The President’s Global Health Initiative

The U.S. Global Health Initiative (GHI) represents the Obama administration’s new strategy for international development assistance in health. With a pledge of $63 billion over six years, GHI aims to fund PEPFAR and a set of broader global health issues (e.g., maternal and child health, nutrition, and neglected tropical diseases). GHI is also being framed as “smart power” whereby health would serve as a critical tool for U.S. foreign policy. However, as the U.S. enters a period of severe budgetary restraint and as domestic crises rise to the fore, the promise of global health reform could become illusory. The lack of coordination and coherence in the U.S. global health architecture, as well as the broader U.S. foreign assistance system, require fundamental changes in the U.S. approach to global health going forward. This article analyzes current weaknesses in the GHI strategy and makes four key suggestions for the transformation of the U.S. global health enterprise under GHI. These suggestions include: (1) the devotion of resources that are predictable, sustainable, and scalable to needs; (2) the development of a true “whole of government” approach; (3) greater collaboration with international partners for success; and (4) the encouragement of host country ownership

One Good Turn: Tackling Poverty through the Circulation of Goods in Kirklees

When the Coalition Government came to power in the UK in 2010, David Cameron announced the Big Society initiative claiming it to be a “serious reform agenda to take power away from politicians and give it to people’ (cited in Slocock, 2013: 6). An independent audit conducted in 2013 found that the Big Society was “failing to live up to its own rhetoric in key areas”, but that it is nonetheless inspiring: “not only has it spawned many new initiatives with real impact on the ground, many people...are also continuing to turn to civil society as a positive force for social change” (2013: 6). One example of such a civil society initiative is a local community group called One Good Turn, which set up in Huddersfield during 2010. The group initially operated through a number of Facebook sites, where members listed the things they no longer required and those in need put their names forward to receive the items on a first come-first-served basis. Sophia Crawshaw took over the running of the sites in the summer of 2011, and in an article published in the local newspaper six months later, she explained that the group was set up “as everyone is struggling right now during the recession and even charity shops are becoming expensive.” The Facebook sites have a varied membership from teenagers to pensioners; “lots of young mums and first home buyers” and Sophia enthused that “it’s so lovely to see people giving things away to help others – it’s seeing the best side of human nature and kindness...” (Huddersfield Examiner, 2012). Within a short period of time under the stewardship and kind-heartedness of Sophia, One Good Turn became a registered charity, which now liaises “closely with other Kirklees Council Agencies and several other local charities to help as many people as possible” who are in need within Huddersfield and its surrounds (www.onegoodturncharity.org.uk )

The Big Society and community development: Neighbourhood planning under the Localism Act

Bringing into force crucial aspects of the Coalition's ‘Big Society’, the Localism Act 2011 introduces changes to neighbourhood planning through which it seeks to decentralise power to the lowest possible level and afford local communities the opportunities to take the initiative with regards to developing local areas in line with local needs and issues. This article examines the neighbourhood planning provisions of the Act and considers the extent to which they achieve their aims and realise the objectives of the Big Society. It argues that, whilst seeking to decentralise power and empower communities to lead forward local development, the Act leaves a great deal of autonomy in the hands of central government and local authorities, meaning that the communities themselves are constrained by higher authority; it fails also to tackle sufficiently, issues relating to citizen and community engagement

Pakistan National Student Satellite Program (PNSSP)

Charla invitadaMicro-satellite development at University environment provides hands-on experience of building a satellite from design through launch and orbit operations for students in a cost effective way. Since multi-disciplinary efforts are required for satellite program are normally available in Universities therefore this kind of projects coupled with team building would provide valuable contribution to aerospace field. It would not only involve training scientists and engineers for the future but it can also used as a tool for development of new technologies using research culture of university environment for future system. Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), the national space agency has taken an initiative in the form of “Pakistan National Student Satellite Program (PNSSP)”, envisioning a long-term program to involve, train and prepare university students for the high-tech space industry. The proposed program is a way forward for sustainable and progressive student satellite developments under the umbrella of SUPARCO. Sir Syed University of engineering and Technology, Pakistan has taken initiative to join hand with SUPARCO for first student satellite program. The development of attitude determination and control, and power sub systems will be carried out at Electronic Engineering Department with review and funding support from SUPARCO. The project will be implemented through involvement of students, research scholars and faculty members. The proposed design of satellite is a 50 kg class Micro Satellite, measuring 50cm by 50cm by 50cm, with an average power of ~50 W and design life of 1-2 years, to be launched in a low earth orbit (LEO) at ~500 km altitude, carrying Store forward, earth μCAM, and scientific experiments payload. This talk will describe the system design concept, science mission, common subsystem description, and major challenges for development of student satellite.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Analysis of Current Situation and Prospect of Wind Power Energy Cooperation Between China and Jordan Under “One Belt and One Road” Initiative

