theglobaljournal.net: Latest activities of group NGO Nexus

An Eye On The Sector

2013-05-23T10:24:20Z

Etienne Eichenberger, Executive Director of WISE, sat down with The Global Journal to discuss his views on the NGO sector.

What is your interest in NGOs?

I have worked with civil society for the last 15 years. In the past I collaborated with the Avina Foundation in Latin America in the field of social entrepreneurship, and supported the Schwab Foundation while at the World Economic Forum. Today, I am the co-founder of a leading boutique philanthropy consultancy. We advise a range of clients in fulfilling their philanthropic aspirations. I am also Vice President of Sustainable Finance Geneva and a board member of several foundations. Many paths lead me to NGOs as you can see.

What do you see as the biggest trend in the sector over the last 1-2 years?

There are more long-term underlying trends that remain key, such as accountability and related issues of transparency. However, another interesting trend is the fact that social innovations in transition countries – or so-called ‘poor’ countries – have begun to be replicated in developed economies. Let me give two examples. One of your Top 100 NGOs of last year, Friends International, has been asked to test a model – developed originally in South East Asia – in the United States. Their approach to working with disadvantaged youth is seen as standard-setting. Another example is the ‘Fight for Peace’ model developed in Brazil being exported to prisons in the United Kingdom.

Have you observed any challenges for NGOs linked to the financial crisis?

NGOs have grown more professional due to numerous factors, though the influence of limited financial resources is certainly one key element. This has been caused by the diminished performance of foundations, and the financial constraints imposed on public funding. At the same time, the financial crisis has also brought new ideas and talent into the sector. In a certain way, the crisis has provided an opportunity to rethink our status quo.

What is the most innovative NGO you have worked with?

I often think we fool ourselves by equating social innovation with technical innovation. At the last European Venture Philanthropy Association meeting in Dublin, a speaker suggested “social innovation is not what is new, but what works better.” I like this quote because it helps us to move beyond the paradigm that only new is better. I think, however, that Arc en-Ciel in Lebanon is a very innovative model in its context – it is very interesting to see how an organization can create great value in a tense environment. Arc-en-Ciel began operations after the civil war with wheel chairs, but today pursues six development streams, including medical waste management and eco-agriculture. Its founders have seen a weak state as an opportunity to create social value.

What do you think is the NGO model of the future?

NGOs, like businesses, are all about diversity – from small and medium size enterprises to global corporations. Their respective challenges are hardly the same, and neither are their models. Future models will depend on numerous factors, driven by an NGO’s mission. For instance, an advocacy NGO will need to further strengthen its independence, an NGO focused on service delivery will need to continue to innovate with regard to generating revenues. But both small and large NGOs will need to be more accountable in terms of impact and the quality of their delivery. The time when NGOs had a blank check to “do the right thing” is gone.

Photo © DR

Diversity And Inclusion On NGO Boards

2013-05-03T11:05:43Z

Figures reveal a clear disjunction between the world NGOs seek to create, and the world their governance structures reproduce.

Diversity and inclusion are important to almost all non-governmental organisations. To what extent do NGO boards adequately reflect these values, or the experience and diversity of those they exist to serve?

To find out, I looked at the 2013 Top 100 NGOs. Released annually, this is a list of what the Global Journal considers to be the most impactful, innovative and sustainable NGOs. I chose to work with it because it provided a reasonable sample.

WHAT EMERGED?

Headquarters and activity

There is an almost exact mirror image between where NGOs are headquartered and where the people they serve live. 72% of the NGOs are headquartered in the western world while 79% of their activity takes place in the majority world.

Social profile

Taken as a body, most of the surveyed NGOs work for populations that are predominantly non-European and relatively poorly educated; most also promote gender equality and women's empowerment. Yet their own leaderships are primarily composed of western educated male graduates of European origin.

Selected professional affiliations

In different ways, the NGOs surveyed promote ideals of justice and social progress. Yet over half have board members who are affiliated with companies that invest in, or provide legal, marketing, or other services to the arms, tobacco and finance industries.

ANALYSIS

The figures reveal a clear disjunction between the world these NGOs seek to create, and the world their governance structures reproduce.

By appointing boards that are predominantly of European origin, they perpetuate values that assume 'whiteness' is superior to 'blackness' and attitudes tainted by a western-saviour myth. The very low number of African members is particularly troubling, because more than one third of projects take place in that region.

The representation of women may appear to be less alarming, but the ratio of women is still relatively low. Furthermore, 65% of female board members are of European origin — a figure that rises to 75% among western NGOs. This reveals the importance of intersectionality; if they wish to be inclusive and diverse, for example, NGOs need to consider gender and ethnicity.

