new global citizen

8. MBAs Choose Toilets Over Stock Options

30. Are the United States and Russia Building a New Wall?

34. Net Impact is Breaking Boundaries to Repair the World

42. Jumpstart Your Career With Lean Method

52. Five Strategies for Effective Volunteer Alliances

Fall 2014

Editor in ChiEfAlicia Bonner Ness

ExECutivE PublishErAmanda MacArthur

dEsign & PubliCation ManagEr

Melissa Mattoon

CoPy EditorMatt Clark

PublishEd daily at: www.newglobalcitizen.com

ContaCt: [email protected]

(202) 719-0656

@BeNewGlobal

facebook.com/BeNewGlobal

Today’s world demands individuals and organizations prepared to thrive in a globally interconnected network of challenges and op-

portunities. Greater social awareness and innovative approaches have allowed us 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

global 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, ushering in collaborative approaches that address

complex challenges. The New Global Citizen elevates the ways in which individuals, corporations, and social enterprises champion a

better future for our world.

THIS IS THE WORLD OF THE NEW GLOBAL CITIZEN.

THIS IS YOUR WORLD.

F a l l 2 0 1 4 Contributors

Jailan Adly Director, MBAs Without Borders

Rodrigo Soares Key Client Manager, PYXERA Global

Amy Crumbliss Senior Program Coordinator, PYXERA Global

Emma Boles Global Communications Officer, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation

Chuck Montgomery Senior Managing Attorney, MidAmerican Energy Company

Deirdre White CEO, PYXERA Global

Liz Maw CEO, Net Impact

Katie Levey Director, Media Relations, PYXERA Global

Mark Horoszowski Co-founder, MovingWorlds.org

Deborah K. Holmes Americas Director, Corporate Responsibility, EY

Maggie DeLorme Program Manager, PYXERA Global

Susan Fowler Author, Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work…and What Does

CONTENTS

PIONEERS ON THE FRONTIER OF CITIZEN DIPLOMACYChuck Montgomery

THREE WAYS TO BREAK DOWN BARRIERS TO POSITIVE NET IMPACTLiz Maw

JUMPSTART YOUR CAREER WITH LEAN METHODMark Horoszowski

FIVE STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE VOLUNTEER ALLIANCESDeborah K. Holmes

DEFINING “GOOD” DEVELOPMENTMaggie DeLorme

Inside the IssueEDITOR’S LETTERAl ic ia Bonner Ness

CommentWHAT IS A GLOBAL CITIZEN, ANYWAY?Al ic ia Bonner Ness

Book ExcerptWHY MOTIVATING PEOPLE DOESN’T WORK…AND WHAT DOESSusan Fowler

Features

Happenings

4

34

ARE THE UNITED STATES AND RUSSIA BUILDING A NEW WALL?25 th Anniversary of the Fa l l of the

Ber l in Wal l

LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR AFRICA’S FUTURE GROWTHU.S. -Afr ica Leaders Summit

THE DANGER OF VICTORY LAPSUN Week 2014

PARTNERSHIP IS THE FINEST FORM OF FLATTERYCommit !Forum

52

6

30

38

48

TOILETS OVER STOCK OPTIONSJai lan Adly

CAN PARTNERSHIP & TECHNOLOGY SAVE THE AMAZON?Rodr igo Soares

TV WHITE SPACES WILL BRING MILLIONS ONLINEMel issa Mattoon

Around the World

62

60

THE LONG ROAD TO PEACE IN COLOMBIA Amy Crumbl iss

SUSTAINABLE SHRIMP FARMING IN VIETNAM’S MANGROVE FORESTS Emma Boles

568

12

16

20

22

42

26

T h e N e w G l o b a l C i t i z e n | F a l l 2 0 1 42NGC

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At PepsiCo, Performance with Purpose is our goal to deliver sustained value for our business, for the planet and the communities in which we live and work.

Performancewith Purpose

WeAre

www.pepsico.com

Empowering women and girls is a strategic imperative within PepsiCo’s Global Citizenship Vision. In addition to their project work aimed at advancing sustainable agriculture

practices, the PepsiCorps team mentored young girls living in rural South Africa o�ering advice and encouragement to continue their education and pursue their dreams.”

PepsiCorps is a one-month international

community volunteering and leadership development experience that enables PepsiCo employees to use their talents to enhance the

capacity of local community organizations, gain insight into global challenges, and

deliver sustainable social impact around the world.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

You’re More Like a Tree Than You Think

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/educationFollow 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.

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

Focusing technology, resources, and partnerships to help people thrive

Pyxera Global Ad_8.5x11.indd 1 3/18/14 3:55 PM

This fall, I visited New England just

at the peak of the fall foliage sea-

son. Truly a sight to behold, this

fall the colors were even brighter

than usual. A local revealed that an early

freeze, followed by a period of warmth,

had yielded a remarkable expression of

red, orange, yellow, and gold.

As I drove through the splendor of the

season, I reflected that, in some ways,

humans are not unlike trees, a compari-

son that might seem humorous at first,

but, upon reflection, showed itself to be

remarkably true.

We are each creatures of our environ-

ment, shaped by the people, ideas, and

endeavors we encounter every day. And

then, a shock to the system, an unexpected

experience—either good or bad—yields an

understanding that, once gained, cannot

be unlearned. Over the course of a lifetime

our perspective is colored and enriched by

these experiences.

Over the past months, the Ebola out-

break has cast a pall on world events.

The Islamic State in the Levant has gained

power and ground, with no apparent

means available to counteract this mali-

cious force. In a world full of threats, it

is natural to want to turn inward, to seek

isolation, to preserve the status quo.

Yet, in a globalized world, isolation

cannot address the challenges at hand.

By embracing mindfulness and prudent

curiosity, we each have an opportunity to

foster understanding and connectedness

that can leave each of us changed by the

experience.

This fall issue is full of inspiring innova-

tions, including how business is supporting

the sanitation industry in Ghana, Uganda,

and Zambia, how technology is aiding ef-

fective forest management in Brazil, how

traditional shrimp farming practices are

transforming the fishing industry in Viet-

nam, and how underutilized TV broadcast

frequencies are being used to bring Africa

online.

It’s also ripe with lessons learned in

volunteerism, personal leadership, citizen

diplomacy, and international development

as well as provocative reflections on recent

events, including the UN General Assem-

bly, Commit!Forum, the U.S.-Africa Leaders

Summit, and the forthcoming 25th anniver-

sary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In a world full of bad news, there is

plenty of room for doubt. Instead, these

pages offer great cause for hope in the

personal transformation that is in progress,

with more still to come.

Alicia Bonner Ness

Editor in Chief


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/educationFollow 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.

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

Focusing technology, resources, and partnerships to help people thrive

Pyxera Global Ad_8.5x11.indd 1 3/18/14 3:55 PM

Sp

on

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Co

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Alicia Bonner Ness

This September, 50,000 people gathered on Central Park’s

Great Lawn in New York City for arguably the best concert

of the year. The 3rd Global Citizen Festival featured Beyonce,

JAY Z, No Doubt, Sting, Carrie Underwood, and the Roots,

alongside 15 national leaders—in town for UN Week—and close to

100 other celebrities. Their mission: end extreme poverty.

The Global Citizen festival is an initiative of the Global Poverty

Project (GPP) that seeks to “grow the number and effectiveness

of Global Citizens to achieve the public, business, and political

commitment and action to end extreme poverty” by 2030.

GPP and the Global Citizen Festival are not alone in this pursuit.

The World Bank, the UN Foundation, and several other organiza-

tions are allied with this target date in mind. What is unique about

the Global Citizen campaign is its insistence that such efforts are

principally oriented around justice, and a need for countries and

corporations to pledge more dollars in aid to bring about this end.

While I enthusiastically endorse all efforts to end poverty, I

can’t help but notice that this campaign exposes two fundamental

flaws in its construct. First, the campaign suggests that the answer

to extreme poverty is a call for more of what has, heretofore,

been largely ineffective: aid. For over 50 years, with the best of

intentions, national aid agencies and multilateral organizations,

like the World Bank, have poured billions into aid, and yet billions

continue to live below the poverty line, lack access to clean water,

and die from easily curable disease.

Can the right answer actually be “more of the same”?

More problematically, however, the Global Citizen campaign

confuses outrage over the injustice of extreme poverty with the

notion of global citizenship. The campaign seeks to promote a

culture of clicktivism that rewards online actions with tickets to

Usher, instead of promoting a culture of good citizenship that

endorses respectful curiosity for all people of the world.

It’s unclear whether the 1.75 million actions taken by 250,000

“global citizens” were primarily motivated by a quest for justice

or an opportunity to get up close and personal with JAY Z. The

world is almost certainly better off for having 250,000 people who

What is a Global Citizen, Anyway?

COMMENT


are more aware of the great development challenges facing our

world, but I fear the campaign’s information may not be as well-

researched as one might hope.

For example, the page celebrating the countless pledges made

from the stage during the concert on September 27 sought to draw

attention to the absence of sanitation infrastructure in much of

the world. The author claimed that “30 million people in Nepal

currently defecate in the open.” Upon reading this citation, I won-

dered at the number, thinking it quite high for a small country, like

Nepal. Indeed, further inquiry showed Nepal’s current population

to be approximately 27 million, and the number of visitors to be

close to 800,000 each year. This would suggest that Nepal is a

country entirely devoid of sanitation infrastructure in which all

people are forced to relieve themselves in public. This is clearly

not the case, and such hyperbole could likely lead to outrage in

quite another way.

I didn’t take the time to verify every other number quoted on

the page, but I wondered at the use of

information without citation. While I did

find this particular error unfortunate,

the fundamental issue lies in the use

of inflammatory information—both true

and exaggerated—to convince people

that the “net profits” of their $27 pur-

chase of a T-shirt, two bracelets, a USB

keychain, a door sign, and a Global

Citizen sticker pack can meaningfully

affect the injustice of extreme poverty.

On the other side of the globe, an-

other group of visionaries undertook a

similarly confusing endeavor. Based in

Dubai, UAE, Global Citizen magazine is

“a bi-monthly title that provides readers with a wealth of articles

covering investment opportunities and destinations, real estate

trends, entrepreneurial profiles, philanthropy, and challenges

facing the region’s leading business leaders.” It also features “an

impressive lifestyle section focusing on everything from the arts

and travel to luxury cars, male grooming and fashion, gadgets,

and dining out.” The cover of each issue to date has featured an

A-list celebrity, including Jimmy Carter, George Clooney, Jon Hamm,

Angelina Jolie, Matthew McConaughey, and Oprah Winfrey. While

one must admire their marketing panache, are we supposed to

believe that the definition of a “global citizen” is an ultra-wealthy

man or woman? I should hope not.

In both cases, the notion of global citizenship has been co-

opted as a symbol of status, rather than a way of being.

For centuries, citizenship has been a designation of political

rights; individuals had responsibilities as citizens, often designated

in a nation’s constitution, and in turn, enjoyed protections pro-

vided by their state. In today’s increasingly interconnected world,

the protections and privileges of the state have, in many ways,

been surpassed by the cohesion of the masses. In March of 2013,

another group, The Global Citizen’s Initiative, or TGCI, launched

the Amherst Declaration on Global Citizenship, which identifies

the eight values a global citizen should hold.

This publication seeks to build on that foundation, providing a

portal through which everyday people can better understand the

ideal of global citizenship not just as a hypothetical construct but

as a useful guide that informs our ability to engage appropriately,

purposefully, and globally every day.

This world view is not about fostering a culture of clicktiv-

ism, but about changing how things are done, and telling the

stories of those who are willing to lead the way in thinking and

acting differently. It requires adopting an individual mandate to

be good citizens who embrace and celebrate the opportunity to

connect with and learn from one another, to be curious about

the languages, cultures, and histories

of those around us. Individual mind-set,

manifested as personal leadership, is

the most fundamental way each person

on earth can contribute to transforming

the global status quo.

In his 2012 TED talk, Ernesto Sirolli,

the founder of The Sirolli Institute, sug-

gests that there is only one way to actu-

ally do this: “shut up and listen.” Lis-

tening means discovering more impact,

hearing (and sharing) more stories, am-

plifying the incredible difference global

engagement can make—both when we

do it right, and when we do it wrong.

So much becomes possible if we can better understand how in-

novative and impactful approaches are changing the way people

are empowered to define their own lives and livelihoods in the

far-reaching corners of the world.

In this worldview, xenophobia, as much as poverty, is a destruc-

tive adversary that must be eradicated. What’s more, a skin-deep

understanding is little better. Awareness isn’t actually helpful

unless it drives a change in perspective and understanding that

ultimately changes behavior.

As global citizens actively choosing to continue our growth

along a spectrum of global engagement, it is our responsibility to

bring others along, to see one, do one, and teach one.

What will you do today to help someone you know start their

journey, to listen to others, to share their story, to discover their

world?

This is the world of the new global citizen. This is your world.

Listening means discovering more impact, hearing (and

sharing) more stories, amplifying the incredible

difference global engagement can make—both when we do it right, and when we do it wrong.

T h e N e w G l o b a l C i t i z e n | F a l l 2 0 1 4 NGC 7

AROUND THE WORLD

This summer, four MBAs packed their bags and headed off to Kenya, Ghana,

Zambia, and Uganda to work on water, hygiene, and sanitation related

issues (collectively known as WASH) as MBAs Without Borders Advisors.

Why would four talented business professionals leave the comfort of

home and corporate job opportunities to go work in the toilet business? To be

honest, I didn’t fully understand the business potential of sanitation myself until

last spring when I attended the “Unclogging Blockages in Sanitation” conference

in Kampala, Uganda.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 2.5 billion people world-

wide live without access to basic sanitation facilities, and one billion practice open

defecation, contributing to contamination and disease. This population—25 percent

of the world—represents a massive global market with tremendous profit potential.

Sanitation and water problems are multifaceted and often require locally-driven,

multidimensional solutions.

Organizations like Water for People and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor

(WSUP) are spearheading efforts to bring such solutions to market.

Three months after I left the conference in Uganda, MBAs Without Borders was

on the hunt for four talented MBAs to support WSUP and Water for People’s work.

Jeff Walcott had just completed his MBA after what he dubbed “an early mid-life

crisis.” Jeff was expanding marketing operations for a large corporation in New York

and living what many people would consider to be “the dream.” But Jeff wanted

to do more. Jeff knew that business could be harnessed to solve the world’s most

complex challenges and, being an entrepreneur at heart, he was interested in using

creativity and business to develop solutions to problems.

“Despite the fact that I had a comfortable job, a career trajectory, and even

qualified for a pension—a rarity for young professionals now—I couldn’t shake the

feeling that by going to work every morning I was part of the problem and not the

solution. I longed to work for an organization that successfully combined profit-

ability and optimal well-being for the populations it served.”

Determined to make a change, Jeff left his job to pursue an MBA focused on

entrepreneurship. Now, four years after his mid-life crisis, Jeff is in Nairobi working

with WSUP Enterprises to help define business models in four different markets

that can provide communities with access to improved sanitation. He will spend

STOCK OPTIONSJai lan Adly

Why would four talented business

professionals leave the comfort of home

and corporate job opportunities to go work

in the toilet business?


MBAS WITHOUT BORDERS ADVISORS USE BUSINESS

TO BUILD SANITATION MARKETS IN AFRICA

the next six months traveling between Kenya, Ghana, Zambia,

and Bangladesh.

“As an MBAs Without Borders Advisor, I’m happy to be part of

a new approach to improving lives, one that empowers consumers

by providing market-based choices to help solve their challenges.

Through this role, my passion for social entrepreneurship has

converged with my ability to fully execute on business ideas. This

experience will undoubtedly be one that transforms and defines

my personal and professional life for years to come.”

For Mikael Baker, working in sanitation was an obvious next

step. Mikael spent much of his youth in Botswana, Egypt, Ghana,

Kenya, and Tanzania where he witnessed countless failures of tra-

ditional development initiatives. As a result, he became interested

in how social enterprises could be used to disrupt and transform

the existing development paradigm.

While completing his MBA, Mikael attended a Net Impact event

and was thrilled to encounter a large network of like-minded

individuals with common values and goals. He joined the board

of the DC Net Impact Professional Chapter, which brought him to

the 2012 Net Impact Conference in Baltimore and ultimately to

MBAs Without Borders.

Following his MBA, Mikael worked with University Research

Co, joining the Translating Research into Action (TRAction) proj-

ect. TRAction guides research on how to effectively scale existing

Photo: Water for People

interventions in WASH, clean cookstoves, food

security, malaria, and maternal health. His work

with TRAction led him to work with WASH experts

on the viability of sanitation as a business, fuel-

ing his interest in this critical sector.

