Harvard Center for International Development

Building State Capability Program Director Salimah Samji interviews Dan Honig, author of the recently published book “Navigation by judgement – why and when top down management of foreign aid doesn’t work”. Honig talks about the motivation for writing the book, the research process behind it and about what surprised him the most when researching about different management styles at various foreign aid organizations.

www.cid.harvard.edu

Get "Navigation by Judgment" on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2jlaNVI

CID Student Ambassador Alexandra Gonzalez interviews Jamey Butcher, Executive Vice-President of Chemonics. Jamey talks about the role Chemonics place in international development and the Global Health Supply Chain - Procurement and Supply Management Program with USAID.

// www.cid.harvard.edu //

Interview recorded on March 30th, 2018.

About Jamey Butcher: Since joining Chemonics International Inc. in 1998, Executive Vice President Jamey Butcher has served in a variety of roles and regions. Mr. Butcher currently oversees the Global Health Supply Chain - Procurement and Supply Management IDIQ. Previously he served as senior vice president for the Strategic Solutions and Communications Division; East Africa region; and Europe and Eurasia region. He has also led a number of business development initiatives diversifying the company’s portfolio. While providing strategic management and operational oversight of Chemonics, Mr. Butcher draws from experience as a private sector development specialist with more than 20 years of experience in Eurasia, Latin America, and Asia. Mr. Butcher has conducted technical assignments on supply chain management, international trade, competitiveness, and enterprise development. He also served as chief of party of the Armenia Micro Enterprise Development Initiative (MEDI). Mr. Butcher received an M.A. from American University in international political economy and a B.A. in political science from Colorado State University.

CID Student Ambassador Abeela Latif, interviews Dany Bahar, Research Fellow at Brookings Institution and Associate at Harvard’s Center for International Development and Miguel Angel Santos, Adjunct Professor in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and Senior Research Fellow at Harvard’s Center for International Development. Dany and Miguel talk about their research paper "One more resource curse: Dutch disease and export concentration". In the interview, they explain the concept of Dutch disease and talk about why natural resources can be seen as a curse from an economic perspective. They also discuss the motivation behind their research, their main findings and explain how policy makers can use these learnings to make smarter policy decisions.

READ THE PAPER HERE: https://bit.ly/2qpgubl

Interview recorded on February 2018.

www.cid.harvard.edu

About Miguel Angel Santos: Miguel Angel Santos is an Adjunct Professor in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University. At CID, he has been involved in various research projects aimed at helping governments to rethink their development strategies, both at the national and sub-national levels. Since he joined CID in August 2014, he has been involved in projects at the national level in Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela, and at the sub-national level in Mexico in the states of Chiapas, Baja California, Tabasco and Campeche; and the city of Hermosillo at Sonora state. He has also performed as project manager in the projects leading to the build-up of the Mexican Atlas of Economic Complexity, and the Peruvian Atlas of Economic Complexity. Before joining the field of international development, Miguel worked for ten years in corporate finance and business development in Latin America, performing as Director of Finance for the Cisneros Group of Companies (1997-2003), Head of Corporate Finance for Mercantil Servicios Financieros (2005-2007), and Business Vice-President for Sony Pictures and Entertainment Latin America (2008-2009). At that point, he decided to switch tracks and get involved in development economics.

About Dany Bahar: Dany Bahar is a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution. An Israeli and Venezuelan economist, he is also an associate at the Harvard Center for International Development.

His research sits at the intersection of international economics and economic development. In particular, his academic research focuses on structural transformation and productivity dynamics, and how they are affected by factors such as migration, innovation, trade, investment, entrepreneurship, and the diffusion of technology within and across borders. His expertise on policy issues includes international trade, migration, and globalization more generally, as well as the understanding of economic trends in the global economy and in particular regions. His academic work has been published in top economic journals and he often contributes to leading media outlets in the United States and around the globe.

He has worked and consulted for multilateral development organizations, such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. Bahar holds a B.A. in systems engineering from Universidad Metropolitana (Caracas, Venezuela), a M.A. in economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a M.P.A. in international development from Harvard Kennedy School and a Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University.

CID Student Ambassador Emily Ausubel interviews Tim O’Brien and Dan Stock, research fellows here at Harvard’s Center for International Development. Tim and Dan talk about the Center’s project in Sri Lanka and how they are applying the Growth Diagnostics Methodology to identify the country’s binding constraints for diversification and economic growth.

https://srilanka.growthlab.cid.harvard.edu/

>>> Interview recorded on March 2, 2018.

