Across the street from the PYXERA Global office, industrial hoses spray water to contain the clouds of dust unleashed by an army of wrecking balls and cranes. The sale of the long-time Washington Post headquarters in 2013 made way for one of downtown Washington, D.C.’s largest demolition and construction projects in decades. Four buildings will be razed, to be replaced by a gleaming megaplex of floor to ceiling glass. But before the burnished facades of the new building rise, thousands of tons of cement, metal, wire, and glass must be demolished and carted away, one load at a time. Walking past the gaping hole in the urban landscape each day offers a stark reminder of the effort and resources consumed in creation of all kinds. Ideas, time, funds, and energy are necessary for success in construction and partnership alike.
Indeed, ‘partnership’ has been used so generically that the term has all but lost its meaning, appropriated to describe everything from transactional business relationships to philanthropic funding. In this issue of the New Global Citizen, we attempt to counteract this obscurity with clarity. In these pages, a range of authors explore the realities of partnerships that effectively advance social impact, and examine how issues like transparency, risk, and innovation can determine whether partnerships succeed or fail. From USAID’s Global Innovation Exchange to the growing prevalence of human-centered design, how and when we partner to advance mutual, meaningful benefit is expanding almost daily. How can business more effectively embrace shared value that benefits both communities and the bottom line? The issue explains how global pro bono can foster leaders able to engineer shared value, and showcases how one company has done so already. This issue also highlights the global goal to end hunger by 2030, explaining how reductions in post-harvest loss and the cultivation of forest gardens can meaningfully advance this universal imperative.
This issue of the New Global Citizen also marks a turning point in strategy for what began three years ago as a fledgling social impact publication. In the realm of the internet and global media, time often seems to move more quickly than elsewhere. Just as skyscrapers rise and fall, the New Global Citizen must enter the next era of multimedia. In the coming months, we will move the last four years of stories to a new platform, under a new name, on pyxeraglobal.org, that will be revealed later this year. We will continue to provide a forum to share stories of approaches and impact as well as expand our informational resources—all designed to advance a culture of purposeful global engagement.
Watching the grapples and cranes across the street dismantle, brick by brick, the foundation of a longtime institution, it is easy to grow nostalgic for the past. Yet often, it is only by drilling down to the core that it becomes possible to lay a new foundation, to begin anew, realizing that what rises in its place will be even greater than what came before.
Alicia Bonner Ness
Editor in Chief
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