WASHINGTON, DC | April 21, 2014 - This week on BIZ+SOCIAL, we bring you the best from New Global Citizen, Diplomatic Courier, Devex, and more.

GLOBAL PRO BONO

Part I: PepsiCorps Supports Sustainable Agriculture and Gender Empowerment in Rural South Africa

I entered a meeting room at the Blouberg Hospital for our first meeting with members of the Blouberg Farmers Business Association (BFBA). In Blouberg, a poor rural community in South Africa’s Limpopo Province, I expected the most influential people in the room to be men. Walking in, I was pleased to find that half of the members were women! I was excited to learn that women in Blouberg do have a voice. Traveling half-way around the world from Mexico, my native country, I found myself in South Africa participating in PepsiCorps, an innovative skill-based volunteer program that sends eight PepsiCo associates from around the world to spend one month using their talents to help local communities address societal challenges. My team was supporting Heifer International South Africa, an NGO that works to provide people with the skills and resources they need to expand their options for the future. Our task was to improve the quality of life of low-income families by developing sustainable agriculture, animal health care, and bee-keeping projects that will improve the lives of many in the community. Read More...

IMPACT & INNOVATION

A Coalition of Dedicated Partners Foster Maternal Survival in Southern Africa

A 19-year-old woman, five months pregnant, urgently needed to see a doctor, but the nearest medical facility was an hour-long drive away. Living in rural Zambia, public transportation was non-existent and the obvious solution—getting in a car—was also unavailable. The only accessible form of transport was a bike or an ox-cart, both of which were unmanageable in her condition. In Zambia, the patient-to-physician ratio is 8,300 to one and one in 37 women is likely to die from a pregnancy or childbirth complication during her life time. The odds were already stacked against her; the chances of her survival were slim. Fortunately, in this rare instance, Jaron Link, one of Merck’s Richard T. Clark Fellows, and a team from Boston University’s Center for Global Health and Development, were nearby and available to drive the woman and her mother to a clinic in the back of a pick-up truck. Despite the scorching 90°F heat and the unpaved and bumpy roads, they made it.  Not the ideal situation for an expectant mother in need of urgent healthcare, but ultimately one that likely saved her life. Read More…

LEADERSHIP

#Catalyze14 Keynote Challenges Status Quo, Inspires Commitment to Development 2.0

When I was first asked to provide the closing remarks for the 5th Annual International Corporate Volunteerism Conference, my first thought was that by this point in time, most of you have heard of my musings, whether in person, in my blogs, or even in my very occasional forays onto Twitter.  But then I gave it some thought and decided that this might be an excellent opportunity to make a confession to all of you.  “A confession?” you ask.  Well, yes.  Because while many of you know how vocal a proponent I am for the good that business can do in the world—especially with the right partnerships across the public and social sectors—what you probably don’t know is that I did not start out that way. In fact, rather the opposite.  It’s true, I confess, I was a stalwart business-hater. So, if you will indulge me, I’d like to share with you a bit about why I took that position in the past, and why and how my thinking on the topic evolved. Read More…

CITIZEN DIPLOMACY

Towards a Smarter Public Diplomacy

These are exciting days for those of us who teach and practice public diplomacy. Aimed at establishing mutually beneficial relationships between governments (as well as non-governmental organizations) and citizens of foreign nations, our field is viewed as transformative by some, while somewhat idealistic by others. With the stated goal of “winning the hearts and minds” of foreign publics, the U.S. government has invested large sums of money into a variety of international engagement programs. Based on the idea that engagement is key to highlighting a nation’s soft power, we have seen the emergence of a multitude of “fill in the blank diplomacy” programs, including but not limited to gastrodiplomacy, cultural diplomacy, science diplomacy, water diplomacy, sports diplomacy, and even bicycle diplomacy. A key assumption behind many soft power initiatives is that personal interaction with foreign cultures is likely to create good will amongst people and help overcome negative stereotypes or misinformation. Read More…

ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

Boosting Economic Development: Real Aid to the Private Sector

Right now, the development community is busy readying itself for the Global Partnership High-Level Meeting in Mexico next week. Conversations there promise to range widely, but how best to use increasingly pressured aid budgets is sure to be high on the agenda both for donor and partner countries, as well as for the myriad of non-state actors who will also be present. The most effective use of aid will of course be subject to much debate well beyond Mexico. Should aid’s primary purpose be to support the delivery of essential public services to improve people’s lives in countries that simply do not have the money to do this themselves? Or should it be used to help countries grow wealthier and transform economically in ways that reduce poverty and inequality? Or perhaps we should use aid for both service delivery and catalyzing economic development, with the question being to find an appropriate balance between the two? Read more…

MORE

Footprints and Hand Prints in Emerging Markets

Busy Professionals Find Time to Be Global Humanitarians

Global Pro Bono – What’s It Worth? (Part 1)

Cultivating the Next Generation of Sustainability Leaders

SAP Social Sabbatical Team Reaches Out to Kenyan Businesses in Need