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Friday, November 21, 2014 at 4:30 pm, Irvine Auditorium

The Hult Foundation, Clinton Global Initiative and Monterey Institute of International Studies are dedicated to launching the world’s next wave of social entrepreneurs with the 2015 Hult Prize at MIIS competition. The Hult Prize encourages the world’s brightest minds to compete in teams of 3 – 5 members to solve the planet’s biggest challenges with innovative ideas for sustainable start-up enterprises. On November 21^st, MIIS will select a winning team to advance to the regional finals. Each regional winner will get to spend the summer inside the Hult Accelerator – an innovative incubator for social enterprise – and the champion receives $1,000,000 in start-up funding and a one year membership into The Clinton Global Initiative.

Interested in competing?

All you need is an idea, a team, and a 5-minute pitch that addresses this year’s President’s Challenge: Early Childhood Development in the Urban Slum and Beyond. Get more information and register your team today at: go.miis.edu/hultprize. Contact: Hprize@miis.edu.

The team of MBA students arrived on a Tuesday. Lolo, Team El Salvador’s steadfast friend (we all have friendship bracelets to prove it), drove me to the airport early morning to welcome the group. The team was tired from their overnight flight, but enthused by the energy of being in El Salvador. For our MBA capstone project, we had been working on a business plan for a newly formed agricultural cooperative, Xinachtli, based in rural El Salvador. The team was beyond ready to meet the founders of Xinachtli- the Mangrove Association and La Coordinadora– and grasp the aha understanding that transpires from being on the ground.

Students from MIIS have worked closely withthe Mangrove Association and La Coordinadora for nearly 10 years through the Team El Salvador (TES) J-term program. One of TES’s primary projects has been to evaluate the numerous services that the Mangrove Association has provided to small-scale farmers and fisherfolk in the region. To improve the financial sustainability of these services and support further economic opportunities in the region, the Mangrove Association has decided to create a separate for-profit cooperative, Xinachtli. The team of MBA students worked this past summer with the founding members of Xinachtli to develop a business plan that would enable the cooperative to support its social mission and assume financially sustainable operations.

We made a couple stops on the way back from the airport- everyone had their first taste of Salvadoran food and Salvadoran Spanish- before throwing them into the life and work of the Lower Lempa. The team’s first meetings with the Mangrove Association and Xinachtli were set for the next morning. We prepared for the meetings as the team adjusted to their new home- they set-up the fans and tested the hammocks, checked out the latrines and glimpsed the organic community garden, I showed them the fridge to keep our stock of chocolate from melting and we worked late into the evening.

This past summer marked my fourth visit to the Lower Lempa. I’d been a team leader of TES J-term projects for the past two years and spent my prior summer continuing work from J-term. During my previous time in the Lower Lempa, I worked with the Mangrove Association to strengthen its community plan for local management of natural resources and develop a network for community-based ecotourism. As they say here, I had drunk the water from the Lempa River: I was hooked. The Mangrove Association’s dedication to fight for community empowerment, environmental sustainability, social justice and intelligent policies to promote economic security compelled me to return: to learn from their expertise and experience and to apply the skills and knowledge I was learning at MIIS.

“Mejorar la calidad de vida para las familias,” or improve the quality of life for families, the founding members of Xinachtli nodded in agreement as they discussed the social mission of the cooperative. The entire MIIS-MBA team was on the ground for about two weeks in total; I was based in the Lower Lempa for the summer. We ultimately created a business plan that we felt would best enable Xinachtli to secure the sustainability of its mission and operations. However, Xinachtli will operate in a dynamic environment, of which we only glimpsed a small part and in which local knowledge and experience will be critical in shaping a viable business plan. Accordingly, the fun part still lies ahead: working alongside the Mangrove Association and Xinachtli to assess the proposed business model and adopt the plan that best suits the conditions under which Xinachtli will grow. I have recently assumed a full-time position in the Lower Lempa and thus look forward to January as an exciting, fruitful month, when a future team of MIIS students will come to bring their wide array of expertise and skills to support the the inspiring work of the Mangrove Association and communities in the region.

Capitalistas rolled off her tongue with a wince and a shake of the head, “We don’t want to be capitalists,” Carmen, the President of the Mangrove Association, informed us at our first meeting. TheMangrove Association is creating the Xinachtli cooperative to support income generation for the rural communities in the Lower Lempa region of El Salvador. The creation of a business is a natural progression of community development, emphasized Don Luis, one of the oldest members of the Mangrove Association. First the communities needed to organize themselves, which they did by creating La Coordinadora, or the Coordinating Body; then they needed to implement community development projects, which they did by creating an NGO, the Mangrove Association; and now, they need employment opportunities, for which they are creating a business: Xinachtli.

