International Development Conference » President http://www.idc2006.org Fulfilling the Development Promise: Transforming Ideas into Actions. IDC - International Development Conference. Sponsored by the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Business School. Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:42:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Track V: Business at the Bottom of the Pyramid http://www.idc2006.org/trackV.htm http://www.idc2006.org/trackV.htm#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2006 20:37:00 +0000 admin http://www.idc2006.org/?p=60 Panel I: Fair Trade: Turning the Pyramid Upside Down PANELISTS
  • Rodney North, The Answer Man, Equal Exchange
  • Martha Jimenez, VP for Policy & Development, TransFair USA
  • Michael Hiscox, Professor of Government, Harvard University
  • Simon Cutts, Bulk Foods Category Manager, Wild Oats Markets
Base of the Pyramid fanfare focuses on the business opportunity for multinationals to sell goods and services to the poor in developing countries. Fair Trade turns the pyramid on its head by connecting the poor directly to international buyers – and, in turn, to millions of US consumers – and empowering them to become international businesspeople. In six years, sales of Fair Trade Certified products in the US have channeled more than $67 million in additional, above-market revenue to farmers and farm workers throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia. Fair Trade income funds sustainable local development projects – health systems, scholarships, women’s leadership initiatives, and microfinance programs – in over 50 countries around the developing world, and provides over 1 million farmers with resources to invest in their businesses and their products.

Fair Trade is increasingly recognized as the gold standard of social and environmental certification. It has expanded from its emergence in the specialty coffee market to a growing number of commodities: cocoa, tea, rice, sugar, bananas, mangoes, pineapples, and grapes. Consumers can now choose Fair Trade Certified products in Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonalds, supermarket chains, and college cafeterias. Panelists will draw upon their experiences at various stages in the Fair Trade supply chain to examine the following issues:

  • Basics of Fair Trade certification, social and environmental impact on producers
  • Fulfilling Fair Trade’s promise as a development model and an effective alternative to trade sanctions
  • Business risks and rewards in Fair Trade, CSR trends
  • Capacity-building support to Fair Trade producers, challenge of market access and developing supply chains
  • US consumer demand for products labeled Fair Trade and socially responsible
Panel II: Microfinance and Agricultural Business Development Services PANELISTS
  • Claudi Gonzalez, Director, Rural Finance Program, Ohio State University
  • Juan Buchenau, Executive Vice President, Microfinance International Corporation
  • Marco Aldana, Microfinance Technical Advisor, Catholic Relief Services
A majority of the world’s poor live in rural areas where agriculture is the dominant means to earn an income. Since the mandate of microfinance is to reach those areas where previously credit and financial services were unavailable, there is a natural connection between rural agricultural business development and microfinance. The object of this panel is to explore those links and consider in which ways agricultural business development services can support and enhance the impact of microfinance in these areas.
Panel III: Mexico Vision Towards Sustainable Development PANELISTS
  • Dionisio Perez Jacome, Former Director of the Energy Regulatory Agency
  • Dr. Ismael Aguilar-Barajas, Professor, Economics Department at ITESM Monterrey, Coordinates the ITESM investigation, “Economy of the Northern Frontere of Mexico”.
  • Fernando Aportela, Managing Director, Protego Group
  • Andrew Seele, Director, Mexico Project Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars
MODERATOR
  • Alejandro Poire, Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor in Latin American Studies, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Mexico is a country in a dynamic process of change. For the first time in 70 years a non PRI party president was elected in 2000. The two presidents prior to the democratic transition had make fast paced efforts to liberalize markets, privatize government holdings, strengthen institutions and enter into free trade agreements with NAFTA, then the European Union, Japan, Israel and South America. Mexico is once again approaching democratic elections and is a country with great challenges to overcome with close to 40% of the population in extreme poverty. The panel unites academics, politicians, and businessmen to share their vision of how Mexico
Panel IV: Private Public Partnerships in Infrastructure towards Development PANELISTS
  • Bernie Sheahan, International Finance Corporation
  • Eugenio Mendoza, Director of Emerging Markets, MBIA
  • Carlos Ugarte, Director, FERROVIAL Chile
  • Fernando Aportela, Director of Public Finance, GRUPO PROTEGO
  • Bernard Carroll, Macquarie Securities
MODERATOR
  • Alan Trager, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Emerging economies have an enormous challenge in providing their economies much needed infrastructure to promote growth. Financing massive transportation, trade port, water and electricity projects is not easy in economies were the market may not provide the returns on investments. The PPP in Infrastructure panel unites the top global and multilateral organizations involved in infrastructure innovation to share their vision of how emerging economies can accomplish infrastructure goals.
]]> http://www.idc2006.org/trackV.htm/feed 0 Track II: Environment, Natural Resources and International Development http://www.idc2006.org/trackII.htm http://www.idc2006.org/trackII.htm#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2006 22:48:41 +0000 admin http://www.idc2006.org/?p=52 Panel I: Improving Access to Modern Energy Services: Lessons Learned and Future Opportunities PANELISTS
  • Dominique Lallement, ESMAP Program Manager and Energy Adviser, The World Bank
  • Richard Hansen, Principal, Global Transition Consulting
  • Philip LaRocco, Executive Director, E+Co (Energy through Enterprise
  • Peter Haas, Lead Technician, CEO, Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group, Inc
MODERATOR
  • Ellen Morris, President, Sustainable Energy Solutions
Two billion people, or roughly one third of humanity, still lack access to modern energy services such as heat, light and mechanical power, all of which are integral to economic development. Employing sustainable energy technologies to increase access to these services has proven beneficial to poor, underdeveloped communities by improving livelihoods and generating sources of income. In addition to the significant environmental benefits associated with sustainable energy technologies, cleaner technologies are often the most cost-effective solutions in remote, rural areas. In the case of electricity, for example, conventional grid-extension can be prohibitively expensive. Moreover, studies indicate that poor energy consumers have a high willingness and ability to pay for these technologies given the proper financial mechanisms. If the provision of modern energy services through sustainable energy technology creates a potential win-win solution for the environment, the private sector as well as poor, rural energy consumers, why haven’t more projects succeeded? Which economic, financial and policy barriers exist to successful implementation of profitable rural energy programs? What is the role of government, multi-lateral institutions, and the private sector? What are the important lessons to be learned from past rural energy efforts and how can we make projects more self-sufficient in the future? Lastly, what creative solutions can we employ to improve access to energy services in underdeveloped countries?
Panel II: Is Giving Land Rights to the Poor in Developing countries “Win-Win”? Do Secure Land Rights Help or Hinder Natural Resource Conservation and Economic Growth? PANELISTS
  • Xavier Gine, The World Bank
  • Sriram Raghavan, President, Comat Technologies, Ltd
  • Maryam Niamir-Fuller, Principal Technical Advisor, Land Degradation, UNDP
  • Lakshmi Iyer, Assistant Professor for Business, Government and the International Economy, Harvard Business School
MODERATOR
  • Abhijit Banerjee, Department of Economics, MIT
As a source of economic growth, natural resources are traditionally viewed as assets which can be collected, sold and consumed, and not as assets themselves. Land, a natural resource is an economic asset unto itself. Some posit that lack of formal land markets is a major hindrance to economic development in the developing world. Land markets allow secure identity of land ownership at transparent prices which can be used as collateral for investments and spur entrepreneurial activity. Land Markets also allow for better protection of unsustainable natural resources, and give increased value to protecting those natural resources, through conservation systems such as national parks or reserves. Further land markets can be seen as a way to preserve cultural heritage. Land markets are essential to economic development. Creating such markets, however, can be a long, complex, politically charged process, especially where most land is untitled and where there are conflicting claims. This panel will outline some of the major challenges created by malfunctioning land markets, and offer insights to various projects that are currently being implemented in various countries in the developing world, like India, Peru and Thailand and the challenges that lay ahead.
Panel III: Improving Access to Safe Drinking Water – Role of Public Private Partnership PANELISTS
  • Allain Locussol, Lead Water & Sanitation Specialist, South Asia region, The World Bank
  • Gonzalo Pizarro , Policy Advisor for Water Resources, UN Millennium Project
  • Maude Barlow, Founder, Blue Planet Project
  • Philippe Laval, Chief Operating Officer, Veolia Water North America
MODERATOR
  • Henry Lee, Lecturer in Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Access to safe drinking water is one of the important elements for sustainable development and poverty reduction. Today, nearly 1.1 billion people around the world have no access to safe drinking water. At the world summit on sustainable development held in Johannesburg in 2000, a commitment has been made to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water. The magnitude of the access gap and cost to achieve the same is considerable. Even though there is a consensus to achieve the same, the question of “how” is still open to debate. Can Public – Private – Partnership, among other initiatives contribute in achieving this development goal? What has been the experience till date? Are PPPs opposed to the goal of social equity or can they be used to achieve the same? What are the critical success factors in design of an effective Public Private Partnership?
Panel IV: Conflict Resolution through Sharing of Natural Resources: Middle East Negotiations on Water PANELISTS
  • Lawrence Susskind, Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, MIT
  • Franklin M. Fisher, the Jane Berkowitz Carlton and Dennis William Carlton Professor of Microeconomics, Emeritus, MIT
  • Aly M. Shady, Senior Water Advisor, CIDA
  • David Brooks, Director of Research, Friends of the Earth- Canada
When, if ever, have shared environmental concerns over shared resources brought potentially hostile countries closer together? When have they created a space for peaceful negotiations? How can countries that cooperate and come together to manage shared water resources?
As natural resources become scarcer, are we doomed to a future of war? Are there take home lessons from success stories that can be applied to all natural resource and environmental issues that affect multiple countries?
Track III: Health and Growth Track IV: Trade for Development Track V: Bottom Up Planning ]]> http://www.idc2006.org/trackII.htm/feed 0 Keynote Speaker 1 http://www.idc2006.org/keynotespeaker2.html http://www.idc2006.org/keynotespeaker2.html#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2006 22:18:38 +0000 admin http://www.idc2006.org/?p=34 Robert Hart

President and CEO Globeleq

Robert_HartGlobeleq President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Hart has more than 30 years experience in the energy sector, much of it devoted to investing in, developing and operating power projects in emerging markets.

Mr. Hart was the driving force behind the formation of Globeleq and has led the company since its beginning in June 2002. Globeleq is an operating power company solely focused on the emerging markets of Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Globeleq safely provides clean, reliable electricity, creating sustainable returns and supporting the development of the electric power sector in the emerging markets.

Prior to joining Globeleq, he founded Hart Energy International, an international power company that invested in Latin America. From 1994 to 1999, Mr. Hart was President and CEO of Coastal Power Company.

He holds an AB degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard University.

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