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Foundation Newsletter
February 2008 |
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T H E C H I N A I S S U E
China’s emergence on the world stage is one of the central stories in the opening years of the new century. From its growth in international economic clout, to its internal transformation into an educated, urban population, China is attempting to cope with change while on fast forward. The country’s vast size makes it relevant to a host of global challenges about which The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation also cares. This issue of the Hewlett newsletter looks at some of the Foundation’s work in China.
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Photo courtesy of the Energy Foundation
Turning China Green with Innovation
Staggering levels of urban air pollution. Rising amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reshaping the planet’s climate. Strains on global energy supplies fueled by growing demand. Today China faces all of these environmental and developmental challenges as it transforms itself from an economy dominated by rural peasants into the world’s largest factory floor.
Supporting Chinese efforts to develop innovative solutions to these problems—from mass transit systems to green designs for buildings—is the work of the China Sustainable Cities Initiative, a project run by the San Francisco-based Energy Foundation with a $7 million per year, five-year commitment from the Hewlett Foundation. Read more...
Photo courtesy of the China Law Center
Legal Reform Comes to China
With the Support of Scholars at Yale
Yale Law School Professor Paul Gewirtz was never a U.S. diplomat, but in the 1990s he was sure he had a worthy lesson for those who were. The professor’s idea, which he informally promoted among his friends for years, was simple: rather than addressing only diplomatic issues of direct interest to the United States, why not support legal reforms within other countries?
The professor, an expert in comparative constitutional law, saw the promotion of civil society internationally as a neglected way to advance a host of U.S. and global interests, from supporting economic development to combating global crime. Read more...
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“Foundations” is a series of informal question-and-answer sessions with employees and others affiliated with The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to give them an opportunity to explain their work.
Koh Boon Hwee is the newest member of the Hewlett Foundation Board of Directors. Mr. Koh, 57, is a business entrepreneur with broad experience in Asia. He spent the early years of his career with the Hewlett-Packard Co., where ultimately he served as Asia Pacific director of manufacturing and business development. As someone once familiar with HP founders William Hewlett and David Packard and with the workings of contemporary Asia, he represents both the Foundation’s roots and its future as it expands it global grantmaking. Read more...
With China poised to pass the United States in overall use of the Internet, it’s hard to imagine a better way to broaden access to education in China than to make free, high-quality educational materials available online. At the China Open Educational Resources site—or CORE, as it’s known by users—some of the world’s most prestigious universities are doing just that. Led by MIT’s OpenCourseWare program, which has put that school’s entire undergraduate curriculum online, universities in the United States, Japan, and Vietnam have so far joined the effort. Read more...
The Foundation welcomes new employees Lauren Libruk and Victor Vuchic. Read more...
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The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
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http://www.hewlett.org
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Last revised: 2/7/2008
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Copyright © 2003-2006 The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
All rights reserved.
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