Given the ethnic composition of the boards, it is not surprising that most members graduated from western universities. Although the value of higher education and the excellence of many western universities are undeniable, the NGOs surveyed are almost completely reliant on western knowledge paradigms, though they work in many areas of the world where other systems of thought are strongly present. Through this choice, they inevitably exclude points of view that are relevant or vital to the work they do or the people they serve.

Their professional affiliations raise similar inconsistencies.

Many would question whether association with the arms and tobacco industries is compatible with the promotion of ideals of justice and social progress. Even if no position of principle is taken, however, NGOs certainly need to explain how association with these industries is consistent with their objectives.

Association with the finance industry might seem more defensible. Boards have a duty of financial oversight, and many of the NGOs surveyed manage large budgets. They nevertheless have a duty to explain their choices, and most do not do so.

The reputation of the banking sector was highly compromised by the greedy and irresponsible conduct of numerous banks and investment houses in the period before and after the 2008 crash. It cannot credibly be said that the sector has shown evidence of working to protect the interests of less privileged groups in society, who are the primary constituents of most of the listed NGOs. They should therefore ask themselves whether the appointment of numerous senior executives and partners in large investment banks and hedge funds helps them to achieve their mission.

As individuals, of course, bankers too can be philanthropists. It is not a question of excluding such sources of economic expertise altogether. What is shocking is the number of them on NGO boards, and the glaring absence of so many other kinds of expertise.

CONCLUSIONS

The leaderships of these NGOs have a social profile that is at least at odds, and probably incompatible, with their ideals and mission. Some social bias was understandable in the historical context in which international NGO activism formed in the last century; that time is past.

If NGOs are to achieve meaningful, representative diversity, they need to be more transparent, more accountable, and far more ambitious. If they are to realise their ideals of justice and social reform in today's highly mobile, diverse, information rich world, they need to draw on skills and experience from across the globe. To do their jobs, their boards need to be adequately diverse, representative, and well-informed: at present, the NGOs surveyed are manifestly deficient in all three respects.

The article was originally published on The Guardian - Global Development Professional Network.

Opinions voiced by Global Minds do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Global Journal.

Gucci Goes Sustainable

2013-03-07T11:47:39Z

The world’s first leather products made using leather from Rainforest Alliance Certified ranches.

Today marks a significant milestone in the fashion industry with the launch of the world’s first products made using leather from Rainforest Alliance Certified ranches; a bag line in collaboration with Gucci - the renowned Italian fashion house - and Livia Firth -- creator of The Green Carpet Challenge that pairs glamour and ethics to raise the profile of sustainable style. The bags are crafted using sustainably produced leather sourced from ranches in the Brazilian Amazon that have earned the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal of approval.

“Agricultural conversion for cattle production is the leading cause of deforestation in the Amazon,” said Sabrina Vigilante, director of Strategic Initiatives at the Rainforest Alliance. “Gucci’s new line sets a shining example in the fashion industry, demonstrating that leather can be produced in a way that benefits the environment and farming communities, while promoting the humane treatment of livestock.”

The leather used in Gucci’s line of bags was sourced from Fazendas São Marcelo Ltda., a group of four ranches located in the Mato Grosso state in western Brazil. The ranches cover a total area of 79,000 acres (32,000 hectares) including a 32,000-acre (13,000-hectare) reserve in the Amazon. Certification ensures the ranches curb deforestation, protect wildlife habitat, provide ethical treatment to livestock and promote the rights and wellbeing of ranch workers.

“This new line of Gucci for the Green Carpet Challenge bags connects consumers with rainforest conservation and best practices of cattle production in Brazil,” said Mauricio Voivodic, manager of agricultural certification at Imaflora, the Rainforest Alliance’s partner organization in Brazil that conducted the ranch audit. “This is a very important step and demonstrates that a responsible value chain is possible for the cattle sector.”

“The majority of deforested areas in Brazil are used for cattle ranching,” said Nathalie Walker of the National Wildlife Federation, the NGO that conceptualized this collaboration and verified the bags’ extensive chain of custody. “Without incentives to protect forests, long-term forest conservation cannot be assured. Certification can offer a benefit for ranchers and encourage the protection of forests and improved management of ranch land.”

The new Gucci for the Green Carpet Challenge Handbag Collection, is offered in select Gucci flagship stores worldwide and online in the US and Europe viaGucci.com. This announcement reflects growing consumer demand for sustainability and traceability, with 71 percent of US consumers now aligning their spending with their values, according to John Gerzema and Michael D’Antonio in the Wall Street Journal best seller, Spend Shift. The handbags are also the first products to feature the Green Carpet Challenge Brand Mark.

