Harvard Center for International Development

CID Student Ambassador Patrick Hannahan interviews Victoria White, Managing Director of Global Advisory Solutions at Accion. Victoria talks about how Accion and its partners are harnessing key digital trends to make quality financial service more accessible and cost effective in developing countries. Interview recorded on October 27, 2017. // cid.harvard.edu // About the interviewee: Victoria White has worked with Accion since 2000. She serves as a member of the senior management team and holds responsibility for overseeing Accion’s advisory support to its partners as Managing Director, Global Advisory Solutions. She also serves as a board director for a number of these institutions. Previously, Ms. White was Accion’s Regional Head for Asia and supported Accion’s partners in Africa in such areas as strategic planning, bank downscaling, institutional transformation planning, and financial management. Ms. White is co-author of Transforming Microfinance Institutions: Providing Full Financial Services to the Poor and Institutional Metamorphosis: Transformation of Microfinance NGOs into Regulated Financial Institutions, a contributing author to Commercialization of Microfinance: Balancing Business and Development, and author of A Case Study in Transformation: The Creation of Uganda Microfinance Limited. Before working with Accion, Ms. White was a senior advisor for Calmeadow’s international operations. She also worked as a program analyst for USAID’s Office of Microenterprise Development.

CID Student Ambassador Emily Ausubel interviews Andrew Mitchell, British MP and Former Secretary of State for International Development. Mr. Mitchell talks about his extensive experience in International Development and discusses the challenges and opportunities of a global approach to pressing development issues. www.cid.harvard.edu / Interview recorded on October 20th, 2017. About the speaker: Rt Hon. Andrew Mitchell is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sutton Coldfield since 2001. He was the MP for Gedling from 1987 to 1997. He served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development from 2010 to 2012. Mitchell was elected President of the Cambridge Union in 1978. Before university, he served for several months as a United Nations military peacekeeper in Cyprus. He has extensive pre-government experience of the developing world, and is the founder of Project Umubano, a Conservative Party social action project in Rwanda and Sierra Leone in central and west Africa, launched in 2007. Mitchell was returned as MP for Sutton Coldfield at the 2017 general election, with a reduced majority.

Alexandra Gonzalez, CID student ambassador, interviews Douglas Barrios and Ricardo Villasmil research fellows at CID. Douglas and Ricardo shed some light on Venezuela's ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis and present an agenda for democratic governance and socioeconomic recovery. Interview recorded on October 13th, 2017. More about CID's project on Venezuela: https://growthlab.cid.harvard.edu/venezuela About the speakers: Douglas Barrios a Growth Lab Fellow at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. Before joining CID he worked in McKinsey’s Bogotá office as a Public Sector Specialist where he served public and social sector organizations throughout Latin America in a broad set of topics ranging from ICT promotion strategies to education policy design. Other previous experience include serving as an external policy adviser for local governments as well as political campaigns in Venezuela. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the Universidad Metropolitana (Venezuela) and a Masters in Public Administration and International Development at the Harvard Kennedy School (MPA-ID 2012). His research interests are focused on urban dynamics, natural resource extraction and rent management, behavioral economics and the political economics behind policy design. Ricardo Villasmil is a Research Fellow at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. Before joining CID, he worked in private consulting in Venezuela managing projects on a wide range of strategic and organizational issues for over a decade. His interests in development economics led him to the Andrés Bello Catholic University and to the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA), where he has been teaching courses in development and macroeconomics for the past fifteen years. Ricardo's involvement in public policy dates back to 1998, when he joined Venezuela’s Congressional Budget Office and the Ministry of Finance two years later. His interests in the practice of development prompted him to take advisory roles for Teodoro Petkoff in the 2006 runoff presidential election, for the democratic coalition between 2006 and 2012 and for presidential candidate Henrique Capriles as Head of his Public Policy Team in 2012. Ricardo holds a Master in Public Policy from IESA, a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University and a PhD in Economics from Texas A&M University.

