitude and motivation.”

89%

“Employee increased his/her understanding of business’s role in society.”

90%

“I would recommend another employee to apply for the CSC program.”

For more information, visit: ibm.com/corporateservicecorps © Copyright IBM Corporation 2014. IBM, the IBM logo and ibm.com are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.

Sponsored Content

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

On December 11, 2013, Asif Shaikh, a long-time practitioner and leader in international development was honored at the Society for International Development’s Annual Gala Dinner. At the event, which convened close to 750 international development professionals from around the world, he gave these remarks.

THE R APIDLY CHANGING CONTEXT OF DEVELOPMENT Asi f Shaikh I n s p i res Ma ny w i th M emories o f C h i l dh o o d , Le s s o ns fo r the Fu t u re

I

cannot be more grateful for the wonderful band of sisters and brothers that fill this grand “Global Town Square of Development” that is SID-Washington. I am humbled, honored, and overwhelmed.

But I can only accept this honor on one condition—that I do so on behalf of the entire community of development implementers. This recognition does not belong to me—it belongs to all of us. I celebrate the commitment and accomplishment of this community for the work you do, every day, around the world.

The world around us is changing at what many experts are calling hyper speed—sometimes driven by technology, sometimes by investment, and most often, by changes happening within societies.

These changes are sometimes liberating, but often destabilizing for the poor and underprivileged in the world’s least developed countries.

The Society for International Development has always taken the lead in helping understand change and its implications for

the lives of the most vulnerable. SID is a marvelous institution. Fifty-six years ago, a handful of visionaries, including a hero to so many of us, SID co-founder Andy Rice, set something in motion for which there was no category at the time: a space in which those from the so-called First and Third Worlds could come together as equals.

He sought to dismantle the systematic obstacles that had been put in place over centuries to ensure some might prosper, while others would not just stagnate, but would internalize that their circumstances were dictated by “who they were.” In the great Nelson Mandela’s words, systems were in place that robbed people of their dignity. We owe much to Andy Rice. Without Andy and others like him, I, and others like us, would not be where we are today.

My former colleagues at IRG know that I believe in the notion of “delusional confidence.” I have—probably ad nauseam—said to them that, whatever we try to do, if we’re not slightly delusional, we’re probably just not trying hard enough. I owe

this particular affliction to my parents, the most courageous people I will ever know.

Each faced profound, life-changing challenges in the earliest years of their adulthood. They were heroes in their own way.

Each was many things, but a key common element was the belief that girls were just as important as boys. Both supported and stood by the idea at a time when the thought wasn’t widely accepted, even in the West. Dad insisted on equality; Mom proved it beyond a reasonable doubt. Each had their own compass.

My parents were rule breakers. They accepted risk. They embraced delusional confidence, teaching me and my siblings everything was possible if you tried hard enough.

But this is not about Mom and Dad. Like all others in the subcontinent, they lived through the most terrifying of times during Partition. The horrors on both sides are well-known. So the point is that, in the forties, for them and for millions of others, the world had changed forever. Lost homes, lost families, and lost friends who were now on the other side of the divide— the loss of the very context and history that had defined their lives.

The lesson that Mom and Dad taught

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HAPPENINGS us out of this trauma was tolerance and respect for all. Above all, I learned from them whatever pain they had lived, there were so many more who had suffered infinitely worse, and we should always be grateful.

So today, looking at the people of the developing world, we see billions who have been living through profound life changes for decades, often uprooting, sometimes opportunity-creating, and usually inequitable.

We live in a world that has been changing, and where change is accelerating. I cannot predict those changes, but there are some major drivers that we cannot ignore and that cannot be stopped—even if stopping them were a good thing. We are just beginning to enter an era of Hyper Change, driven not just by technology, but from even bigger forces as well, like social change and climate change.

Enormous good has happened in the developing world over the last fifty years.

Success belongs to the populations (and yes, sometimes the governments) of those countries. But we in this room can be proud of the role we have played, even if we did not always get it right. For the righteous and the judgmental, let us ask if anyone always “got it right” anywhere? Just consider the developed world over the past 75 years—the answer is obvious. So we should not be surprised that no one always got it right in development.

But someone got some things right. The Green Revolution. Eradication of diseases on a global scale. The substantial reduction in famine vulnerability. The enormous growth in education—though still highly unequal, especially by gender. The slowing of population growth even though built-in demographic momentum will take us to 9 billion. The enormous growth in what I and close colleagues like to call the demand for good governance through spreading access to knowledge about rights and equality—

Photo: SID Washington

What must we as a community do to help assure better outcomes from forces we can only influence, but not control? things that once people know, they cannot un-know. The expansion of infrastructure and access to markets. The Sesame Workshop, in over 100 languages for a billion children ...

In Africa and throughout the developing world, it has not all been for the good, but something good is happening in development. In the last 30 years, 1 billion people in Asia and Africa alone have been lifted into the middle class. Throughout the developing world, admittedly in highly uneven ways, there is progress. And it is

accelerating. You know about it, so I need not belabor the point.

But if it were all so easy that we can sit back and simply say, “It’s happening,” that would truly be delusional—even by my standards! Many of us are cautiously optimistic. The challenges remain huge.

The risks remain great. But the potential is enormous.

Science and technology are today already the greatest game-changers I have seen in my lifetime. People in this room know the potential—through science and

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

technology, we are seeing transformational changes that are profoundly re-shaping how development will happen in ways that we can only begin to imagine.

For reasons of time, I want to address only a few key drivers that will change the context of development. Context is important, because it changes what is possible in the future. You in this room know the nuances and pitfalls as well as I, so I will focus on potential game-changers. It’s not about technology; it’s about the rapidly changing context.

I’ve spent the last decade studying and speaking about how the future of development will be different from the past. I intend to devote the rest of my career to how that future can lead to better development outcomes. But every time I think I understand something, I learn about another thing that I only begin to grasp, but do not yet understand.

I learned all about 3-D printers. It is widely said that they will have a bigger impact than the industrial revolution or even the digital revolution. I sort of get

The So c i ety f o r I n t e rn a t i o n a l D e ve l o p m e n t ’s A nn u al Gala con v e n e d clos e t o 7 5 0 i n ter n ati o n a l d e ve l o p m e n t p ro fe s s i o n a l s from arou n d th e w or ld.

that. Manufacturing can become decentralized, 3-D printers can print prosthetics, print shoulders and hips, and even rebuild faces. Got it! Then I learn about 3-D printers printing human livers. I confess that I don’t yet understand. But leaders in science and technology do.

This period of rapid Hyper Change is accelerated by what is possible through science and technology, to say nothing about Amazon and drone delivery—which may be a mixed blessing! It is easy to say this is all science fiction, but it is not.

But to some, this may still seem like sci-fi, so let’s focus on changes that have already been transformational in developing countries, but that we couldn’t even imagine fifteen years ago: the role information and communications technologies—not as tech solutions, but as agents of social change.

The Arab Spring, however it turns out, happened on Twitter and text messages, cell phones and the internet. The second Iranian revolution almost happened on Twitter. Millions of people in civil society have new tools for communicating and organizing that have changed the sociopolitical landscape forever. These genies cannot be put back in the bottle.

Through Facebook, and Twitter, cell phones and the internet, people have access to ideas and knowledge in ways we did not fully anticipate. Farmers are using cell phones to know market prices in Bamako and Accra and even Amsterdam, no longer relying on truckers for a “take it or leave it” price. And just when we were amazed at the access to information that cell phones are providing to vast populations, we learned that they are also vehicles for mobile money, mobile banking, and financial services, even for the poor.

Not necessarily for the poorest yet, but the transformation has begun. These are fundamental shifts in power relations that are much more significant than technology itself.

There are 1.2 billion users of Facebook.

Photo: SID Washington

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

Today, 95% of the capital, ideas, knowledge, and technologies that will shape the destiny of developing countries come from the private sector, often with no particular development purpose in mind.

The country with the third largest number of Facebook users is Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country. Some proportion of those users are women and girls, and they are internalizing new ideas and a new sense of rights. I suspect the impact of Facebook on gender equality will be greater than the sum of all development projects combined. Hundreds of millions of people in the developing world now have almost equal access to knowledge and ideas as those in established markets.

Today, we are witnessing the most remarkable of things. From changes that have already happened, we are in a world where the biggest single change—at enormous scale—is in the world’s most important resource: human capital. People are not just being told things any more, they are able to reach out and seize knowledge. With this level of ‘liberation’ comes the potential for good and for bad, even for evil. We do not yet know how this will all be used, or by whom. But it does as much to level the playing field as any force in history. So what’s wrong with this positive picture?

The same tools that are allowing hundreds of millions to know in real time what we get to know in real time; those same tools that allow people to know, also

allow people to see. What they see includes growing, glaring, and often vulgar inequality. Inequality within countries is growing at an alarming rate. GDP growth by itself is not a sufficient condition for poverty reduction.

There are powerful actors everywhere who have a vested interest in keeping the playing field sharply tilted in their favor. They know how to do it, and they are willing to go to great lengths to assure it.

For all the good things, all the progress, and all the positive potential, some developing countries may become ungovernable if inequality continues to soar, with bad governance and oppressive regimes. In an interconnected and interdependent world, if significant parts of the developing world become ungovernable—which is, I believe, a possibility—then there is a risk that our entire globalized world can rapidly become less governable as well. That is the Smart Power challenge. And that’s the challenge for development assistance. For all of us.

Two closing thoughts that will affect our role: One: I believe the greatest single change to shape the history of Mankind will be the inevitable and unstoppable equality of Womankind. These are forces that cannot be put back in the bottle. Time frames will be different in different countries. I am privileged to serve on the board of Women Thrive Worldwide. This movement has begun, and it will prove to be the greatest social transformation in history. It will occur during this century. Probably in ways that are agonizingly slow and difficult. But it will happen.

Two: Today, the donor world—and all who work for it—are tiny minority shareholders in what we call “development”.

Today, 95 percent of the capital, ideas, knowledge, and technologies that will shape the destiny of developing countries come from the private sector, often with no particular development purpose in mind.

Yet, I firmly believe that the role of the development implementer community is not diminished, but is more important

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than ever. However, the role we play as we enter a period of accelerating change must be different than it has been. I don’t know the answer, but here is the question: In a world where we will not control what happens; in a world where globalization and corporate investment can create great wealth in developing countries, but are inherently organized to create profit and enlarge markets, not to reduce poverty; in a world where access to knowledge, ideas, communication, and tools for organizing will inevitably spread and “democratize,” becoming available to all; in a world where frustration and anger, ambition, and the desire to do good all co-exist in uneasy proportions; in a world where power seeks to sustain itself, and the definition of “fighting for good” varies dangerously in the eye of the beholder; in this world that is about to change even faster, uprooting as many as it lifts up; in this world, what must we as a community do to help assure better outcomes from forces we can only influence, but not control?

It is not sufficient to say “localize everything”—what does “national ownership” mean exactly, anyway? There are profound class and power interests and struggles within every country. We need a more sophisticated solution. There is a vital role for outsiders—for us—to play. Anyone who believes that those who are left out and left behind do not need external advocates and external voices to help amplify their own has never lived with the oppressed.

That is the challenge.

It is time to bring greater urgency to the discussion of our changing role. We will eradicate extreme poverty in our lifetimes.

But we cannot ignore the growth of extreme resentment. One is about good; the other is about danger.

Thank you for this honor and thank you for your service. Let us continue to work together to adapt to the changing needs of our common mission.