“Our new sustainable bag line addresses consumer demand for sustainability, while perfectly matching Gucci’s exacting style standards” said Rossella Ravagli, Head of CSR and Sustainability at Gucci. “This launch proves that the fashion industry can be a force for good through directly addressing a fundamental environmental issue.”

'Breaking The Cycles, Building A Future...'

2013-02-27T13:54:24Z

UK journalist Marissa Carruthers recently visited Friends-International programs in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This short article by her, in which she describes the impact of our work, first appeared on the Friends-International blog.

'I can remember during my first trip to Cambodia the pangs of guilt I felt as I walked along the riverfront past malnourished women cradling malnourished babies wrapped in swaddles of filthy blankets.Bare-footed kids flocked to my feet, their dirt-caked faces baring adorable grins; their shrieks of laughter, the innocence in their eyes all tugging on the heart-strings of passing tourists.

I remember how tempting it was to give in to the big brown eyes of the ever-so-cute Cambodian girl who was begging me to buy a book from the heavy basket she was carrying on her shoulder. In perfect English she said she needed the money for school before offering to play a game of rock, paper, scissors. If she won, I bought a book. If she didn’t, I didn’t have to.

I politely declined and watched as she skipped through the restaurant, charming each table along the way. A few took her up on her offer of a game and I watched every single one lose to this pint-sized professional who was raking in a load of cash I knew she would never see.

I’d read about the sinister side to child beggars and street sellers and was determined not to fall victim to it but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. There’s always one that steals your heart with their story, wit and charm. Maybe she really will use the money to pay for school, right?

Wrong, and after spending a week with Friends-International and seeing first-hand the fantastic work carried out in Cambodia to try and break the prevalent poverty cycle it’s safe to say I will never part with my money like this again.

Focusing on the Mith Samlanh arm of Friends International, I saw how it is possible to give hope to some of the many marginalised Cambodian kids who in many cases are forced to work on the streets by their poverty-stricken families.For me, the beauty of this project is that it’s in it for the long haul. Cambodia’s problems are never going to be solved overnight and it recognises there’s certainly no quick-fix, band aid solution.

Understanding the importance of providing children with an education and keeping them off the streets, where they often get caught up in crime and drugs, the NGO works with more than 2,000 children, teenagers and young adults each day to get them back into education or train them up in the skills needed to get a job.

During my time with Friends-International, I was truly touched to see so many success stories in the making as the NGO works to equip children and young people with the education and vocational training they deserve; to provide them with a future so they don’t have to rely on making their means on the streets.

Joining the outreach team on one of their visits to a community crippled by poverty on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, children swarmed to the bus we arrived on, excited to play with the toys and read the books on board – a rare joy.

A doctor was also on hand to tend to any medical issues members of the community suffer from and social workers were there talk to teenagers and children about any problems they may have. Those identified as being in need with be referred to the project’s education and training centre in Phnom Penh – another place I visited.

The brightly decorated buildings are alive with the sound of laughter, chatter and hard work as young men and women are taught trades that will help secure them a job in the likes of sewing, hairdressing, mechanics, engineering, cooking and welding. Many visitors to the city will be familiar with the NGO’s Romdeng restaurant, where the student chefs and waiting staff who are trained at the centre put their skills into practice before moving on to the Friends the Restaurant and then onto permanent jobs in hotels, restaurants and bars across Cambodia.

Another inspirational project I was able to see is the Home-Based Production. I visited a small community in Phnom Penh that is home to those affected by HIV and Aids. Isolated from the rest of society, Friends-International has shown them how to make a series of products such as bags, purses, wallets, which are then sold in the Friends shops providing the families with a regular income.

For me, my time with Friends-International was an emotional one. Coming face-to-face with the poverty and struggles of so many people who live in this country was difficult but to see the hard work and effort of Friends-International and speaking to the people who really have been thrown a life-line was heart-warming and over-whelming. Keep up the good work!'

A European Court of Human Rights’ Decision Devoid of Justice

2013-02-12T16:51:09Z

The Dismissal of Franco Regime Enforced Disappearances Cases

By Lydia Vicente Márquez and Mercedes Melón*

When you mention enforced disappearances it is likely that Argentina, Chile or Chechnya -just to mention a few- come to mind. However, in the heart of Europe, thousands of Spanish families are still digging up side roads and fields seeking their missing relatives in mass graves spread all over the country. With at least 114.266 identified missing persons disappeared during the Spanish Civil War and subsequent Franco regime, Spain is probably the country with the highest number of enforced disappearances in the world. Yet, the only trial held in Spain regarding the crimes committed during the Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship was that of malfeasance (prevaricación) against judge Garzón precisely because he tried to challenge the lack of accountability for such crimes.