Mikael had a strong desire to return to Af-

rica but wanted to do so in a manner that was

impactful—he just needed the right opportunity.

Since his first introduction to MBAs Without

Borders in 2012, Mikael had gotten into the

habit of checking the MBAs Without Borders

opportunities page. When a position support-

ing Water for People, a global NGO focused on

increasing access to clean water and improved

sanitation in emerging markets opened up, Mi-

kael seized the opportunity. Water for People is

launching a pilot aimed to support sanitation

enterprises in Uganda and was looking for an

MBAs Without Borders Advisor to help support

its development.

“My desire to contribute to economic de-

velopment in Africa and my sense of adventure

prompted me to look for a career move that

would take me back to Africa, even if only on

a short-term basis,” said Mikael. “I decided I

would devote my energy to tackling sanitation

challenges if given the opportunity. The sector

is ripe for innovation, and I want to help bring

innovation to scale because of the social and

economic impact that will follow.”

Now, Mikael will spend the next year in

Uganda working with Water for People to launch

Sanitation Solutions Group. The position will en-

able him to develop a robust and well-rounded

understanding of social enterprise in emerging

markets as he helps build a new social business

sector, launch and scale a startup social enter-

prise, pursue investment opportunities, and de-

velop business plans with micro-entrepreneurs.

Krystal Kovalik, an INSEAD graduate and self-

described “frugal innovator” is working as an

MBAs Without Borders Advisor with Clean Team

Ghana.

Clean Team’s innovative business model en-

ables consumers whose homes are not served

by municipal sewage systems to rent portable,

private toilets. Clean Team collects the refuse

several times per week and is working toward

WATER FOR PEOPLE UGANDA IS TACKLING SANITATION CHALLENGES BY UTILIZING THE PRIVATE SECTOR TO MANAGE WATER SYSTEMS.

Photo: Water for People

ELISHA, A CLEAN TEAM WASTE COLLECTOR, REMOVES WASTE CAR-TRIDGES OF PARTICIPATING HOUSEHOLDS TWO TO FOUR TIMES A WEEK.

turning it into energy, fulfilling one

of society’s most basic needs—sani-

tation—with the bonus of a positive

by-product.

The idea of going to Kenya, Ghana,

Zambia, or Uganda for six to 12

months sounds fascinating to most

people I speak with, but having the

guts to actually get on the plane is

much more difficult than it sounds.

Effectively addressing a serious health

challenge in what may be the world’s

most unglamorous sector takes a

whole new level of courage. The work

might be dirty, but the potential for

impact is enormous, so much so that

The Bill and Melinda Gates Founda-

tion allocates almost $80 million a

year to address WASH-related issues.

Addressing sanitation would not only

improve the health and safety of more

than 40 percent of the world’s popula-

tion, it also creates the opportunity

to foster viable local businesses to

help those communities thrive and

prosper.

MBAs Without Borders Advisors

may have diverse and varied back-

grounds, skills, and interests, but

they often share a few critical char-

acteristics—courage to forge into the

unknown, resilience to bounce back

from failure, and the awareness to

understand that global connectedness

is key to our collective progress.

Khadija Jiwani, like Jeff, Mikael,

and Krystal, was drawn to MBAs

Without Borders because of her be-

lief in the power of business to drive

change, and her unquenchable en-

trepreneurial spirit. It was her sense

of adventure, grit, and tenacity that

gave her the courage to accept the

offer, pack her bags, and move to

Zambia—one of the world’s fastest

economically reforming countries—for

the next year.

“Routine. Just the thought alone

makes me squirm. There is a thrill in

the unexpected and, as it turns out,

I have a keen ability to adapt quickly

to changing environments, to thrive

in chaos and ambiguity,” said Khadija.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve

always been drawn towards the next

new challenge or adventure.”

Photos: Clean Team


IBM AND THE NATURE CONSERVANCY PARTNER TO TRACK DEFORESTATION IN THE AMAZON

Can Partnership and Technology Save the Amazon?

AROUND THE WORLD


In May of 2014, I had the opportunity to visit Belém, Brazil,

to learn from the public and social sectors how the Brazilian

government is addressing deforestation in rural, privately-

owned lands in the Amazon. As a Brazilian, deforestation in

this region has loomed over the political and public discourse

of my home country for as long as I can remember. Fueled

by a multitude of social and market forces, Brazil alone has

cleared more than 153,000 square miles of Amazon rainforest

since the early 1990s. However, after an especially destruc-

tive year in 2004 and due in part to new political leadership,

deforestation rates in Brazil actually began to fall. For the first

time in my life, I felt hopeful that the Brazilian government

was working to monitor and curtail this dire problem.

Unfortunately, my optimism was short-lived. In 2013, defor-

estation increased by 33 percent, reversing part of the progress

that had been made over the previous decade. Economic

expansion in emerging and developed markets alike has mo-

tivated agribusinesses to clear huge areas of the Amazon to

meet a growing global demand for commodities like soybeans,

beef, and timber. According to The Nature Conservancy (TNC),

every 15 minutes, an area of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest larger

than 200 football fields is destroyed. Close to 20 percent of

the Amazon has been cut down in the past 40 years, and

scientists predict another 20 percent of the trees will be lost

in the next 20 years.

In spite of these ongoing, devastating losses to this crucial

biome, there is some cause for hope. In 2012, the Brazilian

government revised its Forest Code, requiring the registration

Rodrigo Soares

Photo: Haroldo Palo Jr.

Close to 20 percent of the Amazon has been cut down in the past 40 years , and sc ient is ts pred ict another 20 percent o f the t rees wi l l be lost in the next 20 years .

%20


of all private lands in a land registry system called SiCar, which

will enable local governments to collect environmental informa-

tion and assess the state of deforestation on private property

in the region. According to TNC, “The new Forest Code is one

of the most important advances in environmental management

in Brazil in the past 50 years. It

is revolutionary because local

public authorities will be able to

attribute deforestation to indi-

vidual rural property owners and

identify those who are manag-

ing their lands in a sustainable

fashion.”

Earlier this year, IBM’s Cor-

porate Service Corps (CSC) part-

nered with TNC in Pará state, in

Northern Brazil to support the

capacity of municipalities in the

Brazilian Amazon to enforce the revised Forest Code. Through

this collaboration, a team of 10 IBM pro bono consultants from

across the globe worked with TNC in Belém, Pará to help local

municipalities effectively establish land-ownership records,

monitor land use, and prevent illegal deforestation. Principally,

the IBM team is enhancing the features of the TNC’s Municipal

Environmental Portal (PAM), a web-based portal that has been

piloted in a number of Brazilian municipalities to assess land

use and compliance with Brazil’s revised Forest Code. The IBM

CSC team is working with TNC to enhance the portal’s capabili-

ties and its integration with other

government databases and is de-

veloping a road map for TNC to

introduce the portal to munici-

palities throughout the Amazon

River Basin.

This project is closely aligned

with the Brazilian government’s

goal of decentralizing environ-

mental management, as state

governments have been largely

unsuccessful at monitoring pri-

vate lands at a local level. By

building the capacity of the local municipal governments to

perform environmental management, the IBM team will play an

important role in ensuring the revised Forest Code’s impact is

effectively realized. According to TNC, “The focus should be build-

ing the capacity of local municipalities with technologies such

Economic expansion in emerging and developed markets a l ike has mot ivated agr ibusinesses to c lear huge areas

of the Amazon to meet a growing g lobal demand for commodit ies l ike beef , soybeans, and t imber.

The rainforest plays a key role in regulating the earth’s climate, and is home to one-third of the planet’s biodiversity and at

least one-fifth of its fresh water production. As such, it is no surprise that the Amazon

rainforest has been deemed “the most critical place for human survival.”

Photo: Erik Lopes


not just the for the hundreds of millions of

people who inhabit the eight countries con-

taining the 2.7 million square miles of Ama-

zon rainforest, but for everyone in the world.

The rainforest plays a key role in regulating

the earth’s climate, and is home to one-third

of the planet’s biodiversity and at least one-

fifth of its fresh water production. As such,

it is no surprise that TNC has deemed the

Amazon rainforest “the most critical place for

human survival.” The collaboration between

IBM and TNC is a small step towards address-

ing this enormous challenge. With luck, it can

inspire more partnerships that leverage the

innovative technologies required to achieve

large-scale conservation, protecting both the

health of the Amazon and the health of the

planet for years to come.

as the Municipal Environmental Portal,

which will enable local governments to

update the state government on a more

accurate and regular basis.”

IBM has embraced the opportunity

to support such an important and im-

pactful project, which aligns closely with

the company’s corporate objectives.

“This partnership with The Nature

Conservancy provides an opportunity

for IBM to exert environmental leader-

ship on the ground that will balance the

need for economic growth with the need

to provide sustainable performance in

the environmental space,” said Stanley

Litow, the Vice President for Corporate

Affairs who oversees the CSC program.

Mechanisms for monitoring defores-

tation and implementing preventative

measures depend heavily on the effec-

tive use of technology. Major invest-

ments in tools like PAM and SiCar are

building a strong foundation for future

initiatives. The partnership between IBM

and TNC can serve as a model for other

countries across the globe seeking to

effectively leverage technology to ad-

dress deforestation issues. Additionally,

further investments that allow these

tools to be integrated with other state

databases will enable their use across

the country, ensuring long-term success.

The partnership between IBM, TNC,

and the local Brazilian municipalities is

also a reminder that, like any complex

global challenge, the fight to preserve

the Amazon rainforest is not just the

sole responsibility of a single govern-

ment, corporation, or NGO. “We can’t

solve these big problems unless we

have governments working with busi-

ness, working with NGOs. It takes all

three to be successful,” said Henry M.

Paulson Jr., the former U.S. Treasury

Secretary and co-chairman of the Latin

American Conservation Council.

Deforestation of the Amazon has

significant environmental implications,

FARMERS FROM SÃO FÉLIX DO XINGU, A MUNICIPALITY IN THE STATE OF PARÁ IN THE NORTHERN REGION OF BRAZIL

Photos: Erik Lopes

AROUND THE WORLD

TV White Spaces Will Bring Millions Online

Melissa Mattoon

Microsoft 4Afrika Fosters African Competitiveness through Affordable Access, Innovation, and World-Class Skills

In a bright yellow shipping container

nearly 140 miles from Nairobi, Kenya, a

rural community is finally connected to

the information highway. The container

is actually a solar-powered internet café

called ‘Mawingu’—which is Kiswahili for

‘cloud.’ The café leverages Microsoft’s state-

of-the-art technology to provide broadband

internet access to local teachers, farmers,

and merchants in a community formerly

without internet or even electricity. The

shop, managed by the tech-savvy Benson

Maina, is part of the Mawingu White Spaces

Broadband Project, a pilot project of the

Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative that is testing

the commercial viability of low-cost hubs to

provide internet access and technological

services to rural communities in Africa. As

of its launch in November 2013, Maina’s

shop has seen enormous success.

Much of this success can be attributed

to the container’s use of solar power and

TV white spaces to deliver affordable broad-

band access to an area currently off the

grid. Recognizing that access to low-cost,

high-speed broadband is critical to clos-

ing Africa’s opportunity gap, Microsoft has

made internet access through TV white-

space broadband one of the three pillars

of the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative.

“Living here for the last 10 years, I

have seen people suffering. If I wanted to

know about something in high school, I

had to buy a newspaper, but I didn’t have

money,” Maina said. “Mawingu has had a

huge impact on the community already.

Having access to internet and technology

is life-changing—and it’s the way to allevi-

ate poverty. People in the area will begin

having incomes as a result of information

obtained from the internet. In a few years,

this area will be different than the rest of

the country; we will be icons for what’s

to come.”

For tech giant Microsoft, investing in

individuals like Benson Maina is not just

a corporate responsibility priority, it’s good

business. By providing access to technol-

ogy, particularly cloud services and smart

devices, Microsoft hopes to foster employ-

ment and African competitiveness while

securing its market position for years to

come. Maina’s shop is the first in what

will hopefully become a network of other

containers across Kenya, and eventually

Africa, that are creating new opportunities

for commerce, employment, and education.

At a high level, ‘TV white spaces’ refers

to the unused broadcasting frequencies,

typically used for television transmission,

that exist in the wireless spectrum. These

frequencies are also suitable for delivering

affordable broadband access to rural com-

munities because they are able to travel

over longer distances and penetrate more

obstacles than other types of radio signals.

Microsoft 4Afrika is a $70 million initiative designed to help improve Africa’s global competi-tiveness by bringing smart devices, connectivity, and technology training to African entre-preneurs, youth, developers, and graduates by 2016. The Initiative focuses on three critical areas: access, innovation, and world-class skills.


Typical home wi-fi can only travel through

two walls, but white space broadband

can travel over six miles, through fields

of crops, concrete buildings, and other

barriers. Tablets, phones, and computers

can all connect to this wireless network

through fixed or portable power stations

like Maina’s shop.

The feasibility of the white space

technology has already been seen in

over a dozen trials that have taken place

from remote villages in Africa to the

dense urban centers of Singapore, and

college campuses in the United States.

Microsoft hopes that the success of the

Mawingu project in Kenya and similar

pilots in South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania,

and Ghana will encourage other African

governments to implement the regula-

tory changes needed to allow this type

of technology to be expanded across the

continent.

“It is going to significantly increase

the ability for innovation and the great

ideas that Africans have to actually reach

markets and become available for use by

consumers... . I think that there is a fan-

tastic opportunity for Africa to showcase

its own capabilities in the world because

of the increased access,” said Fernando

de Sousa, General Manager of Microsoft

Africa Initiatives.

The economic impact of the Mawingu

White Spaces Broadband Project has al-

ready been seen with many of Maina’s

first customers, including farmers, small

business owners, students, and individu-

als seeking job opportunities. Diana, an

unemployed teacher, used the broadband

access at the Mawingu shop to research

By providing access to technology, particularly

cloud services and smart devices, Microsoft

hopes to foster employment and African competitiveness while securing its market position for years to

come.

Benson Maina holds a TV white spaces antenna in f ront of the Mawingu White Spaces Broadband pi lot conta iner near Nanyuki , Kenya. The café leverages white space technology to provide broadband internet access to a community former ly without internet or even electr ic i ty.

Photo: Georgina Goodwin

and apply for teaching opportunities on-

line, ultimately leading to the teaching po-

sition she now holds at Doldol Secondary

School. Another customer, Steven, went

to the Mawingu shop seeking information

on computer software and now operates a

successful business installing and repair-

ing commercial and residential software in

neighboring towns.

It is anticipated that shops like Maina’s

will eventually act not only as centers for

individuals to gain access to critical in-

formation and knowledge, but will also

serve as hubs for commerce, transforming

the inefficient and expensive traditional

marketplace. The Mawingu shop hopes to

offer merchants the opportunity to attract

a client base, grow awareness, connect

business partners, and develop coopera-

tives online. The internet access provided

at the centers will create efficiencies in the

production of goods and will help connect

products to new markets.

Supporting the development of rural

Africa’s broadband infrastructure couples

the company’s commitment to social im-

pact with its commercial interests. Having

operated in Africa for over 20 years, Mi-

crosoft is keenly aware of the enormous

market potential; the continent is home

to more than one billion people and 16 of

the world’s 30 fastest-growing economies.

Yet Africa also has the lowest penetration

of network connectivity. Only 20 percent of

the African population is expected to have

internet access by the end of 2014.

“Microsoft was built on the idea that

technology should be accessible and af-

fordable to the masses, and to date, this

promise has remained unfulfilled in Africa,”

said Louis Otieno, Legal and Corporate Af-

fairs Director for Africa Initiatives at Micro-

soft. “This technology has the potential to

deliver on the promise of universal and

affordable high-speed wireless broadband

for Africa, and we are proud and humbled

to be part of this important effort.”

As a result of white space broadband,

an individual’s birthplace will no longer

determine her ability to access a world of

information, a disruptive innovation that

has the power to reshape the continent.

Students at a school near Nanyuki , Kenya, use a tablet connected to the internet by white space broadband. These f requencies are ideal for del iver ing broadband access to rura l areas because they are able to t ravel over longer distances and penetrate more obstac les than other types of radio s ignals .

This technology has the potential to deliver on

the promise of universal and affordable high-speed

wireless broadband for Africa, and we are proud

and humbled to be part of this important effort.

Employees say…

Managers say…

IBM Corporate Service Corps: Creating leadersIBM 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

Sent to 34 countries

850completed assignments

140,000 lives positively impacted

“... 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

97%“I would recommend a colleague to apply for the CSC program.”

93%“Compared to other leadership experiences at IBM, this was the best.”

90%“CSC increased my leader-ship skills.”

82%“My CSC experience increased my desire to continue my career at IBM.”

