Center For International Development

This podcast was originally recorded on October 7, 2022, for the CID Speaker Series featuring Séverine Autesserre, Author and Professor and Chair of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University. Séverine continued the conversation with CID Student Ambassador, Aining Liang, after an appearance at the CID Speaker Series event. Séverine's latest book "The Frontlines of Peace" tells the stories of the ordinary yet extraordinary individuals and communities that have found effective ways to confront violence. Drawing on 20 years of work in peacebuilding, including in-depth research in 12 conflict zones around the world as well as comparisons with social initiatives in North America and Europe, Séverine shows that peace can grow in the most unlikely circumstances, with the help of the most unlikely heroes. The Frontlines of Peace opens our eyes to the well-intentioned but systematically flawed peace industry, shedding light on how typical aid interventions have been getting it wrong, and—more important

This podcast was originally recorded on September 23, 2022, for the CID Speaker Series featuring Karim Sarhan, Research Fellow at Harvard's Center for International Development and Partner at Sharkawy & Sarhan Law Firm. Karim continued the conversation with CID Student Ambassador, Kevin Chen, after an appearance at the CID Speaker Series event. Karim presents his latest paper with CID, "Bringing Development Strategy Back In: New Insights from China, South Korea, and Singapore." The paper attempts to answer the following question: can countries’ economic success be attributed, even partially, to a well-designed and effectively implemented development strategy? It presents a framework for a “Grand Strategy of Development” as a new conceptual lens for understanding the economic transformation that happened in China, South Korea and Singapore​.

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Beyond COVID podcast. This podcast is a series of conversations with CID faculty experts on various key dimensions of COVID response and recovery. Our goal with these conversations, and with CID’s Beyond COVID research initiative, is to make use of lessons learned and capitalize on emergent innovations sparked by the pandemic in order to address losses and reimagine global development in the post-COVID era. On June 5, 2022, we were joined by Gordon Hanson, the Peter Wertheim Professor in Urban Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. CID Student Ambassador Eiffy Luo sat down with Gordon to discuss global labor market macro-policy and economic growth post-COVID.

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Beyond COVID podcast. This podcast is a series of conversations with CID faculty experts on various key dimensions of COVID response and recovery. Our goal with these conversations, and with CID’s Beyond COVID research initiative, is to make use of lessons learned and capitalize on emergent innovations sparked by the pandemic in order to address losses and reimagine global development in the post-COVID era. On April 20, 2022, we were joined by David Deming, Professor of Education and Economics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Professor of Political Economy at the Harvard Kennedy School. CID Student Ambassador Nicah Santos sat down with David to discuss education, job preparedness, and the future of work.

This podcast was originally recorded on Friday, April 8, 2022, for the CID Speaker Series featuring Robert Lawrence, Albert L. Williams Professor of International Trade and Investment at John F. Kennedy School of Government. Robert continued the conversation with CID Student Ambassador, Kevin Chen, after an appearance at the virtual CID Speaker Series event. Professor Lawrence discusses the causes and consequences of the diminished role of manufacturing as a driver of economic growth and inclusion in developed and developing countries. The talk explains why the share of manufacturing follows an inverted U-shaped curve as countries develop; considers why that curve has shifted downwards and inwards over time; shows that all developed and many developing countries, even those with large trade surpluses in manufacturing are now on the downward slope of the curve; and evaluates the implications recent industrial policy initiatives in the light of this experience.

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Beyond COVID podcast. This podcast is a series of conversations with CID faculty experts on various key dimensions of COVID response and recovery. Our goal with these conversations, and with CID’s Beyond COVID research initiative, is to make use of lessons learned and capitalize on emergent innovations sparked by the pandemic in order to address losses and reimagine global development in the post-COVID era. On March 11, 2022, we were joined by Aisha Yousafzai, Associate Professor of Global Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. CID Student Ambassador Aqil Merchant sat down with Aisha to discuss early childhood development.

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Beyond COVID podcast. This podcast is a series of conversations with CID faculty experts on various key dimensions of COVID response and recovery. Our goal with these conversations, and with CID’s Beyond COVID research initiative, is to make use of lessons learned and capitalize on emergent innovations sparked by the pandemic in order to address losses and reimagine global development in the post-COVID era. On March 3, 2022, we were joined by Walter Willett, Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. CID Student Ambassador Kerianne DiBattista sat down with Walter to discuss nutrition, climate change, and COVID-19.