About the interviewees:

> Tim O’Brien joined the Center for International Development in 2015, working on both Growth Lab and Building State Capability projects. He has led growth diagnostic research in Albania and Sri Lanka. Tim holds a Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) degree from the Harvard Kennedy School and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University. Tim served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi from 2008-2010 and has experience working with the World Bank and in environmental engineering. Tim’s research interests center on the challenges of economic transformation and adapting to climate change in developing countries and vulnerable communities.

> Dan Stock rejoined the Center for International Development's Growth Lab as a Research Fellow in 2015. He also held this position from 2011-2013. He studies how countries apply proactive strategies to promote structural transformation. His research focuses on using network models to uncover new opportunities for diversifying exports and attracting new sources of investment. Prior to joining CID, Daniel was a Junior Professional Associate at the World Bank, working with governments to improve the investment climate for local businesses and FDI. Daniel has also worked as a researcher at the MIT Media Lab's Macro Connections group, and a Research Intern at the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Santiago, Chile. Daniel earned a B.S. in Quantitative Economics and International Relations from Tufts University.

CID Student Ambassador Emily Ausubel interviews Salimah Samji, Director of the Building State Capability Program at Harvard University and Matt Andrews, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and Faculty Associate at the same program. Matt and Salimah talk about how the Building State Capability program came about, explain us what is the Program’s core methodology and how it’s being applied by hundreds of practitioners worldwide.

Interview recorded on February 23rd, 2018

// cid.harvard.edu //

// bsc.cid.harvard.edu //

About Salimah Samji: Salimah Samji is the Director of the Building State Capability (BSC) Program. She has over fifteen years of experience working in international development, on issues of public service delivery, transparency and accountability, strategic planning, and monitoring and evaluation. She joined CID in 2012 to help create the BSC program and is responsible for strategic planning and oversight. Salimah also leads the PDIA online courses.

Prior to joining CID, she was an independent consultant working for the World Bank on issues of governance, and the Hewlett Foundation on strategic planning for one of their grantees. She has worked as a senior program manager at Google.org, leading a transparency and accountability initiative focused on empowering citizens and decision makers, by making information on service delivery outcomes, publicly available. Salimah has also worked at the World Bank as a social/rural development and monitoring and evaluation specialist in South Asia.

She has a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo (Canada) and a Masters in Public Administration in International Development (MPAID) from the Harvard Kennedy School. She is a qualified Casualty Actuary who decided to change careers after her 18-month experience working in Afghan refugee camps with a Canadian NGO (FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance) based in Pakistan. Salimah has worked and lived in Kenya, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Canada and the USA.

About Matt Andrews: Matt Andrews is Senior Lecturer in Public Policy. His research focuses on public sector reform, particularly budgeting and financial management reform, and participatory governance in developing and transitional governments. Recent articles focus on forging a theoretical understanding of the nontechnical factors influencing success in reform processes. Specific emphasis lies on the informal institutional context of reform, as well as leadership structures within government-wide networks. This research developed out of his work in the provincial government of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa and more recently from his tenure as a Public Sector Specialist working in the Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank. He brings this experience to courses on public management and development. He holds a BCom (Hons) degree from the University of Natal, Durban (South Africa), an MSc from the University of London, and a PhD in Public Administration from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University.

CID Student Ambassador Abeela Latif interviews Priyadarshani Joshi, Research Officer at UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report team. Priya talks about the main takeaways from the 2018 Global Education Monitoring Report, the key financing challenges in the education sector worldwide and about new goals and paradigms of bringing gender equality to the classroom.

Interview recorded on February 23rd, 2018.

// www.cid.harvard.edu //

About Priya Joshi: Priyadarshani Joshi is a Research Officer at the Global Education Monitoring Report team. Some of her core areas of interest and contribution in the team include education’s role in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda and urban development, gender, and the role of the private sector. She has a PhD in Education Policy from the University of Pennsylvania. Her personal research agenda focuses on the consequences of private sector growth for the public sector, parental choice, and systemwide equity in lower income countries, building on her doctoral research in her home country of Nepal. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration (Economic Policy) from Princeton University, and an undergraduate degree in Economics and Chemistry from Amherst College. Her previous professional backgrounds included research positions at the IMF and consultancies at UNICEF and the World Bank. Priya also initiated, co-designed and was part of the board of an innovative mobile library project in Nepal, one of the World Bank Development Marketplace 2003 Education Sector Project winners.

