This Year at CGI: the power of the individual

Every year the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting convenes some of the world’s most influential leaders and change makers to share ideas and commitments to change the world. While it can be a tough seat to get (it’s by invitation only), many of their sessions are available via webcast, so anyone can benefit from the diverse and dynamic conversations at the meeting. There were many interesting sessions at this year’s event, held last week in New York, but a couple of them stood out as discussions of particular interest (to me and probably to many social citizens) as innovators from all sectors discussed the direction of social action and change.

One of these conversations is about technology for citizen empowerment. The panel, which featured media superstars like Arianna Huffington and Ashton Kutcher, focused, perhaps ironically, on the power of average people to make a difference with technology. As Wired Magazine put it recently, “in a world where everyone is his/her own Ashton Kutcher, who needs Ashton Kutcher?” This might have been a bit of a joke on the panel, but the truth remains that social media has crowned new leaders in various circles – people who might not walk the red carpet, but who have real influence in their growing networks. His philanthropic race to 1 million followers was highly publicized, but now nearly 300 people have hit that 1 million follower mark, but even many users who are far below that count can have a significant impact. As Ashton points out, this creates a climate in which issues that haven’t been attractive for major media companies, like human trafficking, have a chance to reach millions of people.

As we’ve discussed the criticism of slacktivism and how to move people beyond it, another panelist, journalist Omid Memarian, maintains that just having this number of people using tools like Twitter to explore what’s going on in the world is making a difference. Having that many eyes on the actions of the Iranian government actually influenced the way they responded to the riots. “If it was not for the internet,” he says, “many more people would have been killed on the streets.” Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay and the Omidyar Network, added that the personal connections Americans made with Iranians via Twitter throughout the crisis formed a new sense of empathy and understanding for the average Iranian that will continue to impact our country’s political and military response to Iran.

As further evidence that these internet observers and journalists are a threat to those who might want to control, mistreat or oppress, Arianna Huffington recalled China’s strategic decision to shut down access to new media within the country and instead invited selected journalists to visit the country and report. Having seen the power and persistence of millions of average people with cell phones or laptops, the Chinese government opted to take their chances with a group of professional journalists instead.

Another topic of interest both here and on the Case Foundation blog has been models where individuals can make a huge difference when their collective action is focused on investing in the lives of other individuals. This was reflected in the discussions around the potential for microfinance in development and empowerment both here and abroad. Having read a post on the Kiva blog about how microfinance alone is not enough to significantly move the needle on national economic development, I was intrigued by a CGI panel entitled “Beyond Microfinance: The Next Stage of Economic Development.” Microfinance is not part of the formal economy, so it cannot provide sustainability to governments and the rest of the population. Fifty percent of jobs worldwide, however, are held in small and medium-sized businesses, so entrepreneurs on this scale need to be supported, retrained and given a chance as well.

For example, Rangina Hamidi started a business called Kandahar Treasure, which she converted to the private sector from a nonprofit organization to create sustainability and autonomy to help women of Afghanistan’s Kandahar region use traditional hand embroidery to support themselves. She found that NGOs were spending funds on short-term projects teaching women to sew or create other crafts, but they were not actually creating business women. She wanted to save resources by capitalizing on what they already knew how to do, while improving quality, and investing in marketing. The panel also features Jacqueline Novogratz, Chief Executive Officer of Acumen Fund, Van Jones from the Center for American Progress, and others.

Check out the videos above and other CGI session videos over the weekend, and share your favorite.