WASHINGTON, DC | December 8, 2014 - This week on BIZ+SOCIAL, we bring you the best from the New Global Citizen, Fast Company, SSIR, and more.

GLOBAL PRO BONO

Skills-Based Volunteers Help the United Nations Achieve the Millennium Development Goals

In 1985, the United Nations passed a resolution to honor the efforts of the countless men and women who have dedicated their time to international development efforts. This year, International Volunteer Day (IVD 2014) marks a global celebration of volunteerism, honoring people’s participation in making a change at all levels. Volunteers provide important support to social impact organizations in a number of capacities and increasingly corporate volunteers, using their skills on cross-border pro bono assignments, are becoming a critical way for companies to support the UN’s efforts to make progress on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).Countless efforts are underway to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, reinforcing agricultural value chains and creating employment opportunities that have the ability to reinforce the lives and livelihoods of close to 2 billion people around the world. Over the past 15 years, these efforts have succeeded on many fronts, but one in nine people still remain hungry worldwide. A great deal more remains to be done. Concepción Miró, has worked at “la Caixa,” one of Spain’s largest financial institutions, in loan and branch management since 1977. Last July, Miró joined CooperantesCaixa, a volunteer program led by “la Caixa” Foundation International Division, to support the Mozambican NGO Promoción y Desarrollo and its local partner Asociación Esmabama in improving agricultural production in Magunde, in Mozambique’s Chibabava district. Read More…

IMPACT & INNOVATION

Delivering Clean Water Using Solar-Powered Pipelines

TOHL was recently recognized as the winner of Tech Awards 2013 in the Young Innovators category for its overwhelming social good in combating emergency situations and basic need inaccessibility. In this interview with Co-Founder and CEO Benjamin Cohen, we learn more about TOHL’s journey as a nonprofit venture. Through this podcast, Benjamin describes TOHL’s rise to be a global industry leader in water logistics and infrastructure, and how it has been changing lives in the process. He discusses his logistical methods for measuring impact, his goals for the scaling and achievement of the organization, and challenges TOHL has faced in accomplishing its mission. Benjamin also speaks about his personal experience as an entrepreneur, including lessons he has learned and advice he has for aspiring entrepreneurs. Under the leadership of Benjamin Cohen, TOHL has progressed from an idea to a company with scalable products and services contracted by large organizations worldwide. Ben has received various awards and fellowships for leadership, entrepreneurship, and innovation, named Young Innovator at the Tech Awards in Silicon Valley. Listen Here…

LEADERSHIP

7 Bold Steps to Timeless Leadership

Leaders like Sir Richard Branson, Oprah, Steve Jobs, Bob Dylan, or Walt Disney are or were steadfastly committed to their own vision, values, and sense of the world. That kind of sensibility goes beyond spin and public relations points and rises to genuine truth: These leaders are not afraid to step over the line, again and again. Stand on the other side of the line and try to get people to cross it—that’s leadership. How, then, do you lead? Here are seven ways: 1. EXPLAIN WHY YOU’RE STANDING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE LINE. Start by telling your people the story behind why you’re on the “other” side. Why aren’t you over here? What’s wrong with you? 2. EXPLAIN WHY YOUR SIDE IS BETTER. And make them believe it as much as you do. Make it bigger than they are. For example, explain how you’re changing the world, or at least how you should. There’s a lot that needs fixing. Grab a shovel. 3. MAKE SURE OTHERS CAN IDENTIFY YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY. Make a flag. Paint a bus. A building. Show people who you are. Look different. Act different. Be different. Mark your territory. 4. DO SOMETHING. Make sure that what you and your followers do is divergent, better, or just weird enough so that other people want to do it, too. Disrupt the hell out of the status quo. They deserve it. Create rituals that celebrate your accomplishments and also reinforce your values, vision, and beliefs. Read More…

ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

10 Things You Need to Know About Corporate-NGO Partnerships

Corporate-NGO partnerships are no longer based purely on a financial transaction as companies are using their differing skills and resources to work towards shared objectives and values, say experts. 1. A successful partnership depends on a shared goal. It is worth investing time in identifying where the common self-interest lies before proceeding. Adam Heuman, head of major partnerships team at Plan UK says that partners should seek “an issue that would really benefit from a cross-sector approach - something where it really needs more than one actor to address the problem”. Aligned objectives that go beyond fundraising can create a relationship that is “beyond contractual, that dreams dreams, makes mistakes, grows and learns together,” adds David Schofield, Aviva’s global head of corporate responsibility. 2. Corporates can help NGOs to scale faster. When non-profits and for-profit companies work together they can create something bigger than they would alone. Kari Vigerstol, head of water stewardship at the Nature Conservancy says that they partner with corporates because “they understand shared risk and are responsive to addressing these risks”. Scale can be created through advocacy as well as programmes. A recent partnership between Plan and Aviva in Jakarta has helped to change the law on birth registration, enabling thousands of street kids to be registered for the first time. Read more…

CITIZEN DIPLOMACY

Why Westerners Should Travel to Muslim Countries

NO PART OF THE WORLD within the last ten years has been scrutinized as much or stereotyped as heavily as the Muslim world. Although a minority of these countries have warranted the criticism, the media has unjustly painted the remaining majority as being similarly run, hateful of the west, and as places to be avoided. Not only are these countries worth visiting, but what they offer is so unique that to be left off the list of any traveler would be a shame. When a friend asked me where would I recommend visiting the most, I answered Jordan — a 90% majority Muslim country. “Isn’t it dangerous?” she asked. My reply: “I feel safer in Amman than I often do in London.” In the past 13 years, ‘Muslim’ and ‘terrorist’ have become synonymous in many countries in the western world. News organizations and Hollywood films do very little to distinguish between the minority and the majority, and sometimes even openly merge the two. This mindset is extremely damaging to the world’s Muslim communities, degrading the vast majority due to the actions of a few, and perpetuating the myth that all Muslim countries are radicalized, are a danger to travelers, and are full of close-minded and stubborn people who hate Westerners. Read More…