GHD Events

How is the global marketplace for handmade products changing and where is it going in the future? Keith Recker of HAND/EYE and Peggy Clark of the Aspen Institute will moderate a panel of representatives from founding member companies of the U.S. State Department's Alliance for Artisan Enterprise.

The Aspen Institute and the Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health (GLC) visited Malawi for a consultation on the Presidential Initiative for Maternal Health and Safe Motherhood hosted by President Banda and convened by the Aspen Institute. The Presidential Initiative, which seeks to increase the availability, accessibility and utilization of maternal and newborn health care services to accelerate improvement of maternal and newborn health through community involvement, was launched in April 2012.

Participants – including Malawi government officials at the highest levels, civil society and donor government representatives – discussed progress to date on implementation of the Presidential Initiative’s priorities and identified specific opportunities for the GLC and other partners to support the expansion of access to reproductive health care in Malawi. The Aspen Institute is currently exploring the opportunities identified in the consultation, which included support for communications with potential donors, involvement of chiefs, training of community midwives, and design of the maternity waiting shelters.

The U.S. Department of State and the Aspen Institute hosted the formal launch of the Alliance for Artisan Enterprise at the Department’s George C. Marshall Center on Tuesday, November 27th.  Representatives from the 22 founding organizations as well as approximately 150 private sector executives, senior government officials, and non-profit organizations participated in the event. 

Hundreds of thousands of people around the world, largely women, participate in the artisan sector.  Behind agriculture, artisan activity is the second largest employer and in the developing world, often the primary means of income.  However, the value chain for artisan enterprises is fragmented and fraught with barriers that inhibit greater economic value and returns from occurring. To address these challenges, the Aspen Institute is launching the Alliance for Artisan Enterprise, a platform enabling companies, non-profits, governments, and international organizations to collaborate to support and grow artisan enterprises, provide best practice services to the organizations that support them, and to support the broader recognition of the importance of the artisan sector to development, economic growth and preservation of cultural heritage.    

Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, Melanne Verveer and Executive Vice President of Policy and Public Programs,  Elliot Gerson for the Aspen Institute, officially launched the Alliance and delivered opening keynote remarks.  Following their remarks, members of the Alliance, including west elm, Walmart, USAID, the International Folk Art Market-Santa Fe, and Global Goods Partners discussed the economic value that artisans provide, critical barriers in the supply chain, areas of opportunity, and innovative collaborations the Alliance will leverage in order to expand market access for artisans globally. The event fell on Fair Tuesday, a response to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, illustrating the power consumers can have in changing the lives of a community by purchasing one fair trade item. 

Photos from the event:

The Aspen Institute Madeleine K. Albright Global Development Lecture recognizes an exceptional individual whose vision has provided breakthrough thinking to tackle the challenges of global development. In 2012, the first annual Aspen Institute Madeleine K.

The Demographic Dividend is an opportunity that arises when a country transitions from high to low rates of fertility and child and infant mortality. This transition creates a generation that is significantly larger than the generations immediately preceding and following it.