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.

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

90%“I would recommend another employee to apply for the CSC program.”

78%“Employee shows improved attitude and motivation.”

89%“Employee increased his/her understand-ing of busi-ness’s role in society.”

S p o n s o r e d C o n t e n t

Photo: Policía Nacional de los Colombianos | CC BY-SA 2.0

On September 24, 2014, Cristina, a former Colombian guer-

rilla, experienced the ultimate act of absolution. In an

audience with Pope Francis, Cristina asked forgiveness on

behalf of all of her comrades for the years of pain they

have caused her country. Cristina is one of hundreds of thousands

of Colombians who have fought in the country’s half-century-long

civil war that has left over 200,000 dead and pushed approximately

five million Colombians from their homes. But, like many others,

Cristina chose to abandon this life of violence. In 2006, Cristina laid

down her arms and began the long road of reintegration that led

her to receive the Pope’s pardon.

Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, is currently in treaty

negotiations with the FARC—the Revolutionary Armed Forces of

Colombia—bringing the country the closest to peace it has been in

the past 50 years. But peace isn’t the only hurdle. If an agreement

is reached, the country will face the subsequent challenge of how

to manage the simultaneous demobilization of tens of thousands of

combatants, some of whom have spent their entire lives as guerillas.

FORGING A PATHWAY TO COMBATANT REINTEGRATION

The Colombian Agency for Reintegration (ACR) believes it has

the answer. This government entity, which reports directly to the

Presidency of the Republic of Colombia, is tasked with coordinat-

ing and executing the social and economic reintegration of demo-

bilized people from organized illegal armed groups. Confident in

his agency’s ability to successfully reintegrate former combatants,

former ACR Director Alejandro Eder boasted that the ACR could

double the number of demobilized combatants it currently men-

tors. In an interview with the BBC, he further articulated that they

have an “emergency reaction plan” and are ready to receive up to

40,000 ex-combatants. Such is the faith Eder has in the innovative

model of his agency.

Colombia is on the frontier of former combatant reintegration.

Decades of armed conflict have provided the ACR with ample oppor-

tunity to learn what works and what does not. The model developed

and employed by the ACR today has drawn international attention.

It is comprehensive, multi-dimensional, and personalized. Demobi-

lization involves each combatant entering a program customized for

the individual by a reintegration advisor who provides accompani-

ment and support during the lengthy community reentry process.

The unique path is personalized based on the specific needs

and goals of the individual. The ACR’s model is comprised of eight

dimensions: personal, productivity, family, habitability, health care,

educational, citizenship, and security. Each dimension is broken

down into specific steps, such as psychosocial care for the demo-

bilized person and their family, access to education and training

programs, provision of healthcare services, business development

and employment support, education about the duties and rights

of citizens, and financial provisions. The ACR employs this multi-

THE LONG ROAD TO PEACE IN COLOMBIA

Colombia’s Government Aids Demobi l ized Combatant Re integrat ion

Amy Crumbliss

AROUND THE WORLDdimensional method in order to address all

aspects of a person’s life, to ensure that the

demobilized individual will be holistically

reintegrated into society. The organization

contends that it is not sufficient to provide

a monetary stipend and a job. Persons in

the reintegration process receive training in

skills that allow them to pursue constructive

projects as well as the personal support to

ensure those projects become a sustainable

foothold to keep them out of illicit activities.

The average duration of the reintegration

process is six and a half years per person,

though this varies significantly from person

to person based on individual needs. In

most cases, individuals abandon their affili-

ation with guerrilla groups with very little to

no education and no skills that could lead to

gainful employment. Some individuals even

lack knowledge of common, everyday tasks.

According to Eder, even the most basic con-

ventions of society must be learned:

“You have to teach people how to stand

in line at the bank, and how to pay [in

a shop] because when you have an AK-47

slung over your shoulder, nobody wants to

charge you.” As a result, the road to becom-

ing a productive, law-abiding citizen can be

a rather long one.

MOVING FROM REINSERTION TO HOLISTIC REINTEGRATION

The ACR was the first agency of its kind

in the world tasked solely with former illegal

combatant reintegration, so it has had to

employ a learn-by-doing approach to the

process rather than looking to similar orga-

nizations in other countries as a guide. The

origins of the ACR date back to 2003 when

the Program for Reincorporation to Civilian

Life (PRVC) was created under the Ministry

of Interior and Justice.

The PRVC’s focus was reinsertion—an 18-

month long process that sought to prepare

people for their return to civilian life through

psycho-social support, health care, educa-

tion, and financial assistance. The collective

demobilization of 30,000 combatants in 2006

forced the government to reassess its re-

insertion program. While the model it was

employing was efficient and well-managed,

it lacked a holistic approach to reintegrating

former combatants that accounted for ex-

ternal social factors such as family support

networks and employment opportunities.

Instead of a short-term assistance-fo-

cused approach, the ACR determined that

it needed a more long-term, sustainable

strategy. Demonstrating its commitment

to effective reintegration, the government

created a specialized unit named the High

Presidential Council for the Reintegration of

Individuals and Armed Groups. Under this

new agency, the aim switched from reinser-

tion to holistic reintegration and the active

participation of society in the process of

reintegrating former combatants into civil-

ian life. In 2010, the Council was renamed

the Colombian Agency for Reintegration and

placed directly under the President.

CREATING A CULTURE OF RECONCILIATION

The ACR has found that focusing on

sustainable reintegration—instead of rein-

sertion—and adopting a multi-dimensional

model is the most effective way to foster

combatants’ conversion to productive, law-

abiding citizens. Currently, more than 30,000

individuals are moving through the reinte-

gration process and 76 percent are gainfully

employed. To date, over 8,000 former com-

batants receiving ACR support have started

an entrepreneurial activity with seed capital

provided by the ACR.

Probably the strongest indicator of the

success of the ACR’s model is the recidi-

vism rate. As of January 2013, a meager

one percent of people undergoing or hav-

ing undergone reintegration returned to an

illegal armed group, and only one in four

participants reverted back to criminal activ-

ity. That number may seem high, but consid-

ering the recidivism rate of individuals who

have served time in the Colombian criminal

justice system is 70 percent (comparable to

criminal recidivism in the United States), a

recidivism rate of 25 percent is highly favor-

able and speaks to the success of the ACR’s

model in helping former combatants remain

peaceful, law-abiding citizens.

Despite the ACR’s success, challenges

still persist, and much remains to be done.

“The reintegration we are doing well, be-

cause there are already more than 20,000

people that are demobilized and legally

working,” said Eder. “The biggest challenge

now,” he added, “is eliminating the apathy

and rejection shown towards this popula-

tion.”

Cristina, describing the day she met

Pope Francis, noted that her fear of rejec-

tion was one of the first hurdles she had to

overcome as a former combatant. Demobi-

lized individuals carry a negative stigma in

society, causing neighbors to distrust them

and businesses to reject their applications

for employment, two factors that are pivotal

to the success of the ACR’s reintegration

model. Reintegration, much like peace, re-

quires the involvement of all members of

society—not just the government. This is a

significant demand of a society terrorized

by decades of violence that has destroyed

lives and shattered communities.

Bitterness and demands for retribution

continue to permeate Colombian society,

but more and more people are joining those

allied towards forgiveness and reintegra-

tion. On the day of her audience with the

Pope, Cristina was joined by Sandra, a victim

of illegal armed conflict who has survived

kidnapping, torture, and the loss of her

husband and son at the hands of guerillas.

If anyone has a right to seek revenge, it is

Sandra. Instead, she has chosen to forgive.

Today, Sandra employs former combatants

and leads reconciliation activities in her

community. Only when more people like

Sandra raise their voices for change will

society forgo vengeance for forgiveness, en-

abling reconciliation and sustained peace to

come to Colombia at last.


SUSTAINABLE SHRIMP FARMING IN VIETNAM’S MANGROVE FORESTS

Emma Boles

In the humid pre-dawn darkness of southern Vietnam’s man-

grove deltas, Van Cong To is hard at work hauling nets to

harvest shrimp for the world’s markets. Before the early

morning light tints the estuaries of Cà Mau province, Van

and his wife and child will have sorted 50 kilograms of shrimp

for delivery to a nearby seafood processing plant. There, Van’s

shrimp will be graded, frozen, and packed for export all over

the globe.

The profitability of shrimp exports in recent years encour-

aged Van and thousands of other farmers in the deltas of Cà

Mau, Vietnam, to convert from rice farming to intensive shrimp

aquaculture—the fastest-growing food source globally. Cà Mau is

home to half of Vietnam’s shrimp production, an export industry

worth $3.1 billion in 2013 alone. Van’s family, like many others,

depends upon shrimp farming for their livelihood. However,

over the past 15 years, more and more of their shrimp have

been dying from disease.

Mangroves Support a Vital Ecosystem

Mangrove forest is the natural habitat and breeding ground

of shrimp—providing wild feedstock, organic waste for food and

shade, and root structures for shelter. In response to the rising

global demand for shrimp over the past three decades, over half

of Vietnam’s natural mangrove forest has been cleared to accom-

modate shrimp aquaculture ponds. Due to rapid expansion and

insufficient environmental standards, the deltas of Cà Mau are

now pockmarked with failed shrimp ponds, abandoned because

of high costs and decreasing returns due to erosion, pollution,

and shrimp disease. The development of shrimp aquaculture

in Vietnam has come at the expense of the mangrove environ-

ment—reducing incomes and increasing the vulnerability of the

livelihood of Van and others.

Mangroves are integral to natural ecosystems, protecting

against tidal waves and storm surges, and providing vital fish

nursery grounds. They also function as blue carbon sinks. Blue

carbon is carbon captured and stored by living coastal and ma-

rine organisms. The blue carbon that is locked away in coastal

wetlands such as mangroves is critical to managing excess

carbon in the atmosphere as it has extremely long residence

times, potentially for millennia. Carbon sequestration—remov-

ing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in vegetation

VAN’S FAMILY,

LIKE MANY OTHERS IN

THE REGION, DEPENDS

UPON SHRIMP

FARMING FOR THEIR

LIVELIHOOD.

SNV INTEGRATES SHRIMP AQUACULTURE WITH MANGROVE PROTECTION IN CÀ MAU, VIETNAM

AROUND THE WORLD

and soils—plays a critical role in managing global greenhouse gas

emissions, thereby mitigating climate change.

Changes in land use that disrupt ecosystems, such as man-

grove deforestation, currently account for up to 20 percent of

global carbon dioxide emissions, which is second only to fossil

fuel combustion. Removing mangroves releases the carbon stored

in the trees and the excavation of the soil to create shrimp aqua-

culture ponds releases the carbon in the soil into the atmosphere.

The global greenhouse gas emissions from the conversion of

mangroves worldwide have been estimated as equivalent to the

annual fossil fuel emissions of the United Kingdom.

Integrating Mangroves with Sustainable Shrimp Markets

Increasingly, sustainability experts recognize the need for a

new approach that preserves the critical environmental protection

provided by the mangroves while also providing a sustainable basis

for the shrimp farming industry. SNV Netherlands Development

Organization has taken up this challenge with the Mangroves and

Markets (MAM) project to integrate ecologically sound shrimp

aquaculture with the mangrove environment of Cà Mau—reversing

mangrove loss and reducing carbon emissions. In alliance with

shrimp importers, traders, and over 5,000 farmers, MAM provides

training on breeding and marketing ecologically-certified shrimp,

supports replanting and management of the mangrove forest, and

mobilizes access for shrimp farmers to certified carbon markets

and carbon financing.

The MAM project utilizes a traditional shrimp farming model

that integrates the farms into the mangrove ecosystems to reduce

pollution and disease. These extensive, low-input shrimp farms

require at least 50-percent mangrove cover and have much lower

management costs than intensive farms. They are more sustain-

able for the small-scale shrimp farmers who make up the majority

of shrimp producers.

Van, who is a member of one of the 35 farmer groups that

MAM works with, now supports the traditional farming approach

for its benefits.


“Forest area in my land is less than the required 50 percent.

Many of my shrimp died from disease, especially on the land

not protected by mangrove forest. I could see then that the

forest is useful for raising shrimp,” he said.

Yet, traditional shrimp farms do not have the high yields

of intensive aquaculture, so access to stable and profitable

markets is important for their long-term sustainability. Organic

certification offers access to better export markets, provid-

ing shrimp farmers with a price premium and strengthening

small-scale shrimp aquaculture. MAM selected global standard

Naturland as the most suitable organic certification that requires

mangrove conservation. Since the project’s start in 2012, MAM

has trained over 1,300 shrimp farmers in organic shrimp farm-

ing practices and mangrove restoration.

New Farming Practices Yield Profitable and Sustainable Benefits

With organic shrimp certification in place, MAM guided

farmers in negotiating a favorable purchase agreement with

Minh Phu, the world’s second-largest seafood processor by

shrimp export value. The farmers can sell their shrimp at a

10-percent price premium with significant benefits. The net

income from selected integrated mangrove shrimp farming in

2013 has increased 1.5 times by comparison with traditional

shrimp aquaculture or rice-shrimp without mangroves. Van has

already realized the value of this new approach.

“Previously, farmers could make 60 to 70 million Vietnamese

dong per year. Having joined this project, we are able to make

150 to 200 million Vietnamese dong,” Van said.

This arrangement does not just benefit the farmers. Mr. Le

Van Quang, the Managing Director of Minh Phu also values the

program’s contribution to the company’s corporate responsibil-

ity mandate.

“With certified shrimp from the farmers in the area, we

oversee the shrimp farming process and protection of the for-

est. We have a responsibility to protect the forest, and at the

same time ensure that the shrimp industry here will develop

enough to supply our factory and global market demand.”

A stable market and increased income from certified shrimp

provides a strong incentive to all actors in the shrimp value

chain to maintain and conserve the mangrove forest.

Without the support of regional and national authorities,

the gains of the MAM project will likely be short-lived. SNV has

supported ongoing efforts by Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture

and Rural Development, the International Union for Conserva-

tion of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), and The Deutsche

Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) to

introduce national policy that provides the legal basis for man-

grove protection. Because sustainable shrimp farming reduces

carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation,

this policy also incorporates strategies to leverage carbon fi-

nance to fund ongoing rehabilitation of the mangrove forests.

A stable market and increased income from certified shrimp provides a strong incentive to all actors in the shrimp value chain to maintain and conserve the mangrove forest.


Photos: Anna-Selina Kager

THE GLOBAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM THE CONVERSION OF MANGROVES WORLDWIDE ARE ESTIMATED TO BE EQUIVALENT TO THE ANNUAL FOSSIL FUEL EMISSIONS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

value chain. Such carbon in-setting would

monetize the carbon savings for farmers,

further incentivizing sustainable shrimp

production. Furthermore, new certifica-

tion standards would specifically require

climate change mitigation, providing an

opportunity to market the ‘low carbon’

benefits of Naturland certified shrimp.

Across the Cà Mau shrimp value chain,

SNV is working with producers, businesses,

and governments to improve incomes for

farmers like Van, incentivize protection of

the mangrove forest, and safeguard the

sustainable future of shrimp farming. Tran

Quoc Van, the leader of one shrimp farmer

group, is now much more optimistic for

the future.

“All of the farmers have put what they

learned into practice on their farms, so this

project has been really successful for us.

And with plans to expand this approach

to up to 6,000 hectares, it really is just the

beginning.”

Forest Degradation (UN REDD+) standards.

In addition, the project team is consulting

with Naturland to explore opportunities

to incorporate carbon-specific standards

into their certification process. This change

will allow farmers to earn carbon credits

against the carbon savings in the shrimp

Extending the Benefits of Sustainable Shrimp Farming

The MAM project continues to develop

interventions to preserve and restore the

mangrove forest, which include improved

forest management based on the UN Re-

ducing Emissions from Deforestation and

In 2012, Xi Jingping, then Vice President of China, paid a return

visit to the small town of Muscatine, Iowa. Xi reflected on his

earlier visit, observing: “You were the first group of Americans

I came into contact with. To me, you are America.” With these

words to old friends, Xi marked his return to the community that

had warmly welcomed him over a quarter century before.

In 1985, while a young bureaucrat from Iowa’s sister state,

Hebei Province, Xi experienced a visit so personally meaningful

that, 27 years later, he insisted on a return visit and a private re-

union with the score of Muscatine residents to whom he had been

closest. Xi’s reaction illustrates the power of citizen diplomacy,

and the seriousness of the work entrusted to citizen diplomats,

as do the reflections of his former Muscatine homestay hostess,

Eleanor Dvorchak. She greeted Xi, in 2012, by recalling: “You were

my first introduction to the Chinese people... . So many times

you hear so much bad in the news. And after having met you,

it was all washed away.” As Xi’s and Dvorchak’s observations

underscore, citizen diplomats are their country for those with

whom they connect.

