Humanitas Global Development Blog

President Obama Announces New Steps to Combat Human Trafficking in U.S.

Guest Post by Sue Preziotti from the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting

President Obama devoted his remarks this week at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) to the issue of human trafficking.

Human trafficking – or slavery – may sometimes be thought of as a problem outside the U.S., but President Obama made clear that while it’s a global issue that requires a global solution, “the bitter truth is that trafficking also goes on right here, in the United States.”

The 2012 U.S. State Department Human Trafficking Report, which for the first time includes an analysis of America, estimates 27 million people worldwide are victims of slavery in several forms including prostitution and forced labor.  The number of victims in the U.S. is estimated to reach into the hundreds of thousands, according to the Polaris Project.

The President explained, “it’s the man who’s lured here with the promise of a job, then has his documents taken and is forced to work endless hours in a kitchen. Or the teenage girl, who is held, beaten and forced to walk the streets.”

“This should not be happening in the United States of America.”

Modern slavery, he said, “is a debasement of our common humanity” that tears at our social fabric, distorts markets, endangers public health and fuels violence and organized crime.  

He reminded the audience that the U.S. has taken a stand against slavery for 150 years -- beginning with the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed American slaves, and with participation in the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act was signed by President Clinton in 2000, and the President called on Congress to renew it this year.

Under the Obama Administration, an interagency task force has been expanded and more intelligence resources devoted to identifying trafficking networks. The President said that last year, a record number of predators were charged with human trafficking. The FBI website shows two sentencings in trafficking cases just this month.

But, President Obama said there’s more to do and announced a number of steps to help increase understanding of the issue, strengthen law enforcement and support victims.

Among these are a new government assessment, enhanced training, exploration of new technology tools, improved victim support coordination across federal government, simplification of Visa procedures for foreign victims helping prosecute traffickers, an executive order helping ensure U.S. contractors do not engage in forced labor, and a new focus by the Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

The President indicated that America will continue to be a leader in global efforts with a comprehensive strategy that includes partnering with organizations worldwide, helping other countries step up their efforts, giving them incentives and calling them out when they fail to meet their responsbilities. “I recently renewed sanctions on some of the worst abusers, including North Korea and Eritrea." 

Throughout his speech, the President appealed to our sense of humanity with powerful examples of the pain, suffering and aloneness of those held captive against their will. The emotion culminated when he drew attention to two women in the audience who escaped their plight as slaves – one from Indonesia and one from New York -- and are now working as advocates. Sheila White, who grew up in the Bronx, fled an abusive home as a teenager and met a man who sold her at 15 to men who raped and beat her. It took years with the help of a non-profit led by other survivors for her to escape and get help. She earned her GED and today is a powerful advocate who helped pass a new anti-trafficking law in New York.

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who has covered the issue for many years, wrote a compelling article with personal accounts, “In Obama's Speech, Their Voices.”

The personal stories illustrate what President Obama summed up as, “It is barbaric, and it is evil, and it has no place in a civilized world.”

“Our fight against human trafficking is one of the great human rights causes of our time, and the United States will continue to lead it.”

The President’s full remarks can be viewed at:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2012/09/25/president-obama-speaks-clinton-global-initiative-annual-meeting#transcript

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Secretary Hillary Clinton Says Development is a Key Pillar of U.S. National Security

Guest Post by Sue Preziotti from the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting

During remarks at the CGI annual meeting this week in New York, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the Obama Administration’s development program, which she announced at CGI 2009, has become an essential pillar of U.S. national security alongside defense and diplomacy. She said development is "vital to our national interests and to our efforts to build a world that is more stable, more prosperous and more free.”

Following an introduction by her husband and event chair former President Bill Clinton, Secretary Clinton began her speech, "Designing Diplomacy for the 21st Century," on the subject of change. In addition to global democracy movements, she cited new technologies, demographic shifts and emerging powers, all of which are transforming our world, bringing exciting possibilities as well as great challenges. 

