Development does not take place in a vacuum; it is intertwined inextricably with every aspect of the comprehensive institutional integrity. The whole always is greater than the sum of the parts: leveraged synergy advances specific sub-objectives. We will explore how to create and sustain horizontal and vertical collaboration for integrated organizational leadership. With guest panelists Kofi Boateng, COO of Africa America Institute, Bill Bohnett, Board member of Synergos Institute and Kona Goulet, Devlopment Director of EnlightenNext we explore this topic in the NYU graduate course I created and teach annually. Watch two- to three-minute video clips of each and if you have interest in seeing more of the discussion contact us.

We explore how, regardless of your organization’s size, length of time in existence or level of expertise, you can begin to utilize or expand upon your current use of the myriad web-based options that can increase the effectiveness of your organizational initiatives and help you sustain them. Guest panelists Danny Moldovan, Change.org; Sarah Durham, Big Duck ; and Frankie Cheung, DonorsChoose.org describe various strategies and tools for different needs, depending upon capacity.  Watch two- to three-minute video clips of each and if you have interest in seeing more of the discussion contact us. Also post your comments on how you use the internet to advance your cause-related strategies and initiatives, whether you are with a corporation, a foundation, a government or any other public or private... more

We explore the centrality of distilling, understanding, consistently adhering to and communicating your core mission in every aspect of strategic planning and project implementation. Nadine B. Hack, beCause President, has advised organizations and individuals from different sectors – business, non-profit, government – for over three decades. Regardless of what need or problem they initially ask for assistance in resolving almost always they have a more comprehensive need or larger problem than the specific issue they originally think. Most often, key stakeholders of organizations – regardless of their size, length of time in existence or level of sophisticated expertise – lack a clear jointly-shared grasp of and commitment to their core mission. Then, whenever we do a thorough analysis of drilling deep... more

The purpose of the course I created for and teach annually at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service is to create a framework to conceptualize and subsequently engage in development as an integral component of capacity building. Development conveys the significant scope of strategic planning and creative yet disciplined execution required for effective sustainable results. I designed the course for those who engage in development from any perspective: as a grant maker or seeker – individual, corporate, foundation, NGO or other – at global, national or local levels. My premise is that development is most successful when approached within the synergy of overall institutional organizational coherence. This principle holds true at all times, but is particularly significant during difficult economic times... more

After saying goodbye to Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who I’ve known since we worked together in the 1980s, I reflected. All of us who participated in this historic Colloquium reconnected with friends we’d known from our work over the decades on behalf of gender equity and a more just world. We made new relationships with wonderful advocates from the public, private and civil society sectors of many countries. We had intensely in-depth discussions about where we’ve been, where we now are and where we are determined to be with the status of women in our respective nations, regions and the world. We had innumerable poignant insights about opportunities and challenges we each face: often the same ones, sometimes quite unique... more

Half a dozen concurrent thematic sessions – each with a half dozen panelists and a moderator before tea; another dozen break-out sessions – also with panelists, moderators and rapporteurs delving deeper into the themes before lunch, each charged to develop concrete action steps; an afternoon session with several remarkable segments including, among more:Presidents Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tarja Halonen signing a new Monrovia Declaration 2009 calling on all to celebrate and draw strength from women’s leadership at all levels. I couldn’t help but think that this was building – with gender equity and making it global this time – on the historic Monrovia Declaration 1979 commitment by African heads of state and government “to promote the economic and social development... more

Carol Jenkins, President of the Women’s Media Center, is the MC for this International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership, Development, Peace and Security being held in Samuel K. Doe Stadium in Monrovia, Liberia co-hosted by Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Finland’s President Tarja Halonen. This is what I texted Carol first thing this morning, “I’m sitting at stage left end of front row reveling in seeing you on the podium as the MC!” Lynn Sherr and her colleague Meagan Townsend are shooting a four-part series on the conference for World Focus, a new, nightly international news program produced by WLIW and WNET in New York with the aim to provide in-depth global news to American viewers. Their pieces will... more

Leaving lodging now to sounds of music coming from every direction and vendors in full swing everywhere: how wonderful to see Liberia returning to its past vitality after enduring such a devastating war.  While I know all people of this nation still are deeply traumatized, I am profoundly moved by everyone’s spirit of generosity and hope.  They so believe that with the US having a new administration, there is renewed promise for their nation.   We can not let them down: Liberia is a model of possibilities of post-conflict recovery, ripe with opportunity and fraught with challenges. We must encourage international support from nation-states, NGOs, the business community and the continued presence of the United Nations Mission in Liberia.  We can not... more