Thanks to his homestay experience, Xi Jingping, now the Presi-

dent of the People’s Republic of China, has a uniquely rich notion

of the American people. He is only one of many high-government

officials whose bilateral relations with America have been shaped

by citizen exchange. At the height of the Cold War, Roswell Garst,

an Iowa farmer and seed corn salesman, started a correspondence

with Nikita Khrushchev that inspired a series of meetings aimed

at improving Soviet farming practices. Khrushchev appreciated

the straight-talking farmer, and when Garst eventually invited

Khrushchev to his farm in central Iowa, the Soviet leader ac-

cepted. Indeed, Khrushchev insisted that his 1959 state visit to

America include a tour of Garst’s farm and it became one of the

highlights of Krushchev’s sojourn across the United States. The

journey was otherwise largely characterized by tense interactions

with government officials. Marking the 50th anniversary of his and

his father’s visit to Iowa, Sergei Khrushchev observed to Rachel

Garst, Roswell’s granddaughter:

“Your grandfather was one who made a hole in the Iron Cur-

Citizen Exchange Overcomes

Tense Bilateral Relations to

Foster Peace

Chuck Montgomery

PIONEERS ON THE FRONTIER OF CITIZEN DIPLOMACY

Photo: Thomson Reuters


tain… He didn’t end the Cold War. He was the person who started

the road to the end of the Cold War.”

These two examples demonstrate the heightened importance

of citizen diplomacy when international relations are fraught.

Khrushchev’s relationship with Roswell Garst, and Xi Jingping’s

relationship with Eleanor Dvorchak illustrate the ways in which

people-to-people exchanges can transcend troubled government-

to-government relations and inspire unlikely bonds of friendship

and understanding. When Xi visited Muscatine in 1985, China and

the United States were still emerging from decades of mutual

recriminations, even armed conflict. Khrushchev visited Garst’s

farm when a nuclear exchange between the United States and

the Soviet Union still seemed possible.

The fruits of citizen diplomacy are mutual respect, understand-

ing, and friendship across national boundaries. Today, these char-

acteristics are notably lacking in U.S. relations with Iran, Pakistan,

Syria, North Korea, Russia, and China. In some cases, the absence

of citizen exchange has weakened bilateral ties to such an extent

that formal diplomatic relations are all that remain, along with the

accompanying increased risks of escalating tension and military

engagement. It is on these frontiers of citizen diplomacy where

individuals who embrace opportunities for citizen exchange have

the ability to change the status quo for the better, as did Roswell

Garst and the citizens of Muscatine.

Following in the footsteps of Garst and Xi’s Muscatine hosts,

leaders in the American Mennonite faith community have, in

recent years, embraced the opportunity to build bridges between

the United States and Iran, by serving the Iranian people in the

aftermath of a major earthquake. Following the Mennonites’ ex-

ample, between March and June 2014, three delegations of faith

leaders have visited the Islamic Republic of Iran, including Bishop

Richard Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick,

megachurch pastor Joel Hunter, and Robert Destro, professor of law

at the Catholic University of America, as well as other American

Catholics, Protestants, Mennonites, and Sunnis. They have met

with senior Iranian religious officials to discuss topics ranging from

confronting religious extremism to weapons of mass destruction.

In May, nine female Iranian seminarians from Jamiat al-Zahra,

the world’s largest seminary for women, engaged in a citizen

exchange with Eastern Mennonite University. In addition to being

enrolled in the university’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute, the

seminarians visited Washington, D.C., and an Amish community

near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Mohammad Shomali, the dean who

accompanied the delegation, emphasized the importance of peo-

ple-to-people relations, urging more American-Iranian exchange.

“Nothing can replace face-to-face encounters as a path to peace,”

said Shomali.

On yet another frontier of citizen diplomacy, faith leaders are

CITIZEN DIPLOMACY

People-to-people exchanges can

transcend troubled government-to-

government relations and inspire

unlikely bonds of friendship and

understanding.

Xi J inping makes a v is i t to Iowa farmer R ick K imber ley dur ing a 2012 tr ip to the United States.


seeking to improve relations between the

United States and Pakistan. In May 2012,

24 faith leaders from Muslim, Jewish, and

Christian backgrounds formed the U.S.-

Pakistan Interreligious Consortium (UPIC)

which has, since 2012, conducted four

meetings in Lahore and Islamabad, Paki-

stan, and Muscat, Oman. These meetings

have included wide-ranging discus-

sions of issues like blasphemy laws,

free speech, American drone attacks,

the troubled U.S.-Pakistani relation-

ship, scripture, and religious tolerance.

The visits to Pakistan allowed many

Pakistani students their first interac-

tion with a Jewish rabbi. The visits also

yielded an inspired means of collective-

ly addressing drone attacks, an issue

that is troubling to nearly all Pakistanis.

Adopting an approach that emphasizes

the common values of all three faiths,

the faith leaders have launched a joint U.S.-

Pakistani campaign to raise money toward

rebuilding the lives and communities where

drone strikes occur.

Mumtaz Ahmad, one of the Pakistani

members of UPIC, noted the way in which

interactions with Americans have changed

the Pakistanis’ view of the United States.

Specifically, he noted his colleagues’ sur-

prise at “the modesty and humility they

saw in their American guests.”

“It was surprising for them for two rea-

sons: they often find their own religious

leaders here mostly stiff-necked and self-

righteous,” he remarked. “They thought

that all Americans speak like the U.S. offi-

cials who visit Pakistan,” who typically em-

phasize greater effort and good behavior.”

“Almost everyone told me that they

saw a new face of America: deeply reli-

gious, caring, compassionate, humble, and

willing to listen with respect and patience.

You simply can’t imagine, my friends, how

important was your trip to Pakistan!” said

Ahmad. “It was for the first time that many

of us came to know that ‘winning hearts

and minds’ meant something real.”

Favorable contrasts, like Ahmad’s, be-

tween formal bilateral relations and people-

to-people exchanges are not uncommon.

The impact of citizen diplomacy is real and

lasting and often helps individuals chal-

lenge and overcome persistent national

stereotypes. Today, the accessibility of

global travel, email, and social media offer

people everywhere the opportunity to build

meaningful global relationships. As a

result, common folk, not government

officials, increasingly represent their

nations to citizens of other countries.

Those so engaged—citizen diplomats—

now have the opportunity to shape

international relations, even between

nations at odds. Authentic, person-

to-person contact is fundamental to

meaningful international relations. The

greater the number of such relation-

ships, the greater the probability of

correcting misunderstanding and en-

hancing cooperation.

The stories of Xi Jingping and Musca-

tine, and Roswell Garst and Nikita Khrush-

chev must inspire the citizen diplomacy

community to first identify today’s fron-

tiers of citizen diplomacy, and then deploy

citizen diplomats to the troubled relation-

ships found there, in the same spirit as

the above-mentioned faith leaders from

the United States, Iran, and Pakistan. As

a proud Iowan, I am a true believer in the

uniqueness of my state and its citizens,

especially our skills as citizen diplomats.

On a per capita basis, I believe Iowa packs

more citizen diplomacy punch than any

other state or province on our planet. But,

I am willing to be proven wrong. I invite

you to share stories of your state’s or prov-

ince’s citizen diplomacy accomplishments,

especially how you have found success

on the “frontiers.” I hope you’ll take me

up on that challenge so that we can learn

from our parallel experiences. Work on the

frontiers of citizen diplomacy is far too

important to neglect.

Authentic, person-

to-person contact is

fundamental to meaningful

international relations.

The U.S . -Pak is tan Inter re l ig ious

Consort ium (UPIC) v is i ts a c lass

at a Care Foundat ion school in

Lahore, Pakistan. Submit your citizen diplomacy stories to [email protected]


Sp

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© 2014 EYG

M Lim

ited. All R

ights Reserved. ED none

At EY, we see a bright future ahead, with increased trust and con dence in business, sustainable growth, development of talent in all its forms, and greater collaboration.

Through our corporate responsibility efforts, thousands of EY people around the globe are using their skills to assist entrepreneurs, mentor students and reduce our environmental impact.

Visit ey.com/us/cr.

Change starts here


Deirdre White

Are the United States and Russia Building a New Wall?

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER, A CITIZEN DIPLOMAT REFLECTS ON THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

HAPPENING

A quarter century later, I remember the day the Wall

fell as though it was yesterday. On November 9,

1989, the world changed. As a student in the Soviet

Union a few years earlier, I had come to under-

stand Russia’s history and culture, making lifelong friends

along the way. I remember the elation I felt upon hearing

and seeing the news.

So many lives changed, including mine. A year later, I

uprooted my life and moved to Moscow for a four-month

assignment at a university. I stayed for nine years. I fell in

love with the Russian language, Russia’s culture, and her

people. Many Russians are among my closest friends in the

world. I married a Russian, and we are raising bilingual, bi-

cultural children.

Yet, over all these years, I had never journeyed to Berlin

to pay homage to those courageous enough to overturn the

world order. For years, I anticipated the joy and humility I

would feel when I finally made the pilgrimage. This Septem-

ber, the opportunity to visit Berlin finally presented itself.

Just weeks before the 25th anniversary of the re-opening of

the East-West gates, I stood at Checkpoint Charlie, and then

at the Berlin Wall Memorial, and choked back tears. Having

spent a great deal of my life and my career working towards

collaboration between the United States and Russia, I felt

a cascade of feelings. Being reminded of the sacrifice of

so many and walking the route of the Wall evoked all the

expected emotions. The tears, though, quickly gave way to

something else entirely. I was suddenly overcome with an

almost unbearable anger.

How is it that, 25 years later, the United States and Russia

are once again rebuilding that wall?

The old wall was built quickly, in the dead of night, such

that the next day, it was impossible to ignore. This new wall,

though invisible to the eye, is no less divisive. It has been

erected slowly, brick by brick, many of them placed by neglect

and ignorance, rather than intent.

Building Barriers by Neglect

Some of the construction is fresh.

Earlier this year, Russian authorities announced the can-

cellation of the Future Leaders Exchange, or FLEX as it is

known, one of the few remaining exchange programs funded

by the U.S. Government. In just over two decades, FLEX built

people-to-people relationships, bringing nearly 8,000 Russian

high school students to the United States for a full academic

year for a homestay and study abroad experience.

At the 20th anniversary celebration of FLEX, in November

2013, Senator Bill Bradley, the founder of the program, stated:

“The whole purpose of the program was to bring people

together and show how basically we are all the same. And

that should be the continuing objective and, hopefully, be a

long-term outcome of the FLEX program.”

Who could have imagined that a year later, the landmark

program would be no more?

On the occasion of the cancellation of FLEX, John Tefft,

the U.S. Ambassador to Russia remarked on the program’s

returns.

“These young Russians have served as cultural ambassa-

dors, representing the best of Russia, to millions of Americans

throughout all 50 states…the United States remains committed

to exchanges and programs that promote cultural ties and

mutual understanding between the Russian and American

people,” said Tefft.

While the former is certainly true, the latter is a bit hard

to swallow. The Russian Government is responsible for the

cancellation of FLEX, but the U.S. Government’s commitment

to cultural, educational, and scholarly exchange is also se-

verely compromised. From 1983 until 2012, roughly $5 million

Before I built a wall I’d ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offence. Something there is that doesn’t love a wall…

- Robert Frost


annually was obligated to Title VIII, the Program for Research and

Training for Eastern Europe and the New Independent States of the

Former Soviet Union. In 2013, after the United States Department

of State severely cut funding the year before, these monies were

removed by State in their entirety and without explanation. In 2011,

all funding for the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research

Abroad (DDRA) program for Africa, Latin America, Asia, Eastern

Europe, and Russia was cancelled due to Congressional budget

cuts. DDRA has since been restored but at significantly reduced

funding levels. To add insult to injury, the half-million to $1 million

in annual Department of Education funding for The United States-

Russia Program: Improving Research and Educational Activities in

Higher Education, which began in 2006 was terminated in 2010.

The decline in opportunities to build bridges between the two

nations due to the contraction over the last four years of these

and other regionally-focused programs makes it too easy to gloss

over this as a recent phenomenon; however, the erosion of public

diplomacy between the United States and Russia has taken place

over more than 15 years. This is especially disappointing given that,

over the decades of the Cold War, scholarly and cultural exchange

kept important conversations going and built key relationships at

a time when our governments were unable to do so.

Looking back to the mid-1990s, statistics from the Institute for

International Education show that the number of students coming

from Russia to the United States annually peaked at just above

7,000 in 1999 to 2000; the number of American citizens studying

in Russia has seen incremental increases, but has still never

broken the 2,000 mark. Together the countries have a population

of nearly half a billion; it seems inconceivable that in 2014 fewer

than 6,500 students will cross borders to learn about the other

country and culture.

Effective Bilateral Relations Depends on Citizen Engagement

There is an abundance of anecdotal evidence of the value of

people-to-people interactions known as citizen diplomacy, but to

date, there have been no broad-based studies of its impact. In

2012, the British Council conducted research on cultural diplomacy

(like citizen diplomacy, a subset of public diplomacy) and shared

its findings in the report Trust Pays: How international cultural relationships build trust in the UK and underpin the success of the UK economy.

The British Council’s research demonstrated four key facts

about cultural engagement. First, participation in one or more


cultural activities with the United Kingdom was correlated with

an increase in the average level of trust in UK citizens in all 10

countries surveyed. Second, the average level of trust in people

in the United Kingdom increases with the number of different

types of cultural activities in which a person has been involved.

Third, increased levels of trust are associated with a significantly

increased level of interest in opportunities for business and trade

with the region. And lastly, when people trust UK citizens, they

are also more likely to trust the government of the UK. It is not

a stretch to extrapolate that the indicators for citizen diplomacy

would echo these results, and thus all the more surprising that

U.S. Government funding has been so lean for the past 15 years,

a critical juncture for U.S.-Russia relations.

Of course, government support is just part of the story—private

grant-makers are doing no better where Russia is concerned. The

MacArthur Foundation, which launched in Russia in 1991, provided

an average of over $7 million in grants each year; in 2011, MacAr-

thur decreased its grant pool for Russia by half. Ford Foundation

ceased its Russian operations in 2009 after nine years, closing

the door on over $100 million in funding it had provided. Both

foundations were adversely affected by the Russian Government’s

crackdown on foreign influence. Restrictive legislation regarding

NGOs has also had a detrimental effect: In April 2014, Russia

ordered American Councils, an NGO working in Russia for four

decades (and the organization that managed my study abroad

program in Russia in 1987), to cease operations and re-register.

Six months later, the new registration is still not approved. Russia

has done almost everything possible to prevent private interests

from stepping in where the U.S. Government fears to tread.

Though it is, no doubt, a great

investment, citizen diplomacy does

not require government, founda-

tion, or NGO funding or facilitation.

The overwhelming majority of citi-

zen diplomats are tourists. But the

number of tourist traveling from

the United States to Russia has

mirrored government-sponsored

exchange. In 2014, the number of

visitors is down 30 to 40 percent,

even in a year that the Sochi Olym-

pics drew thousands of Americans

to Russia. While the number of Rus-

sian visitors has grown over the

past several years, Russians are not

even in the top 20 of nationalities

visiting the United States each year.

And while government involve-

ment is not necessary for citizen

diplomacy, government funding is often a critical enabler for such

programs. Political scientists in both hemispheres will continue

to ponder how U.S.-Russia relations went awry during the past

two decades, but I feel certain that circumstances would be dra-

matically different had people-to-people interactions remained

a U.S. Government priority. After all, it takes a person-to-person

conversation to understand that the term American “exceptional-

ism” translates into Russian as “exclusivnost”—exclusiveness. The

listener hears not “we’ve created something special” but “we’ve

created something you are excluded from.” It becomes easier to

understand how distaste quickly becomes resentment towards a

nation that holds up such an ideology if it’s lost in translation—of

words and experience.

Over the past month, I’ve continued to reflect on my experience

at the Wall. I have thought about those who built it to begin with,

and those who tore it down. The United States and Russia—and

indeed, any world power—are obliged to consider the effects of

their actions in the long term. It is impossible to look at the host

of cancelled programs and the anemic exchange numbers and

not blame shortsightedness towards the importance of public

diplomacy, at least in large part, for where U.S.-Russia relations

stand today.

Twenty-five years—is our collective memory so short? When

governments fail to act, history has shown that individuals can

transcend borders and barriers. Those who remember the darkest

days of the Cold War on both sides of the Wall know that human

relationships were the only hope for a better tomorrow, for the

day the darkness would end.