Thank you.

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

THE

IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP MEANS ASKING THE HARD QUESTIONS D eirdre White

M

rs. Koss, both feared and revered, taught American History at Stone Ridge. Virginia Koss, or Ginny, perhaps, to the other teachers was a very severe Mrs. Koss to me and the other students in our high school. We all knew that Junior year would be tough, especially because of Mrs. Koss’ class.

Mrs. Koss had a spirited way of teaching, which included outrageously colorful clothing and an outdated bouffant hairstyle.

It was years after graduation when I heard reports of students seeing her after hours in grocery stores or around town dressed more normally. Only then did I guess that her unique wardrobe was just another in her bag of tricks to incite her students to pay attention. Mrs. Koss taught me a lot, though I’ve forgotten most of the detail; but what I never forgot was her emphatic insistence on “so what?”

On each exam Mrs. Koss presented the students with several ID—or identification—questions. For each topic—the Dred Scott Decision, the Teapot Dome Scandal, Roosevelt’s Third Term—the student had to ID who, what, when, where, why, how, and, at the end, identify the so what. While the first six had clearly correct answers, the “so what?” captured each student’s interpretation of how that event changed the course of history—why it mattered beyond the facts.

I often reflect on Mrs. Koss’ class in my daily work today. The field of leadership can be academically segregated from its practical use, and leadership and management are often inextricably confused in their evaluation. Good managers don’t necessarily make good leaders, and vice versa. And what is a good leader, anyway? A

great deal has been published in these pages on the mindset and experience of a global leader. Yet, regardless of what they have seen or done, leaders committed to chart the course to shared value and mutual gain, especially in emerging markets, must insistently ask, “so what?”

(The field of international development and global engagement has far too few who do.) In operationalizing programs that contribute to catalytic growth, leaders must answer this question, and avoid the risk of mistaking it for others.

“Why?” Isn’t the Same as “So What?”

It’s easy to mistake “why?” for “so what.?” The “why?” for an agribusiness development program may be to increase the income of smallholding farmers. This, of course, seems like a valid and important goal, but so what? Is it so they can have food security for their families? Is it so they can send their children to school? Is it for improved health outcomes over time?

Implementers may claim all of the above intended results in a program proposal, but the reality is that without a committed focus on “so what,” it is easy to fail to incorporate this important consideration into a program’s operations.

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

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LEADERSHIP It is a fact that one, or three, or (best case) five-year funding cycles force a focus on outputs, and even outcomes—an output in the example above being 300 farmers trained and a farmers’ association launched, an outcome being the average increased income of 25%. But this type of program and funding timeline doesn’t demand answers to the longer-term questions, nor does it track the longer-term implications. It also does not oblige us to ask the appropriate questions about the possibly negative implications of international development work. For example, are the increased incomes being used to buy far less nutritious, albeit more convenient, food than what was previously consumed? Are increased income disparities driving more social wedges into the community?

In the program design phase, answering the “so what” question can seem like reading a crystal ball, but the reality is that leading international development entities have enough years of experience

The challenges that face the world today are often simply categorized: education, health, water, nutrition, poverty, security.

Too often, leaders evaluate these issues in a vacuum... making it easier to track the “whys” and “hows,” but dumbing down incredibly complex and interwoven issues. and communities that accompany it, to think through how the significantly increased income of 300 farmers in a community of 1,200 farms may change those families and that community. Might it be possible to better predict whether those efforts will truly drive positive change, and if so, how other types of local capacity might be built to accommodate those changes?

Indeed, the why is extremely important, but in leading efforts that catalyze real change, leaders cannot mistake “why?” for “so what?”

Avoiding Unintended Consequences with many types of interventions to be able to make some educated “so what” guesses for the future by analyzing the “so what” of the past.

Unfortunately, many tend to analyze outputs and outcomes, claim success, and take the same approach the next time.

What if it were possible to instead leverage this deep experience, as well as the strong relationships with people

Another case in which “so what” has been woefully underscrutinized is the global effort toward universal education. The bilateral and multilateral development institutions—along with private foundations—have poured billions into raising awareness about the importance of education and getting children, especially girls, into schools. This is, no doubt, an important mission and yet it seems clear that the international development community largely failed to anticipate what would happen when those children actually came to class.

I was recently observing a math lesson in a village in rural Rajasthan, India where I counted 72 children at three different grade levels in one classroom. Is it good that the kids are in school and learning something? Yes, probably. Does that kind of classroom foster deep learning and critical thinking? Unlikely. In fact, Brookings Institute’s Africa Learning Barometer shows that there are seven countries in which 40 percent or more of children do not meet a minimum standard of learning by grades four or five.

Classroom size is just one challenge in absorbing large numbers of new students: school infrastructure, instructional ma-

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

In collectively seeking to build a better world, I challenge all of us to be courageous enough to more often ask ourselves, and one another, “so what?” terials, and both number and quality of teachers are lacking across countries of the global south, where the largest push has been made to get children in school.

That is probably not shocking given an entrenched inability to address those same issues in the United States. Yet, the reality is that across countries of Africa and Asia, education reformers are now doublingback, trying to resolve the resource issue

exacerbated by the push for universal education. How might circumstances be different if leaders had planned better for the future instead of attempting to reverseengineer a quality educational experience?

In my personal experience, the most egregious failure to consider “so what” can be found in the early- 1990s support of the United States government and its expert consultants, alongside reform-minded Russian leaders, for mass privatization in that country. In the minds of the architects, the “why” was clear—the economy needed to be stabilized, and the “how” was evident—shifting ownership of enterprise from state to private hands. The “who” did not matter, as the prevailing belief was that any private hands, regardless of the quality and motive of those hands, were better than state hands.

There was certainly ample experience to draw from more developed markets regarding the required controls, institutions and other infrastructure to limit self-dealing and other forms of corruption. It also did not take a genius to realize that the average person who had never operated in a

Classro o m s i ze i s j u s t o n e c h a l l e n g e i n a b s o rb i ng lar ge n u mb e r s of n e w st ud e nts. Sc h o o l i n f r a s t ru c t u re , c l a s s m a t e ri a l s , an d qu ality te ach e r s are lack ing ac ro ss c o u n tri e s o f t h e g l o b a l s o u t h .

market economy was unlikely to have a deep understanding of the potential value of corporate shares. Given that Russia started down the path of mass privatization without stabilizing the macroeconomic environment, creating or strengthening control institutions, or conducting appropriate public education on the matter, it is hardly surprising that the economy crashed—hard—again in 1998. I spent some seven years, beginning in 1995, consulting on post-privatization restructuring of dozens of those enterprises and came away certain that the overwhelming majority of the Russian people had gotten a very, very bad deal. The kleptocracy that took hold as a result of those 1990s reforms still runs the country today; it turns out the who and how did matter a great deal.

Why Not Require “So What?”

The challenges that face the world today are often simply categorized: education, health, water, nutrition, poverty, security. Too often, leaders evaluate these issues in a vacuum, in no small part because funding for programming to address these challenges tends to be stove-piped, making it easier to track the “whys” and “hows,” but dumbing down incredibly complex and interwoven issues. And, often, it’s easier not to ask “so what” because answering isn’t easy, it’s often uncomfortable, and it sometimes leads to the conclusion that the execution of a given plan may do, or did, more harm than good. Individually, we must commit ourselves to become more effective global leaders, whether within corporations, governments, NGOs, or local communities. And, in collectively seeking to build a better world, I challenge all of us to be courageous enough to more often ask ourselves, and one another, “so what?”

Mrs. Koss would certainly agree.

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

HAPPENINGS

IT ’S E A S Y TO F LU S H & FORGET

AN AMBITIOUS GROUP OF INNOVATORS ARE CATALYZING CHANGE IN THE TOILET BUSINESS

Jailan Adly “So what brings you to the shit world?”

T

his was the first thing Emily Wood asked me as I sat down next to her at the Unclogging the Blockages in Sanitation conference, in Kampala, Uganda this February, which was made possible by support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I was halfway through day one of the conference and I felt like I had already been initiated.

My shock at the frequent use of the word quickly dissipated as I continued to talk with other industry experts attending the conference. “We are proponents of using the word” Yi Wei, an innovation manager at International Development Enterprises (iDE), told me matter-of-factly. “This is an industry where we keep it real—we are dealing with a real issue and frankly, it gets people’s attention. This is a massive global problem and it’s not exactly a sexy topic. If we are going to really solve it, we need all the attention we can get.”

Touché. With that, I quickly pushed away the vision of my prim and proper mother’s horrified face, unwrinkled my nose, and decided to learn everything I could about an issue that typically elicits giggles or grimaces by those who flush and forget.

Toilets Are Only Funny If You Have One I got the call on a Tuesday. “We need more MBAs in sanitation.

Can you get on a plane in five days to participate in a sanitation conference in Kampala, Uganda?” The effervescent voice on the other end of the line was John Sauer from Water for People. I had never met or spoken to John before; he had heard of MBAs Without Borders through one of our partners, PATH International.

Even over the phone, John’s bubbly enthusiasm was infectious and I knew I had to go. I packed my bags and five days later I found myself surrounded by talk of toilets and sewage and how greater engagement with the business community could better support the industry’s needs.

Admittedly, like most Americans, I never thought about the profit potential of the sanitation industry—no one thinks about toilets (and their contents) as a booming business. I never contemplated the massive infrastructure in place that allowed me to flush the toilet and walk away without a second thought—strictly leaving discussions of bodily functions to comedians. The truth is, for a majority of the world, sanitation is no laughing matter; it’s a killer.

Photo: iDE

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014 According to the World Health Organization (WHO), In Africa, 115 people die every hour from diseases linked to poor sanitation, hygiene, and contaminated water and 2.6 billion people worldwide only have access to basic sanitation facilities. One billion of these have no toilet at all and are forced to push their dignity to the side, defecating out in the open, near rivers, homes, and areas where food is prepared or grown, greatly increasing the risk of transmitting disease.

I continued to read through WHO’s ten startling facts on sanitation and cringed when I read that, “One gram of feces may contain 10 million viruses, one million bacteria, 1000 parasite cysts, and 100 worm eggs, and 1.1 million liters of raw sewage is dumped into the Ganges River in India— EVERY MINUTE.” Imagine what that means.

For me, it was both easy and horrifying; I’ve been on a boat in that very river and remember being sadly dismayed by the amount of pollution I could see. What I didn’t realize is that I was floating on the equivalent of a giant petri-dish of pathogens. The Ganges is sacred to Hindus; many pilgrim to cities like Varanasi from around the world to bathe in the holy waters of the Ganges—many who are unaware, as I was, of the river’s condition.

Sadly, as someone who frequently

travels to various destinations around the world, I wasn’t profoundly shocked by what are in fact appalling statistics. I’ve had more experiences than I care to share that involve crappy (literally) sanitation facilities or lack of facilities all together. What hadn’t occurred to me, and what I quickly learned at the conference, was what those numbers mean from a business perspective. Close to 2.5 billion people is a giant market, and the potential business opportunities to address the need for sanitation seemed obvious. So where was the business community?

Cracking the Porcelain Code In emerging and frontier markets, the sanitation story is very different. In established markets like the United States and Europe, sanitation has been adequately addressed for over a century. From sewage systems to waste treatment plants, the foundation of an integrated and complex sanitation infrastructure was laid out decades ago. In less developed markets where infrastructure lags behind population growth, such systematization is hard to achieve.

