Tagged: sustainability

  • March 31, 2023

    Putting opportunity within reach

    Written by
    Tessie San Martin, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    While the pace of change around the world has been accelerating rapidly over the last few decades, the pandemic-related lockdowns that began in 2020 precipitated unprecedented transformations.

    Those lockdowns destroyed the livelihoods of those with the fewest resources, throwing global supply chains and economies into uncertainty. But we also witnessed the breathtaking speed of vaccine development that saved the lives of millions, and leaps in technology such as telehealth and artificial intelligence are making near-daily breakthroughs.

    There were breakthroughs in the international development sector as well, where organizations were forced to rethink the ways they provided assistance. FHI 360 has employed locally led development approaches for decades. But when we were cut off from many of our traditional ways of working, we witnessed how much local organizations could deliver and how much we could rely on them — frankly, much more than the sector had realized.

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  • October 7, 2020

    What can the United States learn from other countries to tackle disparities?

    Written by
    Otto Chabikuli, Director, Global Health, Population and Nutrition, FHI 360
    Timothy Mastro, Chief Science Officer, FHI 360

    As the COVID-19 pandemic swept over the United States, the stark observation that African-American, Hispanic and Native American populations were disproportionately affected was met with justified shock and anger. After all, the United States has the world’s largest economy, a high standard of living and a sophisticated health care system and is often held up as a model for many countries.

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  • September 8, 2016

    A Deeper Look: Making development more relevant and effective

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    How can we make our work more relevant and effective?

    Earlier this summer, FHI 360 held its first summit on integrated development, Greater Than the Sum of its Parts. Ben Ramalingam, a researcher and the Leader of the Digital & Technology Cluster at the Institute of Development Studies, delivered our keynote address. While Ben was in town, we talked about how to maximize the effectiveness of international development and how we need a paradigm shift to generate real change.

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  • January 5, 2015

    Words count!

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    Let’s start the New Year by looking at how we talk about development. It is striking how certain concepts and buzzwords rally people around ideas and mobilize us into action. The buzzwords themselves become powerful change agents. Yet, when they mature into unquestioned orthodoxy, they can restrict our vision and dull our understanding. Here are two buzzwords we love to use in development that are ripe for a deeper look.

    Sustainability

    Development and sustainability go together like bricks and mortar. But this term now has two distinct meanings in development parlance. One meaning refers to policies and actions that safeguard the environment and do not deplete our natural resources. This meaning has gained currency over the last 15 years. The second, and at least in my experience more common use, refers to a recipient partner’s interest and ability to continue projects or reforms financed by donors once donor funding ends. This use is closely associated with the concept of country ownership. When USAID adopted sustainable development as its credo in the mid-1990s, it was a response to the criticism that donor-funded projects collapsed when the funding ran out, often up-ending years of effort. This was partly a result of donors not wanting to take on recurrent costs that were seen as the partner’s responsibility. The lack of serious planning for recurrent costs remains a major challenge in international development.

    Yet, should sustainable development even be an objective in a world where technology is changing everything around us at an exponential rate? Do we really want to sustain yesterday’s solutions? I think not.

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