In a few weeks, the world will celebrate the 25th anniversary of

the opening of the Wall, and people from across Europe—and the

world—will flood the streets of Berlin in celebration. While there

is certainly cause for celebration, there is also good reason to

pause and consider the future. By embracing the culture, friend-

ship, and generosity of another country, perhaps it is possible to

influence others to stop building virtual walls in defense of some

delusional idea of exceptionalism or exclusiveness.

After all, great nations and their people don’t build walls, they

build bridges.

The Berlin Wall divided East and West Germany for 28 years in an effort to eliminate the exchange of ideas, culture, and politics between citi-zens of the Soviet-allied nations.

The old wall was built quickly, in the dead of night, such that the next day, it was impossible

to ignore. This new wall, though invisible to the eye, is no less divisive. It has been erected slowly, brick by brick, many of them placed by

neglect and ignorance, rather than intent.


Net Impact Celebrates Two Decades of

Breaking Boundaries to Repair the World

Three Ways to Break Down Barriers to Positive Net Impact

Twenty-two years ago, a small group of MBAs and entre-

preneurs had a great idea. In the midst of a world where

business was often viewed as an evil force, they dared

to think differently. In the fall of 1993, MBA students from

across the United States came together, united by their vision of

a future where business could mean more than making money.

Georgetown University hosted the first Net Impact Conference,

attracting speakers that included Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s (who

showed up in an ice-cream-stained T-shirt) and Anita Roddick of the

Body Shop. The conference opened the eyes of the 140 students

in attendance to the power of business to improve the world. It

wasn’t the first or the last time that the Net Impact community

would demonstrate its commitment to breaking boundaries.

This fall, the Net Impact community will once again return to

this important theme. In many ways, the boundaries of the early

1990s were more entrenched and complex than those of today—the

very concept of business as a force for good was suspect. While

that debate may live on in some circles, today there is far more

mainstream acceptance, from the C-Suite down, of not just the

ability but the mandate for businesses to drive positive change

in the world.

And yet, while norms have shifted, the boundaries of the 21st

century are less obvious but no less limiting. In the realm of Cor-

porate Social Responsibility (CSR), most of the low-hanging fruit

has been picked. It’s not enough to give away a lot of money, or

tweak a supply chain, or incubate a small social enterprise. The

barriers we are grappling with are global in scope and structur-

ally multi-faceted. What’s more, the stakes are higher than ever;

persistent poverty, global health epidemics, climate change, and

joblessness threaten the lives and livelihoods of billions of people

around the world.

In early November, MBA students and business leaders alike

will have the opportunity to come together at the 2014 Net Impact

Conference in Minneapolis to take on the messy, uncomfort-

able, and controversial—yet inspiring and imperative—challenge

of breaking boundaries once again. Impact leaders across sectors

are embracing three strategies for disruptive change: forging un-

expected alliances, embracing multiple definitions of the truth,

and leaving limits behind to shape creative solutions that can

transform the world.

Liz Maw

ENTERPRISE

2. Put the Truth on TrialTo overcome the limitations of the

status quo, leaders cannot hide behind

publicity and good marketing. They must

embrace the opportunity to dialogue

through differences in a public forum. Last

year, Net Impact welcomed a lively debate

between Exxon Vice President Ken Cohen

and Sierra Club CEO Michael Brune. While

charged at times, the forum helped further

the dialogue on the future of energy. As

conference attendee and sustainability

professional Laura Clise noted, “Leader-

ship is the willingness to participate in

difficult conversations. Dialogue takes

courage on both sides.”

1. Work with the “Enemy”Breaking boundaries often requires being willing to collaborate with

the most unlikely allies, even competitors. Unilever’s CEO Paul Polman

has broken many boundaries with his leadership of the world’s third-

largest consumer packaged goods company, from his emphasis away

from short-term returns to long-term value to his commitment to grap-

pling with the world’s biggest problems. To have a discernible impact on

big issues, Polman knows that he must work with many stakeholders,

including the competition. Says Polman, “What we’re now dealing with

are enormous challenges of poverty or climate change; sustainable growth

in its broadest sense; equality… . That requires a broader level of part-

nerships.” As one example, Unilever is working with marketplace rival

Nestlé on a coalition to convert the global market to natural refrigerants

for display cases. “It needs a tipping point; no individual company can

do that alone,” Polman adds.

Dr. Temple Grandin, who became famous for her achievements in

mathematics, has also embraced the opportunity to work with unex-

pected bedfellows. Because of her high-functioning autism, Grandin

thinks differently than most of us. Grandin has leveraged her keen

ability to think visually, due to her hypersensitivity to noise and other

sensory stimuli, into a unique and monumental career collaborating

with fast-food companies like McDonald’s to improve the conditions of

slaughterhouses. An animal lover working on slaughterhouses? As you

might expect, her work with McDonald’s and others has been decried by

animal activists, yet Grandin has been steady in her conviction to focus

on maximizing animal comfort over lengthening animal lives.

Dr. Temple Grandin, a professor of Animal

Sc iences, co l laborates with McDonald’s

and other food companies to improve

s laughterhouse condit ions.

Last year, Net Impact welcomed a l ive ly debate on the future of

energy between Exxon Vice Pres ident Ken Cohen and S ierra C lub

CEO Michael Brune.


According to a recent Harris poll, Monsanto has one of the

worst reputations in the United States, yet it is also a company

that is deeply engaged with the challenge of how to feed the two

billion people that are projected to join the population of the

planet by 2020. Monsanto executives know their company invites

controversy, and they embrace the opportunity to dialogue with

people who oppose their perspectives. This year, the Net Impact

Conference will provide a forum for Monsanto executive Natalie

DiNicola to debate the future of food with NGO leader M. Jahi

Chappell from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, sharing

their contrasting viewpoints on how to feed the world sustainably.

3. Measure What MattersOverhead spending has been one of

the most commonly used metrics to define

“good” nonprofits by groups like the Bet-

ter Business Bureau, but Dan Pallotta has

begun a revolutionary movement to change

how organizations measure the difference

they make in the world. A decade ago, his

company, Pallotta TeamWorks, was criticized

for overspending on marketing, administra-

tion, and logistics. His critics argued that

such overhead costs cut too deeply into the

potential impact of their charitable contribu-

tions. Too many nonprofits, Pallotta says, are

rewarded for how little they spend instead of

for their results. He suggests that nonprofits

should be evaluated on the basis of their

ambitious goals and measurable impact, not

their overhead spending.

In his now-famous 2013 Ted Talk, pro-

vocatively titled, “The Way We Think About

Charity is Dead Wrong,” Pallotta makes the

point that the outcomes of the charity—in

his case, fundraising hundreds of millions of dollar for AIDS and other health causes—outweigh the need to limit overhead spending

in the nonprofit sector. As a keynote speaker at Net Impact 2014, Dan will ask the social impact community to question long-held

assumptions about the best ways to measure impact and effectiveness.

Breaking Boundaries to Repair the WorldThis fall, the Net Impact community will once again come together to break boundaries, just as it did more than two decades ago,

in an effort to break the boundaries that prevent change-makers from creating a just and sustainable world. Mandy Yard, a student

attendee at the last two Net Impact conferences, summarized her transformational experience:

“I consider it a mind-blowing, life-changing experience. Not only are you surrounded by friendly, passionate, and knowledgeable

people, but you are also exposed to inspirational and practical tools to increase social impact in any field.”

Dan Pal lot ta has ca l led out the double standard that dr ives our

re lat ionship to char i t ies , arguing that too many nonprof i ts are

rewarded for how l i t t le they spend—not for what they get done.

Our generation does not want its epitaph to read, ‘We kept charity overhead low.’ We want it to read that we changed the world.

-Dan Pallotta


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The PULSE Volunteer Partnership is GSK’s skills-based volunteering programme. Through PULSE, motivated employees are matched to non-profit organisations for three or six months full-time, to solve healthcare challenges at home and abroad.

PULSE contributes to the GSK mission to do more, feel better and live longer by acting as a catalyst for change. Since its launch in 2009, PULSE has sent nearly 400 employees from 45 countries to serve 85 non-profit partners in 57 countries.

Change CommunitiesEmployees use their professional skills to create positive, sustainable change for non-profit partners and the communities they serve.

Change EmployeesEmployees are challenged to think differently about the world and as a result of the PULSE experience they develop their leadership skills.

Change GSKEmployees bring fresh ideas and new energy back to GSK to activate change in step with global health needs.

At the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit

this summer, Tony Elumelu, one

of Africa’s most successful en-

trepreneurs and philanthropists,

called for a change in the perception of

business in Africa.

“Drugs should not define U.S.-Latin

American relations. Religious conflict

should not define U.S.-Middle East rela-

tions. And natural resources and humani-

tarian assistance alone should not define

U.S.-Africa relations.”

At the invitation of President Obama,

African heads of state and business lead-

ers from across the United States and Af-

rica gathered in Washington, D.C. for the

first U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, seeking

to advance a new paradigm for U.S.-Africa

relations.

The first day of the landmark event

was dedicated to the U.S.-Africa Business

Forum which sought to strengthen finan-

cial and trade ties between Africa and the

United States. During the Forum, leading

U.S. corporations announced commercial

partnerships with African entities, and Af-

rican political and business leaders articu-

lated ways in which they believe the future

of the continent’s business sector will be

fundamentally different from in the past.

“In many ways, it was an enormous

‘know your customer’ investment that’s

sure to pay dividends in the coming years,”

said Aubry Hruby, Visiting Fellow at Africa

Center at The Atlantic Council. Less than

three months later, the latest Ebola out-

break threatens to delay this outcome.

Forging a Pathway to Progress

In the blink of an eye, the Summit has

become a distant memory, but one whose

implications are potentially significant.

Since then, others, including The Council

on Foreign Relations and The World Affairs

Council, have weighed in on the progress

achieved by the Summit, celebrating the

way it successfully stimulated a cross-

sector dialogue on U.S.-Africa relations at

the highest levels of government and busi-

ness, brokered new commercial deals, and

shed a national spotlight on sustainable

development issues like the youth bulge,

infrastructure development, and access to

power in sub-Saharan Africa.

Most notably, perhaps, this Summit

marked a deliberate shift away from mod-

els of engagement with Africa that have

traditionally been focused on foreign aid;

“trade, not aid” was among the Summit’s

most common refrains. In 2014, Africa is

home to approximately 1.1 billion people,

a population expected to reach 2.5 billion

over the next fifty years. Its rising middle

class is the fastest growing in the world.

The Obama administration, taking ad-

vantage of the U.S.-Africa spotlight, seized

HAPPENING

Katie Levey

U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Convenes Leaders to Transform a Continent

LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR AFRICA’S FUTURE GROWTH

Photo: Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy

HAPPENINGthe opportunity to roll out the Doing Busi-

ness in Africa campaign, announcing a $33

billion funding commitment from the public

and private sectors. This included Coca

Cola’s plans to spend $5 billion in Africa

over the next six years, General Electric’s

commitment of $2 billion dollars in invest-

ment by 2018 to boost infrastructure, ac-

cess to energy, and worker skills, and Fidel-

ity Bank’s award of a $66 million five-year

contract with IBM to build up the bank’s

technology infrastructure in Ghana.

Such appetite for investment is a sign

of change. Yet, the realities of doing busi-

ness in Africa are complex and opaque to

many, a gap that a week of active bilateral

engagement could not bridge. A tapestry of

fifty-four countries with distinct histories,

governments, and languages is as diverse

as it is nuanced; cultures and countries

within Africa are often viewed as “homo-

geneous” by people with little experience

on the continent. Worse, an outbreak of

the particularly virulent Ebola virus in

Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria (now

contained), and Mali and Senegal (one

case) has captured nearly all the media

attention, once more shrouding the entire

African continent in a foggy haze of risk

rather than opportunity.

Ensuring employee health and safety

remains a critical consideration; however,

given an understanding of the vastness of

the continent, there really is no substitute

for being present, with a willingness to

learn. Multinational corporations like The

Dow Chemical Company and General Elec-

tric have recognized that to successfully

enter African markets, a certain degree of

trial and error is necessary. Learning how

development challenges influence the busi-

ness climate and building a foundation of

trust with local leaders took time. During

the Forum, Andrew Liveris, the President,

Chairman, and CEO of The Dow Chemical

Company, admitted to building the com-

pany’s understanding from the ground up.

“We’ve been in Africa for sixty years

and we cut our teeth learning there.”

Liveris shared another key insight: “Big

companies that bring their supply chain

into an Africa market have to face the issue

of how to approach a country’s philosophy

and its culture, and they have to address

poverty.”

In other words, successful intervention,

value co-creation, and sharing in a way

that is appropriate and sustainable for all

players requires understanding the whole

system, first.

Economic Growth Requires Better Systems and Stability

Following the Summit, many pundits

pointed to the fact that, though African

leaders might be eager for foreign invest-

ment, many countries on the continent

pose too high a risk to American corpora-

tions. Some weeks later, The World Affairs

Council convened, “Aftermath of the Sum-

mit: What Next?” a conversation with Her-

man Cohen, Former Ambassador to Gambia

and Senegal, Dr. Raymond Gilpin, a senior

economist at The African Development

Bank and Dr. Daniel Silke, a known expert

on Africa’s political economy. The panel

examined the conditions within African na-

tions that need to be addressed to increase

the number of international and domestic

private investors.

Several key deficits—energy, food, se-

curity, and political stability—must be ad-

dressed by both individual country leaders

and by those trying to assist or invest in

This Summit marked a deliberate shift away from models of engagement with Africa that have traditionally been focused on foreign aid; “trade, not aid” was among the Summit’s most common refrains.

Photo: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Pres ident Barack Obama greets Afr ican leaders pr ior to a group photo dur ing the U.S . -Afr ica Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C.


African countries, in order to enable true

sustainable development.

“To grow, African nations must find a

way to address their economies internally,”

said Ambassador Cohen. “Their leaders

have to address all of these deficits to en-

sure the entrepreneurial spirit can flourish

within each country.”

Cohen, Gilpin, and Silke unanimously

agreed that establishing a foundation of

good governance is critical to achieving

this. Effective government administration

and transparency is fundamental to solving

underlying issues of food security, energy,

and the establishment of peace. Gilpin sug-

gested one approach to establishing good

governance: incentivize coordi-

nating mechanism such as cen-

tral national banks that interface

with local finance institutions

and neighboring countries, al-

lowing African nations to become

more responsive to their citizens

and international investors alike.

Perception Influences Investment

While private investors agree

that addressing development

challenges like food security,

governance, and energy is a

critical foundation for investment, social

impact is not the only priority. Investors

must also believe in the opportunity. In

comparison with the tremendous com-

mitments of financial capital, perception

shifts—changes in how investors perceive

value—are a subtler form of transformation.

During the Summit, African and U.S.

leaders acknowledged outdated stereo-

types of Africa as a place of only aid, pover-

ty, and corruption, and ways in which these

misperceptions have historically discour-

aged U.S. private sector engagement on the

continent. A recent EY study acknowledged

the distortion caused by this perception

gap. According to this study, nearly 90 per-

cent of companies with business opera-

tions in Africa view it as the most attractive

region for expansion. Strikingly, over half

of the companies not currently operating

in sub-Saharan Africa view it as the least

attractive place to do business worldwide.

Unfortunately, the Ebola crisis likely only

contributes to this perception.

However, what may appear from the

outside to be a barrier can, in actuality,

present a shared value market opportunity,

if a company has the cultural mind-set to

embrace it. Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and

Chairman of Econet Wireless, emphasized

the business opportunities of market fail-

ures, pointing to how lack of education

infrastructure offers new opportunities to

companies willing to go the distance.

“Fifty percent of African children aren’t

in school,” Masiyiwa said. “There is no time

to wait for the brick and mortar. We have to

invest in the technology we have today to

provide education for our children.”

This kind of need—and market demand—

is a remarkable opportunity for technology

and network companies like IBM and Intel,

both of whom have significant business

investments and social initiatives to help

address these issues, with shared value

at their core. To fully make the most of

these opportunities, companies must em-

brace a change in mind-set, abandoning

outdated assumptions and historical con-

texts in order to adopt a more realistic view

of what constitutes an opportunity—from

both a realistic assessment of threats and

opportunities.

Change Requires Capital Investment and Human Resolve

During the Summit, many remarked at

the apparent delay in the Administration

realizing the need for greater U.S. engage-

ment with Africa. “Too little too late?”

some wondered, but most African lead-

ers agreed: “Better late than never.” As

growth accelerates in many countries in

Africa, opportunities for investment only

continue to multiply, and most are excited

by the willingness of American corporations

to commit to future investment. Foreign

investment in African economies is fore-

casted to reach a record $80 billion in 2014,

with many American companies leading

the way.