In many emerging and frontier markets, complex sanitation infrastructure is non-

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In Africa, 115 people die every hour from diseases linked to poor sanitation, hygiene, and contaminated water, and 2.6 billion people worldwide live without access to basic sanitation facilities. existent or only available in urban hubs.

In most of these markets, the cost of constructing such a complex system today would be nearly untenable. Construction material is far more expensive and labor standards make the wages necessary to complete such a feat cost prohibitive. Leaders of these countries lack the financial capacity to build infrastructure systems that can mirror those found in other parts of the world. The sanitation problem needs a radically different solution.

Lack o f s an i tati o n f aci l i t i e s fo rc e s p e o p l e t o d e fe cate in th e ope n , in r iv e r s , or n e ar are as w h e re ch ildre n p la y or f ood is prepared. According to the WHO, the Ganges River in India has 1.1 million liters of raw sewage dumped into it every minute.

Photo: Pablo Nicolás/ CC BY-SA 2.0

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

Fixing the sanitation problem not only creates an industry that can fuel economic growth, but also plugs the leakage of wasted capital.

Historically, foreign aid organizations have tried to support governments by funneling money into public funds that support sanitation services and systems. The typical result was a lot of hand-outs and subsidies—poor short-term answers that have little, long-term impact.

Over dinner, I sat down with Yi Wei from iDE, who is seeking to understand the barriers and opportunities for business in sanitation. Three years ago, the chic Yi, a social innovator and classical percussionist, moved to Cambodia to get her hands dirty looking for a sustainable solution through her work with iDE’s Global WASH initiative.

Yi’s experience mirrored my own: “In the developed world, this business is a commodity provided by the public sector that is completely taken for granted by citizens. It’s out of sight and out of mind.

You use the toilet, flush, and walk away.”

Yi explained that, through its research, iDE quickly learned that when people are given a free toilet, it goes unused. “You don’t gain buy-in when something is given to

you as a hand-out. Freebie toilets are not designed with the user in mind, and frankly the world can’t afford to give everyone in the world a toilet.” These three critical realizations fuel iDE’s approach to their sanitation product design, construction, and distribution process.

The Economics of Sanitation Organizations, like iDE, that are trying to re-invent the business of sanitation, are relying on human-centered design to guide their approach. iDE understands that using a toilet is not only a very personal activity, but also cultural. How a person uses a toilet varies greatly from market to market, between genders, and among classes.

Sending cookie-cutter toilets that are not designed with the user in mind will not encourage behavior change.

So what is the solution? The evolution of the industry, Yi explains, is the privatization of sanitation and water. Early on, iDE recognized that the key to success was

By taking a human-centered design approach, iDE designs sanitation solutions that are tailored to the particular needs of consumers in the various markets they work in, increasing the likelihood that they will change behavior around sanitation.

Photos: iDE

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014 engaging the private sector and designing more user-focused sanitation products. By taking a human-centered design approach, iDE designs toilets and sanitation products that are tailored to the particular needs, wants, and desires of consumers in the various markets they work in, increasing the likelihood that they will change behavior around sanitation.

Fixing the sanitation problem not only creates an industry that can fuel economic growth, but also plugs the leakage of wasted capital. Poor sanitation is not only linked to massive health problems but also stunted growth and poor performance at work and school. The wealth leakage related to sanitation problems doesn’t just affect individual families or villages—but an entire country’s economy.

The sanitation industry holds huge business opportunities for multinational companies and for local businesses as well.

Localizing and privatizing the entire system creates a massive opportunity to create an industry with huge economic catalyzing

potential. From a private sector perspective, the sanitation industry has enormous space for innovation, from products to new business models. A global economy has not only opened the door to import and export affordable sanitation products and widgets, but it also holds great potential for local businesses. With few large foreign companies in the market, local companies in emerging and frontier markets have a competitive advantage to lead the charge in an industry that is still awaiting its boom. Toilets themselves are designed around relatively simple technology, and porcelain thrones are not required—toilets can be made out of cement, plastic, and even wood. The possibilities are endless and with some ingenuity, toilets can be made from locally sourced materials and the removal, collection, and treatment of feces are largely unsaturated markets, giving local companies even more space to grow and thrive.

Yet, building and scaling an industry is no easy feat. Most financial institutions

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consider sanitation to be an extremely risky investment, making it difficult for local businesses to access the capital needed to grow and scale. Organizations like Water for People prioritize supporting local companies to develop sanitation product lines, providing the access to capital they need to build their business. In Malawi, Water for People partnered with a local consulting company TEECS Limited to provide sanitation businesses in Malawi with technical assistance and capacity building services.

After two years of witnessing the frustrating circumstances surrounding financing options, TEECS spun off a micro-finance arm to provide micro-loans to the most promising businesses.

At the conference, we learned that in Kampala, for example, only 12% of the city is connected to a sewer, and the sewage system itself is 90 years old, and Kampala is only one of hundreds of cities in the world facing similar or more dire circumstances. One thing is certain, we can’t fall prey to how easy it is to flush and forget.

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

IN V ES TIN G C A P I TA L TO CLOS E T H E P I O N E E R GAP In n ova tive Model s of P hilanthropy and Hu man Cap ital Inve s tm e nt O p en New Pathways to S ocial Impact Yasmina Zaidman

A

little less than a year ago, I was in Nairobi hosting a meeting between Acumen’s social enterprises and a group of global corporations interested in engaging more closely with local social entrepreneurs who were meeting for the first time. I had arranged for them to visit one of our portfolio companies, and I picked Sanergy, a company at a relatively early stage, working in Mukuru, one of the largest slums in Nairobi, that provides access to badly needed sanitation services. Sanergy both showcased Acumen’s work and offered the

visiting corporate representatives a clearer view of the potential impact of a social enterprise, especially in a market like Kenya.

As we all settled into Sanergy’s conference room, it dawned on me exactly what was about to happen. I was preparing to accompany a group of corporate leaders on a tour of a facility that collects human waste to make organic fertilizer. I had quite possibly lost my mind. I started to doubt that the senior corporate representatives, including a CEO and a foundation head, would share my enthusiasm for Sanergy’s work when it involved walking past moun-

tains of human waste, waving away flies, and learning the intricate mechanics of a dry toilet.

What happened next is what we call an “aha moment.” Each of our visitors showed incredible openness, respect, and sheer curiosity for the work at hand, eager to be challenged and to expand their horizons.

Since that day, I promised never to underestimate my corporate colleagues again, and I have seen how eager so many in the corporate world are to challenge themselves by not just stepping up, but leaping outside their comfort zones.

Photos: Sanergy

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

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ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT Investing for Sustainability, Scale, and Innovation This explains the growing interest from the corporate world in impact investing and social enterprise, two emerging sectors that hold tremendous promise for identifying and scaling solutions to major social challenges. Impact investing has grown tremendously as an approach to solve social issues since Acumen helped create the sector ten years ago. This approach involves using finance to invest in enterprises that have social impact as a major business driver, in addition to profitability goals.

Three key issues drive the growing interest in this sector: First, enterprise must be financially sustainable. The social impact community has grown weary of financing time-bound projects rather than sustainable outcomes, and the drive to find permanent solutions that are not dependent on grants is greater than ever. An enterprise that can generate

SANERGY TAKES A SYSTEMSBASED APPROACH TO SOLVING THE SANITATION CRISIS. THIS INCLUDES CONVERTING HUMAN WASTE INTO ORGANIC FERTILIZER.

sufficient revenue can escape this reliance on charity.

Second, the scale of the solution needs to match the scale of the problem, but many non-profits struggle to achieve scale if they rely exclusively on piecemeal grants.

Social enterprises have the potential to scale if they can secure the early-stage risk-tolerant capital they need, prove their business model, and ultimately attract commercial investment.

Lastly, enterprises that can grow and last are insufficient. What makes social enterprise truly exciting is the third piece: innovation. Appropriately directed and supported, social enterprise can develop, pilot, and scale new ideas that have the potential to change entire systems and revolutionize how a good or service is provided to those in need.

The social entrepreneur brings something unique to a social challenge or market failure: iteration, risk-tolerance, and a staunch willingness to forge new ground.

Sanergy, for example, dreamt up a new service model for sanitation that brings

Social enterprise can develop, pilot, and scale new ideas that have the potential to change entire systems and revolutionize how a good or service is provided to those in need. cleanliness, safety, and dignity to the process. Not only do they increase incomes through a toilet micro-franchise model, but they also convert the human waste to create organic fertilizer. With innovations like this, it’s no wonder that people are taking notice.

Bridging the Pioneer Gap Yet, the reality is many innovators still struggle to achieve sustainability and scale.

Experience demonstrates that these strug-

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

Only si x o ut o f 8 4 fu n d s i n ve s t i n g i n A fri c a o ffe r e ar ly-s tage capital to social en ter pr i s es l i k e S a n e rg y.

gles result from two primary drivers: 1) a lack of philanthropy to support early-stage impact investment and 2) a lack of technical assistance and expertise in business management.

Through research led by the Monitor Inclusive Markets group, “From Blueprint to Scale: The Case for Philanthropy in Impact Investing,” Acumen discovered that impact funds are clustering around larger-scale investments and quicker market returns as opposed to earlier-stage innovations, like Sanergy, that will take longer to reach profitability. In fact, only six out of 84 funds investing in Africa offer early-stage capital.

Acumen calls this gap in capital for early-stage social enterprises the Pioneer Gap, and it is one Acumen and its robust

Emerging enterprises need access to business expertise above all else, from financial management to marketing, talent management to strategic planning.

network seek to bridge. By investing patient capital that converts philanthropy into long-term debt and equity investments, Acumen has focused on supporting earlystage social enterprises with the potential for social impact, financial viability, and breakthrough innovation. Indeed, many new organizations have already crossed this Pioneer Gap, accessing grant funding in the earliest stage and refining their model with grant-backed investments from organizations like Acumen until they attract other impact investors and ultimately commercial investments. To date, Acumen has invested $87 million in 81 companies that have attracted an additional $500 million in capital following Acumen’s initial investment.

What’s more, the promise of social enterprise has begun to deliver impact. Nine of Acumen’s portfolio companies are currently impacting over 1 million lives each, and the Acumen portfolio has touched over 120 million lives.

Crossing the Knowledge Frontier At the same time, a number of companies have fallen far short of their goals, highlighting the second main obstacle facing social enterprises. Many not only lack access to long-term patient capital, but also to knowledge, resources, and exper-

tise. Emerging enterprises need access to business expertise above all else, from financial management to marketing, talent management to strategic planning. So how can promising social enterprises access the business and technical expertise they need to scale? To address this, a natural opportunity to collaborate is emerging between leading corporations and the social enterprise space, specifically focused on the exchange of knowledge, and the infusion of human capital alongside social impact and profit-driven investments.

Social enterprises can benefit tremendously from the expertise, technologies, and networks embedded within leading corporations. But it’s not just social enterprises that stand to benefit; corporations increasingly understand that their business depends on the local knowledge of social entrepreneurs, whose commitment to sustainable development will pave the way for their own business streams in those markets.

This past May, with support from our partner The Dow Chemical Company, Acumen brought these two unlikely but complementary partners together at the first Technical Assistance Summit in Nairobi. The meeting, which sought to catalyze collaboration, led to targeted technical assistance and new relationships between the participating social enterprises and the corporate community. It was a first step, but a critical one, that will enable Acumen to expand the role of corporations supporting social entrepreneurs.