“In the face of all this change, those who care about having an impact on the world have to do two important things: we must think and act innovatively and be willing to change ourselves to keep pace with the change around us; and at the same time, we must stay true to our values.”  

She said the U.S. is doing just that in designing its development program with an eye towards helping to "drive global political change in the right direction.” The program has three overarching strategies:

1)     Continue to move from aid to investment – Many developing countries are improving, and needs for basic necessities aren’t as stark as they once were. So, the U.S. can be a catalyst for self-sustaining growth and economic progress, moving away from direct provision of things like water and food. The Secretary gave examples of successes in countries such as Haiti, where hundreds of jobs have been created through multi-sector collaboration including private sector investment.  

2)     Emphasize country ‘ownership’ – The U.S. aims for nations to be able to create, implement and eventually pay for their own development plans. Botswana now manages and pays for their national HIV treatment program. And through the President’s Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the U.S. is helping facilitate the establishment of a medical school to train the next generation of that country’s healthcare workers. In India when the National AIDS Control Program launched, 50% of the budget came from outside donors, and now the Indian government pays for 80%.

3)     “Put ourselves out of business” – Secretary Clinton said that ultimately, development must lead to nations working on their own. “I look forward to the day when our development assistance will no longer be needed” and people have a chance to build better lives for themselves. She said the U.S. is working with partner countries to put special emphasis on self-sufficiency.   

She went on to further contextualize U.S. global development efforts around foreign policy and the future of democracy:

“For the U.S., as we pursue our development agenda around the world, working to improve and save lives and to spur growth, we’re working to advance freedom and dignity. We’re standing up for democracies that unlock people’s potential and standing against extremists who exploit people’s frustrations.” Secretary Clinton emphasized the importance of the world standing together on this point and did spend a few minutes discussing the recent attack on the U.S. embassy in Libya and the condolences and support expressed from around the world. 

She said that throughout the week, in which the U.N. General Assembly is held in New York, she has been in discussions with many nations about how to work together to build lasting partnerships. 

Just this morning the U.N. Secretary General told CNN he'd like to see the U.S. use its influence to try and positively impact world affairs. How can we do so in the most effective, least costly and sustainable manner?  In the volatile, untested waters of our changing world, there doesn’t seem to be an easily-defined path.   

By putting a greater emphasis on development in U.S. foreign policy and engaging countries that need and desire help so they can become self-sufficient, we can hopefully inspire trust, cooperation and peace, as we demonstrate the best of American values to the world. As Secretary Clinton put it, “All of the work I’ve described briefly today reflects America’s enduring commitment to help more people in more places to live up to their God-given potential, to chart their own destinies and realize the full measure of their human dignity.”

Secretary Clinton’s full remarks can be viewed at:

http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/ourmeetings/2012/webcast/archives/player.asp?id=63

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Using Aquaculture to Address Food Security

Today, Humanitas Global attended a seminar on ‘Sustainable Aquaculture and Food Security.’ Presenters from USAID, the FAO and the World Bank, not only provided an overview of the relevant fishery landscape, but also how to utilize fisheries (capture fisheries and aquaculture) in addressing food security issues – as our population increases and demand for food diversity grows.

However, in order to meet these demands, fish production on a global scale will need to reach approximately 172 million tons by 2021, according to the FAO. This increase in production will need to come from the aquaculture sector given the impact that capture fisheries have experienced from issues such as overfishing, climate change and pollution. Providing fishery workers with the capacity to run efficient businesses will increase not only their income but also the number of jobs.

Women + Livelihoods

According to the FAO, approximately 120 million people in the world are dependent on fisheries and aquaculture for their livelihoods – as many as 56 million in developing countries are women.  As the fastest growing food sector, this will equate to millions more jobs for women in future decades.

Protein consumption:

Seventeen percent of the global population have their protein needs meet through the consumption of fish. With our population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, demand for fish protein will substantially increase – therefore, sustainable solutions to aquaculture challenges must be a priority.

