The Humpty Dumpty Institute, for which Connie Milstein serves as Chairman Emeritus, has recently launched an 18-month pilot program that will provide the population of Myanmar (Burma) with Survivors Assistance and Mine Risk Education programs. The HDI has partnered with the Sitagu Association, the largest Buddhist humanitarian organization in Myanmar, for this endeavor, which will be funded by the U.S. Department of State, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement.

Myanmar is among few other countries in dealing with the severe landmine problems that continue to plague the country today, a problem that is neither well-known nor well-researched. While it is known that landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the country are concentrated mostly along its border with Thailand, and to a lesser extent on its borders with Laos, China and Bangladesh, the figures that are available indicated that mine accident rates in Myanmar are among the highest in the world.

HDI president, Ralph L. Cwerman, said the program’s primary goal “is to build local capacity among the medical staff of the Sitagu hospital network in order to treat physical and psychological injuries of the Burmese, especially children.” He added that “strenuous efforts would be made to educate as many villagers as possible about the danger of landmines and unexploded bombs and how to avoid being injured.”

To achieve the program’s goals of safety and awareness, the Humpty Dumpty Institute will establish teams of health and education professionals that will regularly visit various hospitals around Burma to train the hospital staff in the fields of prosthetics and psychological trauma. The hospitals will also host a series of mine risk education workshops for local village leaders living in and around areas that are highly contaminated with mines. As a broader goal, the HDI plans to develop partnerships with various local and international mine action NGOs to help deliver prosthetics, medicines and other needed equipment to doctors and hospitals within Burma by utilizing the Sitagu Association and its network.

The Humpty Dumpty Institute, with co-founder Connie Milstein, is an organization with many programs. One of them is The Global Creative Forum, who recently brought representatives from three U.N. projects to Hollywood, California with hopes of exposing famous film and television writers and producers to the problems and efforts of the U.N. Writers from famous shows such as Law and Order, Burn Notice and Private Practice were present at the event.

The event began with an introduction by Bill Rouhana, chairman of HDI and GCF, who was followed by U.N. Assistant Secretary General Robert Orr and Juan Carlos Brandt of the U.N. Department for Public Information. The first speaker was Elizabeth Jennings, who works for the World Food Program in Haiti. She described the flexibility of the Haitians when they are faced with the disasters of earthquakes, hunger and cholera. Jennings was followed by Olivier Mukarji from the United Nations Department of Peace Keeping in Darfur, Sudan. He explained how the U.N. works to save refugees from Darfur as well as to negotiate an end to the conflict between the political parties in Sudan. Gary Lewis of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime in Thailand spoke of the efforts being put into stopping the human and drug trafficking in the region.

In February, the US Department of Agriculture provided the Humpty Dumpty Institute (HDI) with $4.1 million by giving them the Dole-McGovern Food for Education Grant. The Dole-McGovern program supports education, child development and food security in low-income countries. It provides financial and technical assistance, as well as agricultural products in order to aid child nutrition.

HDI is an organization which works to find solutions to humanitarian problems around the world. Its current goals are to eliminate mines and other UXOs (unexploded ordinances) around the world, as well as to ease domestic and international hunger issues. Connie Milstein is a co-founder of HDI.

The grant provided $3.2 million in cash, as well as $900,000 which covered the transportation cost of 910 tons of beans, canned salmon, corn-soy blend, milled rice and vegetable oil with hopes to feed approximately 19,000 children daily.

Connie Milstein was an International Council Member of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

The Belfer Center is part of Harvard University’s Kennedy School where research, teaching and training in security affairs on a global level are conducted; and where policy on science, technology, environmental and resource issues are discussed and formulated.

The mission of the Belfer Center can be divided into two main areas:

1.    To provide the leadership needed in our rapidly changing world to allow experts to have the information at their fingertips to set policy in critical areas of international relevance, such as security, science, technology, environmental and other areas where modern issues intersect with international policy.

2.    Educate, train and prepare the future leadership with the skills and understanding to provide leadership in these complex and critical areas.

The fundamental assumptions of the Belfer Center are that science and technology are driving forces always transforming not only the challenges the world faces but also providing the opportunities for finding solutions.

Founded by Paul Doty, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is a vital part of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.  Doty’s vision was to create an academic center in which serious global issues could be addressed through the integration of insights and research conducted by social scientists, natural scientists, technologists and those immersed in government, diplomacy, defense and business.

The Belfer Center is nourished by the extraordinary research community of over 150 scholars, utilizing the resources of the faculty of Harvard among them researchers and practioners, with new vitality added each year with research fellows who are involved on the international sphere with interdisciplinary expertise.

The Center is able to promote creative, innovative solutions to the modern challenges presented to the international community through publications, policy discussions, workshops, seminars, and conferences.

As an International Council Member of the Belfer Center, Connie Milstein had much to add to the ongoing dialogue, research and leadership found at the Center.