Enabling impact investing and social enterprise to reach their full potential will require both greater strategic early-stage philanthropy and human capital investment. As the value of collaboration between emerging social enterprises and large corporations becomes clearer, how these two types of organizations partner must be further explored and refined.

Fortunately, these are questions best answered through experiential learning and reflection. Often the best way to learn is simply by doing.

Photos: Sanergy

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

HAPPENINGS

WATER , THE

By Laura Asiala

SOURCE OF LIFE S y mposiu m P rovi des Ne w I ns i gh ts fo r M oder n A fr i c a , O p p o rtu n i t i e s fo r Wom en i n En erg y & Wa te r Laura Asiala “What will you do with the extra time you have?”

R

achel Ishofsky, managing director of Innovation: Africa asked a woman whose village had just installed a solar powered water pump and distribution system.

“I will be a better mother,” she replied.

For women in developing markets, water, energy, commerce, nutrition, education, and health are all inextricably linked.

If a women spends hours each day searching for a source of clean water, or stands for hours in line for the single hand-pump (not to mention the time spent lugging it home), she doesn’t have time to run a small business. If she sends her children—especially her daughters—on that errand, she risks their safety and prevents them from going to school. If there’s no water and no time, how will she grow the nutrient-rich foods she needs to feed her children? And if water becomes the source of power generation

or manufacturing, it means clean water becomes ever-more scarce, and a bigger portion of her time must be spent in securing water, foundational to life.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), along with the United Nations Foundation, The Brookings Institution, and the Center for Sustainable Development in Africa explored these issues and the sustainable innovation which is emerging to address them on February 26, 2014, at a half-day event, Modern Africa: A Symposium on Opportunities for Women in Energy and Water Access. Leaders and professionals from social enterprises, nonprofit organizations, industry associations, and government agencies convened for a series of panel discussions, addressing Women’s Access to Energy, Women’s Access to Water, and Harnessing Opportunities through Partnerships and Innovative Investment Models.

Photos: Innovation: Africa

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

A Sustainable Water Sources for Those Who Need It Most There’s a common—and welcome theme—amongst these types of meetings.

Two things are required to sustainably address these issues. First, include the people who have the problem in the design and development of the solution, and second, establish an equitable, accessible marketbased financial mechanism to sustain the solution.

“You have to include women from the very beginning,” said Paula Jackson, President and CEO of the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE). “It’s not easy.

We all have multiple things that are priorities, but if you make the effort to include them, the reward will be more than you can imagine.” Assuming that developed market solutions can be easily leveraged in underresourced markets is an easy mistake to make, and overlooks the important step of first understanding the local nature of the problem. “We don’t want to transfer the problems we have here,” said Jackson. “The

lack of infrastructure is actually a wonderful opportunity to leapfrog and innovate to create an integrated approach.”

Rachel Ishofsky agrees. Innovation: Africa has installed 75 solar-powered water pumps and distribution systems, which use innovative software to monitor performance, ensuring better maintenance and fewer break-downs. “You have to partner on the ground. You can’t do it from here.

Every village has a local women’s group. We ask the women. We map out the needs for water. You really need to work at the local level in the local landscape.”

Asking Saves Many Expensive Mistakes While installing the solar water pumps addresses an immediate need, Innovation: Africa has also built in a method that meets another need in the community—and one that people are willing to pay for. Each pump is equipped with a pay-per-use mobile device charging station that generates the funding required to maintain the pump.

“Every single one of our installations is

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able to be maintained through this system.

It’s replicable and scalable.” Building in a mechanism to fund the solution in perpetuity is critical to sustaining it. But one key barrier remains, especially for women: the necessary financial capital to get started in the first place.

Funding the Water-Pump Innovation While micro-lending has been a boon to these markets, and is now commonly acknowledged as an important part of sustainable economic development, capital to expand and scale remains maddeningly out of reach, especially for women, whose husbands are often required to sign for the loans, if they are available at all.

One interesting funding model explored at the symposium taps into the relationships and connections that emigrants—and their descendants—have with their country of origin, often the countries most in need of capital. A host of innovative approaches exist to allow diasporas and others to share resources philanthropically across borders.

ACCORDING TO THE UNITED NATIONS, IN AFRICA, 90% OF THE WORK OF GATHERING WATER FOR THE HOUSEHOLD IS DONE BY WOMEN.

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

An effective solution requires ingenuity, collaboration, compromise, and most of all, the patience needed to try, fail, and try again.

But few legitimate, accessible, secure mechanisms enable the diaspora to invest a portion of their personal wealth in appropriate investments at home.

Homestrings Ltd., founded by Eric V. Guichard, provides an investment platform that caters to qualified investors and facilitates impactinvesting by “providing effective tools to make and measure the difference you make in the world, all while making a reasonable return.”

Currently available only in the United Kingdom, the firm is seeking the appropriate permissions in the United States.

This approach is also supported by The Aspen Institute. Alexander Dixon, Director of the Rockefeller Aspen Diaspora Program at The Aspen Institute, pointed to the significant remittances that represent a major flow of capital

that dwarfs foreign assistance by a factor of four—more than $500 billion in 2012 alone.

“We need to look beyond the checking account,” he said. “There is considerable stored wealth, which could be more appropriately deployed. How do we help the diaspora channel their investments back to the home country and make the returns they expect?”

Clearly there is a need for intermediaries to facilitate diaspora investment at the global level, and then to go one step beyond it to open the world for appropriate investments across borders, sustaining the ecological, social, and economic development that in turn, sustains us all.

Kudos to the Brookings Institution, CSIS, the UN Foundation, and the Center for Sustainable Development for convening a series of conversations that provide food for thought and action—and help more institutions invest in sustainable systems that enable a new generation of parents to take better care of their children.

INNOVATION: AFRICA HAS INSTALLED 75 SOLAR-POWERED WATER PUMPS AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS, WHICH USE INNOVATIVE SOFTWARE TO MONITOR PERFORMANCE, ENSURING BETTER MAINTENANCE AND FEWER BREAK-DOWNS. Photo: Innovation: Africa

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

H OW CH ARITIES AT WO R K CATALYZE CHANGE

Har nessing Employee G enerosity and Cor porate Philanth ropy for G reater Global Impact S cott Jackson

D

uring the 20 years that I have worked in international philanthropy, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to many developing countries to see with my own eyes the problems I was working to address. I’ve seen devastation caused by HIV/AIDS in Africa, the hopelessness of poverty in

Asia, and the aftermath of natural disasters around the world.

In each situation, I encountered many hard-working, dedicated people from a variety of organizations doing their best to make the world a better place. Likewise, in each situation, I saw a great opportunity for corporations and their employees to expand and

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

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IMPACT AND INNOVATION accelerate this important work.

According to Giving USA, an annual report on philanthropy in the United States, overall corporate giving grew from $16.2 billion in 2011 to $18.8 billion in 2012. The importance of corporate citizenship, or CSR, has increased over the past decade and, along with it, corporate philanthropy. This increase is especially remarkable since other areas of philanthropy saw little to no growth during the same period. Given that funding for CSR initiatives is growing, what factors are driving these investments?

The answer is surprising.

A recent study, commissioned by Global Impact and performed by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, found that, when determining how to spend CSR dollars, many corporations used the same top three factors to evaluate their decisions. The study, titled “Giving Beyond Borders: A Study of Global Giving by U.S. Corporations,” found that the top two factors are: alignment with business objectives and needs in local communities. However, an interesting and ascendant factor came in third—employee preferences. A remarkable 88 percent of study respondents said that employee preferences were a factor in deciding how to direct corporate philanthropy.

This is a critical shift: corporations are changing the way they are investing in global development, adjusting their CSR strategies to reflect both their business and stakeholder interests. And, when it comes to stakeholders, businesses are looking beyond customers and shareholders—they are looking at employees as well.

While this is still an emerging trend among corporations, it is an important transition for the rest of the private sector. This new, bottom-up approach is focused on employee engagement and improving a business’ recruitment and retention performance. The same study from Global Impact and Indiana University asked participants what they sought to achieve through their charitable giving. The fourth most popular response centered on employees: 60 percent of respondents said they see attracting, retaining and motivating employees as a major goal of charitable giving. Another 33 percent see it as a goal, yet not primary. Other top responses included supporting the company’s mission and values, giving back to communities, building and enhancing corporate reputation, and helping to address social problems.

This move towards employee engagement as part of CSR is a new and evolving trend that is so far most visible in the United States, though European companies are quickly beginning to catch on. Of the companies that are enthusiastically embracing this new approach to CSR, some have found success integrating

Corporations are changing the way they are investing in global development, adjusting their CSR strategies to reflect both their business and stakeholder interests. And, when it comes to stakeholders, businesses are looking beyond customers and shareholders—they are looking at employees as well.

employee engagement into more traditional structures, like workplace giving programs, while others have creatively diversified.

Both ends of the continuum are effective; the most appropriate approach is driven by corporate culture and what works best for a given company.

Workplace Giving The most traditional example in the continuum is workplace giving, which provides employees the opportunity to give to causes they care about through a workplace campaign. Increasingly, companies are customizing their workplace giving options to appeal more to employee interests and to create a common cause behind which employees can rally. For example, Carlson, a worldwide leader in the travel and hospitality industry, is a committed defender against human trafficking. Carlson augmented their efforts in the fight against human trafficking by promoting an innovative way for employees to donate to the cause—the Carlson Against Sex Trafficking fund (CAST). CAST supports three organizations, American Himalayan Foundation, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and the World Childhood Foundation as they work in countries around the world to end human trafficking. The CAST fund was opened as an added option to Carlson employees, with all of its funds designated to programs that work in matters related to human trafficking. This fund raised more than $36,000 in its inaugural year alone.

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Global Volunteering At the other end of the continuum of employee engagement and CSR is something relatively new—global volunteering.

Some companies will find short-term corporate volunteering opportunities in emerging markets around the world. While such programs deliver enormous rewards, they can be challenging to develop and deploy, and support from a group that specializes in implementing such efforts, like PYXERA Global, can be a helpful approach.

According to Amanda MacArthur, PYXERA Global’s Vice President for Global Pro Bono & Engagement, “To be successful in the marketplace, it is increasingly important to have firsthand knowledge of the challenges and opportunities inherent to emerging and frontier markets. Providing pro bono support to organizations addressing community challenges is growing in popularity around the world as a means for corporations to build their future leadership, undertake frugal innovation, and create shared value in emerging geographies.”

For many companies, lending the expertise of employees to people and places in need is a win-win—those in need get help, and employees gain new skills and experience.

IBM’s Corporate Service Corps program is a perfect example. Each year, IBM identifies several growth markets around the world and sends employees to those markets to provide technical skills to local governments, nonprofit organizations, and small enterprises working towards social good. Those organizations have increased their capacity to operate and IBM has created its own class of global leaders, trained in the customs of those designated markets.

In-House Volunteering Between the two previous options lies a middle ground: in-house volunteering.

Some charities provide corporations with volunteer opportunities for groups of employees. These types of activities can be a very effective team-building tool, in addition to being a great way to engage employees. TIAA-CREF recently took advantage of one such opportunity when the company invited employees to collectively volunteer for World Vision, a Global Impact charity partner. TIAA-CREF employees in Denver, Charlotte, and New York convened in their respective cities to create 1,500 food kits for World Vision to distribute to families in need. The result? Engaged employees, a

TIAA-CREF employees volunteer with World Vision, a Global Impact Charity Partner.

record-breaking workplace giving campaign at the company, and in the community, help for people recovering from disasters or other hardships.