It’s a natural progression of community development, not an entrepreneurial opportunity, and surely not a capitalistic endeavor. To the people of the Mangrove Association and La Coordinadora, capitalism is what created the inequalities that caused the civil war; a free-market simply means a market free for those with means to take advantage of those without; and the invisible hand is that of the United States pushing policies to favor large corporations. Yet, they are creating a business. The Mangrove Association recognizes the economic and social value in developing business opportunities and in improving the financial security of the services they have provided to agricultural workers in the region.

In July, Under Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller appointed Amy Sands (Senior Advisor, Nonproliferation and International Security Initiatives at the Monterey Institute of International Studies) to a two-year term on the Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board (ISAB), which provides the Department with independent insight and advice on all aspects of arms control, disarmament, international security, and related aspects of public diplomacy. The ISAB is sponsored and overseen by the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, but it provides its recommendations to the Secretary of State. The Board is chartered to have up to 30 members and currently the Hon. Gary Hart is chair and Hon. Charles B. Curtis is vice-chair. Board members are national security experts with scientific, military, diplomatic, and political backgrounds. The Board meets in a plenary session on a quarterly basis and has produced reports on topics ranging from Pakistan, US Security Strategy to Cyber Stability and Energy Geopolitics.

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics (JOCE)

The Center for the Blue Economy at the Monterey Institute of International Studies is proud to announce the launch of its new Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics (JOCE), a peer-reviewed, open access online journal that publishes research on the theory and practice of economics as applied to ocean and coastal resources and the role these resources play in regional and national economies.

WHY JOCE?

The examination of the economic role of oceans and of coastal regions has become a very active area of research as nations and researchers have become aware of the critical and unique roles that oceans play in the health of both economies and ecosystems. A wide array of economic theories, and methods and data is being deployed to better understand oceans, including resource and environmental economics, regional economics, national income accounting, and the economics of specific industries.

Until JOCE, those wishing to share research in this field outside of fisheries have used outlets specialized in subfields of economics not normally accessed by those in the ocean and coastal communities or in outlets for ocean and coastal research that only occasionally address economic issues. JOCE offers an opportunity to share research with a growing, diverse, and international community of both scholarly researchers and those in the public, private, and third sectors with responsibilities for ocean and coastal resources.

For JOCE, “ocean” and “coastal” refer to traditional definitions of oceans, but also includes inland bodies of water that have similar economic characteristics such as the Great Lakes or Lake Baikal.  The definition includes major embayments and estuaries; the inland boundary of “ocean” and “coastal” is a matter of interpretation and authors are encouraged to explore different definitions of the inland boundaries of the economics of ocean and coastal resources.

AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL

The Journal is international in scope and audience. The language of the Journal is English, and submissions are to be in this language. Abstracts will be available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, and Chinese. The Journal will provide translation services for abstracts.

DIVERSE TYPES OF RESEARCH PAPERS

The journal seeks to publish three types of papers:

1. Innovation Research includes papers of traditional journal length (20-30pp) describing innovations in the theory and practice of economic analysis applied to ocean and coastal issues that improve the accuracy and decision relevance of economic data and analysis.
2. Review articles are of two types:
   • Case studies of how improved understanding of the economics of coastal and ocean resources and areas have influenced decisions concerning resource management, national or regional economic policy, or investment and management decisions by businesses and resource owners.
   • Summaries and assessments of economic research or analyses of ocean and coastal issues, wherever published, on a particular topic or resource.

3. Application Reports are short papers that report on the results of applied economics studies of ocean and coastal resources that add to the store of economic estimates of values and economic activity.

NEW APPROACH TO PEER REVIEW AND USE OF THE INTERNET

All papers published in the Journal are peer reviewed to assure a high quality of research and reports.  The Journal believes that the peer review process should be a transparent process of collaboration among authors, reviewers, and editors to produce the best quality and most accessible research so peer reviews of innovation papers will be signed.

Newly accepted articles are immediately assigned to the next available issue of the journal. They are copy-edited and appear online within one week of final edits.  This counts as formal publication and the articles are citable by DOI.