Twelve cases concerning crimes committed during the Civil War and Franco regime have been brought before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against Spain. Victims have sought, amongst other claims, Spain’s international responsibility arising from the continuing violation of its obligation to carry out an effective investigation into the circumstances surrounding their relatives’ disappearances and extrajudicial executions as well as the failure to provide an effective remedy. So far, the ECtHR has declared inadmissible all cases concerning the Civil War and Franco regime but two, whose admissibility decisions are still pending. It all might be that, as a matter of fact, most of the cases have been “examined” by the same judge (Sicilianos).

Rights International Spain (RIS) submitted the latest of these cases, on 9 October 2012, on behalf of Fausto Canales Bermejo concerning the enforced disappearance of his father, Valerico Canales, on 20 August 1936. The complaint, supported by expert reports, explained the specific circumstances of the individual case as well as of the Spanish socio-political context arising from the Civil War and subsequent dictatorship. These circumstances are crucial to understand the constraints suffered by Fausto Canales to publicly or privately claim his status as a victim, let alone to exercise his rights before a court of justice. His is a case in point of the plight suffered by thousands of Spanish victims of the Civil War and Franco regime, forced to live in silence and fear during decades. Now, they witness how their last resort, the ECtHR, leaves them without answer to their claims of justice.

Approximately a month after submitting the complaint - an unusually short period for a truly serious and in-depth examination of the application and annexes, including the expert opinions-, the ECtHR has concluded that

“In the light of all the elements in its possession and insofar as it has the authority to decide on the complaints formulated, the Court has considered that your application does not comply with the requirements of admissibility established in articles 34 and 25 of the Convention (see mutatis mutandis Gutiérrez Dorado and Dorado Gutiérrez v Spain). This decision is definitive and cannot be appealed before the court, the Grand Chamber or any other body”.

It is worth recalling that Article 45 of the European Convention on Human Rights establishes that “Reasons shall be given for judgments as well as for decisions declaring applications admissible or inadmissible.” Yet, the ECtHR has not provided any legal reasoning or explanation whatsoever for dismissal. Hence, paraphrasing the UK’s Supreme Court President, Lord Neuberger, because decisions without reasons are certainly not justice, the Court’s resolution is scarcely a decision at all. Indeed, it is a regrettable response coming from a human rights court.

The ECtHR has used an almost identical standard formula to reject, on admissibility grounds, most of the cases submitted in relation to the Franco regime crimes. The mutatis mutandis reference, without any other indication, contained in the Canales Bermejo resolution to the Gutierrez Dorado and Dorado Gutierrez v. Spain case hardly amounts to legal reasoning.

The ECtHR declared the Gutierrez Dorado complaint inadmissible, among other reasons, because it considered that the applicants did not display “due diligence” in bringing their case before the Court “without undue delay” and therefore the complaint was “out of time”. Let us assume that this is the argument that the Court has used to dismiss the Canales Bermejo case. However, the latter differs from previous complaints presented by other Spanish victims before the Court. In consequence, the ECtHR has not taken into consideration the specific context and circumstances of the individual case.

One of the most relevant differences between both cases is that Canales Bermejo was the first complaint submitted to the ECtHR after, and as a result of, the Spanish Supreme Court decision issued on 27 February 2012. This decision acquitted Judge Garzón of malfeasance in the so-called “Historic Memory” trial. Furthermore, although it was not the matter of adjudication, the Supreme Court judgment definitively closed any possibility of carrying out judicial investigations into the gross human rights violations committed during the Civil War and Franco regime; thereby denying the victims any effective remedies. This denial constitutes a clear violation of Spain’s obligations under the Convention. Yet, instead of approaching the case from the perspective of the State’s duty to investigate and remove all obstacles that hinder the victims access to justice, the ECtHR places exclusively on the victim the burden to act “without delay” and “with due diligence”.

Fausto Canales Bermejo has struggled for many years trying to find out the truth about what happened to his father, disappeared when he was only two years old. His unrelenting activity, bringing all kinds of actions and resorting to all available procedures and mechanisms, contrasts with the Spanish State’s inactivity with regards to its obligation to investigate the enforced disappearance of Fausto’s father. Furthermore, a number of renowned experts (anthropologists, psychologists and jurists) justified, in the reports submitted to the ECtHR in support of Fausto Canales’ application, the “delay” of the Spanish victims to bring “timely” claims to the Court. In a nutshell, victims claim when they can and not when they want to. Accordingly, victims should not be required to act in a context of institutional crisis or widespread fear or where the legal conditions cannot ensure a minimum degree of success of their complaints. The action or inaction of the victim has to be considered within the larger socio-political context as well as within the context of the action or inaction of the State and the international community at large.