Alexandra Gonzalez, estudiante embajadora del Centro para Desarrollo Internacional de Harvard entrevista a Douglas Barrios y Ricardo Villasmil, investigadores en el Centro. Douglas y Ricardo hablan sobre la crisis socioeconómica en Venezuela, el reto de buscar datos para llevar a cabo el proyecto de investigación en el país y presentan propuestas para la recuperación económica de Venezuela. Entrevista grabada el 13 de octubre del 2017. https://growthlab.cid.harvard.edu/venezuela Sobre los entrevistados: Douglas Barrios es investigador en el Centro para el Desarrollo Internacional de la Universidad de Harvard. Antes de unirse a CID, trabajó en McKinsey Colombia como especialista del sector público, donde prestó servicios a organizaciones de sectores público y social de toda América Latina en una amplia gama de temas, desde estrategias de promoción de TIC hasta diseño de políticas educativas. Otra experiencia previa incluye servir como asesor de política externa para gobiernos locales y campañas políticas en Venezuela. Posee una Licenciatura en Economía de la Universidad Metropolitana (Venezuela) y una Maestría en Administración Pública y Desarrollo Internacional en la Harvard Kennedy School (MPA-ID 2012). Sus intereses de investigación se centran en la dinámica urbana, la extracción de recursos naturales y la gestión de alquileres, la economía comportamental y la economía política detrás de la elaboración de políticas públicas. Ricardo Villasmil es investigador en el Centro para el Desarrollo Internacional de la Universidad de Harvard. Antes de unirse a CID, trabajó en consultoría privada en Venezuela administrando proyectos en una amplia gama de cuestiones estratégicas y organizativas durante más de una década. Sus intereses en economía para el desarrollo lo llevaron a la Universidad Católica Andrés Bello y al Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA), donde ha impartido cursos de desarrollo y macroeconomía durante los últimos quince años. La participación de Ricardo en la política pública se remonta a 1998, cuando se unió a la Oficina de Presupuesto del Congreso de Venezuela y al Ministerio de Finanzas dos años más tarde. Sus intereses en la práctica del desarrollo lo impulsaron a desempeñar funciones de asesor para Teodoro Petkoff en las elecciones presidenciales de segunda vuelta de 2006, para la coalición democrática entre 2006 y 2012 y para el candidato presidencial Henrique Capriles como Jefe de su Equipo de Políticas Públicas en 2012. Ricardo posee una Maestría en Políticas Públicas de IESA, una Maestría en Administración Pública de la Universidad de Harvard y un Doctorado en Economía de la Universidad de Texas A & M.

CID Student Ambassador Abeela Latif interviews Dr. Yasuyuki Sawada, Chief Economist and Chief Spokesperson on economic & development trends at the Asian Development Bank on the latest Economic Prospects published by the bank. www.cid.harvard.edu About the Interviewee: About the Speaker: Yasuyuki Sawada is the chief spokesperson for ADB on economic and development trends, and leads the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, which publishes ADB’s flagship knowledge products. Dr. Sawada previously served as a Professor in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo. He also performed research at a variety of institutions, such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute; the World Bank; Economic Research Institute of ASEAN and East Asia; Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies; Pakistan Institute of Development Economics; International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines; International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka; Research Institute of Economy, Trade, and Industry in Japan; and Japan Society of Promotion of Science, where he led a number of large-scale development policy evaluation projects in Asia and other developing countries. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed research articles on diversified topics pertaining to Asia and other developing countries ranging from macro development issues, such as long-term economic growth and structural change, sovereign debt sustainability, foreign aid, trade, ageing and social security, and natural and man-made disasters to micro issues of poverty, education, infrastructure, microenterprises, microfinance, health, and disabilities. Interview recorded on October 11th, 2017.