As an online publication, the Journal intends to use Internet technology to foster the growth of a community of practice advancing the theory and application of economics to decisions supporting the sustainable use of the world’s oceans and coasts.   Authors who contribute to the Journal will have access to a range of services as part of the Digital Commons of Bepress, the Journal’s online host (www.bepress.com).

PUBLISHING FEES WAIVED

Neither authors nor readers will pay a fee for publishing or accessing journal articles. With the support of the Loker Foundation, it is a truly free, open access journal.

SUBMITTING PAPERS

The Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics is accepting papers at http://cbe.miis.edu/joce.  To receive a preliminary opinion as to your research’s appropriateness for the journal, please contact the editor.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information or to inquire about a potential paper for the journal, contact the Editor-in-Chief Dr. Charles Colgan at ccolgan@miis.edu.

Friday, March 28
12:15PM – 1:45PM
Morse Room B104, 426 Van Buren, Monterey
Co-hosted by the Naval War College Faculty Workshop
Featured Speaker: Marjolaine Greentree

Marjolaine Greentree has more than 25 years of experience in humanitarian work with the International Committee of the Red Cross and various UN agencies. She will review challenges in delivering humanitarian aid and protection drawing on recent successes and failures in the Philippines, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, and elsewhere. In addition, she will examine and review the mandates of the different actors in the humanitarian world, how they relate to each other, the recent evolution of practices, especially coordination through the recently introduced cluster system.

Born in Switzerland, Marjolaine Greentree started her humanitarian career with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the middle of the Lebanese civil war. Throughout the years, she has worked in conflict situations in Jerusalem during the Intifada, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Romania, Bosnia, Rwanda, Burundi, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Yemen. Her assignments with ICRC and various UN agencies included field work, tracing agency, visits to prisoners and protection of the civilian population, communication, human resources, food security, coordination and management . Most recently, she was based in Rome, as Senior Advisor to the Global Food Security cluster.

The Women’s Empowerment Project and the Monterey County Rape Crisis Center are sponsoring the Strong & Wise Women’s Conference, hosted by the Monterey Institute, on Saturday, March 22, 2014.  The conference will take place from 8am-4pm in the McCone Building, 499 Pierce St, Monterey CA. More details on the conference can be found on the conference brochure. To register for the conference, print out registration form and complete and mail to the address shown or scan it and e-mail back to karen@leadershipmonterey.org.  The conference is FREE for Monterey Institute participants, but you MUST register for the conference in order to attend. 

Topics for breakout sessions include:

·        Entrepreneurship:  Moving Beyond Surviving to Thriving

·        Viewpoints:  International Women’s Issues, which will feature MIIS faculty

·        Advanced Communication:  Did You Hear Me?

·        Leadership:  Stepping Up to Leadership Roles

·        Your Financial Health

·        Stressed to the Max

·        Tech Talk

·        Re-engineering Your Career Success

There will also be speed mentoring session with leaders in their field on topics such as stress management, career transitions, finances and debt, and health & nutrition.  We hope to see you there!

Please join us for a seminar on “Protecting your Privacy: Wickr’s Misson of Personal Security” by Niko Sell. As the CEO of one of the premier secure text messaging companies, she is uniquely placed to discuss the new emphasis on security within communications services and the current business landscape.  

Nico is the cofounder of Wickr and r00tz Asylum —  a nonprofit dedicated to teaching kids how to love being white-hat hackers. Wickr is a free messaging app enabling anyone to send self-destructing messages that are anonymous, private, and secure. She also helps organize DEF CON, the largest hacker gathering in the world. She has helped start over 20 successful security companies as a venture catalyst and sits on numerous advisory boards. Nico is a professional artist, athlete and entrepreneur based in California.

This event will take place Tuesday, 11 March in the Casa Fuentes building (room 434) from 12:00 to 2:00 pm. This is located on the MIIS campus at 434 Pacific St, Monterey, CA, 93940.  It is open to the public.

If you are unable to attend and have questions for the speaker, kindly direct them to our Twitter account @MIIS_CySec. The session will be recorded and a link will be posted on our site. Please find additional information in the flyer below or on our website (http://go.miis.edu/cysec).

This speaker series is supported by the Monterey Cyber Security Initiative (MCySec) and the Cyber Security Student Working Group (CSWG). The aim is to create a multidisciplinary network of professionals, faculty, staff and students interested in how technology impacts international affairs. If you have any additional questions regarding this event please email us at CySec@miis.edu.