Leaders in the CSR industry are all watching the intersection of corporate citizenship and employee engagement with great interest. In addition to providing important services for communities and being an effective public relations tool, CSR is now becoming an important ingredient in recruiting new employees and engaging current staff.

The Human Impact Bishna, a young girl living in Nepal, was in second grade when she began to fear that her parents, in need of money, would send her away to work. Bishna was afraid to leave home; she had heard stories about what happened to other girls who suffered that fate. She wanted to stay with her family and continue her education, in hopes of making a better life for herself. Bishna’s prayers were answered when an American Himalayan Foundation program came to her village. The program funded her education for 10 years.

Bishna explains, “Coming from such a disadvantaged background, I feel very lucky to have been able to study this far. At present, I am the only educated member in my family and I have had the opportunity to support them in many ways. Education has played a huge role in bringing my life from darkness to light and I would like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Bishna is now completing grade 12, her continued education made possible through support from Carlson’s CAST fund for the American Himalayan Foundation.

My great hope, and my organization’s mission, is to grow global philanthropy, enabling more lives to be impacted as Bishna’s was. Through corporate citizenship informed by employee engagement, corporations generously investing philanthropic capital alongside human capital have the ability to dramatically improve the futures of more people around the world.

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HAPPENINGS

THE NEXUS OF GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT Global Ties U.S. Annual Meeting Sows Seeds of Collaboration D iane Rasmussen

P

lacing my hands together in front of my heart, as though in prayer, I bow: “Sa-wat-dee-ka.”

In hopes of getting it just right, I had practiced with a Thai colleague the traditional greeting I now offered to the Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission from the Royal Thai Embassy. Mr. Saroj Thanasunti was the honorary emissary representing the Kingdom of Thailand at the Ambassador Lunch, an annual highlight of the Global Ties U.S. national meeting.

I should not have been surprised when Mr. Thanasunti returned my greeting with a firm American-style handshake and a warm smile. Our mutual desire to put each other at ease through even a small expression of cultural appreciation is for all diplomats—government and citizen alike—the very foundation of friendly relations and global fluency. Our introduction was followed by a lively discussion of our respective work, and the important connection

between formal government diplomacy and the way everyday citizens can use similar activities to develop stronger ties among people and nations.

In illustrating the concept of informal citizen diplomacy, I gave an example of an interaction with a Thai traveler named Lek I met on a recent trip to Japan. Lek and I met while both trying to find our way to the bamboo forest in Kyoto, a serendipitous interaction that continued throughout the day over a winding walk to several of the most beautiful sites in Japan, culminating in a group dinner at a German beer hall.

It was a delightful day spent in good company, made possible only by each of our desires to learn about our shared world and to connect at a human level.

Citizen Diplomats, One and All When someone is open to learning

about new cultures and places, the possibilities for growth, innovation, and partnership are boundless. Such was the case for the more than 600 individuals who traveled from across the United States to attend the 2014 Global Ties U.S. annual meeting, in search of innovation and partnerships made possible by citizen diplomacy.

As I interacted with my fellow attendees at the conference, much of the energy and discussion at the five-day event seemed to circle back to increased collaboration in one form or another. How might the entities that foster citizen diplomacy experiences across the nation and world make their work even more impactful through strategic cooperation with other non-profits, education institutions, government entities, and corporations? What are the emerging opportunities to leverage individual strengths as part of a more powerful whole? Indeed, with the right organizations and individuals involved, might we effectively stitch

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014 together the myriad of individual opportunities for citizen diplomacy into a continuum of global engagement?

Stan Litow, IBM’s Vice President of Corporate Citizenship and the President of the IBM Foundation, provides the keynote address at the Ambassador Luncheon at the Global Ties U.S. Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. The call for more impactful partnership was echoed by Stan Litow, IBM’s Vice President of Corporate Citizenship and the President of the IBM Foundation, who provided the keynote address at the Ambassador Luncheon. IBM currently sends 500 high potential employees each year on international pro bono assignments, lending professional business acumen to NGOs, enterprises, and governments around the world while at the same time developing the leadership abilities of their top talent.

During his remarks, Litow invited organizations from around the world to present the best project opportunities to IBM and help make their highly impactful international Corporate Service Corps program even more successful. He also challenged other Fortune 500 corporations to join the growing impact of corporate citizen diplomats around the world.

“Imagine the real, significant value that could be built through citizen diplomacy that we could never accomplish through check book philanthropy,” Litow said.

Imagine, indeed. The majority of Global Ties U.S. conference participants were staff and volunteers that serve the Global Ties U.S. network of non-profit organizations, implementers of the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) and other impactful citizen diplomacy initiatives across the nation. Also well represented were State Department personnel, alumni of the IVLP from around the world, and leaders from across public, private, and social sectors looking to network and share ideas with peers within the growing citizen diplomacy movement. After speaking with hundreds of fellow participants during the

preceding four days as a conference sponsor and exhibitor, and noting the common challenges that could be addressed through more effective cross-sector collaboration, Mr. Litow’s rallying call for increased private sector engagement in citizen diplomacy was an exciting and timely vision.

Creating a Nexus of Global Engagement During the conference, I asked organizational leaders about their challenges, and how The Center for Citizen Diplomacy, a signature initiative of PYXERA Global that seeks to provide a common framework for citizen diplomacy efforts, might provide expanded services and resources to support their work. Many expressed a need for a number of The Center’s service offerings.

Most notable, however, was the amount of interest in ways in which The Center might help foster more intentional collaboration between NGOs and other community entities, such as educational institutions, as a way to increase collective impact and to create a continuum of engagement across ages and levels of global fluency. There was a clear recognition of the opportunities for growth and impact through cooperation, and an expressed desire for education on how to connect with potential partners and facilitate impactful partnerships.

The Center is addressing many of these challenges through the upcoming launch of The Citizen Diplomacy Network, a program that provides promotion, networking, and resources to interested organizations engaged in citizen diplomacy work. Based on the feedback received from Global Ties U.S. conference attendees, my discussions in the days following the meeting have focused on ways The Center can continue to build on the initial Network offering to include fostering ‘constellations’ of crosssector entities that would benefit from shared knowledge and resources within specific communities. The direction is clear: organizations within communities where there is strong presence and interest in citi-

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Every conscientious interaction, however brief, holds the potential to build powerful networks and connections. zen diplomacy activity are ready to more actively connect, engage, and grow their impact through strategic collaboration.

As Jennifer Clinton, the President of Global Ties U.S., recently wrote, “Future global prosperity, peace, and stability are dependent upon increased international cooperation, collaboration, and mutual understanding.”

As I reflect on the seeds of collaboration sown during the 2014 Global Ties U.S. conference, I will remember with special fondness my conversation with the Minister of the Royal Thai Embassy over lunch.

Mr. Thanasunti had made clear to me his enthusiasm for citizen diplomacy before we even touched our dessert, and in doing so, I noted how every conscientious interaction, however brief, holds the potential to build powerful networks and connections in support of what can sometimes feel like an intangible ideal.

Following the events of the Global Ties U.S. meeting, it is possible to believe that a true continuum of global engagement that is accessible to every individual anywhere, can be created through shared vision and the right partners. A culture of collaboration that empowers citizens to form meaningful relationships on behalf of their country has the potential to transform how each one of us views our role in the world and how individual actions are woven together into the fabric of larger social and economic impact. After all, cultures don’t interact, people do.

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

SOCHI SEEDS GROWTH, PRIDE & GLORY

Economi c G row th , Na tion a l Glor y, Pa tr io t ic P r id e , and the Un sun g Glor y of a Nepa l es e Br ickl ayer at the 2014 Win te r Olympi c s .

Alicia Bonner Ness

I

have to be honest. I hardly even realized that 2014 was a Winter Olympic year until the regular prime time TV advertising campaign began.

I should have known. Last May, I met with a group of international visitors from around the world who sought to better understand how new approaches to global engagement through global pro bono and volunteerism could help them enhance their local economies once they returned home. One of the participants, a young Russian woman, approached me with a business card and a beautiful blue patchwork spiral notebook. “For you,” she said.

Photo: Sochi 2014

“A gift.” I looked at the notebook. Crafted of high-quality materials, it felt sturdy in my hands. I smiled, and thanked her for her thoughtfulness.

It wasn’t until NBC started airing its prime time advertisements featuring that same blue patchwork pattern that I finally put two and two together. While the rest of the world had been minding their own business, Sochi—and all of Russia— were busy preparing for the spotlight.

Now, with the final round of figure skating (by far America’s favorite winter sport) come and gone, Sochi 2014 is over.

Yet, its legacy lives on.

For three weeks every two years, the world turns outward on itself and embraces the power of national identity. Never are we so American—or Swiss, Dutch, Norwegian, or Russian—than in the midst of the Olympic Games.

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

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CITIZEN DIPLOMACY If You Build It, They Will Come To host a major multinational sporting event such as the Olympics is to undertake a massive investment in infrastructure. The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver resulted in $603 million in infrastructure investment, $1.84 billion in operational costs, and $902 million in security costs. The games were estimated to have increased GDP by $2.5 billion, creating 45,000 jobs and contributing an additional $463 million to the tourism industry.

Canada, a developed, thriving economy with a booming natural resource sector, is an excellent demonstration of the massive financial investment (and corresponding financial effects) of hosting a national sporting event like the Winter Olympics.

Yet, such results are even further amplified in emerging markets such as South Africa, Russia, and Brazil. With pressure to impress at the first World Cup hosted on the African continent, South Africa spent, by some estimates $3 billion on infrastructure development. According to the FIFA World Cup Country Report, the South African government spent $1.3 billion improving road, rail, and air transit. Brazil, which will host the World Cup this year, estimates that the event will cost $14 billion. Brazil expects to spend another $14 billion on construction, renovation, and operations dedicated to the 2016 Summer Olympics two years later, a number not off-target from the $14 billion spent on the 2012 London Games.

Russia, originally projected to spend $12 billion on the Sochi Games, saw the financial investment balloon to $50 billion.

Plans for construction in Sochi, a tourism destination known well by Russians, but unfamiliar to many people outside the country when it was selected to host the Winter Games, were herculean. In addition to the expected construction of winter-

sport venues, the games required 40,000 new hotel rooms in Sochi—about half as many as on the entire island of Manhattan.

After all the money is spent, what is the future economic potential? How can Sochi cope with its now-unoccupied 40,000 hotel rooms? Though the circumstances may seem overwhelming, these types of investments invoke—or accelerate—technology shifts that fundamentally increase a nation’s capacity. Traveling to South Africa in 2012 and again in 2013, I witnessed the value of the roadway renovations made as a result of the World Cup investments.

A commute from Pretoria to Johannesburg that had previously taken upwards of an hour and a half could now be completed in less than 45 minutes.

Where there is significant money, there is both significant opportunity and temptation. Massive, unprecedented injection of capital attracts both honest businessmen and hardworking laborers, as well as the unscrupulous. Sochi had plenty of reports and accusations of both, but there is no doubt: hosting a major global sporting event drives economic growth—and national pride.

Around the World in 16 Days For three weeks every two years, the world turns outward on itself and embraces the power of national identity. Never are we so American—or Swiss, Dutch, Norwegian, or Russian—than in the midst of the Olympic Games. Few moments spur such national pride and few opening ceremonies have so indulgently embraced a historical legacy as this year’s Sochi Games. Both mystical and magical, the performance of each individual was impeccably rehearsed and nearly flawlessly executed.

