How Relevant is Global Thinking? (Don’t click away from this post!)

May 12, 2010

“We don’t need a more global perspective. What we need is help in our own backyard”!

You’ve probably heard a statement something like this before. Somehow we separate ourselves into those who are enthusiastic about “global thinking” and those who see it as irrelevant to their day-to-day activities. But why the need for such polarization? Do “global thinking” and practical local help have to be mutually exclusive?

The above is an excerpt from an article I wrote almost a decade ago in an article with the  same title How Relevant is Global Thinking? The reason I now come back to those words is that they are still as applicable today as they were then.  And many of us and our organization’s leaders and staffs think the same way: either your organization does international work or it doesn’t.

Problems are local, but the solutions often are global.  In 1994 the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) initiated the Lessons Without Borders program. This program was designed to bring home lessons that USAID learned in its work in other countries. One of the eye openers was what the city of Baltimore learned from Kenya when it sent a team to look at how Kenyans were handling immunization coverage. As a result, over the next four years immunization coverage in Baltimore went from around 60 percent to above 90 percent, one of the highest in the U.S. Bringing Lessons Home In many parts of the “developed world” we are resource rich and have lost sight of many basic solutions to our challenges. “Programs like Lessons Without Borders oftentimes remind us of what we already know and re-enforces the back-to-basics approach to solving problems.” said Karen Anderson of USAID.

In the past decade many other domestic organizations from Chicago to Sydney to Shanghai have taken lessons from outside of their borders and brought them successfully home.  Most often, however, this activity has taken place under the radar of mainstream support groups and funders who still insist on dividing us into national and international, domestic and foreign.  You can help to lead the change.  So the next time you see an article or blog post with the words “international” or “global” in the title, don’t run (or “click”) away and encourage your (“international wary”) colleagues to do the same!  By reading it, thinking about it and discussing it with your colleagues, you can begin the first easy steps to expanding your organization’s global mindset and engagement with the world.

Categories: Global-local linkages
Tags: ,

  • http://www.cheapskatefreelancer.com Beth Ziesenis

    I think it’s interesting that you wrote about these challenges a decade ago. We’ve been “going global” for so long… but where have we really gotten?

    Great blog post. Can’t wait to read more.

  • http://www.goinginternational.com Bonnie Koenig

    Thanks Beth for your comments. It is an evolution and I do think we’re making progress in changing mindsets. Unfortunately there has been less attention drawn to the benefits of cross-border information exchange in the past decade than I would have hoped, especially in larger (more ‘mainstream’ forums). So I’m trying to do my part to bring the benefits more into focus! Thanks for your help!

  • http://www.stratosphereinternational.ca Jane Reitsma

    I find the idea of “bringing lessons home” on a city or national level fascinating. Thanks for the interesting twist on the local global debate.

    I work with students that volunteer overseas and have seen first hand the concept of bringing lessons home at the individual level. It never ceases to amaze me the intense dedication to local issues many of my former international volunteers demonstrate.

    In fact, one of my favorite stats in Canada is that 66% of people that volunteered overseas continue to volunteer on return to Canada compared to 45% of the general population. The largest percentage of volunteer hours on return to Canada focused on Canadian issues.

    People that volunteer overseas return to be committed active members of their communities. Without a doubt they see the strong connection between global and local issues.

  • http://www.goinginternational.com Bonnie Koenig

    Jane –

    Thanks for your comments. It is a very interesting “phenomena” that spending time in another country opens up one’s mindset in all type of positive ways. I’ve often thought about how you could “create” such an experience for those who don’t have the means or inclination to travel. Would be interested in any ideas anyone might have.

  • http://www.stratosphereinternational.ca Jane Reitsma

    Certainly that is where opportunities to communicate over great distances work. In fact I originally worked for a project that helped children all around the world develop action projects in their own communities. We developed a peace based curriculum where students (primary and older) connected with other students in communities around the world. (We did this with funding through UNICEF.) I still have the curriculum and am happy to share it with anyone that is curious.

  • http://nonprofitconnection.blogspot.com Heidi Massey

    Hey Bonnie,
    What you write is so true, especially for those of us in the United States. We are so focused on us! Our frame of reference is so limited to what we experience in our own neighborhoods and we lack that sense of belonging to a world community. Perhaps, over time, as we begin to appreciate that other countries have much to offer to us, we will begin to see that the US is NOT the center of the world and it is worth learning about lots of different places and what is going on there. We are FINALLY beginning to utilize alternative medicine like accupuncture…I am certain more will follow from other countries. The Kenyan immunization story was incredible!

    Great blogpost! Thanks so much for sharing your insights.

  • http://www.aauw.org Christy Jones

    I’m so glad to see attention paid to how we all can learn from each other. I especially appreciate the Baltimore story, direct positive impact of such learning. Thanks Bonnie!