Given that the ECtHR’s decision in Canales Bermejo does not provide any reasoning, it is not only an unjust decision for the victim but is also a decision devoid of justice. It places the victim in a situation of inequality of arms vis-á-vis the State. While dismissing the efforts of the victim, the Court does not demand from the State even a minimum degree of due diligence in terms of compliance with its obligations. The inflexibility on the part of a human rights court with regard to the victims while sheltering the State’s flouting attitudes is difficult to understand.

Enforced disappearances amount to a continuing violation of several fundamental rights that lasts until such a time as the victim’s fate or whereabouts are established. To date, that is the case in Canales Bermejo and thousands of missing persons buried in mass graves all over Spain. The existing systematic impunity, which is tolerated and promoted by the Spanish State, contributes to prolonging the suffering of the victims’ families. Regrettably, the ECtHR has condoned impunity with procedural arguments in a decision devoid of justice.

*Lydia Vicente Márquez, human rights lawyer and Executive Director of Rights International Spain. Mercedes Melón, human rights lawyer, Legal Advisor of Rights International Spain

Sri Lanka: Judges Around the World Condemn Impeachment of Chief Justice Dr Shirani Bandaranayake

2013-01-24T18:38:33Z

Senior judges and eminent jurists from around the world joined together, calling on the Government of Sri Lanka to reinstate the legal Chief Justice Dr Shirani Bandaranayake.

An open letter issued by the Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) was sent to the Honorable Speaker of Parliament Chamal Rajapakse and H.E. President Mahinda Rajapakse, condemning the removal of Chief Justice Dr Shirani Bandaranayake as unconstitutional and in contravention of international standards on judicial independence.

The letter emphasized that an independent and impartial judiciary is essential for the protection of human rights, the rule of law, good governance and democracy.

It says: “The irremovability of judges is a main pillar of judicial independence. Judges may be removed only in the most exceptional cases involving serious misconduct or incapacity. And in such exceptional circumstances, any removal process must comport with international standards of due process and fair trial, including the right to an independent review of the decision.”

The impeachment process, and subsequent removal of the legal Chief Justice disregarded international standards of judicial independence and minimum guarantees of due process and fair trial.

“The Rajapakse Government has brought Sri Lanka on the path toward authoritarian rule, dismantling the system of checks and balances and eviscerating judicial independence,” said Wilder Tayler, ICJ Secretary General.

The Government’s conduct is a flagrant violation of the core values of the Commonwealth of Nations, notably the Latimer House Principles on the Three Branches of Government 2003.

The Latimer House Principles require the State to uphold the rule of law by protecting judicial independence and maintaining mutual respect and cooperation between Parliament and the Judiciary.

The Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association endorsed the letter.

In recent days, lawyers and advocates, opposing the impeachment have allegedly been sent threatening letters from a group identified as the Patriotic Taskforce.

The group has targeted the lawyers as traitors. Civil society groups have also been targeted in smear campaigns in the media. The Chief Justice has voiced concern for her and her family’s safety, calling on the international media to “…look after the three of us.”

“Sri Lanka must act immediately to guarantee the security of persons who have been the subject of threats or intimidation and must initiate prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into such allegations,” Tayler added.

The ICJ’s Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers and the undersigned jurists urge H.E. President Mahinda Rajapakse and Speaker of Parliament Chamal Rajapakse to act immediately to restore the independence of the judiciary by reinstating the legal Chief justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake.

CONTACT:

Sam Zarifi, ICJ Asia-Pacific Regional Director, (Bangkok), t: +66(0) 807819002; email: sam.zarifi@icj.org

Sheila Varadan, ICJ Legal Advisor, South Asia Programme, (Bangkok), t: +66 857200723; email: sheila.varadan@icj.org

Sri Lanka-Impeachment Chief Justice-ICJ open letter-2012

Special Feature: The Top 100 NGOs 2013 Edition

2013-01-23T18:16:14Z

We are pleased to present the second edition of The Global Journal’s Top 100 NGOs ranking. In introducing the inaugural list, we began by asking: just what is a non-government organization? On this, our definition remains the same – an operational or advocacy-focused non-profit organization active at the local, national or international level.

