Recommendations from Global Washington

In 2009, U.S. Senators Cantwell (D-WA) and Murray (D-WA) reached out to Global Washington seeking input on strengthening U.S. foreign assistance and examples of successful development partnerships within Washington State. The senators looked to Global Washington, a regional convening organization, to offer a fresh perspective on global development issues.

Over 400 people attended to hear featured speaker Senator Maria Cantwell, USAID Chief Innovation Officer Maura O’Neill, and the Global Washington member panelists speak on aid, trade, public-private partnerships, and education. Specific policy recommendations were created through the collaboration of more than 46 Washington State experts. These recommendations were unveiled on Tuesday, July 6, at an event hosted by Seattle University. Included in the recommendations was strong support for global health and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. It was an exciting day for the global development sector in Washington State.

The strong presence of RESULTS in Washington State was recognized in the recommendations summary, which describes us as an organization in which ordinary citizens can engage in advocacy and philanthropy to lend their voices to combat poverty and disease across the globe.

Senator Cantwell emphasized the importance of the work of organizations such as RESULTS and of the Washington citizens: “There are important issues here that you address from water scarcity, to sanitation, to global health, to food security, to poverty, to education, to maternal and child health, and these are some of the most basic and life sustaining issues that demand the involvement as us as a nation and certainly involve us here in Washington State.”

Global Washington shows the strong support among U.S. citizens for global poverty issues. 64 percent think the U.S. government should make efforts to support health for people in developing countries with a greater percentage (80 percent) in favor of funding research on diseases such as tuberculosis.

Read more about this event in the recap.

You can also read the full report and the executive summary.