Financial capital alone,

however, is insufficient. This

fact has been all too evident in

the repeated failure of foreign

assistance to translate into its

intended benefits for commu-

nities. Progress requires capital

investment and human resolve

on the part of private sector in-

vestors and African governments

alike. It requires financial capi-

tal coupled with a willingness to

stretch beyond the barriers that

exist today. A new paradigm requires that

investors adjust their approach to market

entry and reframe the notion of “develop-

ment deficits.” It also demands a deep

commitment from African governments to

address the deficits that create barriers to

greater economic alignment and partner-

ship.

Three months since the Summit over-

took Washington, the conversation has all

but disappeared from view and the pub-

lic discourse on Africa has been entirely

overshadowed by the threat of Ebola. Who

now is responsible for advancing the com-

mitments made during the Summit? The

conversation on doing business in Africa

has diminished, but the need is greater

than ever. And with great need comes great

potential for opportunity and growth.

Financial capital alone, however, is insufficient. This fact has been all too evident in the repeated

failure of foreign assistance to translate into its intended benefits for communities. Progress requires capital investment and human resolve

on the part of private sector investors and African governments.


Sp

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Inaugural Symantec Service Corps team: Arequipa, Peru

February – March, 2014

10 employees

4 weeks

3 NGO partners

Learn more at www.symantecservicecorps.com

Copyright © 2014 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec, the Symantec logo, and Norton are U.S. registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation.

new_global_citizen_8.5x11_r2.indd 1 7/14/14 12:44 PM

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JUMPSTART YOUR CAREER WITH LEAN METHOD

Use Lean Startup Principles to Discover your Dream Career and Lead Positive Change

Mark Horoszowski

“BE MORE INNOVATIVE. STOP WASTING PEOPLE’S TIME. BE MORE SUCCESSFUL.”

These are the words of Eric Ries, who in 2011 fundamentally changed

the way organizations foster innovation when he published The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Cre-ate Radically Successful Businesses. The premise of his book, and the

successful businesses he highlights, is that effective leaders understand

that their assumptions are often wrong, but by “getting out of the build-

ing and testing ideas and assumptions,” they can more economically

understand what will (or won’t) work before investing too much in de-

velopment. The Lean Startup approach is not only relevant to startups

and established enterprises, but also provides an invaluable method

for individuals to test their professional convictions and career choices.

Just as a startup should avoid spending years developing a product that

nobody wants, every professional should avoid wasting time preparing

for a career that they won’t enjoy.

More than ever before, it’s vital that we follow this advice. Organiza-

tions both large and small, for and non-profit, are reporting a massive

leadership gap. According to the World Economic Form, one of the lead-

LEADERSHIP


ing barriers to progress for social impact organization is a lack

of access to quality talent. Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, said it

best: “There are only three measurements that tell you nearly

everything you need to know about your organization’s overall

performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and

cash flow. It goes without saying that no company, small or

large, can win over the long run without energized employees

who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.”

Employees Are Not Engaged, Not Even in Social Impact Organizations

The biggest driver of employee dissatisfaction in their career

is a lack of engagement. Many employers know this, and yet

struggle to address it. Unfortunately, few working professionals,

even those employed by mission-based organizations, report

that they like their jobs. According to the Gallup-Purdue Index

report, only 39 percent of employees are engaged by their jobs.

Another study from Opportunity Knocks highlights that, in addi-

tion to mission, “nonprofit employees want to work in a place

where they can advance and develop skills” and that “45 percent

of employees are planning on leaving their current employer”

because they don’t feel engaged in their work, meaning that

they don’t find satisfaction in their day-to-day workload or their

long-term efforts.

Mission isn’t enough to keep you engaged. Finding a career

that makes a difference requires more than a job that makes

the world a better place.

The Three Drivers of Career EngagementRegardless of their employment arrangement, research has

shown that employees consistently emphasize three drivers of

satisfaction:

• Purpose: The yearning to do what we do in the service

of something larger than ourselves

• Autonomy: The desire to direct our own lives

• Mastery: The urge to get better and better at something

that matters

However, thought leaders agree that the biggest determinant

of an employee’s ability to activate these three drivers is direct

management, and a manager’s—and company’s—ability to com-

municate with their employees. While many people find them-

selves in roles that don’t engage them, job seekers confront a

moment of incredible opportunity. By conducting an intentional

and structured career search, many people can find greater en-

joyment at work while also joining or leading high-performing

teams that can create even greater impact.

Use Lean Startup Principles to Find a Career That Will Engage You

The biggest barrier to career satisfaction is not finding your

dream job, but in understanding what your dream job actually is.

The Lean Startup method has inspired a process of career discov-

ery that can allow you to invalidate your assumptions about your

career pursuit in three easy steps: 1) Learn, 2) Reflect, 3) Refine.

Step 1: LearnConduct more research about the jobs you’ve considered and

organizations you want to work for. Your assumptions about them

might be wrong, and you need to test those before committing

energy and resources to getting it.

First, find people that work in your dream role and target

organizations, and ask them to join you for a hot beverage of

their choice or a virtual chat via Skype, Hangout, or phone.

Second, once you have an opportunity to engage, ask smart

questions that uncover the truth about their careers and work-

places. Track these in a spreadsheet so you can truly understand

this audience. Use the chart in Figure 1. to get started.

As you interview people, ask questions that can elicit factual

responses, not opinion. This may very well be the hardest part,

so Figure 2. provides a couple of thought-starters to help frame

questions.

Step 2: ReflectTo help find a better match, continue to understand your

own strengths and motivations. Work hard to find a better idea

of causes that motivate you, skills you enjoy learning, and your

preferred work environment.

Next, learn more about your motivations and talents: Take

the assessment from Imperative, Gallup Strengthsfinder, or the

PwC Personal Brand Workbook.

Then, explore the skills you most enjoy learning: Volunteer

your real skills with social impact organizations. Find a local,

pro-bono position with Catchafire or Taproot, or take a vacation,

sabbatical, or career break and do it through an organization

like MovingWorlds.org, TechnoServe, or MBAs Without Borders.

Reflect on the work environment you like the most: First, ask

yourself: “When in the past were you most engaged at work…

and what type of team environment were you in?” Then ask your

former co-workers, peers, friends, and family a simple question:

“What is the team structure in which you think I will thrive?”

Learn

Reflect

Refine


If you want to learn if… ASK DON’T ASK

someone likes their job… On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to

recommend your company to a friend?Do you like your job?

an employer promotes

autonomy…How often do you report to management? Do you feel micromanaged?

your skills are needed at your

dream employer/role…

What are the key skills that this employer

measures in its annual employee review?Does this employer value [skill name] ?

an employer is living a bigger

“mission”...

What do beneficiaries say about your

organization and its work? What is your company’s mission?

No role will be perfect for you out of the box. The real trick to

refining your career comes with open and honest communication

with your manager to continue to evolve your role so it supports

your purpose, mastery, and autonomy. However, even before

taking the position, when a manager conducts an employee

reference on you, you should ask to do the same to his or her

employees to make sure your manager is right for you.

While it might be new to negotiate with your manager about

this, keep in mind the following: If you become disengaged, you

are likely to deliver lower quality work, and ultimately will most

likely leave that company. In which case, trying to replace you

is much more challenging and costly: Remember the words of

Timothy Clark “Highly engaged employees make the customer

experience. Disengaged employees break it.”

As you make, test, and refine your assumptions about your

career, use the MovingWorlds Validation Board to document your

discovery process.

Step 3. Refine

Organization Name

Mission Roles That Match

Your Skills Communication

Styles Team Structures

Key Factors in Yearly Reviews

Management Styles

Figure 1.

Figure 2.


More Than Just Validating AssumptionsAsk the founders of any successful startup and they will be

the first to tell you that the only reason they are in business is

because they took time to understand their customers. In fact,

many of the early people they interviewed to better understand

their assumptions likely became their first customers.

Finding your dream career isn’t easy, but this process is the

first step in the right direction. And while the work might seem

exhausting—finding people, interviewing them, reflecting, sharing

with an advisor—here is the bright side: In the process, you’ll build

your own network that will likely lead to your next job.

More importantly, finding purpose, autonomy, and mastery is

about contributing your knowledge, passion, and work to filling

the talent gap and making the world a better place. As Howard

Thurman puts it:

“Don’t ask what the world needs, ask what makes you come

alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people

who have come alive.”

For access to an editable version of the previously mentioned files, visit the Finding Your For-Impact Career resource page on MovingWorlds.org, which includes tips on how to interview people, sample email templates, and starter scripts.


credit-suisse.com/microfinance

Li Xiaoyan and her husband, Han Dongdong, first opened their barbecue restaurant in Inner Mongolia in 2009. With a microloan from Credit Suisse partner Accion’s affiliate in China, Li and Han have been working to grow the business, which helps them support their family and save for the future.

Credit Suisse: Linking the top with the base of the income pyramid.

More opportunities for microentrepreneurs.

Unless otherwise specified, the term “Credit Suisse” is the global marketing brand name for the investment banking, asset management and private banking services offered by Credit Suisse Group subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide. Each legal entity in Credit Suisse Group is subject to distinct regulatory requirements and certain products and services may not be available in all jurisdictions or to all client types. There is no intention to offer products and services in countries or jurisdictions where such offer would be unlawful under the relevant domestic law. These are examples of the benefits of microloan programs and are not intended to show the results all would achieve.

18034_210x280_Microfinance_asi_e.indd 1 08.10.12 15:38


Who doesn’t love a victory lap?

This fall, during the third week of September,

the who’s who of international development gath-

ered in New York to extol all the good that has been

done for the world in the past year. This year, the celebration was

especially jubilant, as it marked the achievements of the past 15

years of work towards the Millennium Development Goals—the

infamous MDGs.

The Social Good Summit kicked off the week with panels and

short talks design to inspire a global dialogue on #2030NOW, the

Clinton Global Initiative convened the ultra-influential in its usual

style, and the UN General Assembly provided an opportunity for

national leaders of all stripes to celebrate their country’s progress

towards meeting their individual goals. The victory lap commenced,

and it was glorious.

Amidst all the celebration, it’s sometimes hard not to be

cynical. Certainly those who gather have the best intentions, and

many individuals and organizations have indeed worked hard

to improve lives. At the same time, the parade of dinners and

receptions at some of New York’s finest venues contrasts starkly

with the endless discussions of extreme poverty and inequality.

In past years, my cynicism has quickly turned to optimism as

I glimpsed the many innovations underway that have the ability

to eliminate the world’s most egregious social challenges. I have

been inspired to learn more, and to do more. This year, though, as

I attended multiple events focused on the MDGs, I found myself

utterly disappointed with the analysis and discussion of both what

has been achieved, and what issues future goals must address.

What’s more, my subsequent discovery of a flawed framework of

impact evaluation—taking 1990 as the MDGs’ comparative mea-

surement point—lends a degree of deception to the celebration

I could not ignore.

How did we get to be here?In 2000, the UN member states affirmed the Millennium Dec-

laration, solidifying a set of development targets that every UN

member country would work to address over the following 15

years. A year later, these targets became the eight Millennium

Development Goals:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2. Achieve universal primary education

3. Promote gender equality and empower women

4. Reduce child mortality

5. Improve maternal health

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

7. Ensure environmental sustainability

8. Global partnership for development

Three Lessons From This Year’s Celebration of the Millennium Development Goals

Deirdre White

Photo: The United Nations (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The Danger Victory

Laps

of

HAPPENINGBy design, the MDGs had no strategic plan or associated bud-

get, working under the expectation that countries, companies,

and NGOs alike would come together organically to focus on these

goals. To the UN’s credit, the goals have fostered progress on this

front, bringing myriad players together to at least participate in

the same conversation. For that fact alone, MDGs should claim

some degree of success.

That said, at nearly every discussion session, speech, or re-

ception I attended during UNGA week this fall, the MDGs were at

the top of the agenda, with laudatory comments about the inter-

national development community’s achievements against these

goals. While statistics consistently presented do clearly show solid

improvements across many indicators—halving extreme poverty,

achieving universal primary education, reducing HIV infection— I

found myself repeatedly wondering what was behind the data.

On the United Nation’s website, the most readily available prog-

ress report is a color-coded chart that tells the reader very little.

For more information, the reader is referred to an MDG-specific

page where one can find the MDG 500-day countdown video. The

video is titled Millennium Development Goals 2014, What does the data tell us? It is presented with the following explanation:

“This video, prepared by UNSD, provides a snapshot of what has

been achieved and what needs to be done to reach the MDGs.”

The first achievement: 700 million people have been lifted

out of poverty. Using Indonesia as an example, the UN claims

a 70 percent reduction in the population living under $1.25 per

day, a drop from 54 percent in 1990 to 16 percent in 2011, a truly

impressive, and significant transformation.

The problem here is that, while the UN selected 1990 as a

baseline year for most of the targets, the MDGs were only endorsed

in 2001. In other words, MDG reporting calculates progress that

dates back more than a decade before the goals were enacted.

From 1990 to 2003, the number of people living on less than $1.25

per day in Indonesia was reduced by half—from 54 percent to

roughly 27 percent, making the improvement from 2003 to 2011

only 11 percentage points. Likewise, the video claims near victory

on reducing the number of underweight children. The Bangladesh

example provided shows a decline in this number from 62 percent

in 1990 to 37 percent in 2011, but the decline between 2001 and

2011 is far less substantial, and nearly flat from 2006 to 2011.

Thankfully, an encouraging example from Cambodia shows a clear

and significant decline in infant mortality from 2001 to 2011. And

the reduction in HIV incidence from 2001 to 2012 is astounding.

Regardless, the pattern of the data presented continues in this

way, implying that the MDGs are responsible for the bulk of the

progress. An accompanying written report provides a deeper look

at the data, but also largely in the 1990 to 2012 comparison frame.

Ironically, featured adjacent to the video on the site is the

following statement:

“Reliable and robust data are critical for devising appropri-

ate policies and interventions for the achievement of the MDGs

Deirdre White

MDG reporting calculates progress that dates back

more than a decade before the goals were enacted.

Graphic: The United Nations


and for holding governments and the international community

accountable.”

I could not agree more with that sentiment. Unfortunately,

neither the report nor the video significantly contribute to the

ability to make policy or hold anyone accountable.

Where are we going?An enormous amount of research is required to meaningfully

evaluate the headway that has been made. At a time when the

world is considering the targets for the next 15 years—what will

become the Sustainable Development Goals—the lack of compre-

hensive analysis of what contributed to success (or lack thereof)

is alarming.

Looking ahead to 2015, three lessons can help guide greater

measurement and impact in the years to come.

1. RECOGNIZE THAT DATA IS REQUIRED TO MEANINGFULLY ASSESS INTERVENTIONS AND RESEARCH IS REQUIRED TO GENERATE IT.

Those who are in positions of leadership on global progress—

heads of development agencies, such as Rajiv Shah (USAID) and

Justine Greening (DfID), foundation luminaries such as Bill Gates

and Bill Clinton, and leaders of non-profit and for-profit develop-

ment implementing organizations alike—have an obligation to hold

data and claims of achievement up to a higher level of scrutiny.

All those engaged in these efforts must invest in understanding

what effect, if any, the Millennium Development Goals, and the

associated interventions, have had on the progress made over

the past 15 years. That understanding, however uncomfortable,

must provide the foundations for the targets that will be set by

the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

2. LEARN WHAT WORKS, AND WHAT DOESN’T, MAKE DOCU-MENTATION PUBLICLY AVAILABLE, AND RECOGNIZE AND REWARD THOSE WITH THE COURAGE TO DO SO.

It’s no surprise that leaders in international development are

taking a victory lap, claiming success for progress that the UN’s

own data shows was, in many cases, steadily happening prior to

the enactment of the MDGs. Anything less than that brings on a

wrath that leads to reduced funding and prevents any additional

forward movement. However, claiming achievement even where

the progress slowed after the enactment of the MDGs, is not only

intellectually dishonest, it’s not helpful in future planning.

New leaders in poverty reduction, such as the Poverty Action

Lab, are actively working to use scientific methods to test the

efficacy of discrete interventions. Such evaluation is worth the

time and funding required, providing an opportunity to forgo the

wasteful, subjective investments of the past in favor of scaling

effective interventions that actually make a difference. Esther

Duflo’s TED talk in 2010 presents a compelling argument on why

the right approach to evaluation is so valuable.

3. DEVELOP A WHOLE-SYSTEMS APPROACH TO A FEW KEY CHALLENGES.

The international development community generally silos its

interventions—projects are focused on health or economic growth,

water or food security, good governance or the environment.