The “One Belt and One Road” initiative is a great measure to promote the economic development of countries along the line the “B&R” and realizes common economic prosperity. With the continuous development of global economy, the demand for energy is increasing. The excessive use of traditional fossil fuels has led to environmental degradation. Therefore, it has become a consensus to develop green energy cooperation between countries. Different from traditional fossil energy, wind energy is one of the most available clean energy sources, which does not produce pollution and is cheap and easy to obtain. Thus, it is an ideal clean energy. This paper uses literature and survey methods to analyze and research the development situation of wind power energy resources in Jordan and the development of wind power technology in China. Through the analysis of data and examples, this paper aims to put forward suggestions and prospects for the cooperation between China and Jordan and provides references for other countries

Precision Health U

The Precision Medicine Initiative was launched by former President Barack Obama in 2015. In response, research in genomics is continually expanding. Genomic medicine seeks to study the DNA of healthy and sick individuals to create individualized treatment plans for people of various backgrounds. The All of Us research project which is under the National Institute of Health expects to begin recruiting individuals in 2017 to participate in sharing their genetic information, health history, and lifestyle for research purposes. Of course, this can be a frightening proposal to many people. However, for this area of research to move forward, people of all backgrounds must come together and invest in this project. Precision Health U was made to make science less scary in order to encourage individuals to consider participation in genomic research and start discussion about personalized medicine. The Twitter outreach and community engagement aspects both seek to discuss concerns of privacy, the power of these tests, and what the results will mean for the exciting future of healthcare. By sharing scientific news on Twitter in a simplified, tempered manner, Precision Health U is spreading safe, useful information to the public in a new kind of public health initiative

Tourism as an Instrument of Rapprochement between the PRC and the Russian Federation

After the PRC President Xi Jinping put forward a proposal for the implementation of the Belt and Road initiative in 2013, this initiative of the PRC faced a phenomenon that has been called “soft power of resistance” in Chinese science. The PRC leadership, as a way to overcome this challenge, sees the need for humanitarian rapprochement with the participating countries of the initiative, one of the manifestations of which is Chinese outbound tourism. In Eurasia, the one of the most rapid development of Chinese tourism in recent years has been in Russia, which allows us to consider this phenomenon as an attempt from the PRC to cultural rapprochement with the Russian Federation through increasing tourist flows

Moving Forward on Racial Justice Philanthropy

This is the fifth volume of the Critical Issues Forum series, which aims to deepen the discourse around important progressive racial justice issues within philanthropy. As PRE celebrated our 10th anniversary last year and engaged allies within the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors to mark the occasion with us, we heard "Have you seen any progress?" repeatedly and knew it was important to take stock of what many of us have been collectively aiming to move for decades. Through focus groups, webinars and direct interviews, our team has sought to get a strong sense of both funders' and activists' perspectives on progress particularly over the past two decades. We have heard real frustration, especially as the needs are so critical and the level of urgency among activists and communities is so high. However, in spite of these very real concerns, we have also seen clear commitment and depth of understanding in other quarters. We are pleased that through funder case studies and activist essays about structural racism analysis, intersectionality and media justice, we're able to share real progress, even as each piece recognizes there is still much more to be done

There's Something Happening Here: A Look at The California Endowment's Building Healthy Communities Initiative

In 2011, TCE commissioned PERE to help capture some of the dynamism happening in each of the sites as they were pivoting from the initial planning phase, which started in 2009, to early implementation.Our focus was on the over-arching story of BHC rather than on the narrative of each site, which would have required many more interviews, many more site visits, and many, many more pages to convey. And while we touch on some of the interactions between BHC and the communications and policy work done under the statewide umbrella of Health Happens Here, our emphasis in this report is on BHC and the sites themselves.Through the course of this research, we have become increasingly convinced that TCE is indeed onto something -- if not big, at least important. In order to clarify exactly what it is, we use a simplifying three-part storyline linked together by an overarching concept of Just Health

Collective Impact Case Study: Memphis Fast Forward

Launched by a coalition of business and government leaders, Memphis Fast Forward(MFF) is a multi-layered collective impact initiative designed to increase economic prosperity and quality of life in Greater Memphis, Tenn