Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village: Views from Rwanda: A Liquidnet Community Perspective

Fairer Globalization today obtained permission to post this letter from Liquidnet CEO Seth Merrin, who was in Rwanda last month to dedicate the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village for Rwandan orphans.


Views from Rwanda: A Liquidnet Community Perspective

Last week, eight of my Liquidnet colleagues accompanied me to Rwanda for the ceremonial opening of the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) , a home for Rwandan orphans that the Liquidnet community helped to build (The village actually “unofficially” opened in December when the first 125 orphans began living and learning there.). Even though we have been involved since the inception of this project and I have been to the village site previously, being at the village now that is was fully operational and talking to the students, counselors and teachers had a profound effect on all of us. It gave me new perspective, especially in these times. I thought I would share some of my thoughts with you.

With names like Innocent and Patience, every kid and counselor has a story that could best be expressed only in the goriest of horror movies.

Innocent, a counselor, sat down with our group for more than an hour telling us his story. Over the course of 100 days, he narrowly escaped death no less than seven times: Fleeing from a line he was made to stand in where one by one the people in front of him were being hacked to death by machete; running away from a group of soldiers who were too tired from the physical labor of hacking people to death to chase him; being waved through a checkpoint because a soldier was lighting his cigarette. Innocent was ultimately caught, shot, hacked three times in the head with a machete and left for dead. A few days later he woke up. on a mound of dead bodies. It took him a while to realize he was alive; the revelation came as he looked around and realized that he was actually lying on a mound of corpses.. Innocent climbed out of the mass grave and, aided by the instinct to survive, knew he had to get to a hospital to live. His head was so swollen he had to lift his forehead over his eyes just to see. His terror continued as between him and the hospital were the roaming bands of genocidaires who continued their government sponsored killing sprees. Before finally making it to safety, Innocent was captured again and tortured. It is nothing short of miraculous that he managed to live to tell his story and eventually to help others.

There are approximately 200 people living at ASYV today, each with a past of similar atrocities inflicted on them or on one of their family members, often with them as a powerless witness. Six months ago, theirs was an unimaginable story of adversity and survival, and many debated whether these survivors should be considered the ones lucky to live or instead the ones doomed to remain alive.

But today theirs is no longer the story of adversity but the story of life, of hope and of future. Innocent lived, his massive wounds healed and he put himself through university. He was hired as an informal education counselor to care for and counsel the children of the ASYV.

Emmanuel is one of our ASYV students. He has never been on a plane but wants to be a pilot. His father was studying to be a pilot when he was killed in the genocide. A form of self healing, Emmanuel is determined to honor his father’s memory by completing that mission and learning to fly a plane. Six months ago, Emmanuel knew no English, had never seen a computer and went to school where obedience and submission through various forms of punishment were the main subjects taught by teachers who themselves had very little education. The day of the village inauguration, visitors went to the different classrooms in the Liquidnet Family High School where students taught classes in the subjects they were studying. I got to watch Emmanuel teach a physics class entirely in English using PowerPoint slides that he created.

I will tell you with no uncertainty that we, the vast majority of us, do not truly know the meaning of adversity. We all experience hardships and difficulties, but what these kids survived requires words that I don’t believe have been invented yet.

Every student I spoke to said they spent the first few months not believing the village was real, going to sleep expecting the next day they would be returned to their former lives.

For most of us, the significance of what the village has created came in the form of a song the kids and the school’s principal wrote and sang at the inauguration of the Liquidnet Family High School. As it was a song for their parents, the children sang it in the Rwandan native language of Kinyarwanda. They sang to tell their parents in heaven that they can finally rest, that they (the kids) had found a new family, new parents who love and care for them, and new siblings to care for. They wanted their parents to know that their long journey from the genocide was over, that their children will be okay.

I think it became clear to all of us with the culmination of that song that the Liquidnet community has helped to give to the kids of the ASYV. It is the gift of easing their burdens of why they survived but their families did not. It is the gift of giving them a purpose to live. It is the gift of allowing them to comfort the souls of their parents and set them free. It is the gift of a better life.

