Displaying Posts Tagged ‘USAID’

Today is International Women’s Day: Time to Take Stock Again

Connie K. Duckworth / March 8th, 2011 / posted in afghan women, events, social change / 3 comments

All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.

- Albert Einstein

As I began to reflect over the weekend about the meaning of today’s global holiday, celebrating the achievements, rights and worth of women, my thoughts took a flight of fancy to a world (if not run by women) where women had an equal say in all things, large and small. Then, I opened the newspaper and was jerked back to reality.

Tags:
Continue Reading This Article / Leave a Comment

Exploration, Innovation and Expeditionary Economics

Connie K. Duckworth / September 23rd, 2010 / posted in afghan people, sustainability strategy, sustainable economic development / no comments

Last week, I was invited to West Point to address Cadets taking an upper-level economics class about ARZU’s approach to grassroots community development in rural Afghanistan. Based on my interaction with the students I met, including a group of female (military-speak for “women”) engineers, I came away from this experience impressed with the intelligence, seriousness of purpose, and “systems-thinking” of our future military leadership.

Tags:
Continue Reading This Article / Leave a Comment

Now, back to Helmand Province…

Connie K. Duckworth / July 1st, 2010 / posted in afghan people, afghanistan women, economic sustainability, social programs, sustainability strategy / no comments

My first impression of this part of Afghanistan can be summed up in two words: heat and sand. June daytime highs are around 110 F, although the evenings cool off to a comfortable 90 F. The landscape is monochromatic beige, as far as the eye can see. The ground is beige, the mud household compounds we fly over in helicopters are beige, and when the sandstorms start to blow, even the air is beige.

Tags:
Continue Reading This Article / Leave a Comment

The Brain-tilt Dilemma

Connie K. Duckworth / May 3rd, 2010 / posted in afghan people, economic sustainability, social business enterprise, sustainable economic development / no comments

Since Saturday, May 1, was International Labor Day and tomorrow, May 4, is considered Labor Day in Afghanistan, it’s worth considering what happens in labor markets that experience the sudden influx of an unlimited amount of capital. For all practical purposes, that’s what’s happened since the fall of the Taliban. Following on the heels of the NATO and ISAF troops, billions of dollars of international aid came pouring in, along with the thousands of ex-pat government employees, consultants and NGO workers. Since few of these outsiders speak any of the local languages or know the country and the Afghans well enough to navigate either the geography or the culture by themselves, they hire Afghans.

Tags:
Continue Reading This Article / Leave a Comment

International development is a big business — as in billions of dollars big

Connie K. Duckworth / March 12th, 2010 / posted in business social responsibility, economic sustainability, investment, opportunity, social business enterprise / 1 comment

Having worked on Wall Street for my entire career, I sure never knew where the “real money” was hiding. Most of the money for humanitarian assistance comes from the governments of developed countries. Actually, I’d guess that hundreds of billions get aimed each year at improving the lives of the citizens in developing countries around the world, by a whole cast of development organizations. Here are a just a couple of examples.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is our federal government agency responsible for allocating and distributing American foreign aid. Its stated objective is to “extend a helping hand to those people overseas struggling to make a better life, recover from a disaster or striving to live in a free and democratic country…” In 2009, Congress appropriated about $26 billion for USAID’s handshake. Assisting in the execution of this mission are the for-profit “Beltway bandits”, the private consulting companies circling Washington, DC along Interstate 495.

Tags:
Continue Reading This Article / Leave a Comment