The integration of agriculture-aquaculture:

The use of agriculture-aquaculture systems is perhaps most effective for small producers as it can help control production costs. For example, fish have been added to some rice paddies in Asia. The fish help to control weeds and feed on insects in the paddy fields.  And in turn their waste fertilizes the rice.  Once the rice has been harvested, the farmers can then harvest the fish.  This combination of agriculture and aquaculture can provide a sustainable solution to one of the problems many poor farmers face – how to afford fertilizer and pest controls.

Important issues for sustainability

The sustainability of aquaculture depends greatly on the management of the fisheries. As noted by the FAO, there are several challenges for ensuring the sustainability of aquaculture in the future, including: water scarcity/quality, fish disease, loss of biodiverse systems, etc. With only 1.5% of aquaculture farms being certified, mismanagement is a huge blockade and the ability to tackle the challenges mentioned above presents an even bigger hurdle to climb. And the ability to expand and cultivate efficient fisheries would provide solutions not only for food security issues, but also poverty and livelihood issues.

 

 

 

CGI 2012: Multi-sectoral Partnerships for Development

by Priya Bapat, Humanitas Global Development

Above, left to right: Michael T. Duke, President and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.; Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General, United Nations; Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank Group; Bill Clinton, Former President of the United States and founder of the Clinton Foundation

Yesterday afternoon, President Clinton concluded the most highly-covered and high-profile CGI meetings of the last five years.  Perhaps the most exciting aspect of CGI is not only the diversity of countries, ethnicities and religions represented, but the diversity of professions and expertise.  Unlike many development conferences, CGI includes the participation of prominent leaders from not only the political and development worlds, but also private sector leaders, academics, media, designers and more.

The potential for convening these leaders together is best represented through CGI 2012's committment portfolio.  At each CGI meeting, President Clinton unveils a number of new initiatives to tackle existing challenges in our world.  These initiatives typically involve a collaboration between multiple sectors at the highest of levels.  These collaborations demonstrate how all sectors can use their resources and expertise together to create stronger, more effective programs.

One such committment comes from Moody's, the credit rating company; Grameen Bank; Deutsche Bank; and a mix of microfinance organizations (Women's World Banking, BlueOrchard, The MIX Market, and ImpAct) to develop a scorecard and standardized ratings system for microfinance institutions along with accompanying tools and research.  Support from larger, more established credit companies and banks will help provide the smaller, more resource-strapped microfinance institutions to develop better, more standardized systems.

Another example of a multi-sectoral committment is on providing next generation technology to frontline healthworkers in Kenya.  The initiative involves both NGO (IntraHealth International, Medic Mobile, the African Medical and Research Foundation, and Avallain Africa) and private sector (Intel, IHUB and SafariCom) partners with different types of expertise in health, education and technology.  The organizations will work in partnership with the Kenyan government to update skills and knowledge for healthcare workers in remote and underserved areas to enable them to use the most current and effective technologies and create a stronger healthcare system.  

CGI's ability to convene leaders in different sectors in one setting to discuss and highlight multi-sectoral programs is an important one.  While multisectoral partnerships are certainly viewed as important, collaborations are not as integrated and meaningful as they could be.  Often in development, initiatives start in one arena - NGOs, academia or the private sector - and don't seek to involve input from other sectors until the initiative is ready to launch.  In order for multi-sectoral partnerships to have the most impact, they must be designed, implemented and championed by all partners so that there is a sense of ownership from all parties.  Although often more complex, these types of initiatives can help create more robust, well-informed and better designed development interventions.

For more examples of how organizations can come together across sectors to create development programs, we suggest that you take a look through the CGI Committments database.  In it are some innovative and inspiring examples of how multi-sectoral action can lead to positive and highly-impactful change.

Clinton Global Initiative 2012: Designing for Impact

 

This afternoon, the Clinton Global Initiative kicked off the fifth Annual Meeting.  For the first time, the CGI Annual Meeting is focused around a single theme - Designing for Impact.  As Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, a global design firm, explained during his introduction of the theme, "Design at its essence is about being intentional.  There isn’t a single thing in the manmade world that wasn’t designed…..The things that generally work well are things where thought was given on how that would be.”  

