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2011 Seminar Series
The seminar series provides a forum for knowledge sharing and to explore a
range of development topics, innovative approaches, and diverse experiences among
USAID and the development community.
The seminars will take place on the following Wednesdays in July and August from 9:30am-11:00am at the
National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC.
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July 6: Global Trends in Science and Technology: What’s Ahead?
The complexity of emerging global development issues and the speed at which they happen demonstrates
the need to stay ahead of the curve, in order to harness the next generation of innovations to
improve the lives and livelihoods of people in developing countries. This presentation will
highlight how today's science and technology tools are making a difference to solve challenges
in health, energy, environment, and disease prevention, as well as looking ahead to preview cutting
edge tools that have the potential to make even greater contributions to development progress.
Alexander Dehgan, Director, Science & Technology Office, USAID
Krista Donaldson, Chief Executive Officer, D-Rev
Salim Ismail, Executive Director, Singularity University
- July 13: A Greener Revolution: Improving Productivity and Increasing Food Security by
Enhancing Ecosystem Services
For decades, agricultural scientists and fisheries experts have been working with farming and
fishing communities to minimize environmental impacts and develop technologies and
practices that increase productivity while sustaining or improving ecosystem function over the long term.
This seminar addresses the challenge of feeding a growing global population while maintaining the natural
resource base upon which food production ultimately depends: water quality, soil fertility, pollination,
pest control among other essential services. The seminar will feature experiences with integrated agriculture and environment
programming and their ideas for scaling up innovative approaches to meet the food security challenge.
Sara Scherr, President, Ecoagriculture Partners
James L. Anderson, Fisheries & Aquaculture Adviser, Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD), The World Bank
Joyce Turk, Animal Scientist, Bureau for Food Security,
USAID - Ecosystem Management and Lifestock presentation slides (PDF-2MB)
Moderator: Chris Kosnik, Leader, Land Resources Management Team, USAID
- July 20: Working in Complex Environment: What we know and what we hope to learn
The US Government is finding itself working in complex and chaotic environments such as those afflicted by political crises and manmade or natural disasters. Working in such places poses challenges to the standing policies at USAID for program design, implementation and evaluation.
USAID is pioneering several tools for such environments that aim to bring into focus programmatic
relevance from the micro to macro level, and to heighten our ability to anticipate the unexpected.
The purpose of this presentation will be to showcase the Agency’s current exploration of
new tools for working effectively in complex transition environments.
Eleanor Bedford, Team Leaders for the Applied Best Practices and Coordination Team,
Office of Transition Initiatives, USAID
Christine Gottschalk, Team Leader for the Afghanistan-Pakistan Team, Office of Transition Initiatives, USAID
Christopher La Fargue, Special Projects Officer, Office of Transition Initiatives, USAID
- July 27: Business & Human Rights: Emerging Issue on the Development Horizon
Virtually everyone around the world is touched by business activity related to human rights.
Recent UN endorsement of the Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights: Protect, Respect, and Remedy
Framework provides an excellent occasion for colloquy and conversation surrounding opportunities,
challenges, and emerging issues on the Business and Human Rights landscape.Special attention will be
given to ways to monitor relationships, fiscal responsibility, character, and integrity related to
Business and Human Rights.
Chris Avery, Director, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Mauricio Lazala, Deputy Director, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Bennett Freeman, Senior Vice President, Sustainability Research & Policy, Calvert Investments
Christina del Castillo, Anticorruption Advisor, Center for Democracy, Human Rights and Governance, USAID
Melike Yetken, Division Chief, Business & Human Rights, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor, U.S. Department of State
Moderator: Vivienne J. Wildes, PhD,
Ben Franklin Fellow, Office of Development Partners, USAID,
Professor, Pennsylvania State University
- August 3: Geospatial Information Systems: More than Making Maps, it’s about ‘thinking spatially’
‘Thinking spatially’ is quickly emerging as the next core competency for development professionals.
This interactive seminar will introduce the Agency’s newest geospatial resource, the Bureau of Policy, Planning, and Learning (PPL)
GeoCenter. Staff from the GeoCenter will provide examples of the power of geospatial thinking as a tool for doing development differently and will illustrate examples of using maps in a crisis, mapping Mission activities, relating USAID activities to other organization activities, and using spatial analysis to help decision makers plan future activities.
Patrick Gault, GIS Analyst, USAID
Shadrock Roberts, GIS Analyst, USAID
Demian Rybock, GIS Analyst, USAID
Carrie Stokes, Geospatial Information Technology Advisor, USAID
Previous USAID Summer Seminars
Notes, Q&A transcripts, handouts, and slides from previous USAID Summer Seminar are available for the following years: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2003.
How to Contact Us
Any questions concerning the Summer Seminars should be directed to the Summer Seminar Planning Team at ksc@usaid.gov.
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