What we learned from our trip to Rwanda is that we all have a greater purpose today. That what we consider adversity, we should be thankful for; that we should look to the kids of the ASYV to teach us that any adversity can be overcome. That we should use this troubled time and attack it with everything we’ve got. Our collective determination to succeed and improve the lives of our own families today extends beyond our personal needs. We have proven that together that we can change industries; that we can do well while doing good; that we can help change the world.

If you have any interest in learning more about the ASYV or some of the other projects the Liquidnet community is doing on its behalf, below are a couple of Web sites to check out.

Best regards,

Seth Merrin

www. Agahozo-shalom.org

www.Race4Rwanda.org

The Unequal Impact of the Financial Crisis: From CEIP

From our sister institution the Carnegie Endowment, a recent report shows the unequal impact of the US-originated financial crisis on developing economies and the need for a fairer globalization:

The Unequal Impact of the Economic Crisis

Leaders of the G8 nations meeting in L'Aquila Italy acknowledged in a joint statement that there are signs the world economy is stabilizing, but cautioned that "significant risks remain."

International Economic Bulletin Resources

Global Outlook: Patient is Critical, but Stable

Crisis and the Diaspora Nation

China's Prospects In The Current Global Climate

Domesticating Russia's Economic Crisis

More >

Analysis from Carnegie's International Economic Bulletinsupports this conclusion, finding that although the preconditions for economic recovery have begun to develop, it is still too early to say that a sustained global recovery is imminent.

The Bulletin explores how the impact of the crisis and the chance for recovery vary in regions around the world, with a particular focus on Africa, Central Asia, China, the Middle East, and Russia. It shows that although the United States is at the epicenter of the global economic crisis, it is one of the countries least affected by the financial fallout. Large industrialized nations like the United States, Japan, and Germany have benefited from increasing global demand for relatively stable economies in which to invest. Instead, it is several developing countries, notably those with vulnerable capital accounts and weak macroeconomic fundamentals, that are experiencing severe economic downturns disproportionate to their roles in the crisis.

Top 10 Most Affected Countries: Sept. 2008–May 2009

Rank	Country	Currency Depreciation(%)	Equity Market(%)	Bond Spreads(Bps)*
1	Ukraine	-59.9	-66	733
2	Argentina	-21.4	-58	735
3	Hungary	-18.9	-58	283
3	Poland	-35.2	-53	127
5	Jamaica	-20.4	-51	439
6	Ghana	-28	-35	448
7	Russia	-22	-44	144
8	Kazakhstan	-26	-34	167
9	Bulgaria	-1.5	-51	175
10	Mexico	-22.6	-35	73
* The difference between a country's bond interest rate and the interest rate on the U.S. treasury bond. The higher the number, the less confidence there is that a country can repay its loan.

Both rankings were determined by comparing currency devaluations, equity market declines, and rising sovereign bond spreads because these measures tend to track developments in the real economy during times of economic crisis when financial strain handicaps consumption, investment, and in many cases government spending, which limits GDP and employment growth.

Top 10 Least Affected Countries: Sept. 2008–May 2009

Rank	Country	Currency Depreciation(%)	Equity Market(%)	Bond Spreads(Bps)*
1	China	0.3	-11	-31
2	Japan	9.2	-17	-5
3	United States	0	-24	0
3	South Africa	1.5	-20	39
5	Peru	-0.4	-15	42
6	Philippines	-0.1	-21	53
7	Malaysia	-0.9	-12	81
8	Germany	-1.2	-34	0
9	Colombia	-3.4	-10	63
10	France	-1.2	-34	11
* The difference between a country's bond interest rate and the interest rate on the U.S. treasury bond. The higher the number, the less confidence there is that a country can repay its loan.

The global economic meltdown has shown that even when a crisis originates in industrialized countries, developing countries pay the highest price. This underlies why developing countries have a crucial interest in the financial soundness of large economies like the United States. This helps explain why the G20, rather than the G8, is leading the effort to design a regime to govern international finance, and why Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the BRICs) organized their first summit to discuss, among other things, the role of the dollar as its reserve currency.

