Wake up, Davos … global leaders must think local to solve the world’s problems

Last week’s Swiss pow-wow was all very well, but the solutions to poverty and climate change lie in the field

At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, corporate CEOs, world leaders and philanthropists convened to discuss steps to solve our biggest global problems. While these leaders sought solutions to climate change and world hunger, I was at home in Kenya, working directly with community organisations that have some of the answers.

People focused on Davos may not have heard about the success of organisations like Fundación Paraguaya, which is working with families to help end poverty, or Maono Africa, which has been educating women and girls in Kenya. These innovative and critical perspectives, which hold the key to progress, weren’t present because localisation wasn’t on the agenda at Davos.