Goalmakers

Refugees and internally displaced persons do not choose to leave their homes – they are forced to, due to natural and man-made disasters, conflict and persecution, and of course, climate change. Forced displacement continues to surge past historic levels, topping at an alarming 120 million in 2024. For this episode of Goalmakers, it was a great honor to be able to sit and have a conversation with Kelly T. Clements, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees. She graciously took a break from the UN General Assembly in New York to join me over Zoom. Kelly and I were able to dive into the factors causing forced displacement, as well as the challenges of resettlement, how host countries are assisting, how UNHCR is leveraging technology, and examples of hope and perseverance.  Kelly has been working on refugee and displacement issues throughout her 25-year career, including a secondment from the US Government to UNHCR in Bangladesh in the 1990s. In fact, she was previously Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, or PRM, from 2010 to 2015, with responsibility for humanitarian issues in Asia and the Middle East. She previously led PRM's Office of Policy and Resource Planning, where she oversaw the Bureau's strategic planning, policy development and financial resources to protect and assist refugees, conflict victims, and vulnerable migrants worldwide. She also served as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon during 2014. Suffice it to say, she has a wealth of understanding and knowledge about refugees and IDPs.  Any one of us could be forcibly displaced.  I invite you to take a moment to image that you are just forced from your home, your town or city, what would you do – where would you go?  ...I hope you enjoy this episode, and remember, to bring about positive change and assist refugees, think globally and act locally. 

Digital upskilling ... digital inclusion. These are important concepts when one understands the need for economic opportunity for new job seekers and existing business owners in low- to middle-income countries.   Whether from a university in Ghana, or a village in Haryana, it is paramount for people in today’s business ecosystems to have comfort with, and knowledge of, digital technologies to be successful.   Microsoft understands this and has embarked on an ambitious mission to empower not only the emerging new generation of skilled workers across the globe, but also companies, government agencies, and nonprofits who support economic development in low- to middle-income countries.   This may sound like a lofty goal, yet Microsoft is achieving amazing results. To find out more about how they do this, I was able to have an informative conversation with a woman who is at the heart of it all, Naria Santa Lucia, General Manager of Digital Inclusion at Microsoft Philanthropies.  Naria talked about the vast number of interrelated programs, products, and services Microsoft offers nonprofits, job seekers, and, well, just about anyone who would like to learn more about technology. 

This is a very special episode of Goalmakers – well, all episodes of Goalmakers are special, of course, because of the incredible people we get to interview – yet this one stands apart. Let me explain. This session chronicles a very important chapter in our history books because it narrates the heroic efforts of a team of passionate individuals that came together to conquer a huge challenge – how to get key persons out of Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in the summer of 2021. For this episode, I was privileged to be able to sit with the founders of Operation Snow Leopard, and an organizational consultant and veteran who are also part of the OSL team. This is a story of David and Goliath, goliath being the incredible challenge of how to extricate persons from the grips of the Taliban state.  Data, paperwork, physical extraction routes, safehouses, secrecy, resettlement, more data, more paperwork, more challenges of where to settle persons... This is a story of passion and perseverance. This is a story about the love of freedom and doing what’s right. This is also a narrative of how myriads of disparate data needs were centralized and a professional-grade manifest database was created by Salesforce and Google to set a new standard that can be used for future evacuation efforts for a variety of situations. And OSL’s mission is not complete, and they need more partnerships and support.  And I was very happy to hear how their membership with Global Washington helped facilitate several important connections and collaborations. I hope you enjoy hearing about Operation Snow Leopard as much as I enjoyed interviewing this diverse, warm, smart, and welcoming group.

Today we are excited to share with you a conversation with Kathleen Morris, the newly elected executive director of International Rescue Committee, Washington. Kristen Dailey, executive director of GlobalWA, and Kathleen had a wonderful and revealing conversation about the refugee crisis facing us today, the path to settlement in Washington State, the refugee experience, including the inspiring resilience and resourcefulness of refugees, and so much more. Special thanks to the Seattle Foundation who supplied us a room for this conversation. Formed in 1933, IRC helps people affected by humanitarian crises—including the climate crisis—to survive, recover, and rebuild their lives. IRC is an incredible organization with very impressive results. In 2022 alone, the IRC and their partners reached over 32.9 million people in countries affected by crises.  Here are a few stats from 2022:  They’ve supported 3,137 health facilities Provided 8,013,515 primary health care consultations Treated 222,278 children under 5 for severe acute malnutrition Admitted 453,344 children and 106,722 pregnant and lactating women to nutrition programs Built or rehabilitated water supplies serving 3,490,159 people Reached 1,421,270 people with cash assistance And the list goes on. I encourage you to visit their website at www.rescue.org to find out more. 

For this episode, we have the privilege of sharing a wonderful conversation with Atul Tandon, CEO of Opportunity International, interviewed by Kristen Dailey, the Executive Director of Global Washington. Opportunity International is a global nonprofit organization that creates opportunities for entrepreneurs to build their businesses, children to go to school, farmers to feed their communities, and families to end the cycle of generational poverty. For nearly 50 years, they have developed innovative programs that use financial services, training, and support to address some of the greatest challenges facing those living in poverty around the world.  Atul is a vast well of knowledge. He talks extensively about the need for, and interdependency of, multiple services and programs to uplift communities out of poverty.  He covers how the ripple effect of empowering one person can empower a whole community, the future of work including the use of technology, reasons to celebrate our progress on the sustainable development goals, and, well, I’ll stop there... so much to ingest ...

In September of 2023 I had the honor of visiting Sukarya, one of our organizational members, in Delhi and Gurugram, India.  For over 25 years Sukarya has been providing services at the truly grassroots level in the slums and villages where populations are forgotten, ignored, or are simply too difficult to reach.  Sukarya's holistic programs include healthcare, nutrition, gender equality, women empowerment, and education. I was able to visit several of these programs and experienced first-hand this amazing and crucial work. You can read about Sukarya on their website at Sukarya.org.  I was also able to sit and have an inciteful and personal conversation with Sukarya’s Founder and Chairperson, Meera Satpathy. Meera created Sukarya because she saw how the slum populations were not receiving the support they needed, especially healthcare. Since the day it was founded in 1998, Sukarya's programs have helped more than 7 million people in over 760 villages and 190 slums. Meera is a force of nature. She is full of charisma, wisdom, and insightfulness. I know you will enjoy this episode of GlobalWA Goalmakers. 

I had the great pleasure of being able to visit the Sehgal Foundation headquarters in Gurugram, India and speak with Anjali Makhija, Trustee and CEO. In this episode we learn more about the incredible work the Sehgal Foundation is doing in rural India. The way they are empowering women and improving small-holder farming are standards that all nonprofits working in these sectors can follow and learn by. I was also able to make a couple of site visits while I was there, and it was truly enlightening and inspirational. Nothing like seeing the work first-hand! You can read about my experience and view a couple videos on our website - visit www.globalwa.org and simply search for "Sehgal Foundation."

In May of 2023, we were privileged to capture some time with Surita Sandosham, President and CEO of Heifer International, and Randi Hedin, Board Chair for Heifer International. Surita, initially trained as a lawyer, has more than two decades of senior leadership experience at global nonprofit organizations. Randi is an accomplished leader, trainer, and advisor in Global Development.  In this conversation, facilitated by Kristen Dailey, Executive Director of Global Washington, Surita and Randi talk about Heifer’s work empowering women, the success of farmer co-ops, Heifer’s new strategic framework, and their vision for the future, amongst many other elements for sustainable and collaborative locally-led development.  This is a wonderful and full conversation.