Archive for November, 2010

Written by: Wynona Heim, Thunderbird for Good Program Manager for Afghanistan

After two weeks of business trainings, site visits to women owned businesses in Arizona, and meeting the mentors that will help these extraordinary Afghan businesswomen improve and expand their businesses, the entire group of 19 Artemis graduates, 2 Afghan coordinators, 2 Thunderbird for Good administrators, and 2 Academic Directors took off for a week of meetings, classes, and site visits on the east coast, hosted by the US/Afghan Women’s Council and funded by the Goldman Sachs Foundation.

The schedule was full, but filled with great meetings and valuable information, including classes on leadership and goal-setting taught by Georgetown University professors.  On Monday November 1st there was a meeting of the US/Afghan Women’s Council focused on Entrepreneurship and chaired by the US Ambassador at Large for Global Women’s Issues, Melanne Verveer.   The Artemis graduates emphasized a greater need for business training programs in Afghanistan – programs that could reach the underserved populations of the Provinces outside of Kabul especially.  After the committee meeting there was a networking event in the historic old Georgetown library with some wonderful supporters of Afghan women in attendance: Diane Furstenburg, Caroline Firestone, Dina Powell, Mariam Nawabi, and Doris Buffet, just to name a few!  I do know one thing, by the end of the evening; every attendee had at least one Project Artemis graduate’s business card in their pocket!

On Election Day the ladies had a luncheon with the American Chamber of Commerce, and the Friends of the American University of Afghanistan.  The group then went on to the Capital building for a special tour and a meeting with Robin Lerner, who staffs on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Mariana McGuire, who works with the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight.  The ladies greatly appreciated the willingness of these ladies to take time out of their busy schedules to meet with them, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the US Capital Building.  After the Capital, the group joined the Washington DC alumni chapter for 1^st Tuesday, Thunderbird style at One Washington Circle Hotel.

On Wednesday a very successful meeting was held between the Artemis graduates and leaders of financial services institutions that are working in Afghanistan.  The Artemis graduates were very interested in hearing about financing opportunities for their businesses and how those opportunities could best be accessed.  In addition, there were staff from international organizations that assist local artisans in finding export markets for their goods from Afghanistan.

In the afternoon, the ladies were privileged to be invited to the White House to attend a meeting hosted by the White House Council on Women and Girls, where such issues as the importance of women’s economic security, putting an end to corruption that hampers economic activity, and things that the US Government are doing to empower women and girls were all discussed.  The meeting was hosted by Tina Tchen from the White House Council on Women and Girls, and attended by Abigail Friedman, the Director for Afghanistan from the National Security Council, Avra Siegel with the National Economic Council, and Ginger Lew, Senior Counselor to the White House National Economic Council and the Small Business Administration, as well as all 19 Artemis graduates, Thunderbird faculty and staff, and 10,000 Women administrators from Goldman Sachs and the American University of Afghanistan.

After saying farewell to the first half of the group to journey home to Afghanistan, the rest of us stayed on for two more days of meetings – starting with a trip to New York to report in to the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women program about the program, and to attend a luncheon hosted by the founder of the Daily Beast, Tina Brown.  On Friday, we all had a wonderful finish to the visit, attending a tea hosted at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington DC before going out to the airport to bid our new Afghan friends goodbye.

Inshallah, we will see them again, with successful businesses feeding an ever growing Afghan economy, creating jobs, and increasing peace through sustainable business.  Until then, we at Thunderbird for Good would like to thank the Project Artemis Class of 2010 for teaching us just as much, if not more, than we taught you!  Tashakor!

By Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy, ‘91

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of working with Dan Morrison, Founder and CEO of Citizen Effect (www.citizeneffect.org), while preparing for meeting involvement and a commitment for the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City.  This past spring when I became involved with a small DC/Tibet-based organization called Machik (www.machik.org) and subsequently was asked to go to China and Tibet to present and begin work on social business and entrepreneurship efforts for the Tibetan Plateau, I suggested we invite Dan along because his background and Citizen Effect platform would truly add to the conversations.

We made the trek to China and the Tibetan Plateau for the Social Business Initiative (SBI) Conference in Dartsedo/Kangding and I can safely say that our lives and work were changed forever.  The specifics of the SBI Conference are fodder for another posting here and elsewhere to come, as are the numerous sites, sounds and emotions of our experiences.  It is the recent union of Machik as a cause and Citizen Effect as a platform, around a central theme in citizen philanthropy, that I want to share.

Last weekend I participated in “Machik Weekend” an annual event in DC to take a look back at the year – discuss, brainstorm, celebrate and look towards the coming year(s) for Machik and its myriad partners, colleagues, staff, board and friends.  We sat in a circle – Tibetan, Chinese, American, Canadian, French, global citizens all – to listen, share and plan.  One of the highlights of that day and evening was the “reporting out” (some of it live via Skype from overseas) of staff, teachers and counselors for the Machik Summer Enrichment Program, just completing its fourth year.  The Summer Enrichment Program brings together children from around the Tibetan Plateau for a month long  intensive summer learning program filled with language, arts, music, financial literacy, business, economics, sports, tradition and more.  It is a truly remarkable program where children from rural villages – some so distant, the children have to trek out and when they arrive they cannot understand each other’s dialects – are brought together to learn and share (and teach) as they experience communicating and living together in this common setting.  The stories of new found talents, languages and lifelong friends were punctuated with laughter and tears, but most of all they were filled with hope and dreams for the future.  This is where our combined philanthropic missions and the Citizen Effect platform come into play, as we’re told that, not including the costs of in-kind from volunteers, staff and local supporters, Machik needs to raise $25,000 for every Summer Enrichment Program.  Global citizenship kicked into gear.

During the meeting, Dan sent out a message on the Citizen Effect Facebook account, challenging members and followers to help raise funds for the Machik Summer Enrichment Program.  Followers noticed, rose to the challenge and reposted, including yours truly sitting right in the meeting with Dan.  Others stepped up.  Using the Citizen Effect platform where we each pledge to give and RAISE funds from our friends and family, a small movement around the Summer Enrichment Program is created.  By the end of the meeting we announced what we were doing and others in the room joined in, pledging funds through direct donations, fundraising events, charity runs/walks and more.

Citizen Effect will be setting up pages in the coming days and the viral effect of social media and global citizen philanthropy will take hold.  Like other online platforms, Citizen Effect moves individual involvement in an important cause into a different sphere and level of engagement.  What is unique about the platform (and all the projects it supports) is that one person can pick an issue, location or organization and they don’t just put in their own money and stop.  They set a monetary goal and engage and unite others around that goal with whatever vehicles they decide make the most sense.  Citizen Effect will assist with ideas and running the show.  The online interface makes it easy to connect people to a specific, and now personal, “cause of choice.”  These entrepreneurial platforms are changing the face of giving and philanthropic influence in small but decisive steps.  But more than that, they are changing the lives of children, families and whole communities in a very personal way both for the giver and the receiver.  You might raise enough with your friends and family to allow a well in a community for the first time.  You might also send a child to the Machik Summer Enrichment Program.  I know I will.  Join me.

(Photo of Tibet by Birgit Nakielski)