Speaker: Prof. Umar Saif, Chairman of the Punjab Information Technology Board About the talk: In this talk, Prof. Saif will present a series of large-scale systems which use cheap smartphones and machine learning to inform policy in the government. Specifically, the talk will focus on three areas: (1) Agriculture: Their platform, FoodAtHome.org, uses free multi-spectral imagery, smartphone-based […]

Speaker: Alice Evans, Associate, Building State Capability Program and Lecturer, King's College London About the talk: A contemporary challenge is inequality. In this seminar, Alice Evans will present findings from her paper, "Politicising Inequality: The Power of Ideas". The paper illustrates why ideas matter, and how they can change over time. Inequalities are reinforced when they are taken […]

Speakers: Daniel Stock, Research Fellow, CID; Timothy O'Brien, Research Fellow, CID; Sehar Noor, Research Assistant, CID About the talk: Starting in November 2015, the Center for International Development’s Growth Lab has been engaged in economic policy research with the Government of Sri Lanka. Led by Professor Ricardo Hausmann, the team has focused on a single question: what […]

Speaker: Aaron Berman, Research Fellow, Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) About the talk: In this talk, Aaron Berman will present an overview of EPoD's research on cash transfers in developing countries, led by Professors Rema Hanna (HKS) and Ben Olken (MIT). He will focus in particular on two research projects. The first, "Universal Basic Incomes […]

Speaker: Leslee Udwin, Founder & President, Think Equal About the Speaker: Leslee was voted by the NY Times the No 2 Most Impactful Woman of 2015 (second to Hillary Clinton), and has been awarded the prestigious Swedish Anna Lindh Human Rights Prize (previously won by Madeleine Albright). She has also been named Safe’s Global Hero of […]

Speaker: Rt Hon. Andrew Mitchell, British MP and Former Secretary of State for International Development About the Speaker: Rt Hon. Andrew Mitchell is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sutton Coldfield since 2001. He was the MP for Gedling from 1987 to 1997. He served in the Cabinet as […]

Speaker: Salimah Samji, Director of the Building State Capability program at CID About the talk: Building State Capability (BSC) program uses the Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) approach to help organizations develop the capability to solve complex problems and to implement public policies. PDIA is a process of facilitated emergence which focuses on problems (not solutions) […]

Speaker: Nageeb Sumar, Vice President, Philanthropic Strategies & Relationship Management Private Donor Group, Fidelity Charitable About the talk: Private global philanthropy is on the rise, which has resulted in a shift in the stakeholders involved in influencing international development policy and practice. During this talk, Nageeb Sumar will review trends in philanthropy- both with private […]

Speaker: Fatema Z. Sumar, Vice President of Global Programs, OXFAM America About the talk: At a time when 65 million people are displaced from their homes and more than 800 million people go to bed hungry every night, how can we make a real difference in tackling poverty & social injustices? During this talk, Fatema will draw […]