  • http://www.goinginternational.com Bonnie Koenig

    Jane, Thanks for the resource.

    Heidi and Christy, Thanks for your comments. Glad you found the specific example of interest – there are numerous examples like this which do definitely help to make an abstract concept more real.

  • http://www.sociolingo.com Sociolingo

    This is a message that needs to keep being said! It’s sad to see so little apparent progress in 10 years. The negative voices and stories drown out the unsung grassroots change that is going on. One problem I see is that ‘development’ is so often seen as a one-way street. The examples you used in your original article point to a different possibility. We all need to learn from each other.

  • http://johnhaydon.com John Haydon

    Bonnie – great points here. After all, humans all over the world have the same types of problems. Sometimes, we need a culture shift to be able to solve it.

  • http://www.twitter.com/tomjd tomjd

    I think a global perspective and awareness is absolutely critical. In Australia this is fairly mandatory – we know that we’re a small country and that most innovation comes from elsewhere. In America, however, I’m constantly surprised at how rarely people look overseas for inspiration or existing models. The world doesn’t lack for solutions to our problems, but most of those solutions lack coverage, scale and replication.

    Thanks for starting this conversation!

    @tomjd

  • http://www.pamelasgrantwritingblog.com Pamela Grow

    Beautiful post Bonnie and some thoughtful comments. I have great hope for the potential of the internet and social media for shaking us out of the “we are the center of the world” parochial thinking that Heidi references.

    “There are no nations! There is only humanity. And if we don’t come to understand that right soon, there will be no nations, because there will be no humanity.”
    – Isaac Asimov (you know that I love a good quote!)

  • http://www.goinginternational.com Bonnie Koenig

    I completely agree with your comment, John about the need for culture shift.. That’s part of why its a long process, it takes time to change cultures.

    Thank you sociolingo (UK) and Tom (Australia) for bringing some non-North American perspectives to the discussion. It’s important to model cross-cultural dialogue as part of a discussion like this.

  • http://www.earthcharter.org JeffreyNewman

    Possibly I’m not fully understanding. ‘Act local, think global’ – the basis of Agenda 21 which was about the responsibility for local work with a global perspective instigated following the Rio Summit – covered pretty much what you’re asking for..

    Then, in 2000, the Earth Charter http://www.earthcharter.org was launched, endorsed by UNESCO, following the UN call at Rio for an environmental sustainability based equivalent of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So now we have a Declaration of 16 Principles and 61 sub-principles for a just, sustainable and peaceful global society, which is entirely based upon local community work but networking innovative good practice from all over the world. [Incidentally, contraction & convergence http://www.gci.org.uk/ also provides a theoretical equitable mechanism necessary to unfreeze the antagonisms of Copenhagen.]

    Probably none of this is helpful or relevant, and if so I apologise. But Ithought I’d write since I saw about your blog on Twitter.

  • http://www.goinginternational.com Bonnie Koenig

    Thank you, Pam for your comments and I too love the quote you shared!

    Thank you, Jeffrey for contributing the information about the Earth Charter. I agree that in principle the Earth Charter and other UN agreements are “based upon local community work but networking innovative good practice from all over the world”. The challenge is that the networking tends to be limited to a relatively small group of organizations who are involved in multinational processes. My post and writing was targeted to those outside of this arena, hoping to bring more in! I hope this helps.

  • http://www.CoreStrategies4Nonprofits.com Terrie Temkin

    It’s interesting. I recently returned from Australia where there is a growing trend to pay board chairs. I wrote a blog post on the idea. (http://corestrategiesonnonprofits.blogspot.com/2010/04/should-we-be-considering-professional.html) While some in the US and Canada are willing to entertain the idea, many reject it out of hand because it goes against our culture of volunteerism. It’s great to bring ideas home as long as people are willing to explore ideas that are not their own.

  • http://www.goinginternational.com Bonnie Koenig

    Terrie – Thanks for your contribution. Without getting into the specifics of paying Board chairs here (and not taking a position on it), I would comment that not all ideas are necessarily transferable. The critical points which you also note are to be open to looking for ideas wherever they may come from and at least be willing to explore and consider them.

  • http://www.aviewfromthecave.com Tom

    Bonnie,

    Welcome and I can’t wait to see what else you write. This is an issue that I personally have struggled with as I have been involved with both domestic and international non-for-profit work. To me, there seems to be a similar mindset amongst the general public when addressing poverty wherever it might be taking place. To me, this hurts the efforts of those who understand the complexities of the systems in place. Sadly, the biggest question to ask is ‘how can we make people actually care?’

    I am glad that people like yourself, with far more experience than I, contribute to the discussions on the web. Personally, it has helped me to learn by being able to read thoughts from people who have been doing what I hope to do for many years.