CID Student Ambassador Alexandra Gonzalez interviews Daniel Shydlowski, Former Superintendent of Banking, Insurance and Private Retirement Funds in Peru. Daniel talks about how bank regulators can help make the world a better place by pushing the human rights agenda forward. He details the case of a mining project in Peru and tells what are the conditions to replicate this example in other countries.

Interview recorded in December 2017.

// www.cid.harvard.edu //

About Daniel: Dr. Daniel Schydlowsky served as Superintendent of Banking, Insurance and Private Pension Fund Administrators of Peru (SBS), August, 2011- November, 2015. He concurrently served as President of the Association of Bank Supervisors of the Americas (ASBA) and as Chairman of Governing Council of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI). He has worked in most Latin American countries as well as in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Romania and South Africa. He has published eight books and ninety-three professional articles on economic issues in numerous professional journals. Professor Schydlowsky holds a BA and MA in Economics and an LLB from San Marcos University, Peru, and an MA and PhD in Economics from Harvard. He was awarded a Doctorate honoris causa by San Marcos University, Peru, in November, 2015.

CID Student Ambassador Abeela Latif interviews Jamil Salmi, Global Tertiary Education Expert. Jamil talks about the role of the private sector in advancing tertiary education about the global regions that have made most progress in terms of improving access to education and how the regions that are lagging behind can move forward. Jamil also talks about why he remains optimistic and thinks we are about to witness a revolution in the way we learn.

// www.cid.harvard.edu //

Interview Recorded on February 9th, 2018.

About Jamil Salmi: Dr. Salmi is a global tertiary education expert providing policy advice and consulting services to governments, universities, professional associations, multilateral development banks and bilateral cooperation agencies. Until January 2012, he was the World Bank’s tertiary education coordinator. He wrote the first World Bank policy paper on higher education reform in 1994 and was the principal author of the Bank’s 2002 Tertiary Education Strategy entitled “Constructing Knowledge Societies: New Challenges for Tertiary Education”. In the past twenty-three years, Dr. Salmi has provided advice on tertiary education development, financing reforms and strategic planning to governments and university leaders in about 95 countries all over the world.

CID research fellow Ljubica Nedelkoska interviews Minister Pandeli Majko, Minister of Diaspora at the Republic of Albania. The Minister talks about the recently created Diaspora ministry, about the recent efforts Albania has done to engage with its community leaving abroad and the upcoming strategy to strengthen this community’s relationship with the homeland.

// www.cid.harvard.edu //

About Minister Majko: Pandeli Majko was born in Tirana on November 15, 1967. He graduated from the University of Tirana, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (1986-1992). He also completed his studies at the Faculty of Law at the same university (1994-2000).

Mr. Majko has an extensive political career. From 1992 to 1995, Mr. Majko served as President of the Euro-Socialist Youth Forum of Albania (FRESSH). He served two terms as Secretary-General of the Socialist Party of Albania and as Head of its Parliamentary Group. He also held twice the post of Minister of Defense when the Socialist Party was in power. His political career culminated in 1998-1999 when he became Prime Minister of Albania. In 2002, he became once again Prime Minister for eight months. Additionally, he was member of the Parliamentary Committee for drafting of the Albanian Constitution (1997-1998).

Mr. Majko served as a Member of Parliament of Albania for six consecutive terms. He has also served as Chairman of the Albanian delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly as well as member of the Committee on Legal Affairs, Public Administration and Human Rights. Mr. Majko is fluent in English and Italian.

Alexandra Gonzalez, estudiante embajadora del CID, entrevista a Miguel Angel Santos, Profesor Adjunto de Políticas Públicas en la escuela de política de Harvard e investigador senior en el Centro para el Desarrollo Internacional de la Universidad. Miguel habla sobre el proyecto de investigación del Centro que tiene como objetivo entender las oportunidades de diversificación de exportación de Panama e identificar las restricciones vinculantes que el país puede encontrar en el proceso de logar un desarrollo económico sustentable.

Mas información disponible en:

www.cid.harvard.edu

https://growthlab.cid.harvard.edu/panama