Co-sponsored by the Center for International Development, the Carr Center for Human Rights, and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies
Saving a Nation: Restoring the Rule of Law In Guatemala
October 18, 2016 | 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Join Iván Velásquez Gómez, Commissioner for the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), as he describes his battles against illegal security groups and clandestine security organizations in Guatemala – criminal groups believed to have infiltrated state institutions, fostering impunity and undermining democratic gains in Guatemala since the end of the country’s armed conflict in the 1990s. The CICIG represents an innovative initiative by the United Nations together with a Member State to strengthen the rule of law in a post-conflict country. Before his post with CICIG, Commissioner Gómez was a prosecutor in Colombia, where he investigated the ties and relations of former President Uribe to paramilitary groups.
Lunch Seminar – City SMARTup: New Tools to Fire Up Your Smart City Project
October 21, 2016 | 11:45 am – 1:00 pm
Speaker: Renato De Castro, International Advisor, World e-Governments Organization
Renato de Castro is a Smart City senior consultant with more than 20 years’ experience and specialized in investment attraction and management for smart cities projects. He is senior vice president for Smart Cities at CreF, Inc, an American investment bank from Pittsburgh. He is also a member of the global advisory board of Leading Cities, located in Boston, and international advisor for The World e-Governments Organization of Cities and Local Governments, in Seoul. Renato responds as mentor and advisor specialized in globalization strategies for startups around the world. He is a Doctor of Business Administration candidate at Maastricht School of Management, MSM, Netherlands, researching about Smart Cities. He is also a writer, columnist and video blogger for Smart City, ICT and Urbanization Strategies topics.
Note: This talk will be held in Nye A in the Taubman building.
Lunch Seminar – Empowering Human Capital and Institutions through Higher Education
October 14, 2016 | 11:45 am – 1:00 pm
Speaker: Angelica Natera, Executive Director LASPAU
Angélica Natera is the Executive Director of Laspau: an organization affiliated with Harvard University that has contributed to the educational development of thousands of individuals in Latin America through scholarship programs and knowledge exchange opportunities. With more than 25 years of professional experience, including 14 years at Harvard, she has worked on the design and management of educational programs for public and private universities, governmental agencies, private companies and non-profit organizations in Latin America, Spain and the United States. In working with different regions in the world, Angélica has developed extensive expertise and a deep understanding of global trends and innovation in higher education.
Angélica has developed programs to improve teaching in public and private universities in Latin America and the Caribbean, programs on effective learning and teaching in engineering and science, programs to improve entrepreneurship education, and initiatives to promote the development of clusters of innovation and competitiveness through the integration of universities, government and industry. She has led educational programs for a broad range of organizations and entities, including the United States Department of State, Goldman Sachs Foundation’s 10,000 Women Initiative, the Kellogg Foundation, the Ministry of Education in Chile, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology in the Dominican Republic, and the Council of Science and Technology in Colombia among others. These programs and initiatives have involved experts from Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Olin College, Brown University, and the University of California.
Angélica has advised governments and university leaders on innovation in learning and teaching. In 2007 she founded the Initiative for the Development of Academic Innovation, which has contributed to the professional development of thousands of university teachers and academic leaders in Latin America. She has been invited to share her ideas and experience across the US, Latin America, Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Because of her work and leadership, Angélica has been invited to present at the National Hispana Leadership Institute, a program for successful Latinas leaders in the US. Angélica is Venezuelan and holds a graduate certificate in administration and management from Harvard University, a graduate degree in psychology from the Universidad Simón Bolivar in Venezuela, and a bachelor of administrative and management sciences from the Universidad Tecnológica del Centro in Venezuela. In 2010 Angélica was awarded the Harvard University Administrative Fellowship, a program of the office of the assistant to the President, which selects talented individuals in the university.
Security and Development Seminar: Corruption, Impunity, and Development in Latin America
October 27, 2016 | 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
The first session in CID’s new Security and Development Seminar Series.
This session will explore how corruption and impunity obstruct development in Latin America, with a focus on Mexico.
Speakers include:
Ricardo Hausmann, Faculty Director, CID
Thomas Abt, Innovation in Citizen Security Project, CID
Lourdes Morales, Associate Professor, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económica (CIDE)
There will be a live stream of the event on CID’s Facebook page.
Seating capacity is 40. RSVP to cid@hks.harvard.edu to confirm a seat.
Lunch Seminar – Can Government Promote Evidence-based Innovation in Development?
October 7, 2016 | 11:45 am – 1:00 pm
Speaker: Anne Healy (MPA/ID ’12), Managing Director of Development Innovation Ventures (DIV), USAID
Anne leads Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) at USAID, the Agency’s evidence-based social innovation fund. She has worked across the private, public, and social sectors on evidence and innovation in government and international development.
As a consultant at McKinsey & Co., she advised Fortune 500 companies, federal and state government entities, multilateral organizations, and philanthropies on strategy, organizational change, and operations, with a focus on economic development and crisis response and recovery. Anne was part of the senior leadership team that established the Innovations for Poverty Action operation in Kenya, where she also oversaw randomized controlled trials in the water and sanitation sector with leading development economists from Harvard and Berkeley. Most recently, as Senior Advisor at the State Department, Anne advised Deputy Secretary Heather Higginbottom on global health security and innovation in Department operations and management.