The Olympic host is given full discretion to design and choreograph the opening ceremony to suit their national

PIERRE DE COUBERTIN, THE FOUNDER OF THE MODERN OLYMPICS, BELIEVED IN THE DOCTRINE OF ‘UNIVERSALISM.’ HE SAID, “IT IS NOT THE WINNING, BUT THE TAKING PART THAT COUNTS.” preference, the one appropriate moment in which a country can engage more than 3,000 performers to act out the history of its civilization for a global audience. Such cultural explanation, paired with national pride offers an unusual opportunity to better understand each individual cultural heritage within a global context. Regardless of how we experience the games, whether it’s as an athlete, a coach, a fan, or a spectator on TV, we come away from the experience that much more aware of the communities that surround us in a globalized world.

In its nascent state of development, it was easy for Western journalists and spectators to make fun of the city’s lack of preparation. Yet, the scornful tone brought into focus the fact that life realities are dramatically different in many parts of the world. One photo in The Huffington Post’s Sochi Olympics 2014: 15 Epic Hotel Fails In The ‘Russian Riviera’ depicted a sign requesting that guests place used toilet paper in a nearby trash can rather than flushing it down the toilet. Although it may seem unusual to Americans, this is a common practice in many water-constrained countries.

Being exposed to the realities of an

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

Dachhiri Sherpa, a 44-year-old bricklayer from Nepal, temporarily left his job to train for the Men’s Cross-Country Classic.

emerging market, like Russia, as compared to more developed countries simultaneously helps us better understand the world at the same time that we better understand ourselves. During the opening ceremony modified broadcast, which aired in prime time on February 7, Chevrolet aired a delightfully global commercial promoting the Chevy Cruze with the tagline: Proof we’re not so different after all. Indeed.

Not the Winning, But the Taking Part The ancient Olympics were thought to have been established in 776 BC; the first games hosted in modern times under the International Olympic Committee were held in Athens in 1898. Soon thereafter, in 1914, a Winter Games was established. Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, believed in the doctrine of ‘universalism.’ He said, “It is not the winning, but the taking part that counts.” In the 2012 London Games, 10,500 athletes represented

204 nations. By contrast, the Winter Games are much smaller. This year, Sochi boasted 6,000 athletes from 88 countries, of which Russia fielded 232, slightly surpassing the 230 American Olympians.

While a number of African countries are highly competitive in many summer Olympic sports, African countries are typically the most underrepresented in the Winter Olympics. The main reason for this is obvious—the African continent is almost entirely devoid of snow, and most nations lack the resources needed to simulate and maintain effective winter training conditions.

Moreover, the financial means required to field a competitive winter sports team are extensive. As a result, few countries compete in the Winter Games. This year, only Morocco, Togo, and Zimbabwe were represented at Sochi. Special effort was made to include Timor-Leste, one of the world’s newest nations, in this year’s games. And, Jamaica’s bobsled team, an institution since its popularization through Cool Runnings, was represented as well.

Perhaps the most compelling story from this year’s Winter Olympics is that of Nepal’s Dachhiri Sherpa, a 44-year-old bricklayer, who temporarily left his job to train for the Men’s Cross-Country Classic. He wasn’t motivated by medals or money. Instead, he sought to inspire the youth of Nepal to take pride in their nation’s participation in an important sporting event. In his own words, “The placing is not important if I can teach young people in Nepal about the Olympic spirit.” Even before the games began, Sherpa expected to finish last, but he hopes that his participation will trigger the patriotic pride of his nation, making young children aware of the games so that they will set out to one day become winning Olympians themselves.

National pride and international sportsmanship met head on, seeding economic growth and together, building a lasting legacy in capital and example for the next generation. It wasn’t perfect, but it was progress.

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

AROUND THE WORLD

A COMMITMENT TO SERVICE Nathan Clark

I

n September 2011, Sam Allen, Deere & Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, led a team from John Deere in a week-long corporate service experience in Rajasthan, India.

Rolling up their sleeves in the high summer heat, the John Deere team spent seven days working alongside smallholder farmers in three rural villages. Despite the challenges created by garbled translations, cultural diversity, and a world of other possible differences or obstacles, the John Deere team used the universal language of hard work to connect with those most closely linked to the land.

According to Mara Sovey, Director, Corporate Citizenship Center of Excellence, John Deere, and President, John Deere Foundation, that week was a transformative experience. “During that week, we did more than simply harvest black beans, cut fodder, and build livestock feeding bins with these farmers. We began to create a strong connection to the local farmers, their families, and their communities. We began to see—and feel—the challenges they face.”

Commitment in Action Despite representing many different corporate functions and originating from many of John Deere’s global operations, members of the John Deere team had two things in common. First, they represented some of the most senior leaders at John Deere.

Second, and more importantly, each and every one of these leaders believed in creating a corporate culture of citizenship at John Deere and proving through their actions a commitment to it.

The commitment shown by these John Deere leaders in only one week of work has had far-reaching implications. For John Deere as a whole, it served to launch a formal volunteerism initiative. Since its launch in 2012, thousands of John Deere employees have recorded more than 117,000 hours of community

service—the equivalent of almost 700 weeks of 24/7 work—as part of the John Deere volunteerism program.

This leadership commitment also revealed how meaningful volunteer experiences can serve as the foundation for building a framework for longer-term community development programs.

Upon returning from the three villages in Rajasthan, the John Deere team recognized that more should be done to help improve the lives of these farmers, their families, and their communities.

The result was a new corporate philanthropic model that used short-term employee engagement to inspire long-term sustainable development.

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Corporate Volunteerism Inspires New Possibilities in Rural India Partnership & Participation To build on the volunteer experience, the John Deere Foundation partnered with PYXERA Global in 2012 to conduct an in-depth needs assessment of the three villages. PYXERA Global, as the lead implementing partner for John Deere’s Inspiring Leadership program, had placed diverse corporate volunteers on month-long pro bono assignments around the world. The needs assessment incorporated a similar employee volunteer model.

Deb Wirth, Manager, Global Employee Volunteerism at John Deere, recommended this approach. “PYXERA Global was a natural partner. The PYXERA Global team has a great deal of experience in

leveraging the expertise of corporate employees for the benefit of development projects. Even more than this, it has shown the ability and adaptability required to bring out the best in corporate employees and the beneficiaries of development work, regardless of the diversity of geography or projects.”

After months of pre-work and design, a joint team from John Deere and PYXERA Global spent three weeks conducting intensive focus group discussions and individual interviews in the three villages to better understand the villages’ most pressing needs.

Taking a participatory approach to program design is commonly agreed to be good development practice and a way to facilitate local ownership of programs.

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

“Jiva,” which means “ life” or “ livelihoods” in the local Mewari dialect, aims to improve the quality of life of those in the three villages by enhancing agriculture productivity, empowering youth through quality education, and developing critical infrastructure.

Consistent with the philosophy underlying such a participatory approach, the John Deere Foundation aspires to be more than simply a monetary donor; it intends to be an active partner and catalyst for meaningful development work. The needs assessment, supported by John Deere and PYXERA Global employees, was instrumental in garnering village support and interest in a

long-term initiative from the outset. It also paved the way for a collaborative relationship between stakeholders, including a wide array of talented local organizations, such as the Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology (MPUAT) and Jatan Sansthan. From this spirit of participation and collaboration, the Joint Initiative for Village Advancement was born.

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

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Jo hn Deere em pl oye e , B e rn h a rd H a a s , p a s s e s ou t s an itation an d h ygie n e k its to s ch ool ch ildre n in Raja stha n.

“JIVA,” Joint Initiative for Village Advancement In January 2013, the Joint Initiative for Village Advancement or “JIVA” officially opened its office doors in Rajasthan.

“Jiva,” which means “life” or “livelihoods” in the local Mewari dialect, aims to improve the quality of life of those in the three villages by enhancing agriculture productivity and income security, empowering youth— and particularly young women—through quality education, and developing critical community infrastructure.

Arun Pandey, who manages John Deere India’s support for the project, believes deeply in JIVA’s ability to transform the villages in Rajasthan, one village at a time.

“Poverty in rural India means living on less than $2.00 per day. The large majority of these people—especially women—are engaged in agriculture. By helping improve their productivity, we can improve their lives, their communities, and help meet

the needs of a growing world.”

Apart from its roots in volunteerism, JIVA’s holistic and long-term approach makes it unique for the John Deere Foundation.

Improving the quality of life of an individual or the sustainability of a community requires addressing complex, overlapping challenges in a strategic way. Tackling different sectors simultaneously also requires an array of expertise and resources. JIVA leverages the strengths and resources of its partners to operate across sectors harmoniously.

In its first year of operations, the project has shown remarkable progress. Following its first season of demonstration plot trainings, JIVA reported a 34 percent early adoption rate of various organic pesticide and fertilizer practices. Demonstration plots showed a 35 percent increase in maize yields and a 48 percent increase in sorghum yields.

In education, JIVA’s after-school tutoring program focuses on improving child at-

tendance and performance in school, with targeted outreach and support for drop-out children. Within its first seven months, the program reported 94 percent enrollment of all village children, and 74 percent reintegration of drop-outs back into formal schooling.

In the area of infrastructure, JIVA en-

POVERTY IN RURAL INDIA MEANS LIVING ON LESS THAN $2.00 PER DAY. gaged in various school repairs and construction over the first year to improve the overall quality of school facilities. Of notable importance was the construction of new toilet blocks and wash basins in three schools. At a village pre-school, atten-

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

During that week, we did more than simply harvest black beans, cut fodder, and build livestock feeding bins with these farmers.

We began to create a strong connection to the local farmers, their families, and their communities.

We began to see—and feel—the challenges they face.

Mara Sovey

dance jumped 200 percent in one month after JIVA’s infrastructure repairs. Improving access to quality facilities and education has had a direct effect on the willingness of families to bring their children to school.

Plowing Toward the Future The humble volunteerism roots of JIVA have not been forgotten. In September 2013, many of the senior leaders who participated in the first experience in Rajasthan returned to the villages to evaluate the progress made and once again lend a hand. While they found the familiar faces of those with whom they met and worked two years before, they found the communities to be different and stronger than they remembered. This affirmed for them the value of JIVA as it has developed, and confirmed for them the importance of their continued commitment to similar activities.

As the program moves into its second

year, the early impact echoes JIVA’s critical success factors. John Deere is fortunate to work with a community of dynamic and dedicated stakeholders who are with us for the long haul. PYXERA Global, an international non-profit organization and lead implementer, has proven an invaluable partner in developing the strategic foundation for the project and overseeing its effective implementation on the ground. Local partners, MPUAT, and Jatan continue to provide important local insight and guidance to ensure JIVA’s long-term sustainability.

Sovey is enthusiastic about what lies ahead. “While we have a great deal of work ahead of us, our goal is to improve the quality of life for these farmers. Listening is a key part of that; understanding their challenges and finding solutions that have long-term sustainable value. That’s part of our commitment to help people who are linked to the land.”

John Deere em pl o y e e , M a ry Jo n e s , l a ys t h e fo u n dation for an A n gan w adi, a v illage pre -s ch ool.

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

AROUND THE WORLD

EVERY TH I N G I S P OSSI BLE I N EAS T AF R I C A TODAY Na tu ra l G a s Crea tes Jobs & O pportu nity in Mozamb iq u e Har r y Pastuszek

E

very Mozambican has an opinion about the natural gas deposits off the coast of Cabo Delgado.

