Building a Life of Global Impact
Four takeaways from USAID Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick’s appearance on the “She Said/She Said” podcast
USAID Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick is building a life of global impact. And if that sounds daunting in the midst of a global pandemic, economic uncertainty, and turned-upside-down home lives, Glick can relate.
This week she joined She Said/She Said — a podcast that shares stories of women who are having a positive impact on the world — to talk about some of the Agency’s most important initiatives and how they are continuing to make an impact during the coronavirus pandemic.
Keep reading for four important takeaways from the interview. And listen to the complete podcast to hear how sibling rivalry pivoted her career into diplomacy, why she eloped in Ethiopia, how an international tragedy brought home the importance of family, and why knowing her value has helped propel her career — and can do the same for other women.
1. 21st Century Solutions
“My passion at USAID is bringing the Agency into the 21st century with technology. I’ve been here for just under two years and during that time we launched a digital strategy prior to COVID so the timing could not have been better. We launched a strategy that allows us to work with countries to develop their own tools for transforming their economies with a lens towards digital first. The timing, as I said, was perfect. We’re all teleworking. We’re all in a virtual world. And we’ve introduced the concept of the need for digital tools to countries all over the world, and we’re helping reach that digital capability space.”
2. The COVID-19 Pivot
“Whoever imagined that we would be in this place. The good news is we are working with countries to adapt to the new environment. No one has the expectation that we will have a cure for COVID in the near term. What we are looking for now is the ability around the world — including here in the United States — to flatten the curve and to address the outbreak stages of COVID. One of the things that we’ve done is we’ve sent ventilators to dozens of countries all over the world. Now we’ve exhausted much of the need for ventilators around the world and we’re turning our attention to shipping oxygen. We’re working really hard to stabilize the environment worldwide so that as the curve flattens, we can then begin to roll out vaccinations around the world. Once we’re vaccinated here in the United States, we will want to see that people around the world — beginning with first-line responders and then moving into vulnerable populations and then the general population — will have access to good vaccines to help protect the global population.”
3. Helping Women Succeed
“For so long 50 percent of the world’s population has not been an equal player at the table when it comes to engagement economically. So one of the initiatives of the Trump administration has really been led by Ivanka Trump. She stood up a program called W-GDP, the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative. And we have used this at USAID to work with companies around the world to help us leverage small dollar amounts of U.S. taxpayer money to leverage 10X or more corporate funding to bring economic development opportunities to women in developing countries, in emerging markets. An example of this that I like a lot is a partnership that we formed with Pepsi. Pepsi is co-financing with us a program to support women farmers in India to grow a strain of potatoes. Now people might think ‘What — that’s not Pepsi is it?’ But Pepsi owns Frito-Lay and it has an enormous snack line. And so growing potatoes that can then be used as part of the global food supply chain to be used for the production of Frito-Lay products or other products will be valuable for economic development and economic prosperity for women in India. These are the kinds of projects that we have with companies all over the world and with a focus on making sure women are at the financial table and at the economic growth table.”
4. Making Meaningful Connections
“One of the things that I love about USAID is it’s a 24/7/365 good news story. The work that we do impacts people positively. I recently did a live stream with a woman in South Africa who, because of COVID, is making masks out of beautiful South African cloth and selling them in pharmacies around the country and making money. And she is bringing in more and more and more seamstresses to help her in this effort. I knew I was going to be doing this live stream with her and I brought something special with me. My mom has pulled out her sewing machine and has been making masks. And I pulled one out that she recently sent to my husband. And during the course of the webcast I pulled it up and I put it on, and you could see the light in her eyes just shine because how exciting that we had this moment of connection.When you bring people in you create not just the bonds between you, but you create really a message that resonates — especially in the virtual world — to a much larger community, and I find that to be very inspiring.”
Follow USAID Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick at @USAIDBGlick.
