Join Dr. Goodman as she moderates “Developmental Challenges Post 2015,” with a focus on empowering women and local communities. Part of AIDF’s Washington, D.C. Aid and International Development Forum, the May 21 panel will include cutting-edge remarks on some of the most pressing sustainability problems of our time, including poverty, children’s equity, health, education and human rights. Distinguished speakers include: Papa Seck, UN Women; Meenakshi Menon, GHETS; and Richard Morgan, UNICEF. To register for the free, two-day conference, see: aidforumonline.org.
Category: Development
Prof. Shi Qi Qing: In Memory of a Green Chinese Heroine
©2013AnnGoodman
As the time fast approaches for women in the US and China to meet on green consumption in Washington, D.C. (see previous post), I fondly remember my dear colleague Prof. Shi Qi Qing, who skillfully formed international alliances in this field–notably with me while I led WNSF–during her inspirational tenure as Secretary General of CAWE, the China Association of Women Entrepreneurs.
She will be missed–for her wide knowledge, calm and warm personality, sound judgment and her passion for a sustainable world that women could help lead.
At Hong Kong’s World Green Forum in summer 2011, she said with usual aplomb that “the shift in the focus of a global economy toward investments in clean technologies and natural infrastructures like forest and soil is an optimal choice for economic growth in a real sense, a combat against climate change and [an aid to] adequate employment in the 21st century.”
Prof. Shi was truly an inspiring global green partner–across continents, languages and cultures.
Bard to Host First Asia Forum on Waters, Forests, Communities
While I’ll miss this event myself (due to my own trip to Asia to speak at the AIDF-Asia Pacific Forum–see my post of Jan. 13) I recommend that anyone who can, join my colleagues at Bard College, from Jan. 31-Feb. 2, for this exciting three-day conference to explore opportunities to link the study of Asia with its natural environment. For more information and to register: http://www.bard.edu/news/conferences/asia2013/
Improving Communications in Environmental Disasters: A conversation with the UN’s Margareta Wahlstrom
© 2013 Ann Goodman
At the National Council for Science and the Environment’s timely conference on Disasters and Environment, focusing on science, preparedness and resilience, in Washington, D.C. in mid-January, one of the most seasoned and sensible, yet cautionary voices was keynote speaker Margareta Wahlstrom, of the UN Office of Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva.
One warning: Functional communications will be key to resilience in disasters, likely to accelerate in the future.
With the population growing two to three times more in most vulnerable areas of the world, largely coastal, we should now know, with the wealth of scientific and other data available, how to plan for the future, she said.
In planning for future resilience, she named three challenges:
1.Planning and developing resilience, especially for agricultural and urban issues.
2. Governance
3.Communications. “Research is rich, and the volume of information enormous–so it’s not as accessible to decision makers as it should be.”
After her keynote, Ms. Wahlstrom sat down with me to elaborate on her ideas, based on wide experience, on improving communications during environmental disasters, especially in an age of amplifying communications through electronic and wide-spreading social networking tools… Continue reading “Improving Communications in Environmental Disasters: A conversation with the UN’s Margareta Wahlstrom”
Ann to Speak at First AIDF-Asia Pacific Forum in Bangkok, Jan. 30-31
Following her recent cutting-edge remarks on the nexus of sustainability and social media in France, LA and NYC, Dr. Goodman will speak in Bangkok, Thailand on “The Role of Social Media in Development” at the first Asia-Pacific Aid & International Development Forum (AIDF), one of the world’s leading forums for the humanitarian aid, relief and development sectors on January 30 and 31.
She will also moderate the panel on “Empowering Women as a Development Tool.”
The event will bring together practitioners and policy leaders from governments, the UN, NGOs and private organizations, to highlight the challenges faced by the aid and development sector and to share innovative ideas. As a center of operational activity and international support for both the humanitarian relief and development sectors, Bangkok is the ideal place for the first Asia Forum.
In addition to Ann, the panel on Social Media will feature… Continue reading “Ann to Speak at First AIDF-Asia Pacific Forum in Bangkok, Jan. 30-31”
Ann to Speak at Planetworkshops, Sept. 24-26 in Evian, France
Ann is honored to speak at Planetworkshops Global Conference 2012
She’ll be part of a panel on the topic: Internet and social networks: vectors of responsible consumption?
For more information, visit: http://www.planetworkshops.org/en/index.html
Join Ann at Strategies for a New Economy
Presented by the New Economics Institute
Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
Details: conference@neweconomicsinstitute.com
PharmaJet’s Global Return on Health
© Ann Goodman 2012
Q&A: Following UN Women NYC’s “3 Pillars of Sustainability,” May 8, 2012, Ann talks with Pharmajet’s Heather Potters, Founder and Chair, about the role of business in global health.
1. Ann: PharmaJet is a new medical device company, and your mother developed the technology. What’s the company’s role in furthering sustainable development?
Heather: The company’ mission is to make a positive contribution to reducing the global disease burden through injection delivery of vaccines with its devices, safely and effectively.
2. Ann: How do you do that?
Heather: We’ve developed a simple, innovative needle-free jet injection technology—focused on delivery of vaccines into the body. “Needle-free” is not new, but the way in which PharmaJet has approached it is. A variety of care givers, customers, patients, governments, and NGO’s have used the technology and confirmed it to be very useful and desirable in a variety of healthcare environments, as an alternative to needle-syringe and the resulting disposal, needle-stick, needle re-use and liability issues they face.
3. Ann: Is the traditional vaccination process potentially a global health issue?
Heather: The aim of vaccination is to help the body generate immunity to disease. Continue reading “PharmaJet’s Global Return on Health”
Water Sanitation & Sustainability
© 2012 Ann Goodman
Q&A: Following UN Women NYC’s “3 Pillars of Sustainability,” May 8, 2012, Ann talks with charity:water’s head of programming, Christy Scazzero, on how awareness of water sanitation affects global sustainability—and the impact it’s had in the developing world.
1. Ann: What does charity:water do to advance sustainability?
Christy: charity: water is a non-profit organization that helps bring clean, safe drinking water to people in developing countries via an online donor platform. We do this through raising awareness about the water crisis and funding non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to implement water programs across sub-saharan Africa, Asia and Haiti.
2. Ann: How do you define sustainability?
Christy: We’re committed to ensuring that communities benefiting from water systems continue to have uninterrupted access to clean water. For the purposes of charity: water, water, sanitation, and hygiene services are considered “sustained” when systems and procedures Continue reading “Water Sanitation & Sustainability”
How Men Work with Women on Family Planning—and Achieve Sustainability
© Ann Goodman 2012
Q&A: Following UN Women NYC’s “3 Pillars of Sustainability,” May 8, 2012, Ann talks with IIRR Development Officer Lara Crampe about how one community addresses poverty, environment, food security, health and welfare.
1. Ann: What does the Institute for International Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) do to advance sustainability?
Lara: IIRR has been working for more than 50 years in community-led development. We work with rural communities in Southeast Asia and East Africa. Our work put communities in the driver’s seat of their own development. We believe that this is absolutely necessary for sustainability and effectiveness in development work. We have more than 150 partners that we work with and through on the ground. To us, the key feature of a sustainable development project is that the local people are involved in all levels of planning, direction, implementation, management, and ultimately the success of the work.
2. Ann: What is IIRR’s LOWO program for family planning? What makes it particularly sustainable? Continue reading “How Men Work with Women on Family Planning—and Achieve Sustainability”
Ann Goodman 