“I remember when Mozal came to town and all of Maputo thought they were going to have a new job, and a new car,” says Eduardo, a taxi driver in Maputo. “I also have family in Tete and they thought that of course the discoveries of coal were going to mean brighter days. Now look at that mess.”

For Eduardo, Mozambique’s newly found natural gas deposits promise only the disappointment that the earlier discovery of coal visited on his homeland. In a country so plagued by underdevelopment, illiteracy, and a lack of education, my cab driver from the airport to the hotel is perhaps the best spokesman for the missed opportunities extractive industries have thus far inflicted on this nation. The coal projects in Tete have become all too well-known Photo: F.Mira/CC BY-SA 2.0

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

for the difficulties caused by poorly executed resident resettlement and a failure to generate jobs and business opportunities—particularly for those living closest to the mines. For him, the new discoveries bring only an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Some with an eye towards the environment are concerned about the exploration’s potential impact on their pristine northern coastline and fisheries. Others, especially youth, express sincere excitement at the potential for improved economic prospects and livelihoods that liquefied natural gas, or LNG, can yield.

East Africa’s Development Index Lags Behind Its Natural Resources

Maximizing economic benefit to local stakeholders means walking a fine line that balances profit and inclusive development impact, which is no easy task.

According to the Human Development Index (HDI), a measure of a nation’s relative development, in 2013, Mozambique ranked 185 out of a total 187 countries.

Mozambique has a population of 24 million people in a country that is slightly less than twice the size of California, in which 66 percent of the population is under the age of 24 and the average life expectancy is 52 years. Mozambique’s adult literacy rate is just above 56 percent.

A land ripe with a multitude of natural resources, up until recently, their discovery has been staid by the Mozambican Civil War. A proxy war that consumed the whole of south-eastern Africa, including Tanzania and South Africa, raged from 1977, just one year after independence, until 1994, when the first elections were held. Beneath the violent turmoil lay an underground landscape of riches just waiting to be unearthed.

Now, in the midst of the relative political stability that has followed from 20 years of democratic rule, the private sector, most often seeking to exploit coal, minerals, and LNG, has come knocking. Over the past 10 years, a growing number of private companies have discovered gold, iron, titanium,

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zirconium, tantalum, gemstones, coal, and uranium. In 2010, the government and private exploration companies confirmed reserves of 150 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in deep water several 100 kilometers off the coast of Cabo Delgado. Once developed, Mozambique has the chance to become one of the largest natural gas producers and exporters in the world.

Despite challenges in development, the natural gas discovery stands to dramatically improve East Africa’s economic position.

Mozambique has already seen significant positive growth over the last decade: 7.4 percent growth in 2012, and $15.1 billion in GDP last year.

Finding the Silver Lining, the Win-Win I have some experience in trying to convert the promise of extractive industries, like coal, copper, bauxite, and petroleum, into positive development impact in challenging environments such as those in Mozambique. Oil in Rajasthan, bauxite in Guinea, copper on Mindanao in the Philippines—each of these projects, some while I was at the International Finance Corporation and some while I worked as Sustainable Development Manager for Bechtel Corporation’s Mining and Metals business unit—all presented similar risks and opportunities to the ones confronting Mozambique today.

In my past occupational incarnations, I have sat alternately as part of the project finance team and the prime contractor in construction of mega-projects globally. Now, I participate in these projects as a third party, focused squarely on maximizing economic benefit to local stakeholders, walking a fine line that balances profit and inclusive development impact, which is no easy task.

Most recently, my colleagues and I at PYXERA Global have had the good fortune to work alongside Anadarko, aiding them in developing local enterprise capacity (known

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

in the industry as local content) that will support the development of the LNG project in Cabo Delgado. The challenge of the AMA1 Project, as it is known, is immense. Review the development statistics above and it is easy to see the challenges of employing an educated Mozambican workforce. Relying on formal and experienced contractors and suppliers in Mozambique will likely prove equally challenging.

Early Works, the Hidden Beginning of Front-End Engineering and Design Too often, oil and gas operators wait until a project has entered the operations phase to consider local content. For LNG plants, this can spell disaster for local employment—the construction phase of an LNG project will employ 15,000 or more people and occasion an overall investment of over $20 billion. Missing such an opportunity in construction has major implications for an economy like Mozambique’s.

The construction phase of a project like the one planned for Mozambique’s LNG project can result in a capital investment of $20-25 billion over a four year period, a staggering figure when compared to the GDP of Mozambique. In order for the local population to benefit from this investment, while hopefully improving their development indicators listed above, project developers and the national government must emphasize local content development, especially in the early stages of the project. Anadarko has risen to the challenge and begun the process of enhancing local enterprise capabilities far sooner than is typical in the industry. Having engaged PYXERA Global as a partner in this effort, they have provided us with extraordinary latitude to propose solutions we believe will work based on past experience.

Front-End Engineering and Design, or ‘FEED’ as it is known in the industry, is typically the earliest phase of a formal oil and gas development project, in which the property owner, typically an international

oil company, identifies the best engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor with which to work in constructing the facility. To make this selection, the property owner might enlist multiple qualified engineering companies to deliver relatively detailed plans for the construction of the facility. Interestingly, decisions made by engineers at this earliest project phase can have a significant impact on the ability of local companies and workers to participate in project construction. For example, the engineers might prefer to provide equipment in a “modular” fashion where it is manufactured in a central location and then shipped in final form to be installed at the project site. Where this approach is chosen over a “stick-built” approach, local employment and local contracts for goods and services will be limited.

Prior to FEED and the selection of the EPC contractor, however, many projects will commence ‘early works,’ clearing and fencing the construction site, building airstrips and ports, and constructing camps to

DEEP-WATER RESERVES OF 150 TRILLION CUBIC FEET OF NATURAL GAS LIE 100 KILOMETERS OFF THE COAST OF CABO DELGADO.

Photo: F.Mira/CC BY-SA 2.0

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

The full extent of what is possible remains to be seen. But a big bright future in East Africa is dawning, fast. house future workers. Yet, many property owners fail to realize the great potential for local job creation that comes from early works, and the way in which aggressive local hiring during this phase can positively affect the local supply chain of future phases, as well.

Typically, ensuring local companies are

engaged as part of these early works is critical to project success; failure to do so can doom a project’s local content efforts.

Clearing vegetation, grading a road, and erecting a fence are not the most sophisticated of construction activities. If such work is only feasible for South African, Portuguese, or Brazilian firms, the EPC contractor will immediately point out that it cannot be expected to generate a lot of local content doing the highly complex construction of the LNG facility itself.

International oil companies commissioning projects such as the LNG plant being considered for Mozambique will do well to follow Anadarko’s lead in commissioning dedicated local content development work at the outset of project development. Engineers, it is often said, are born problem solvers. Enlisting them to think long and hard about the best, most efficient points in a project to enhance local company and worker participation draws on these innate competencies. Getting local content underway and properly aligned in the earliest

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project phases will greatly increase the likelihood of overall local content impact of any project.

On my last trip to Mozambique, I was escorted by Paolo, a young porter at the Pemba Beach Hotel. I told him about the work we were doing in Pemba to raise awareness among local companies of the potential opportunities due to the discoveries. He responded, “You don’t need to raise awareness, everyone knows it is coming.

You need to deliver on the promise we all know is out there—we don’t want Tete in Cabo Delgado. People here want to know that their patience and effort will be rewarded with an opportunity to improve their lives through the natural gas projects.

I am just finishing my studies and looking forward to growing in my career and I hope the gas will help me do that. Can you make this possible?”

The full extent of what is possible remains to be seen. But a big bright future in East Africa is dawning, fast.

Anadar ko rep re s e n t a t i ve s m e e t w i t h l o c a l s u pplie r s to e n s u re th e in clu s ion of local compan ie s in the ind ustry.

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

DISCOVER THE BEAUTY OF SRI LANKA’S EASTERN PROVINCE

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AROUND THE WORLD T he M u st-S e e D e stin ation Yo u’ ve Ne ve r He ard Of Annessa Kaufman “BATTICALOA HAS NO MUST-SEE SIGHTS…” BEGINS A GUIDEBOOK THAT SHALL REMAIN NAMELESS.

A

promising start to my year of supporting tourism development in Batticaloa—Batti for short—and the rest of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka! Nine months into to my MBAs Without Borders assignment, I’m keenly aware that much remains to be done before the next edition of that guidebook changes its tune.

Most visitors to Sri Lanka that I’ve met have never heard of Batti; one of the most common questions posed to me: “Is there anything out there?”

The answer is yes, but it can take some digging. As travelers, we often have a mythologized ideal of an unspoiled destination—a place undiscovered, but full of magic, charm and ambiance. The Eastern Province is overflowing with all of these characteristics, but it lacks the tourism infrastructure required to attract visitors. Though many travelers proclaim their love for a hidden gem or going off the beaten path, there is a threshold that even the most intrepid visitors won’t cross. As a result, magic, charm, and ambiance alone are insufficient to grow the region’s tourism industry.

It is important to recognize that the region’s unspoiled atmosphere stems, in part, from its difficult and tumultuous past. Despite being identified as a tourism zone in the Sri Lankan Tourism Development Master plan released in 1967, development was abruptly halted in 1983 with the outbreak of Sri Lanka’s violent civil conflict that plagued the province for nearly three decades.

During this period, the province suffered from a purposeful lack of infrastructure development. The stunning beaches and alluring surf were abandoned, as residents were restricted from moving around the region and large areas were deemed entirely off limits. Even towns within the province were alienated from each other. The East was further devastated by the 2004 tsunami that directly affected the entire coastline. In one day, the burgeoning tourism infrastructure was wiped out.

Tourism Rises in the East Following the end of the conflict in 2009, as foreign countries dropped their travel warnings, Sri Lanka once again became a popular tourist destination. While the East remains relatively undeveloped compared to the country’s southern destinations, the rise in foreign visitors to Sri Lanka overall has led to a trickle effect as more curious travelers venture beyond

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

the traditional tourist destinations. Additionally, Sri Lankans are curious to see a part of their own country that was for so long inaccessible to them.

Yet, without appropriate infrastructure, the stunning beaches, fabulous diving, and an intriguing past are not enough to draw a crowd. To become a viable destination, the region requires moderate accommodations, stable businesses, and reliable tourist information.

Currently, the Eastern Province’s high season, which is entirely based on beach tourism, runs for the three months of summer—June, July, and August—during which the more established beach resort towns of the southwest are overcome by the rainy season. Most Eastern Province residents employed by the beach season’s demands believe that this is all there is—they turn back to fishing and farming for the rest of the year. Would-be visitors hear that the only time to visit is in the summer, so tourism in the east all but shuts down for the rest of the year. A handful of more established tourism businesses operate year round but at a lower occupancy, conceding that it is too difficult to attract and entertain guests in what are essentially ghost towns.

But, visitors can go crabbing in Batticaloa’s lagoon, learn to cook spicy and delicious Sri

Lankan meals, glimpse crocodiles and elephants in an extensive maze of wetlands, bicycle through lush paddy fields, and attend festivals at the numerous candy-colored temples across the province. Batti and its neighboring towns are so much more than swaths of unspoiled beaches.

This approach empowers the community to define and Cultivating a Culture of establish their Tourism own brand as For tourism to become a viable engine of they see fit... economic growth in the Eastern Province, at providing local least two critical challenges must be addressed.