This time around, however, in a climate of financial crisis, reduced aid budgets and economy-wide fiscal austerity, it is probably more appropriate to ask a more fundamental question: in the broader global scheme of things, why do NGOs matter?

To come up with an answer, we need look no further than our top-ranked NGO for this year, the Bangladeshi giant BRAC. While undoubtedly a deserved winner, the sheer size and influence of the organization gives one pause for thought. This is an entity that reaches 126 million people directly through its programs, that provides health care to 100 million people, that employs a growing staff of 102,000, and that has lent $9.73 billion in micro-loans to over five million borrowers. Yet, for all its benevolence and clear social value, BRAC is ultimately accountable only to its donors – and in that regard, due to an astute foray into social business ventures, will only find this a less and less onerous burden to bear.

Turning to the sector as a whole, the numbers continue to speak for themselves. A Johns Hopkins University study from a decade ago revealed that the global non-profit sector was estimated to be worth $1.3 trillion in the five largest economies alone – equivalent to the total GDP of the United Kingdom (or the combined GDP of the 50 low-income countries at the time). One can only imagine it has expanded even further in the period since. Some may bristle at any mention of an ‘NGO industry,’ but what cannot be disputed is the critical role that NGOs play in the context of numerous national economies around the world. Profit margins may be non-existent, but the influence of the financial flows involved is undeniable.

And, of course, this does not even account for the fact the sector is in the midst of a fundamental transition – a transition catalyzed, arguably, by the earlier microfinance revolution of the 1970s. BRAC was part of the vanguard then, and remains at the forefront of new developments today. As the lines between NGO, social enterprise and social business blur, the questions of what an NGO should be, which interests it should serve and how it should be regulated by the state, will become more and more relevant.

But back to this year’s ranking. As you will see, there have been changes afoot. We have continued to refine our evaluation methodology, which this time around focused on what we believe are the three key criteria relevant to the activities of any NGO – impact, innovation and sustainability. For some organizations, these changes have resulted in a climb up the ranking. For others, a no doubt unwelcome slide. In either case though, we return to the same point as last year: despite our best efforts to ensure the ranking is based on concrete information fed through a rigorous, objective process, there is no science in the measuring. We invite you to read the feature that follows for what it is – a fascinating global snapshot of an often-overlooked sector. Like last year, we hope this list will inform, stimulate debate, inspire and shine a light on one hundred organizations worthy of your time.

To read more about the Top NGOs rankings click here.

Keeping Our Eyes Wide Open

2013-01-23T06:39:20Z

To see clearly is a difficult task. At night, or when there is too much light, when tired, or when too many people are around, where the rush of events is clouding our ability to discern what is essential. As journalists, we should ask ourselves constantly: do we see well?

Take the non-profit industry. The second edition of our Top 100 NGOs ranking is stronger, and we enjoy not only the fantastic outreach from the inaugural list, but the fact that NGOs themselves pushed us to look at their sector in an improved way. This year, we have focused on the three criteria we have used consistently since we began our media journey three years ago: innovation, impact and sustainability. Whether looking for projects with the potential to address critical global issues over the next five years – to create a successful GLOBAL+5 festival – tracing the development of stories on our website, or finding relevant features to share with our readers in more than 30 countries, these three criteria have been omnipresent.

For anyone concerned with the future, innovation, impact and sustainability provide a good compass. As we maintain our unwavering focus on the corporate world, governments, academia, social business, NGOs and simple citizens, we will continue to keep these criteria in mind to better understand global politics. This year, our new leader in the Top 100 NGOs ranking is Bangladeshi development giant BRAC. More than the sum of its – substantial – parts, the organization has transcended its origins in the microfinance revolution of the 1970s to represent a model for how NGOs can continue to evolve and innovate while remaining true to their underlying social mission.

Speaking of wide-open eyes, historians seem to be back in business. If we believe that economists, occupying the forefront of the media scene for a decade now, deserve a say when it comes to our collective future, then why should historians, scientists, geographers, architects, philosophers, writers, poets, doctors and so many others not be granted a similar chance? There is a sense of fatigue with the dominance of the economic perspective in public life. Voices like those of David Armitage, at Harvard, or Mark Mazower at Columbia, dare to challenge mainstream views – the 25-word sound bites framing the world through numbers and fear. Economists are rarely joyful – their basic rhetoric is imbued with the detritus of doomed plans.

Let’s change our perspective and open ourselves to the possibility of identifying new patterns and paths to govern the planet by looking back to the lessons of the past. Plutarch and his twin-portraits of leaders would certainly have liked the idea. In part, the innovation we require to advance is rooted right there. Still with wide-open eyes, read Thomas Davies on the long and turbulent history of NGOs, and Jonathan Katz’s eyewitness account of how the world came to save Haiti and left a disaster.

