Issues in African Development Seminar Series examines critical concerns in contemporary Africa using a different theme each semester. The seminars provide a forum for participants to explore alternative perspectives and exchange ideas. They are also a focal activity for students and faculty interested in African development. In addition, prepares students for higher level courses on African economic, social and political development. The presentations are designed for students who are interested in development, Africa’s place in global studies, want to know about the peoples, cultures and societies that call Africa home, and explore development theories and alternate viewpoints on development

Speaker's bio here

Registration link

Guest Speaker:

Fatema Sumar, Vice President of Compact Operations, Millennium

Leveraging her expertise in international development, foreign policy, diplomacy, and advocacy, Fatema Z. Sumarleads efforts to fight poverty by transforming global systems in reaching vulnerable populations. As Vice President of Compact Operations at the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Ms. Sumar oversees all compacts which are MCC’s signature grant investment vehicle to reduce poverty through economic growth. In this role, she manages all of MCC’s technical and regional divisions working on infrastructure, the environment and climate change, the private sector, gender and social inclusion, human and community development, land and agriculture, procurement, financial management, strategic partnerships, and contracts and grant management globally.

She previously served as MCC’s Deputy Vice President for Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America whereshe managed all MCC compacts in these regions. Ms. Sumar returned to MCC after working in civil society as the Vice President of Global Programs at Oxfam America where she oversaw regional development and humanitarian response to fight the injustice of poverty. Her work contributed to initiatives on gender justice, climate justice, local humanitarian leadership, strategic monitoring and evaluation, digital rights, and grant management systems.

Ms. Sumar has a distinguished career in the U.S. government in both executive and legislative branches. She previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia at the U.S. Department of State where she led U.S. efforts to expand regional economic and energy connectivity and as a Presidential Management Fellow (PMF). In Congress, she was a Senior Professional Staff Member on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee focused on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the broader region.

Ms. Sumar sits on Advisory Boards for Princeton, Cornell, and Indiana universities. Her work has been published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, The New Republic, The Hill, and other outlets. She is a frequent guest speaker and has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. Ms. Sumar graduated with a Master of Public Affairs from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, where she received the prestigious Stokes Award, and a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Cornell University. She studied abroad at the AmericanUniversity in Cairo.

In this special online event, Ed Baptist will present the Cornell-based Freedom on the Move (FOTM) project, in conversation with moderator Eric Tagliacozzo. The output of FOTM is a database documenting the lives of fugitives from American slavery through newspaper ads placed by slave owners in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the next phase of the project, the team will collaborate not only with other scholars from multiple disciplines but also public historians, genealogists, and archivists. By incorporating crowdsourced data, the researchers hope the project will enhance the ability of scholars from multiple disciplines to study the migration trajectory and experience of individuals and populations from slavery to freedom and beyond. Additional FOTM collaborators include Lynda Kellam, Brandon Kowalski, and the Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research.

This event is sponsored by Cornell’s Migrations initiative.

Speaker:

Edward E. Baptist: Professor of History, Cornell University

Moderator:

Eric Tagliacozzo: John Stambaugh Professor of History and Co-chair, Migrations initiative, Cornell University

Emerging Markets Theme Research Series of the SC Johnson College of Business. and LACS Research Symposium Keynote Address

Registration Link: bit.ly/PolicOrgsMexico

In this seminar, Rodrigo will discuss findings from a variety of studies his team has conducted over the past five years around questions of integral police reform in Latin America. The studies tackle three broad questions: (1) What are principles of organizational design that can inform how we envision police organizations? What types of structures, practices, and systems do police organizations need, as organizations, to meet their mandate? (2) What are trajectories of organizational development and reform that have proven to be more effective? And (3) How can police organizations systematically build citizen trust as a fundamental pre-condition for operational effectiveness?

Rodrigo Canales does research at the intersection of organizational theory and institutional theory, with a special interest in the role of institutions for economic development. Specifically, Rodrigo studies how individuals are affected by and in turn purposefully change complex organizations or systems. Rodrigo's work explores how individuals’ backgrounds, professional identities, and organizational positions affect how they relate to existing structures and the strategies they pursue to change them. His work contributes to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that allow institutions to operate and change. Rodrigo has done work in entrepreneurial finance and microfinance, as well as in the institutional implications of the Mexican war on drugs. His current research on the topic of the talk is funded with generous support from the Merida Initiative, explores how to build effective, resilient, and trusted police organizations in Mexico.

Rodrigo teaches the Innovator Perspective at Yale SOM; he sits in the advisory board of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT; he spent the 2014-2015 academic year advising the Mexican government on the US-Mexico bilateral relationship; and sits in the Board of Trustees of the Nature Conservancy.

The Biden Administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 31, 2021 focused attention on the plight of Afghans who supported U.S. and allied forces. In December 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Farid was hired by the U.S. Army to work as an interpreter/translator. He received a special immigration visa in 2007 and enlisted in the U.S. Army. He was awarded the bronze star and became a student at Cornell University in 2017. Mr. Ferdows' family, however, remained in Afghanistan at the time of the withdrawal. This special event offers unique insight and perspective on how the withdrawal impacted men and women who supported the global war on terror in Afghanistan. Co-sponsored by Congregation L’dor V’dor.

Check out the feature article in the Cornell Chronicle to learn more: Farid Ferdows ’21: ‘For those who dream, Cornell is your place’.

Speaker

Farid Ferdows, Afghan interpreter/translator serving from 2001-2017, Cornell University '21

Moderators
Mariah Smith, Director of Government Affairs, Accrete AI Government, Retired Military Police Lt. Colonel, Army, and Vice Chairman of No One Left Behind
Steve Israel, Director, Institute of Politics and Global Affairs at Cornell University and former U.S. Representative (D-NY)