But these are not stand-alone challenges—they are necessarily

intertwined. It makes sense that large agencies need a defined

structure, and the creation of pillars is understandable; however,

the paucity of collaboration, or even conversation, across divisions

within the same agency, let alone across multiple organizations,

hinders the ability to analyze and learn from one another. Bet-

ter knowledge sharing within and among industry players would

foster better problem-solving given the complex ecosystems that

must be considered in any intervention. Perhaps with a com-

monly developed understanding—even a commonly developed

understanding of assumptions—it would become easier to respect

the relative contributions of different players, hold appropriate

people to account, and reduce the culture of territorialism that can

pervade such institutions. While the results of the transformation

remain to be seen, Dr. Jim Kim, the President of the World Bank,

has begun to lead the way towards this way of thinking with the

reorganization of that influential institution.

~

The aforementioned MDG video was transparent on the topic

of the herculean work that remains—1 in 8 people on this planet

still suffer from chronic hunger, 748 million still use water from an

unimproved source, 800 women die each day from complications

related to pregnancy or childbirth, and only 30 percent of those

who need anti-retroviral drugs are receiving them. But without an

analytical and honest evaluation of the progress to date—and the

correlation of that progress with interventions—then it is difficult

to believe that significant progress can be made towards combat-

ting the serious challenges still ahead.

At the end of the day, goals are effective motivators, some-

thing to strive for, that can yield both failure and success. It is

only through clear goals and candid assessment that the best

practices—of business, development, and individual life—can be

uncovered. Creating a culture of “rah-rah” celebration aids the

cause by raising the visibility of the ongoing efforts to achieve

these ambitious targets, but it also sacrifices the opportunities

for learning and improvement along the way. As the who’s who of

international development faces the launch of the SDGs and the

15 years of work that are to follow, practitioners face a reflection

point of learning within the community. I hope that with a com-

mitment to testing, documenting, and sharing success and failure,

the next decade of UN General Assembly weeks can become an

opportunity to learn, grow, and innovate as much as to celebrate

the great work this community has achieved together.



At John Deere, we recognize that communities form the foundation of society, and that strong communities provide greater opportunities for lasting health and prosperity for all.

That’s why John Deere supports programs to improve communities around the world, including the impoverished villages near our manufacturing facility in Pune, India. The Village Improvement Program increases access to quality education for children, provides vocational training to young adults, and helps women start their own businesses. As well, the program is helping improve basic amenities in the villages, including sanitation, roads and health care.

Investing in our communities is one more way John Deere is becoming a catalyst for positive change in the world.

Empowering Communities

tion planning and market research, and

develop a framework for considering new

clients.” While these business approaches

are typical for most well-established com-

panies, such practices can be the difference

between whether a new business will suc-

cessfully scale, or fail.

EY’s Vantage Program works with non-

profit Endeavor to pair EY employees with

high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging

markets. Linda and Onuwa’s assignments

are just two examples of the many ways

EY and Endeavor have collaborated through

the EY Vantage Program over the past 10

years. The union, established in 2005, pro-

vides a strong example of how two such

organizations—one for-profit and the other

non-profit—can work together to achieve

common goals.

Specifically, the Vantage Program yields

significant two-way benefits. First, access

to EY staff enables Endeavor to be more

successful in helping local entrepreneurs

build their businesses. This in turn benefits

EY, most visibly by stimulating a local, de-

veloping economy and driving future de-

mand for additional services. In essence,

a rising tide floats all boats.

But EY and its employees also benefit

by gaining experience in emerging markets.

In fact, such volunteers almost invariably

describe the experience as one of, if not

the most significant and meaningful in their

entire careers. As Onuwa explains:

“Professionally, I enhanced my cul-

tural awareness, improved my manage-

ment skills, and was pushed outside of

my comfort zone. I also managed to learn

enough Portuguese to get by, developed

some lifelong friendships, and built my

network outside of the United States. The

experience overall has been priceless to my

career development and was easily some

of the best seven weeks of my professional

and personal life. I encourage other com-

panies to explore creating an International

Corporate Volunteer program to help their

employees develop leadership skills, rela-

tionships in emerging markets, and a global

mind-set.”

The collaboration has been so success-

ful that the Vantage program, which started

in the Americas, has led to a broader global

Deborah K . Holmes COLLABORATION BETWEEN ENDEAVOR AND EY YIELDS LESSONS ON HOW VOLUNTEERING DRIVES SOCIAL IMPACT

F ive Strategies for Effect ive Volunteer A l l iances

After almost 20 years as a success-

ful leader in marketing and com-

munications, Linda Whalen, the

Brand and External Communica-

tions Leader for EY’s West region, decided

to do something different. She took on a

two-month assignment in Chile helping to

refine the marketing strategy and plan for

Buscalibre.com, an e-commerce portal. For

Linda, the experience was eye opening.

“It helped me to expand my interna-

tional business and cultural awareness.”

And, the Chilean enterprise obtained the

benefit of world-class consulting services

at no cost.

Onuwa Uzor, a senior manager in EY’s

Transaction Advisory Services practice in At-

lanta, spent seven weeks in Brazil support-

ing Pixel Labs, a developer of interactive

cosmetic technology solutions for point of

sale and online channels. He helped Pixel’s

management team better understand their

needs while developing sustainable solu-

tions for growth and success.

“Although I had never worked in a start-

up environment or in Brazil before, I was

able to outline best practices for produc-


GLOBAL PRO BONOrelationship between Endeavor and EY, pav-

ing the way for more cooperation across

the globe.

Collaborations between the private

and social sectors can often accomplish

remarkable things, and they are even more

effective when a company encourages its

employees to engage directly with a social

sector organization. Yet, finding an organi-

zation with which sustained collaboration

is both feasible and productive can be more

difficult than it might seem. Getting things

right requires a foundation of mutual un-

derstanding, shared values and objectives,

and a commitment to sustained engage-

ment. For the corporations, this means tak-

ing the lead to make sure the partnership

is mutually beneficial in the long term.

In practice, EY’s collaboration with

Endeavor demonstrates that effective vol-

unteer programs depend on sustainable

partnerships with social-sector organiza-

tions that are able to operate anywhere in

the world, and effectively extend the com-

pany’s commitment to sustainable social

impact. Like any marriage of time, values,

and resources, the EY/Endeavor alliance is

founded on five key tenets. These include

ensuring both parties have common values,

a shared core focus for the collaboration, a

clearly defined mission and corresponding

objectives, a clear understanding about re-

spective capabilities (and responsibilities),

and of course, an ongoing willingness to

review, refine, and improve the operations

and outcomes of the partnership.

1 ENSURE COMMON VALUES AMONG PARTNERS

Each organization needs to closely ex-

amine the other to ensure alignment of

values and objectives. Both organizations

must be confident of a low likelihood of

culturally- or mission-driven conflicts or

surprises down the road that could severely

compromise the relationship. Perhaps the

not-for-profit could potentially become in-

volved in initiatives that could harm the

reputation of the corporation or otherwise

reduce the willingness of its employees

to associate or volunteer. Get to know the

organization, worldwide, and if any or-

ganizational activity generates cause for

concern then the relationship is probably

not worth pursuing.

2 ALIGN PARTNERS BASED ON A CORE FOCUS

Part of this “getting to know you” phase

should also include significant efforts by

the corporation to make certain the core

focus of the partnership is clearly under-

stood. The most hard-hitting and success-

ful partnerships tend to be constituted to

address a particular set of challenges for a

EY Vantage Advisor, Linda Whalen, collaborates with Buscalibre.com colleagues while on assignment in Chile.


clearly defined set of recipients. One thing

to avoid is a case where a social sector

organization, anxious to secure funding

or associate with a highly visible corpora-

tion, becomes willing to significantly alter

its raison d’être. Such alliances may seem

initially appealing, but over time tend to

garner less attention from the host orga-

nization, and thus underperform or fail.

3 FORMALIZE THE MISSION AND ITS MEASUREMENT

The sponsoring corporation and the so-

cial sector organization should establish a

clear vision of what they want to accom-

plish together. How, specifically, do the or-

ganizations intend to collaborate? What are

the specific mission objectives, and how

will progress against objectives be mea-

sured? What resources will be provided by

each, when, and where? To be successful,

partners must work toward clearly defined

milestones and metrics.

4 CLEARLY DEFINE RESPECTIVE CAPABILITIES

Any organizational relationship built on

employee involvement demands a realis-

tic understanding of what the company’s

people can provide within the partnership.

Successful pairings begin with the com-

pany taking the time to help the organiza-

tion understand the skills and knowledge

likely participants possess and what sorts

of tasks they can accomplish. This should

also include realistic scene-setting and un-

derstanding around the structure of the

workdays, work weeks, and work years.

It is vital that the two organizations

are honest and open about what each is

truly “good” at providing. Talking openly

about skills and resources, together, the

two groups can coordinate to better design

the overall program, develop realistic job

descriptions, and more optimally manage

workflow.

Cultural and resourcing gaps can ham-

per the relationship. Workers from the

corporation, for example, are likely accus-

tomed to receiving rapid responses to calls,

emails, or even tweets. Those from the host

organization, however, may come from a

less time-obsessed culture or otherwise op-

erate under significant resource constraints

and may resent pressure for immediate

or even same-day responses. Committed

collaborators will be honest about such

differences and, through communication,

find effective workarounds.

5CONTINUOUSLY REVIEW, REFINE AND IMPROVE

Successful partnerships foster open

communication and ongoing reflection,

both formal and informal. Informally, lead-

ers from both groups should speak openly,

being honest about what’s working, what’s

marginal, and what is so aggravating it

could inhibit the mission. Formally, the

collaboration should be working toward

specific short-term and long-term metrics.

In addition, many such teams also rely

on tools, such as shareholder satisfaction

surveys, to get a clearer assessment of

the state of the collaboration. If the two

organizations are not open and honest with

one another, the relationship can suffer

as a result.

Successful part-nerships foster open communication and ongoing reflection, both formal and infor-mal.

Finding the right long-term fit

EY’s collaboration with Endeavor, via the

EY Vantage Program, has developed over

the past 10 years on the basis of the above

traits, but these are by no means the only

drivers of success. For example, opportu-

nities to add to one another’s strengths

outside of any core mission can also arise.

A corporation, for example, might be well-

positioned to provide invaluable services

and insight to a social sector organization

in the form of anything from web design

and function to stronger HR strategies or

management structure.

The bottom line is that if the two or-

ganizations are right for one another, the

relationship has a strong chance of bearing

fruit beyond expectations. But it is only

through strong initial due diligence that the

two will find the right fit. In the case of EY

and Endeavor, a decade later, the union is

still going strong. As Endeavor co-founder

and CEO Linda Rottenberg explains, “We

focus on revolutionizing entrepreneurship

in emerging and growth markets.” Together

with EY, “we are helping to unleash the

tremendous social and economic value of

high-impact entrepreneurs.” The collabora-

tion, says Linda, “will be bearing fruit for

generations to come.”

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of EY.


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THE JOINT INITIATIVE FOR VILLAGE ADVANCEMENT TESTS MODELS FOR EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL INDIA

Maggie DeLorme

DEFINING “GOOD” DEVELOPMENT

What makes a development

project successful? I ask

myself this question each

day I spend designing and

managing projects. Development certainly

isn’t easy, or perfect. As a social science,

it is inexact, subjective, and ever-evolving,

striving for objective measurement in im-

perfect, variable-ridden environments. How

can one rely on data to indicate success in

what is at its beginning and end a human

experience, intervention, or endeavor?

As foreign aid passes the quarter and

half-century marks in some countries,

we practitioners must become ever more

mindful of our presence, and the effects

thereof. Although investment varies from

project to project, monitoring and evalua-

tion is widely accepted as a fundamental

pillar of effective development. In their

2013 annual letter, Bill and Melinda Gates

re-emphasized the importance of measure-

ment in the global efforts to improve the

human condition.

Unlike profit generation in the business

world, the “bottom line” of development is

less straight-forward. Standards of success

are predicated on a subjective selection of

inherently imperfect data, making “good”

development nearly impossible to define.

In project management, success is often

considered the accomplishment of a spe-

cific goal within a designated time frame.

When these are self-selected, proper goal-

setting and measurement tools become

all the more necessary to minimize con-

firmation and self-reporting bias. Shifting

an indicator from number of toilets built

to number of toilets used, for example,

can have tremendous implications on the

focus and direction of a project. Toilets

abandoned and in disrepair several years

after construction are an avoidable repeat

investment. Dissemination of all data—the

good, the bad, and the ugly— is critical for

avoiding these kinds of duplications.

Depth Before Breadth

The Joint Initiative for Village Advance-

ment, or “JIVA” as it is known, has sought

to develop metrics that will inform the ef-

fectiveness and sustainability of its inte-

grated approach. This multi-year commu-

nity development program, funded by the

John Deere Foundation, aims to improve

the lives of those residing in three rural

villages in Rajasthan, India. The program

employs a multi-sector approach focused

on three priorities: agriculture and income

security, education, and small-scale infra-

structure.

In a country of 1.2 billion people, a

smaller, three-village investment may raise

some eyebrows. Significant development

efforts typically span broad geographies.

By reaching more beneficiaries, the theo-

ry is that projects will scale more quickly

and have a greater social impact. Yet these

projects are often designed by officials or

experts seated far from the communities

they are aiming to serve. In India, more

than two-thirds of the population lives in

rural areas. With languages, customs, social

structures, natural resources, and avail-

able services often changing in any given

fifteen-mile radius, shouldn’t approaches

to its rural development be equally diverse

and varied?

Earlier this year, Nate Clark, Vice Presi-

dent of The John Deere Foundation, high-

lighted the importance of JIVA’s partner-

ships to its participatory approach in the

first installment of this series. The project

model depends heavily on the expertise

and resources of its partners to success-

fully execute a multi-sector approach. JIVA’s

local NGO partner, Jatan Sansthan, has been

actively engaged since the project’s be-

ginning and serves as the basis for the

John Deere Foundation and PYXERA Global’s

long-term exit strategy.

A Commitment to Measurement

Beyond developing a foundation of

partnership for long-term sustainability,

the JIVA team remains deeply committed

to quantitatively evaluating not just the

outputs, but more importantly the impacts

of its interventions. Following a needs as-

sessment in 2012 that informed the overall

program design, a census baseline study

was conducted six months later to validate

previous findings and provide a baseline

for comparison over the next five years.

Two years later, the early results are en-

couraging.

In less than eight months, 100 percent

of village drop-outs were enrolled in JIVA’s

after-school tutoring program, 60 percent

were reintegrated into government schools,

and 71 percent of those reintegrated were

attending class regularly. Children from

castes historically ostracized and living on

the outskirts of villages enrolled in school

for the first time. A year later, several of

these students now rank among the top-

five performers in their class.

Due to JIVA’s relatively short duration,

addressing complex, long-standing social

challenges is not an explicit focus area. Yet

with a participatory, systematic approach, it

is impossible to ignore their omnipresence

in everyday village life. Shayari Bagariya,

a teacher in the JIVA after-school program,

remarked on the changes she witnessed

in her students over the last year, “I used

to teach only to Bagariyas, who are my

caste. Gradually, change has happened

and all children have started calling me

teacher. They even take water from me

now. People from other castes do not like

to take things from the hands of Bagari-

yas. Now [Bagariya and other children] sit

together like brothers and sisters in the

JIVA after-school tutoring program.” A small

but tremendous step forward, this kind of

change is atypical to see in the given time

frame. Solid impact analysis over time

will enable us to learn the implications of

this change for both the JIVA villages and

similar future efforts.

In agriculture, demonstration plot yields

increased by 34.5 percent and 48.1 percent

for sorghum and maize, respectively. More

than 70 percent of farmers participating in

demonstration plot trainings adopted one

or more improved agricultural practices

before the completion of the first cropping

season. Contrary to Everett Rogers’ Diffu-

sion of Innovations Theory, the risk-taking

behavior of these ‘innovators’ and ‘early

adopters’—who, in theory, account for only

16 percent of the population—was not cor-

related to social status or financial liquidity.

Village contribution to community in-

frastructure work, such as school toilets

and classroom repairs, has totaled more

than $6,000—a staggering amount for those

living on less than a dollar a day. Local

contracting and hiring for JIVA’s infrastruc-

ture–related construction resulted in 9,479

hired person days, in addition to the 40

full- and part-time jobs generated by JIVA.

Continuous Self-Reflection and Learning

In the face of positive outcomes, it is

easy to gloss over failures. Yet, recogniz-

ing shortfall in performance is essential

to course correction, and therefore must

be a focus of any effective monitoring and

evaluation effort. Continuous self-evalua-

tion allows JIVA to identify and troubleshoot

issues early and adapt to the local context.

For example, the after-school program had

great early success in enrolling the majority

of village children within two months and

getting drop-out students back in school.