For more details on countries most and least affected by the crisis, please visit the International Economic Bulletin.

Socratic Investigation of Business Ethics

I just got back from spending four days at the Aspen Institute's Socrates Society conference in Aspen, Colorado. Many luminaries were present, including Thomas Friedman, Jim Woosley, Nouriel Roubini, and Walter Isaacson. The Socrates Society conferences are unique in that they explore issues by using the Socratic method, so the entire group carries the conversation, which is moderated. My group focused on the relationship between business and government since the 2008-09 financial crisis and the discussion was moderated by Clive Crook of the Financial Times.

Some of our group discussion was devoted to cataloging the many "improbable" causes of the financial crisis, including: the ambiguous status of Fannie and Freddie; financial deregulation; incentives that encouraged risk-taking without accountabilty; financial innovation; rating agencies' relationships with financial sector; tax incentives for borrowing; a culture of debt in the United States; and the assumption that the housing bubble would continue indefinitely. Of course, I also added the global elements of high savings rates in East Asia, the huge demand for US debt in Asia, and the low interests rates that occurred as a consequence. I was surprised that another global factor didn't come up: The demand for American financial products in Europe.

The US financial reform plan was described as having three basic components: 1. new regulations for non-bank financial institutions that were acting like banks; 2. the government category of tier one or "too big to fail" banks, which will become more regulated with stricter capital requirements as well as an "early resolution authority" (the FDIC); 3. the establishment of a consumer finance protection agency, which will tighten mortgage lending. Some gaps in US reform include the lack of action on US regulatory reform complexity and a question about whether local consumer protection may be better than a central US agency. Finally, many people expressed the need for short, plain English contracts that go with loans rather than long, arduous documents with lots of fine print.

A great deal of discussion dealt with the notion of "libertarian paternalism" or soft paternalism. Basically, people were split on the morality of framing questions or "nudging" people to choose what is best for them through, for example, "opt-out" forms at the motor vehicle department. For example, is it ethical to ask people to opt-out (instead of opt-in) of organ donation or participating in 401K schemes? I took the view that framing questions like this is analogous to persuasion along the lines of commercials, public service announcements, or speeches. But some participants complained that this strategy was a "slippery slope" that could lead to abuses; one participant cited an example of a state using the "opt-out" tactic for license plate forms to fund a private party for a foreign dignitary--an example of abuse.

At the end of the three-days of Socratic investigation into business ethics, we turned to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Much of the discussion centered around whether CSR activities should help the corporate bottom line. One person suggested that CSR was OK as long as it improved a company's business. But what about the long-term effects on employee relations, marketing, brand, etc? Most of the discussion about CSR treated corporate responsibility as if it were something separate from the core business model; it seemed to be a dated perspective. To me, the most cutting-edge understanding of CSR is when companies integrate into their business models regulations that ultimately advance a broader, social interest. That's why many people say that companies that are truly responsible don't need a separate CSR department.

The whole experience was extremely rewarding. I felt my time in Aspen sharpened my mental blade and I would recommend it to anyone!

Mexico's Proposed Climate Change Green Fund

The climate negotiations in Copenhagen will need to determine how we finance adaptation and green technology for the developing world. To this end, Mexico has been floating a proposal for a World Climate Change Fund for at least a year now.

Some of the ideas and principles driving the Green Fund are outlined in a presentation on Innovative Finance Mechanisms by Carolina Fuentes. She suggests that the fund would have the following advantages:

–Increased access to financial and technical resources
–Expansion of the global mitigation scale, Developing countries will have positive incentives to widen their mitigation efforts.
–Broader participation, The governance scheme of the Fund will be open to all countries.
–A predictable and verifiable regime, activities will be subject to independent supervising.
–Not necessary to demonstrate additionality, since the Fund is not a compensatory mechanism to offset emissions.

Is it a promising sign that the U.S. embassy in Mexico City included the proposed Green Fund in a February memo?