First, the region lacks any reliable information residents with on its tourism assets. To make matters worse, the opportunity what little information is available perpetuates to come together the East’s reputation of having little to offer travelers. Second, because the region’s tourand identify sector is nascent, the community doesn’t what makes their ism realize how attractive and profitable their tourregion unique, ism assets can be. Community members and businesses have little firsthand experience with what they want consumers and very little understanding of what to share, and it takes to be a successful tourism provider. how they want to It is in this context that the International Finance Corporation and the USAID-funded VEGA/ share it.

BIZ+ program, in collaboration with National Geographic’s Maps Division, are working to roll

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

out a Geotourism program.

Geotourism is defined as, “tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place—its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents.” National Geographic’s Maps Division has developed a Geotourism program centered around the creation of online map guides: comprehensive websites and maps with content generated by local residents. The program’s approach is different from traditional guidebooks as they encourage local communities to generate the content for the Geotourism assets themselves. Rather than being defined by outsiders, this approach empowers the community to define and establish their own brand as they see fit. The program’s approach provides local residents with the opportunity to come together and identify what makes their region unique, what they want to share, and how they want to share it.

The National Geographic’s Geotourism program benefits destinations in a number of ways. Principally, it helps the region attract a specific type of tourist interested in local character and unique experiences as opposed to generic mass-tourism destinations. These types of travelers tend to stay longer, spend more, and spend at a local level, ensuring the revenue stays in the community. The program also empowers the community to raise the visibility of lesser-known sites, businesses, and attractions in popular regions, helping to spread economic benefits from localized tourism, while also reducing pressure on heavily-visited sites. Lastly, such an approach can encourage dialogue on the sustainability and stewardship needs of a destination.

This is the first time that National Geographic’s Geotourism website approach is being used in Asia and in an emerging destination. In this case, the website has

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the potential to catalyze a conversation around tourism development at a local level. While tourism is already happening in the area—the coastal village of Passikudah for example, is a crescent of new resorts—this program engages and empowers residents to identify what makes the Eastern Province special. It allows them to envision their role in the current and future tourism development of the region, and importantly, identify its untapped economic potential. This model gives residents a fresh perspective on their tourism assets and encourages them to market them in a way that is attractive to tourists while simultaneously authentic to the community’s own voice and values.

Batti may never be first on a tourist’s check-list, but it should be on a traveler’s bucket list—a land of rich natural beauty and soulful stories of humanity that are just waiting to be told.

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

BOOK EXCERPT

T

he world faces social, environmental, and economic challenges that are projected to increase exponentially over the coming decades. Many of these issues, such as environmental degradation, climate change, access to healthcare, poverty, and human rights, are cross-border issues. National governments acting alone lack the authority and resources to provide adequate responses. The international community has too often failed to achieve binding and actionable agreements to deal with these global problems…The NGO sector has made strides in advancing the human condition but lack resources and scalability sufficient to make transformational progress.

In the face of these difficult challenges, some creative responses are emerging from the business sector. Unlike governments, businesses in the twenty-first century cross national borders, spanning oceans and continents. Modern corporations respond to customers, employees, and investors across the globe in order to profit and thrive. Moreover, companies are learning that they must be attuned to the needs of the world’s population in order to maximize profits. This book tells the story of a number of global corporations that have aligned their profit-making missions with efforts to build a better world. These companies have come to understand that they can enhance their bottom lines while improving global conditions, often through partnerships with NGOs and governments.

Economic Development For business, alleviating poverty presents opportunity, while addressing a pernicious global issue. By helping to advance people from extreme poverty to the middle class, businesses anticipate achieving long-term strategic growth through access to new markets, workforce development, product innovation, and product distribution. In Africa, Asia, Latin America, and formerly Communist countries, businesses are teaming up with NGOs and governments to foster employment, business development, and regional capacity-building to strengthen economies. Companies realize that these locales will provide vast and growing market opportunities as wealth increases and consumers seek to increase their quality of life…

It is in our power to create a better world where all people will have food, shelter, healthcare, an education, and the opportunity to work. There are two routes that must be pursued concurrently.

First, the economies of regions where there has been extreme poverty must be transformed. Second, girls and women, as well as boys and men, must be empowered and provided access to education, healthcare, and the opportunity to earn a living…What

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By focusing on solutions for world hunger through productivity training, value chain enhancement and access to water, we’re helping citizens from developing countries become food secure and live a better life.

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014 is required is the regional infrastructure to promote and support education, healthcare, financial services, business development, regional capacity-building, open markets and free trade, and equal opportunity…

Businesses are a powerful force in economic development and individual empowerment in some of the poorest regions of the world. By building stronger and more vibrant communities in previously impoverished regions, businesses in partnership with NGOs and governments benefit by advancing the vision of all people sharing in global prosperity.

Local Content Development “Local content development,” sometimes referred to as “national content development,” is an approach used more recently by global corporations—often extractive companies (oil, gas, mining)—to help develop the capacity of a region where the company is locating a major extractive or manufacturing site. Local content development focuses in particular on employment and job training, in addition to fostering the creation of local business enterprises that can provide everything from basic services up to fabrication and construction, logistics, operations support, and professional services. Companies are conducting local content work in emerging and formerly Communist countries, so there are many challenges, including the lack of an educated workforce and poor health conditions…..

Through local content development, corporations have a powerful opportunity to improve lives, bringing economic development to some of the world’s poorest communities. Furthermore, companies are learning that in order to be effective, they must engage a multitude of stakeholders—from government ministries to NGOs, local trade associations, businesses, and suppliers.

[Deirdre] White explained that while compliance [with mandates by host countries in return for the company’s license to operate] is often the starting point to get a company to focus on local content, the hope is that corporations will shift to recognize the business case for local content. And, in fact, during the IQPC [International Quality and Productivity Center] conference [Fall 2013], White said she was “heartened to hear companies state clearly that their business rationale is manifold: sustainable human, social and economic capacity-building reduces the company’s political and security risks, demonstrates their responsible corporate citizenship, reduces their costs over time, secures their license to operate, and therefore makes good business sense.”

Healthcare Two global pharmaceutical companies [Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, as described in the Healthcare chapter] have advanced their corporate missions while improving world health through innovative employee engagement programs…

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We envisioned this as an experience to change the diversity of the way people think inside the company, and how they perceive the way that the world works...

We want to have a company that’s part of society, with a cadre of personnel who will behave differently because of what they’ve experienced.

Sir Andrew Witty CEO, GSK According to PYXERA Global’s Corporate Volunteerism Benchmarking Study 2013…From 2006-2013, volunteers [deployed by global corporations through PYXERA Global] have worked …primarily in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The total number of volunteers has increased steadily each year….Developing the volunteers’ professional skills was seen as the greatest potential benefit— leadership development, team building, and entrepreneurship.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) describes itself as a science-led global healthcare company that is “dedicated to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better, and live longer.” GSK’s global pro bono program is called the PULSE Volunteer Partnership… GSK’s global volunteers work on project management, business development, and change management, human resources, information technology, data management, logistics and supply chain, research and clinical development, and communications and marketing. The majority of volunteers work internationally, primarily in emerging markets, although some work domestically in underserved communities.

GSK believes there are a number of reasons to engage in global pro bono, including the win-win-win for the company, the employee, and the NGOs and communities they serve. Ahsiya Mencin, Director of the PULSE Volunteer Partnership at GSK, described being inspired by the CEO Sir Andrew Witty’s original vision to expand the company’s volunteering opportunities. “We built the program around Andrew Witty’s vision in the power of partner-

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The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

ships to solve complex global health challenges, and our strong belief in the value of bringing outside perspectives and realities into our company’s culture and thinking,” Mencin recalled. “PULSE aims to affect a three-fold change: change communities, change oneself, and change GSK.” “We envisioned this as an experience to change the diversity of the way people think inside the company, and how they perceive the way that the world works,” he [Sir Andrew Witty, in a private interview with the author] said. “We wanted people

from GSK to experience how civil society works as compared to corporations, and to learn how to get things done through partnerships…We want to develop more competent decision makers who have a global view. We want to have a company that’s part of society, with a cadre of personnel who will behave differently because of what they’ve experienced.”

Three Keys to Success Multinational corporations at the sustainability forefront also understand that

A l i c e makes th e c a s e fo r t h e u n i q u e ro l e b u s in e s s e s play in addre s s in g la r g e-sc al e g l o b a l i s s u e s a t h e r b o o k ’s l a u n ch par ty in J an u ar y.

there are three keys to success: First, ensuring effective board governance of the company’s sustainability strategy and achievements; second, engaging with stakeholders, including customers, employees, investors, and communities, in an iterative conversation on global problem-solving; and third, collaborating with other companies and NGOs to advance the company’s sustainability agenda….

Looking to the Future Global corporations have the human capital, the financial resources, the technology, the international footprint, the power of markets, and the profit motivation to build a better world. NGOs will be essential partners—essential for their expertise and their commitment to mission. Governments will be vital partners—vital as representative bodies. By engaging together through an iterative process, we will achieve “A Better World.”

Companies can build profitable brands and businesses by capturing the wisdom of stakeholders from the far corners of the world, including women and girls who have been disenfranchised, young employees who are adept with new technology, social media, and solutions, consumers communicating on the Internet worldwide, grassroots NGOs in the communities where they do business, and investors who understand that companies are more valuable when they incorporate sustainability into planning.

The stories in this book show that companies are the likeliest institutions to build a better world, that they are beginning to show promise of their capacity to do so, and that you can play a part in making this so.

Alice Korngold, A Better World, Inc., published 2014, reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan.

The New Global Citizen | Spring 2014

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for Updates from The New Global Citizen! @citizenIBM’s Corporate Service Corps shows that #collaboration on high-skill projects delivers a #TripleBenefit #CSR @Acumen’s #impact investing closes the pioneer gap & opens pathways to #socialimpact cc: @Sanergy #socent Harnessing Employee Generosity & Corporate Philanthropy for Greater #GlobalImpact http://bit.ly/1fTyj5c #Sochi2014 Seeds Economic Growth, National Glory, & Patriotic Pride @AliciaBNess http://bit.ly/1bIJTzJ @MBAsWB takes on global #innovations in #sanitation - It’s Easy to Flush & Forget - #UnClogIt http://bit.ly/1fb7dBA @GlobalTiesUS Annual Meeting Sows Seeds of #Collaboration through #CitizenDiplomacy http://bit.ly/1hcdrUx @USCCD @CSIS Symposium on H20 & Energy inspires insights from @LauraAsialaCSR & @BeNewGlobal about #EntDev http://bit.ly/1mSrxkN Asif Shaikh Inspires Many w/ Memories of Childhood, Lessons for the Future at @SIDWashington Annual Gala http://bit.ly/1eQQRkZ @CSIS Exclusive excerpt from @AliceKorngold’s new book #ABetterWorldInc only on @BeNewGlobal! http://bit.ly/1mtUMKB @JohnDeere’s Corporate Volunteering Inspires new possibilites in rural #India http://bit.ly/OwXXlw @PYXERAGlobal #JIVA

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BE WELL. NOT A WISH. A PROMISE. For more than 150 years, a very special passion has driven the people of Merck. Our goal is to develop medicines, vaccines, consumer care and animal health innovations that will improve the lives of millions. Still, we know there is much more to be done. And we’re doing it, with a long-standing commitment to research and development. We’re just as committed to expanding access to healthcare and working with others who share our passion to create a healthier world.

Together, we’ll meet that challenge. Promise.

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PYXERA Global The New Frontier of Global Engagement

Catalyzing Growth in

April 7 & 8, 2014 | Washington, DC

Emerging Markets

The 5th Annual International Corporate Volunteerism Conference

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