Yet month after month, many students’

test scores remained stagnant in all three

villages. By re-evaluating different indica-

tors such as school attendance and parent

engagement, JIVA was able to isolate the

“pull” effect some students, mainly drop-

outs, were having on their peers and re-

structured the program accordingly. Shortly

thereafter, student test scores improved

markedly.

JIVA also struggled with public percep-

tion and ownership in the beginning. Ini-

tially viewed by villagers as an opportunity

for free services, project staff received end-

less requests for hand-outs the first few

months of operations. Understanding the

risk this posed to long-term ownership and

sustainability, JIVA quickly decided that all

infrastructure work would be contingent

upon village participation and monetary

contribution. Less than a year later, villag-

ers now take an active role in the plan-

ning and execution of infrastructure im-

provements, creating Village Development

Committees to monitor construction and

manage community funds.

IMPACT & INNOVATION


Neeta Kumawat, JIVA Field Coordinator and a village resident,

described the transformation she’s seen in the villagers’ percep-

tion of JIVA’s work: “Earlier, people thought improving the villages

was the job of JIVA and that they would do the work in any case.

Now, after working for a year, there is a change in the villagers’

perspective of JIVA. Now they understand that it is not JIVA’s duty,

but it is their own responsibility.”

Evaluating a community’s development is no easy task. There

are innumerable confounding variables and symbiotic relation-

ships, and causation can never be definitively proven. But sys-

temic change requires systematic interventions. JIVA’s integrated

approach recognizes that each stakeholder plays multiple, inter-

active roles in a community’s growth. A female farmer attending

agricultural trainings is also a mother of a child enrolled in the

after-school program and a wife of a carpenter building classroom

desks. Evaluating a system holistically allows the project to intro-

duce activities based on each sector’s unique and complementary

developmental opportunities. With more than seventy different

indicators that can be disaggregated by various socio-demographic

variables, JIVA strives to piece together potential correlations and

track the effects of its interventions.

Setting the Bar for “Good” Development

In some ways, JIVA is akin to thousands of projects, past and

present, around the world. It is not the first time implementers

have attempted to marry a multi-sector approach with locally-

driven solutions, emphasizing partnerships, a mid-term duration

paired with a long-term focus, robust monitoring and evaluation,

and flexibility to innovate and adapt to local situations. But it is

among a rarer few that have attempted all of these factors si-

multaneously at a micro, village level where correlation is easier

to gauge.

Less than two years in, the project’s early results are impres-

sive. Yet many questions remain unanswered. Which aspects of

JIVA’s model are most important? Are they mutually inclusive?

Is the model replicable? Is it sustainable? The answers to all of

these questions will help determine whether or not carrying out

the project in a few villages can have broader impact. As the

John Deere Foundation and PYXERA Global seek to build on JIVA’s

encouraging early results and identify opportunities to test the

model’s scale, replication, and impact elsewhere, the answers to

these questions are critical.

So, what makes a development project successful? In the

absence of definitive criteria, examples of the alternative come

quickly to mind. Indeed, sharing missteps is important for the

success of future programs, but success is not the opposite of

failure. Understanding what doesn’t work is equally as important

as understanding what does. Lessons learned from projects like

JIVA can help shape the expectations of future initiatives and test

innovations at scale. With better goals and measurement thereof,

practitioners can better evaluate the industry’s progress, where

success means one day becoming obsolete.

A J IVA f ie ld coordinator leads an af terschool tutor ing c lass with students in Morra v i l lage.


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MerckAd_Lab_Full_Clr.indd 1 12/20/12 12:44 PM

PARTNERSHIP IS THE FINEST FORM OF FLATTERY

Amanda MacArthur

“PARTNERSHIP” IS TO RELATIONSHIPS WHAT “VANILLA” IS TO ICE CREAM.

It has been so overused, in many cases

with no real definition. A previously

useful word has fallen prey to what

some might call “the jargon curse.”

Much too often the term partnership is

deployed in support of a relationship that

does not reflect the true intent behind the

definition: “A relationship between indi-

viduals or groups that is characterized by

mutual cooperation and responsibility, as

for the achievement of a specified goal.”

The key to “partnerships” is mutuality—mu-

tual respect, mutual responsibility, mutual

accountability, for a shared goal.

Too often, however, relationships that

are actually hierarchical—vendor-supplier

or donor-beneficiary—are labeled “partner-

ships,” without the authentic engagement

that recognizes the expertise and capa-

bilities of both organizations to make the

whole greater than the sum of its parts.

At PYXERA Global, where authentic partner-

ship is at the organization’s very core, the

apparent trivialization through jargon has

been a concern. It was a real pleasure,

then, to join a panel at the Commit!Forum

in New York City, with Deborah Holmes

from EY and Gina Tesla from IBM, to speak

about the changing nature of partnerships

and how they can evolve from a manage-

ment construct to a more active ongoing

approach to engagement.

Both EY’s Vantage program and IBM’s

Corporate Service Corps are prime examples

of programs that engage NGOs with specific

expertise in emerging and frontier markets.

Commit!Forum Encourages Authentic Partnership for Social Change


HAPPENINGSFor its Vantage program, EY partners with

Endeavor, a global nonprofit, to find the

best and the brightest entrepreneurs in

Latin America in need of free consulting

assistance from EY associates. Similarly,

IBM deploys 500 employees a year through

its Corporate Service Corps, providing IBM

employees an important leadership devel-

opment opportunity while simultaneously

building the capacity of organizations in

growth markets. IBM partners with four

NGOs, including PYXERA Global, to identify

the best projects and to support the par-

ticipating employees during their four-week

assignments.

Both IBM and EY initially identified the

very tactical need for local support “on the

ground,” and reached out to organizations

that could help. But this quickly devel-

oped into more strategic relationships. The

two companies highlighted the need for

open dialogue between partners, creating

a “we” mind-set with their partner NGOs,

and developing a communication strategy

that tells the story of their partnership in

a way that speaks to the minds as well as

the hearts of stakeholders—both inside and

outside the company.

The Joint Initiative for Village Advance-

ment (JIVA), is another example of part-

nership. Born primarily of a philanthropic

engagement with John Deere, the program

in rural Rajasthan, India, now has a stra-

tegic and egalitarian structure in which no

one partner is more important than the

other, contributing to improvement in ag-

riculture, education, and infrastructure in

an integrated and impactful manner.

After two days at the Commit!Forum, a

theme emerged around partnership. People

were eager to restore the term to its origi-

nal meaning, ensuring that CSR partner-

ships are strategic, impactful and, perhaps

most importantly, authentic. Sessions such

as a plenary between The Nature Conser-

vancy, Unilever, and The Mosaic Company

highlighted how their partnership, Field To

Market® brings together the many stake-

holders in an agricultural value chain, in-

cluding the conservation community, to

identify strategies for improving the supply

chain across the sector and limiting waste.

In the not-so-distant past, a partnership

between a major conservation organization

and a fertilizer company would have been

unthinkable. Yet, these are the very part-

nerships that will drive solutions to com-

plex challenges, such as feeding the world’s

seven billion people while maintaining the

sanctity of the world’s ecosystem.

Authenticity, however, is not limited to

describing partnership. It also describes

reputation, and in this regard, CVS Health

was the highlight of this year’s Forum. Pres-

ident and CEO Larry Merlo discussed the

company’s decision to stop selling tobacco

products in their retail stores, a decision

that could potentially cost them $2 billion

in revenue. How much is a mission worth?

CVS decided: about $2 billion.

CVS is dedicated to providing an inte-

grated approach to healthcare for the Amer-

ican consumer and selling tobacco products

was in direct conflict with that goal. As an

integral part of many communities and

the first, and sometimes only, access to

healthcare professionals that many people

have, CVS made a strategic—perhaps even

heroic—decision to authentically live into

their values. There is no finer example of

corporate social responsibility than putting

the health of your customers ahead of the

health of your bottom line.

In today’s hyper-connected world,

where consumers have more choices than

ever before and loyalty is defined by Sun-

day’s coupon circulator, being authentically

engaged in the community can make the

difference between positive and negative

earnings reports. It is no longer enough for

companies to simply donate to a cause;

rather they must contribute to a cause in

an authentic way. Such a contribution can

manifest itself in myriad ways: through the

expertise of their employees, as companies

like EY and IBM have done, or through a

partnership that can mutually create and

implement a joint vision like PYXERA Global

and John Deere. When companies ensure

that their core business decisions reflect

their mission, they embrace the opportu-

nity to demonstrate how authentic partner-

ship can move off the jargon bandwagon

and into the real world.

This fa l l , CVS Heal th made the monumental dec is ion to stop sel l ing

tobacco products at i ts CVS/pharmacy locat ions across the country.


BOOK EXCERPT

THE MVPS OF SELF-REGULATION

Self-regulation is the mechanism for

countering the emotional triggers and

distractions that tend to undermine our

psychological needs for autonomy, related-

ness, and competence (ARC). People need

high-quality self-regulation to help man-

age their workplace experiences if they

ever hope to have an optimal motivational

outlook. Three potent techniques promote

high-quality self-regulation—mindfulness,

values, and purpose. These are the MVPs

of self-regulation.

Mindfulness: The first MVP of self-regu-

lation Mindfulness is noticing—being aware

and attuned to what is happening in the

present moment without judgment or an

automatic reaction. It is a state of being but

is also a skill that requires development

through practice and patience.

People express mindless reactions dif-

ferently. Some convey anger, frustration,

or self-righteous indignation by yelling,

ranting, or bullying and others by going

silent, being passive-aggressive, or avoid-

ing the person or situation that seems most

responsible for thwarting their psychologi-

cal needs.

When we are not mindful, we tend to

react with typical behavior patterns—many

of which we are born with or have acquired

unconsciously through life experience—or

uncontrolled emotions when we feel

• We are pressured or lack control

over a person or situation (an ab-

sence of autonomy)

• A person or organization has dis-

appointed us or let us down (an

absence of relatedness)

• We don’t have the ability to cope

effectively with the person or situ-

ation (an absence of competence)

Mindfulness, however, provides a view

of reality without the filters, self-centered

thoughts, and historical conditioning that

tint your outlook.

When people are not in control of their

reactions, their lack of mindfulness reflects

low-quality self-regulation. The result is

one of the three suboptimal motivational

outlooks:

• Disinterested—People disengage

because they are overwhelmed

but not thoughtfully or through

conscious choice; they are unable

to link the activity with values or

anything meaningful.

• External—They revel in the power

they exert, stimulated by their sta-

tus over others or controlled by an

external reward or incentive.

• Imposed—They feel they have no

other choices and there is only one

way of dealing with the situation.

Ironically, suboptimal energy can be

addictive. It is also exhausting. The rush

of adrenaline generated through self-righ-

teous indignation, the heat of anger, the

thrill of the kill in intense competition—

they can all fuel a person like junk food.

Whether the energy is expressed more

inwardly through passive aggression and

silent disengagement or more outwardly

through frustration or impatience, consider

this: the only way to sustain the negative

energy is to continue being mad, infuriated,

and disappointed in whoever or whatever

sparked the negativity in the first place.

Sustaining negative energy requires fueling

negative energy. It is no way to live.

My wish for people as they explore

mindfulness is to discover how subopti-

mal motivational outlook energy pales in

comparison to the energy generated in an

optimal motivational outlook.

Mindfulness and ARC are directly linked.

The high-quality self-regulation that comes

from mindfulness is highly relevant to a

person’s motivational outlook. Kirk Warren

Brown, a leading mindfulness researcher,

reports on how mindfulness links to a di-

rect experience of psychological needs. In

other words, when people are mindful, it is

almost impossible for them not to experi-

ence ARC. The neuroscience of mindful-

ness is fascinating. Brain scans show that

mindfulness and the experience of ARC

activate the same part of your brain. The

more mindful you are, the more likely you

are to satisfy your psychological needs.

A space exists between what is hap-

pening to you and the way you react to it.

Mindfulness is that space. This is where

you can choose how to respond.

When a person is mindful, she experi-

ences a heightened sense of autonomy

because she is not controlled by her own

Motivation: it’s not something you can do for people. It’s something the best leaders enable individuals to find for themselves.


potentially misconstrued and misaligned

self-concept based on irrelevant past ex-

periences. In this mindful state, a person

is better able to experience relatedness

because she can be genuinely concerned

about another person without self-serving

interpretations or prejudice. Mindfulness

also enhances her competence because

without the knee-jerk response, she has

options for making more appropriate choic-

es—she is better able to navigate and mas-

ter whatever situation she finds herself in.

When people are mired in their preju-

diced version of reality, they have fewer

options for coping with that reality.

VALUES: THE SECOND MVP OF SELF-REGULATION

Values are premeditated, cognitive stan-

dards of what a person considers good

or bad, worse, better, or best. Values are

enduring beliefs a person has chosen to

accept as guidelines for how he works—and

lives his life.

Values are at the heart of high-quality

self-regulation, yet most individuals have

not explored their own work-related values.

I find this ironic. If you stop people in the

hallway at work and ask them to list their

organization’s values, purpose, or mission

statement, chances are they will come

close. Today, promoting organizational val-

ues and purpose is an accepted business

practice. This is a good thing. However,

we cannot stop there. Individuals need to

identify, develop, clarify, declare, and op-

erationalize their own work-related values

and purpose—and then determine how they

align with the organization’s values.

Employees with clarified values are

more likely to experience high-quality

self-regulation despite inevitable workplace

demands and challenges. But therein lies

the problem. First, people need to have de-

veloped values! If values are mechanisms

for change and good decision making,

shouldn’t all individuals in the organization

have clarity about their own values—and

how they align, or not, with the organiza-

tion’s?

Developing workplace values for your-

self and with your people is worth the in-

vestment of time. Linking developed values

to a challenging task, goal, or situation

activates a shift between a suboptimal mo-

tivational outlook and optimal motivational

outlook.

A developed value is freely chosen

from alternatives, with an understanding

of the consequences of the alternatives. It

is prized and cherished. It is acted upon

over time. An intriguing aspect of values is

that developing them tends to be a mindful

process that reflects not only what we need

to flourish but what others need as well.

Acting upon developed values helps us sat-

isfy our psychological needs. To guide your

people’s shift to an optimal motivational

outlook, help them self-regulate by linking

assigned tasks, goals, or projects to their

developed values. For you to do that, your

people need to have developed values—and

to have you as a good role model.

PURPOSE: THE THIRD MVP OF SELF-REGULATION

Purpose is a deep and meaningful rea-

son for doing something. Purpose is acting

with a noble intention—when your actions

are infused with social significance.

As consultant and author Dr. Charles

Garfield drove over the San Francisco–Oak-

land Bay Bridge on his way to work, he

heard loud music coming from the tollbooth

he was about to enter. He rolled down his

window to pay his toll and found a dancing

tollbooth operator. “I’m having a party,” the

operator declared. Dr. Garfield drove away

more joyful than he did most mornings and

realized he had just experienced a peak-

performing tollbooth operator.

Intrigued, Dr. Garfield followed up and

discovered that the young man’s purpose

in life was to be a dancer. His coworkers

described their booths as “vertical coffins,”

but this young man saw it as a stage for

performing and his job as an opportunity

to dance. He developed a philosophy about

his job, created an environment to support

his vision, and happened to entertain those

he served. Research on peak performers

confirms what you might suspect about

people who attain high levels of success

and sustain it over time. Peak perform-

ers are not goal driven. Peak performers

are values based and inspired by a noble

purpose.

The danger of drive is that it distracts

people from what really makes them dance.

People are more likely to meet or exceed

expectations when they pursue goals

within a context of a meaningful purpose.

If, for some reason, the dancing tollbooth

operator were failing to achieve his goals

of collecting correct fees and preventing

backups on the bridge, as his manager, you

would know the root of the problem: His

work-related role, values, and purpose are

not synched. However, odds are that this

peak performer is achieving both your goals

for him and his personal, purpose-based

goals for himself.

Employees who have clarified their

personal values and vision and integrated

them with their organization’s stated values

and vision are likely to be living, working,

and even dancing purposefully.

Most organizations have a vision, mis-

sion, or purpose statement, but few em-

ployees have one for their work- related

role. This is a lost opportunity and a shame.

Without a noble purpose, what is entic-

ing employees away from the daily bom-

bardment of junk foods? Without a higher

cause or sense of meaning, why give up

those French fries or wait for the promised

marshmallow?

Collaborate with your employees to find

alignment between their perception of their

role-related values and purpose and your

perception. Come to conclusions together

that meet both their needs and those of the

organization. Acting with a noble purpose

reflects the highest-quality self-regulation.

Printed from the book, Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work…And What Does: The New Science of Leading, Energizing, and Engaging, by Susan

Fowler with the permission of Berrett-Koheler Publishers 2014. www.bkconnection.com


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