The Tweet Heard 'Round Tehran: A New Channel of Public Diplomacy

Guest post by Jessie Daniels, a Truman National Security Project fellow:

As we watch with interest the events unfolding in Iran, one of the major stories dominating the headlines is the Twitter effect. Twitter, and other new media, have given a global voice to the angst over the elections and have made the intensity of those marching in Tehran palpable to those sitting on the couch watching halfway around the world. Most importantly, the social networking phenomenon has undermined the Iranian regime’s attempts to isolate its country from the rest of the world and has, perhaps, opened a new chapter of informal public diplomacy efforts.

Despite the regime’s efforts to prevent the outside world from witnessing the post-election ramifications, new media sites continue to provide the most up-to-date information on the events in Iran. Moreover, these sites have become forums not only for reporting but also for advocacy. For example, tweeters on Twitter have been urged to turn their avatars green in solidarity with the Iranian protesters.

The increased attention has also highlighted the complications faced by the regime as it tries to effectively counter the public reaction to the election results. The regime’s dismissive rhetoric, which often plays well when denouncing the West, has instead stoked the flames of internal dissent. After Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad compared the protests to the “passions after a soccer match,” members of the Iranian national soccer team wore green armbands during a World Cup qualifier in protest. Efforts to blame the United States and Israel for improper meddling seem to fall on deaf ears as the protests continue to resonate.

Events in Iran have sparked a debate here at home about what the U.S. should be doing in response. Some assert that the administration should openly and actively encourage the protesters in Iran while others believe that we should stay out of the process. Regardless of where one falls on this spectrum, though, these events already illustrate the power of a new public diplomacy channel present in new media venues.

As opposed to formal public diplomacy measures, such as educational and cultural exchanges, social networking sites like Twitter provide a way to informally connect people. These small-scale efforts could have long-ranging benefits. Right now, the American public is getting a glimpse of the Iranian public and gaining an understanding of what drives them, what they are fighting for, and how they are expressing their dissent. The Iranian protesters are also aware that they have a global audience, including those watching in the United States. Although the Iranian and American publics have been kept apart for three decades, new media may be helping to debunk stereotypes in each country that have been built up since the 1979 revolution.

In this paradigm, government works best when it works to ensure that free and open dialogue continues. Doing so can help to pave the way toward increased support for further engagement at higher levels. There will likely be opportunities for the administration to capitalize on this situation as it pushes forth with direct engagement. Already, however, social networking has gone far beyond allowing high school buddies to keep in touch. With a significant percentage of the population in Iran younger than 30, this method of connecting the Iranian and American publics could eventually lead to a level of engagement and understanding that is beyond the realm of formal public diplomacy.

Originally posted on The Moderate Voice and The Reaction.

Photo by Sinistra e Liberta.

A Case for Humans in Modern Aviation

Policy Innovations contributor Mikaela Bradbury reports on modern aviation:

I stayed away from the plethora of stories on the details of US Air Flight 1549 landing in the Hudson in the days after the event. I wasn't interested in many birds got caught in the engine, or the exact series of exchanges that went on in the cockpit. While reading the Wall Street Journal recently, though, a story about the incident caught my attention.

In particular, I was struck by a portion of Captain Sullenberger's testimony that emphasized the "importance of relying on experience and memory, rather than rigidly using written checklists to deal with unexpected emergencies."

The captain's comment illuminated the particular poignancy the story carries in contemporary culture. It offers welcome relief in otherwise bleak times. But more specifically the captain's rejection of rigid checklists, and his stunning performance in general, combats a looming specter in the airline industry, and America at large, of an increasingly mechanized and dehumanized work force–not to mention a work force devoid of human's altogether.

It could be argued that such mechanized and rule-adherent decision-making are partly responsible for the current financial crisis–where common sense and ethics took a back seat to an unquestioned faith in complex financial models–and has no doubt contributed to a number of other global crises haunting the globe.

In the airline industry, the battle between humans and technology is certainly being played out on the ground, where self-service check-in and online services have started to take over. Onboard, the winner of this battle is still undecided. Discount airlines in particular are wise to the role of personality in drawing customers, something that JetBlue established with its notoriously quirky crew.