DIV recruits graduate student summer interns, so this would be a useful opportunity for students starting to consider internship options to hear about an exciting opportunity in the public sector.
Lunch Seminar – Evaluating a Green Finance Investment: Scaling-Up Renewable Geothermal Energy in Indonesia
September 30, 2016 | 11:45 am – 1:00 pm
Speaker: Migara Yawardena, Senior Energy Specialist in the Energy and Extractives Global Practice, The World Bank
Migara Jayawardena has worked throughout the world on issues related to infrastructure reform and development finance. Mr. Jayawardena’s work in the energy sector has focused mostly on power sector and utility reform, renewable energy, rural electrification, public-private partnerships, and development challenges related to climate change. In his current position, he works mainly on business development, policy advice, and investment lending challenges in the Latin America and Caribbean region. Previously, Mr. Jayawardena worked in the East Asia region of the World Bank where he led work on climate change and support to a globally unprecedented geothermal renewable energy development program; institutional reform of utilities; power transmission and distributional system strengthening; hydropower development; rural energy access; and oil and gas sector issues. Mr. Jayawardena has also worked in Europe and Central Asia and Africa regions of the World Bank, in addition to holding the position of Special Assistant to the Vice President of Human Resources. Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr. Jayawardena was the Assistant Program Director and a Faculty Member for the Program on Investment Appraisal and Management, at Harvard University’s Institute for International Development (HIID). He also helped establish Cambridge Resources International (CRI), an investment and risk advisory consultancy. Migara received his B.Sc. in Economics from Towson State University and his Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University.
Lunch Seminar: Making a Mark and Achieving Your Highest Potential in the Development Sector
September 23, 2016 | 11:45 am – 1:00 pm
Speaker: Soulaima Gourani, CEO Capital Aid & Owner, Tradeconductor.com
Soulaima Gourani is a Danish CEO, motivational speaker, author, and philanthropist whose vision is to make the world a more tolerant place through international trade and business relations. She is currently CEO of CapitalAid, a Denmark-based company helping small businesses to accelerate growth through strategic growth loans, and as CEO of Tradeconductor.com, a service working to implement trade relations and connecting manufacturers with distributors. Gourani has also worked as an advisor to several major companies (e.g. Samsung, Microsoft, Dell, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, Danske Bank, etc.) on customer loyalty, strategic networking, employee motivation, and designing sustainable products. Alongside her work with business growth and trade, Gourani serves as the chair of numerous other organizations including Global Dignity, a nonprofit working to engage youth in conversations about dignity, and the Mara Mentor Initiative, an online platform seeking to empower young African entrepreneurs in their business ventures
Lunch Seminar – A New Era for Development Assistance: How well are NGOs and their Partners Adapting?
September 16, 2016 | 11:45 am – 1:00 pm
Speaker: Charles MacCormack, President Emeritus, Save the Children
Charles MacCormack is President Emeritus of Save the Children U.S. and currently an advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University, where he is working on issues involving the role of private philanthropy in global health and development. Most recently, Dr. MacCormack has served as Executive Chair of the Millennium Development Goal Health Alliance; Executive in Residence at Middlebury College; and Senior Fellow at Interaction. He was previously CEO of Save the Children from 1993 to 2012 and CEO of World Learning/School for International Training from 1997 until 1993.
He is a graduate of Middlebury College and holds his Masters and Ph.D degrees from Columbia University.
Lunch Seminar: What if Doctors Could Prescribe Seeds? Integrating Nutrition and Agriculture to Address Malnutrition in Rwanda
September 9, 2016 | 11:45 am – 1:00 pm
Speaker: Jessie Cronan, Executive Director, Gardens for Health International
Gardens for Health International (GHI) is an NGO that works in partnership with local health centers in Rwanda to provide lasting agricultural solutions to chronic childhood malnutrition.
Jessie joined the Gardens for Health team in June 2012. She came to the organization with a broad range of experiences in international development and in Africa specifically. As a Princeton-in-Africa fellow with the Tanzanian Children’s Fund in 2007 – 2008, Jessie spent 18 months living and working in rural Tanzania to improve educational outcomes of primary school students. Jessie’s work in Tanzania inspired her to pursue a career focused on working at the community level to spark sustainable change in the developing world.
While pursuing her Master’s degree in Public Policy, Jessie worked as a consultant with the Aceh Women’s League – an Indonesian NGO dedicated to promoting women’s political empowerment – and with the Network of Women Leaders – a group of public and private sector leaders in the Horn of Africa.
Most recently, Jessie served as a Strategy and New Business Development Coordinator with TechnoServe, an NGO dedicated to identifying business solutions to poverty in Swaziland.
Jessie holds a Bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.
CID Open House
September 10, 2015 | 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
We want to give a warm welcome to our students and faculty to the 2016-2017 academic year!
Please join us for some refreshments and to learn more about CID from staff and faculty starting at 6:15pm.