Bearing in mind that a few great debates began or escalated in the past year, in the fields of health, Internet governance, climate change and energy policy, global politics is heading step by step toward a worldwide call to citizens. How do we make sure that the voice of the people is heard amidst ever more complex disputes? The Global Journal works on a simple premise – in an honest and independent fashion – that in-depth journalism remains a great asset when it comes to understanding the world we live in.

Post-script: to celebrate 2013, our fourth year in publishing, I hope you will enjoy the changes to our design thanks to Dimitri. I’m not sure where he sits at this very moment – whether in Australia, Mexico, the United States or elsewhere – he is a globe trotter and a fantastic global designer. Bénédicte, our French designer, is now putting her hand to our second publication, Global Geneva. Feel free to read it whenever you visit us.

Subscribe or order a copy of The Global Journal here.

Clicks and Bricks: Preparing for Continuous Change

2012-11-19T10:01:30Z

What is the new game in town? Out of competing theories and views, there tends to emerge a certain winner, a dominant argument that shapes the entire new paradigm. In a world of diversity and disparate values and social systems, its not always easy to know what this emerging paradigm is. A lot of the times our views on who the winner might be are shaped by our own context and where we live.

What world do you live in? The world has probably always been as varied and multifarious as we find it now. Its population always separated by distance, context and perspective. There always were, and perhaps always will be, technologically advanced and not so advanced societies that co-exist. The crisis of our time though is somewhat different. It almost seems as if post-modernity has only just arrived in its truest sense. Choices about careers, investments, politics and social systems are all a lot more difficult.

As the world transitions towards multi-polarity, the shortcomings of all systems come sharply into focus. As the speed of technological innovation accelerates, skills, careers and products of today will become very rapidly obsolete tomorrow. As capital is attracted to a large spread of commercial centers across the world, and as start-ups and innovations drive economic growth, the world is growing much more competitive. This is probably an era of a million renaissances. As the worldwide web forged a global market, increasing numbers of people began selling their arts, skills, crafts, cultures and products to individuals all over the world, breathing life into many otherwise marginalized or unknown communities.

Despite the incredible variety in the lifestyles of the 7 billion people living on earth, there are at times some seminal events or discoveries that seem to reach across these vast differences and affect the lives of nearly all of us. It isn’t, however, always easy to spot such events in their early stages or to predict what their subsequent effects may be. As an increasing number of people gains access to information and research across the world, several different interpretations are brought to bear on these events. Post-modernity, perhaps by definition, implies a certain ambiguity and plurality of perspective embedded in context specific interpretations of the world, rather than a single monolithic understanding of it.

There are still, however, writers, thinkers and theorists whose views seem to envelop a large swathe of human understanding. Clay Shirky’s views, for instance, on collective human action through enabling technologies better known as ‘crowd sourcing’ is one area that is now seeing incredible growth and activity. Kick Starter – the start-up platform that ‘crowd funds’ creative projects and innovations of aspiring entrepreneurs and originated in the US in 2009 – has already funded US $350 Million in projects as of October 2012, and just launched in the UK last month. ‘Unbound’, a UK-based publishing house, aims to crowd source book publishing by taking away the middleman. Several such projects and start-ups are beginning to render the intermediary actors in entire sectors redundant.

The words and actions of such leading thinkers point to a very significant and rapid change in the way society functions. Yet in the midst of revolutionary ideas and innovations from people such as Paul Graham and Steven Pinker, you still, however, observe the old world views centered in geographic identities and ‘war of civilizations’ type mentalities fighting for survival in the writings of the likes of Niall Ferguson. Nonetheless, the inevitability of change is bound to creep into all our lives and it behooves us to listen and adapt to these changes as individuals, communities and as a society at large.

Happily enough, the developments we are observing are for the better, pointing to a more exciting and promising time ahead. With the corruption and inefficiencies in banking and other leading industries of the 20th century spilling out, the new breed of open-source and crowd sourced businesses is taking over, increasing transparency and leveling the playing field. The online shift of the world economy has opened avenues for growth to those who adapted fastest. However, the next generation of change is already upon us, and a new set of technologies are again on the anvil. We have already transitioned web-based business to mobile platforms resulting in incredible innovations in telephony. But there is a different class of innovations now taking shape.