On the other hand, quirky personal TV's are equally present in everything from ordering movies to getting a drink. Up front, the cockpit has become increasingly computerized and automated with digital navigation devices, while pilots face dwindling salaries.

As the value of human performance is at stake, the Hudson River episode demonstrates the indispensability of unquantifiable and un-programmable elements such as skill, spontaneity and intuition in solving unforeseen problems. As Sullenberger said in the WSJ, "The captain's authority is a precious commodity that cannot be denigrated."

Photo by davipt.

Options on DPRK: Bad and Worse

Policy Innovations contributor Mikaela Bradbury reports on Victor Cha's talk yesterday at Carnegie Council:

In an intimate gathering last night at the Carnegie Council, Dr. Victor Cha, former Director for Asian Affairs in the White House National Security Council and Director of the Asian Studies program at Georgetown University, addressed what he sees as one of the toughest negotiations in the world: the ongoing dispute with North Korea over its nuclear program. Parsing the discussion into three categories––causes, motivations, and ways forward––Cha attempted to shed some light on this unpredictable nation, where a recent series of muscle-flexing has pushed the DPRK to the top tier of U.S. security concerns.

With respect to potential causes of North Korea's recent behavior, Dr. Cha advocated the most simple explanation: North Korea is developing a nuclear weapons program because it wants a nuclear weapons program and part of the nuclear club. Blaming U.S. policy for North Korean hostilities is no longer valid, both in light of Bush's last minute deal with North Korea, and in light of the Obama administration's willingness to participate in high-level negotiations.

The question of "what North Korea wants" has confounded policy analysts for years. Problematically, Dr. Cha explained, many of the things people claim North Korea desires has already been offered them. And the two things that North Korea is really after, according to Cha, the United States can't give them.

More specifically, North Korea is set on being a nuclear state, and acquiring an agreement with the United States similar to the one India got in October 2008. Ironically, Cha speculated, once given that status, the DPRK would likely engage in mutual nuclear reduction negotiations.

The second and equally impossible item on North Korea's wish list, according to Dr. Cha, is an enhanced security agreement with the international community. The United States has already issued various negative security assurances to North Korea, one of which occurred during the Six-Party Talks, when the United States stated that it would not attack North Korea unless provoked.

Despite the significance of this overture, it does not address North Korea's concern over regime security. Namely, if North Korea were to open itself up for reform, it would still require international support in order to survive. In light of North Korea's human rights record, such external backing is unlikely. Given this deadlock, Dr. Cha struggled to find "good options." The proximity of North and South Korea rules out any military intervention. North Korea has stated that any transport sanctions or inspections of suspicious cargo at sea would constitute an act of war.

The remaining possibilities are neither comprehensive nor guaranteed to work. In the past, financial sanctions has proven somewhat effective in penalizing the North Korean elite. The United States could also work with various port countries to increase customs inspections, or persuade China and Russia to restrict their airspace.

With respect to China, Beijing claims to have little influence on the peninsula. Yet, in reality, it has both material influence and access to the leadership, making it the most critical player moving forward. Any pressure from China would have to be exerted covertly as to avoid appearing a lackey of the West, as Dr. Cha has overheard North Koreans previously say of Beijing.

In the end, Dr. Cha bleakly stated "nuclear non-proliferation is under assault." The recent emergence of North Korea's potential alliances with Syria only makes the threat more dire. In significant language, Secretary Gates has recently said that "the transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to states or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States and our allies." . As Dr. Cha warns, the "red line" for how much the United States is willing to tolerate may be approaching.

The current leadership transition occurring between Kim Jong-il and his youngest son leaves the future even more uncertain. On paper, this instability is the perfect condition for radical change. However, as Dr. Cha stated, internal "fluidity" often manifests in external belligerence.

As a testament to how little we know about the DPRK, the international community is still unclear about where we are in this leader transition–– whether it is "smoke before or after a fire," as Cha so eloquently put it. The same could be said about North Korea's erratic behavior. Signs of more to come or the last cries of a faltering dictator?