The importance of proper design for development is clear.  Last week, we featured a guest post on the Hunger and Undernutrition blog about the importance of design in development that provides more detail on how designers can contribute to development.

During the opening plenary, CGI gave an update on committments from the 2011 Annual Meeting and unveiled the first set of new commitments from this year, including a new initiative by the Special Olympics to improve healthcare for people with intellectual disabilities.  The plenary also featured a discussion on the event's theme moderated by President Clinton with Walmart CEO Michael Duke, Queen Rania of Jordan, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and World Bank President Jim Kim.

This week, on both the HGD blog and Hunger & Undernutrition blog, we will delve deeper into how integrating design into development can help lead to better programs and initiatives.  Stay tuned for more!

Technology as a Disruptive - and Positive - Force for Development

by Priya Bapat, Humanitas Global Development

Today was the kickoff of the 3rd Annual Social Good Summit hosted by Mashable, the UN Foundation, Ericcson, the United Nations Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  The opening day featured a number of presentations from both established and emerging leaders in global development and technology, including an opening address from Secretary Hillary Clinton.  Throughout the day, panelists discussed how mobile technology and social media have made significant contributions to fields such as global health, environmental conservation and public diplomacy.

Beyond showcasing how technological innovations have helped advance social, economic and political development, the Social Good Summit also highlighted how technology has changed and continues to change the way the world, including the development sector, works:

Direct Engagement

As Secretary Clinton stated during her opening address, "We're living at a time when everyone can be a diplomat.  All you have to do is hit send."  She may have been talking specifically about diplomacy, but her words apply to development as well.  Social media has made development more personal and grassroots than ever before.  Twitter has given individuals platforms that reach beyond their friends and enables them to promote an organization or advocate a humanitarian cause to a global audience.  Social media and technology have also changed how money is raised for development, as demonstrated by sites such as Kiva, Watsi and Kickstarter. 

Openness

Pete Cashmore, CEO and founder of Mashable, said that the Social Good Summit was created in response to the closed-off nature of United Nations events.  The summit is purposely designed to be as open with information and public as possible.  Social media and technology have made our society far more demanding of open communications, accountability and data from all organizations and governments, including in development.  The World Bank's Open Data Initiative is an example of how technology has changed the ways of even the most established organizations.  Development has also become a more inclusive space, seeking the input and involvement of the private sector, technology experts and other non-traditional partners.

Age and Status

"Take young people seriously," advised Jill Sheffield of Women Deliver.  Her statement was greeted with cheers from the audience filled mostly with 20-something year olds (myself included).  Development has traditionally been a field where influence is determined by seniority.  The importance of technology for development has given young entrepreneurs a slight advantage and the rise of social media has enabled young development workers to have a platform to voice their ideas.

The Social Media Summit is a fascinating representation of how social media and technology have changed and continue to change the way the world approaches development.  We look forward to seeing what new innovations and ideas are brought forward at next year's conference.

Social Good Summit to be held in New York City

The third annual Social Good Summit kicks off this Saturday, September 22 in New York City. Humanitas Global team members are excited to be attending the three-day conference where “the most innovative technologists, influential minds and passionate activists” will come together to achieve “one shared goal: to unlock the potential of new media and technology to make the world a better place, and then to translate that potential into action.”

The Summit is hosted by Mashable, 92nd Street Y, the United Nations Foundation, Ericsson, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and will include over 90 speakers suggesting new and innovative ideas to address the Millenium Development Goals. For the first time, the Summit will extend beyond New York. On September 24, China and Kenya will join the conversation via Livestream.

The conversation begins with the Summit with the goal to spread and become “one of the biggest, most global and most powerful conversations the world has ever seen.” By bringing together a dynamic group of global leaders and activists, the Summit will be a platform for new and exciting ideas to combat global challenges. 

How will you contribute to this conversation?

Stay tuned for updates throughout the Summit and how Humanitas is contributing to this global conversation.