Alexandra Gonzalez, CID Student Ambassador, interviews María Latorre, member of the European Commission's group of experts in International Trade and Professor at Universidad Complutense de Madrid on her recent study regarding the economic impact of Brexit for the UK and the EU. //www.cid.harvard.edu// About the Speaker: María C. Latorre is currently a member of the group of experts in international trade of the European Commission. She has also conducted other consulting projects for the World Bank and the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness. Maria has been a Research Scholar at the Center for International Development at the Harvard Kennedy School and at Real Colegio Complutense at Harvard University. She has held research visiting positions in the US International Trade Commission, the CEPII and the University of Nottingham. Her papers have been published in academic journals such as World Development, Journal of Policy Modeling, Economic Modelling and China Economic Review among others. Interview recorded on September 25, 2017.

CID Student Ambassador Patrick Hannahan interviews Kusi Hornberger, Senior Project Manager at Dalberg Global Development Advisors on the potential regions and sectors for impact investing, about striking a balance between social and capital returns and on how to break into the impact investment market. www.cid.harvard.edu About the speaker: Kusi Hornberger is a Senior Project Manager in the Washington, DC office of Dalberg Global Development Advisors. Kusi has 10+ years of project management, investment and strategy experience working with a range of public, private, and non-profit clients, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ECOM Agroindustrial Corp., World Bank Group, Starbucks, Experian and USAID. Prior to joining Dalberg, Kusi was Vice President of Investment Research & Strategy at Global Partnerships where he oversaw the investment strategy and portfolio including analysis of investment opportunities in agriculture cooperatives, artisan retailers, cookstove and solar lamp manufacturers and distributors, private health clinics as well as integrated microfinance institutions across Central/South America and East Africa. He was also the in-house expert on agriculture finance, leading the investment appraisal and relationships for portfolio of investments in >40 rural and agriculture focused social enterprises across range of commodity value chains including coffee, cocoa, fresh vegetables and nuts. Further he was responsible for managing GP’s relationship with the Council for Smallholder Agriculture Finance (CSAF), served as an advisor to the Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade (FAST) and Agros International and presented at numerous conferences (Cracking the Nut, FLII, SCAA, SOCAP, etc.) about GP’s approach to investing in agriculture value chains. Interview recorded on September 29th, 2017.

CID Research Fellow Ermal Frasheri interviews Dr. Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations at the European Commission on the scope of EU’s Neighbourhood policies and about the challenges and opportunities surrounding European integration. For more information please go to: cid.harvard.edu About the Speaker: Johannes Hahn has been serving as the Member of the European Commission in charge of Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations since November 2014. He is responsible for the Union's relations with the six Western Balkans countries and Turkey, as well as relations with Europe's Eastern and Southern neighbours, from Ukraine to the South Caucasus and from Syria to the Maghreb. From 2010 to 2014, Dr. Hahn was the Member of the European Commission in charge of Regional Policy. Before joining the Commission, he served as Austria's Federal Minister for Science and Research from 2007-2010, as a Member of the Vienna State Government from 2003 to 2007 and a Member of the Vienna State Parliament from 1996 to 2003. Since the mid-1980ies, he held various senior management functions in different sectors of the Austrian economy, including as board member and CEO of Novomatic AG from 1996-2003. Johannes Hahn holds a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Vienna. Interview recorded on September 21st, 2017

CID Research Fellow Tim O'Brien interviews Carolina Zambrano-Barragán, Climate change and urban sustainability expert from Quito, Ecuador. // https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid // In this interview, Carolina explains why climate change is seen as a "super wicked problem", describes the difference between climate change mitigation and adaptation and shares key insights from her personal experience working on climate change on both national and local levels in Ecuador. More about the speaker: http://bit.ly/2x8YcOm Recorded on September 8th, 2017.

CID Communications Manager, Chuck McKenney interview CID Research Fellow Tim Cheston and Sebastian Bustos on the Center's recently published 2025 Global Growth Projections, based on the latest 2015 global trade data. According to the research, the economic pole of global growth has taken a marked shift over the past few years from China to neighboring India, where it is likely to stay over the coming decade. Tim and Sebastian discuss this and other insights that rise from the 2025 Projections and explain the methodology behind the data. For more information go to: http://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/rankings/growth-predictions/ Interview recorded on June 22nd, 2017