The inventor Marcin Jacobowski built a tractor in just six days, and made the designs available to everyone. He is now creating a ‘starter kit for civilization,’ which includes simple designs for 50 machines he considers important for modern life. All of these are being made available open-source to unleash the potential for others. He is not alone, however, with this open source philosophy and idea sharing spreading far and wide. Marcin is also not alone in focusing on manufacturing. Time magazine’s best inventions list for 2012 featured, alongside his tractor, a motion-activated screwdriver, solar water distiller, a ‘liquislide’ compound material for aiding fluid flow that can be used in anything ranging from ketchup bottles to airplane wings, self inflating tires, a new space suit design, and James Cameron’s Deepsea Challenger Submarine. In sum, the list includes a host of objects that represent innovations in design of physical space. There is an unmistakable trend towards manufacturing and hardware after a burst of software and web-enabled innovations. These developments are transformative and will realign industries and economic power.

According to Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief at Wired and best-selling author, the next significant development will be linked to the democratization of the tools of creation and distribution. At his talk in London for Intelligence Squared, Anderson singled out 3D printing as the next major revolutionary step, which will impact and drive manufacturing over the coming decades. According to Anderson, ten years ago businessmen from developed western countries had to travel half way across the globe to China, network with local officials and obtain permits to have their products manufactured in cheap local factories. Now the same transaction takes a couple of clicks on the Internet through online payment and data sharing services.

The methods of production and the mechanics of doing business internationally have changed dramatically. The global supply chain or ‘factory in the cloud,’ has not only made it easier for Chinese factories to secure overseas contracts, but has also empowered inventors in the West to become entrepreneurs by helping them convert their designs into products, reducing barriers to entry. But that too is now fast becoming par for the course. According to Anderson the game is already set to change once again with the advent of 3D printing, which essentially enables users to print ‘things’ instead of documents at home from their computer. That is, providing the means for individuals to design their own product and ‘manufacture’ it in on their own 3D printer.

While still nascent, the potential impact of this technology on how we consume products, design our physical space and personalize our world is significant. For instance, 3D printing could be a challenge to Chinese dominance of production processes. If spread widely enough, people might design and tailor their products to their own taste and build them at home rather than buying mass-produced goods off a factory floor. In this vein, Anderson wrote in his earlier books Long Tail and Free about the revival of barter and exchange of value over the net, resulting in new rules for finance and economics in the information age. All these developments rupture existing structures, creating space for new ideas and systems.

How far economies go in internalizing these concepts and developments into their social fabric and their culture is pivotal in marking out the main beneficiaries of such developments. While this notion of adapting to the latest technology is not new, the extraordinary rate of progress now is itself a major game changer. Slow moving, entrenched and rigid structures, large corporations and monopolies will find themselves less and less competitive in a world of crowd-sourced solutions, networked start-ups and rapid technological advances. The shifts in global politics, the shifting of economic power, rapid and irresistible technological changes and evolving social and cultural paradigms mean that nimble-footed and adaptive institutions and individuals will lead the way and benefit most from coming changes.

Smaller start-ups and flexible networks rather than large companies, and adaptive individuals rather than commoditized, unresponsive workers are destined to survive better. Flexibility, the ability to start afresh and continuously innovate is the new normal. Given this new set of rules, creating industries that are adaptive and systems that are responsive is the order of the day. It is perhaps not a war of civilizations anymore, but a competition between networks: the wider, broader and nimbler the network, the better the chances of surviving to the next hurdle. Societies that are able to look beyond political and religious identities towards more collaborative and result-oriented associations across the globe will lead the way. That, really, is the new game in town.

News Opportunities of Development for Ngos

2012-11-19T09:59:26Z

NGOs global conference – Riva del Garda ( Italy )

Promoted in cooperation with the European Union of Public Relations ( Ngo) & Riva del Garda-Fiere Congressi S.p.A.

Aim of the conference:

The program should be patronized by Italian committee

The global conference targets Ngos that aim to develop news activities of cooperation.

Programme:

First day: Inauguration of the conference with NGOs' representatives and personalities of Trento autonomous Province ( Italy);
Second and third day: different professional trainings for Ngos that wil be divided in groups according to the differents geographical areas (Europe-Asia- USA- Latin America - Africa -Arabs coutries )
Third day - Day for touristic tours around lake of Garda and typical dinner with delivery to the Ngos representatives a certificate " Global qualification"

The preliminary inquiry is promoted for receipt answer by email, to follow the Italian committee will send the following informations :

i. registration-form

ii. administratives conditions

iii. regulation and other

iv. date: 2013

The registration may be covered by the secretariat office of Riva del Garda-Fiere Congressi S.p.A. as well as the Hotel, touristic tour and further assistance of transfer from international airport of Verona – Villafranca / Milano Mlapensa.