KAILUA-KONA — Michael “Eddie” Walsh started with a simple idea: Build a network.
Born on the mainland, Walsh went to Oahu after college and it was there he met his wife. It was Hawaii his two children called home. But when Walsh chose to pursue his PhD in politics and international relations at SOAS, University of London, they were forced to leave home behind.
“One of the big issues for our children was how do you keep them connected to where they’re from?” said Walsh, who now calls West Hawaii home and was recently named by the United Nations Foundation as a person to watch who wants to change the world. “My kids’ identities are rooted in being from Hawaii.”
It was the preservation and fostering of that prevailing identity that gave birth in 2010 to a social media network intended to connect people from Hawaii with others living off island. But that network would transform into something much more substantial — the Islands Society.
Walsh began to realize people from other island communities felt similarly disconnected. And so the network expanded.
He was also a part of a young leaders program through the Pacific Forum CSIS designed to support the next generation of foreign policy leaders. It took him all around the world, affording networking opportunities and access to senior level events. The program chose participants who were already professors, graduate students or members of think tanks — in other words, people like Walsh who already had opportunity and exposure.
In 2013, Walsh met Keiko Ono who was working at the SOAS student union and is now the vice president of the Islands Society. Through his many travels and budding friendship with Ono, Walsh realized the number of commonalities between islanders and the collective problems they faced.
It became Walsh’s goal to create an organization that enabled those sharing an islander identity to participate in international affairs. He and Ono believed that with the appropriate and previously absent platform, islanders could speak in a louder voice than ever before on issues like geographical isolation, limited natural and human resources, and vulnerability to climate change.
“What makes the Islands Society unique is that we are engaging people by sub-national identity of being an islander,” said James Carroll, managing director for the Sea Islands Society, which is a subgroup of the greater Islands Society. “One island can’t stop pollution or sea level rise, but 100 islands can start to chip away at it.”
The Islands Society website states its mission as to inspire and empower islanders to participate in foreign affairs and overseas engagements in order to affect positive changes in their local communities.
“We see the organization as a vital avenue of empowerment, because the standard route of entry into participating in international affairs can seem elitist and particularly removed from islanders,” Ono said. “It is a vital avenue for countries to get basic resources and take part in the global economy.”
The society aims to give voice to specific demographics within island societies — particularly young leaders, women, minorities and veterans. It is segmented into seven regional societies that work with specific communities and provide a global network. Opportunities include a local female leaders and emerging leaders programs, teaching networks and platforms for regional artists.
Past partnerships with different foreign services, the Federation of American Scientists and Georgetown University have allowed publishing platforms that afford exposure. The Islands Society also provides research centers that engage in traditional think tank work and publish papers tackling issues like diversity, public diplomacy and international security.
“People who want to impact policy have a mechanism through our organization to do so,” Walsh said.
Walsh added that the Islands Society website is expected to reach 100,000 visitors this year with a goal of 500,000 visitors in 2017.
“There is no other platform in the world at the moment that provides islanders the kind of programs and initiatives that we are trying to support,” Ono said.
Earlier this year, the United Nations Foundation named Walsh as one of its people to watch who want to change the world, and as recognition for the organization grows and its impact becomes global, the transition from a volunteer organization to a true nonprofit has happened organically. Currently, no one working for the Islands Society is paid, yet Walsh expects staff numbers to grow from six last December to 200 by the end of the year.
He is now looking at sites in Kailua-Kona and North Kohala to serve as the Islands Society’s first physical space and a base of its global operations.
“Though islands may be small compared to the rest of the world, island people are often the first to feel the effects of global issues like climate change or rising energy prices,” said Mayor Billy Kenoi in an email to West Hawaii Today. “Eddie Walsh’s work to engage islanders in international issues brings recognition to island communities, and presents unique island perspectives to the rest of the world.”