    Thanks,
    Tom

  • http://www.goinginternational.com Bonnie Koenig

    Tom – Thanks for your contribution to the discussion. I concur that as a society we are not particularly good at dealing with complexity which makes it a challenge to convert ‘good intentions’ into effective actions.

    I’m glad to know of your blog as well. I look forward to continued discussions that expand all of our thinking and hopefully add to our tools to ‘preach outside the choir’ :-)

  • http://www.spurcommunications.com David Svet

    Bonnie, you make some great points. I think Americans are far too focused on ourselves and our country. It takes a lot of courage to bring in new ideas from other nations and cultures. This is so ironic for a nation of immigrants!

  • http://www.spotoneglobalsolutions.com Marieme Jamme

    Interesting Post Bonnie!

    Glocal- Think Global Act local- I love this saying!

    My organisation Spotone Global was actually founded to help USA IT companies to go Global, enter a new market and understand opportunities they were missing outside their comfort zone. I was amazed of their lack of Knowledge of the Rest of the World.

    Global thinking is so important in today’s world. We all need one another both at Personal and professional level.

    I think the US alone is missing a lot at it’s peril on Business opportunities in Africa for example because they are very close to themselves and have preconceive ideas about the outside world- I think it’s just because they don’t know and don’t want to invest themselves.

    We can learn so much from others, if just we opened ourselves and accept to learn new things and engage!

    Global thinking is crucial, I have seen Americans in Africa, speaking local languages, engages with locals etc…. They seems to enjoy the diversity of thinking. This is therapeutic for them too. They are learning to think differently and adapt. So Global thinking is relevant! Lets work together, ask questions on countries we don’t know, change our ways of thinking and accept our differences.

    Thank you very much for this post.

    Globally yours!

    Marieme

  • http://www.goinginternational.com Bonnie Koenig

    Thank you for your comments, Dave. There does seem to be a certain irony to U.S. parochialism, given that we are a ‘nation of immigrants’.

    Marieme, I appreciate your sharing your experiences. Your description of Americans in Africa enjoying the diversity of thinking is a good example of how when people are encouraged outside of their ‘comfort zones’ diversity becomes a very positive learning experience. It’s why it’s so important for us to expand the audience beyond the ‘already converted’!

  • http://amysampleward.org Amy Sample Ward

    Thanks for starting this conversation, Bonnie!

    I contemplate issues around global vs local every day as part of my job and find it incredibly important in shaping strategy, for NetSquared. We are a global organization that’s work and programming manifests at a local level, where we strive to create programming that can be localized and not just delivered or represented locally. The latest example of which is our Camps pilot – hoping to give our local organizers around the world the power and support to remix and redistribute our concept of a global conference.

    What is most important to me and also, I think, most important for the conversation you are starting here is the idea that for change to happen, for knowledge to be shared, for wheels to NOT be reinvented from community to community, we need to create ways for voices, leaders and learnings to be pushed up and around from those on the ground, locally – instead of trying to orchestrate or highlight value from the top. It’s a nuanced difference but it can make all the difference!

  • http://www.goinginternational.com Bonnie Koenig

    Thanks, Amy, for sharing your perspectives. You raise a really important point about creating new ways for voices to be heard and learning to be shared throughout all levels of organizations. Developing the mindset and tools to allow easier communication from the ‘bottom up’ and in myriad directions is certainly an essential part of “this puzzle”. Social media seems to be opening up new opportunities in this direction.

    • http://amysampleward.org Amy Sample Ward

      Thanks, Bonnie – I definitely agree that social media has helped create ways for more voices to join and share. I also think it’s important to note the changing role for those in positions like mine, straddling the local and global perspective, and that is the role of translator. Listening and encouraging voices but also actively translating those lessons and examples so that others at other local or global positions can understand how to apply their lessons or how the information impacts their work.

      Looking forward to this conversation evolving!

      • http://www.goinginternational.com Bonnie Koenig

        Amy – Absolutely. The role of a good ‘translator’ is more than just translating words as the word as often used. There is an important translator role between local and global, among cultures, etc… I’m very glad that there are more and more people like yourself understanding and articulating this as an important part of their work!

  • http://talesfromethehood.wordpress.com J.

    It’s time to dispense with the idea that “good ideas” and “development” and “help” and all of the others flow primarily in one direction: from North to South. Surely we have a great deal to learn from those we’ve spent the last 30 years trying to “develop.”

    Good post.

  • http://www.goinginternational.com Bonnie Koenig

    Thanks for your comment, J. Yes, we need more people to recognize that learning is not a one way ‘deliverable’ but comes from many different directions (south-north-east-west). It is somewhat amazing that this isn’t just a ‘given’.