This podcast was originally recorded on Friday, February 25, 2022, for the CID Speaker Series featuring Debbie Aung Din, Co-Founder of Proximity Designs. Debbie continued the conversation with CID Student Ambassador, Sohee Hyung, after an appearance at the virtual CID Speaker Series event. Growing a sustainable social business that achieves impact at scale is no easy feat. And leading an organization in Myanmar, with concurrent political, health, economic and environmental crises, presents acute challenges to deliver on your mission and strategy. Proximity Designs, a 17-year veteran social enterprise committed to boosting the incomes and well-being of vulnerable farm families in Myanmar, has matured and adapted through it all. Founded by HKS alumni, Jim Taylor and Debbie Aung Din (MPA '90) in 2004 to address poverty and market gaps faced by 70% of the country's population, Proximity has designed and delivered a portfolio of affordable agriculture technology, agronomy and financial services to over 1.2 millio

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Beyond COVID podcast. This podcast is a series of conversations on various key dimensions of COVID response and recovery. Our goal with these conversations, and with CID’s Beyond COVID research initiative, is to make use of lessons learned and capitalize on emergent innovations sparked by the pandemic in order to address losses and reimagine global development in the post-COVID era. On a special edition of the Beyond COVID Podcast originally recorded on February 25, 2022, we heard from an external perspective: Dr. Steven Phillips, Vice President of Science and Strategy at the COVID Collaborative. CID Student Ambassador Aqil Merchant sat down with Dr. Phillips to discuss COVID-19 vaccine distribution and longer-term pandemic preparedness.

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Beyond COVID podcast. This podcast is a series of conversations with CID faculty experts on various key dimensions of COVID response and recovery. Our goal with these conversations, and with CID’s Beyond COVID research initiative, is to make use of lessons learned and capitalize on emergent innovations sparked by the pandemic in order to address losses and reimagine global development in the post-COVID era. On February 18, 2022, we were joined by Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at the Harvard Business School, Director of the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard, and Co-Chair of The Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System. CID Student Ambassador Devangana Rana sat down with Tarun to discuss his work with the Lancet Citizens’ Commission and more generally his insights on building resilient and equitable health systems.

This podcast was originally recorded on Friday, February 11, 2022, for the CID Speaker Series featuring Jacqueline (Jackie) Klopp, Co-director of the Center for Sustainable Urban Development and a Research Scholar at Columbia University. Jackie continued the conversation with CID Student Ambassador, Manasa Acharya, after an appearance at the virtual CID Speaker Series event. Many rapidly growing African cities are experiencing large-scale transportation investment in a time of climate change and deep inequalities. Current choices around this critical urban infrastructure will have enormous impacts into the future- on public health, land-use, carbon emissions, and overall urban livability with the danger of high carbon, low livability lock-in. Despite the importance of these decisions, they tend to be made in profoundly exclusive ways. Using Nairobi as a case study, this talk explores the politics of decision making in the urban transport sector and argues that one important approach to enhancing accountabili

This podcast was originally recorded on Friday, February 04, 2022, for the CID Speaker Series featuring Meagan Dooley, the Global Program Officer at Tetra Tech, and George Ingram, a Senior Fellow - Global Economy and Development, Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings. Dooley and Ingram continued the conversation with CID Student Ambassador, Daniella Ineza, after an appearance at the virtual CID Speaker Series event. Digital infrastructure and government services are no longer just nice to have, but essential elements of a 21st century nation. Yet digital capabilities are ideologically neutral and can thus serve authoritarian as well as democratic tendencies. Therefore, development donors must be wary of whom they partner with and how they deliver assistance for digital government. The speakers will present a new working paper identifying the key elements of digital government, presenting data on how developing countries are adopting digital government, and providing recommendations for donor suppor

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Beyond COVID podcast. This podcast is a series of conversations with CID faculty experts on various key dimensions of COVID response and recovery. Our goal with these conversations, and with CID’s Beyond COVID research initiative, is to make use of lessons learned and capitalize on emergent innovations sparked by the pandemic in order to address losses and reimagine global development in the post-COVID era. This week, we are joined by Karen Dynan, Professor of the Practice in the Department of Economics at Harvard University and Former Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. CID Student Ambassador Nicah Santos sat down with Karen on December 16, 2021, to discuss resilient macroeconomic policies and inclusive economic growth.

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Beyond COVID podcast. This podcast is a series of conversations with CID faculty experts on various key dimensions of COVID response and recovery. Our goal with these conversations, and with CID’s Beyond COVID research initiative, is to make use of lessons learned and capitalize on emergent innovations sparked by the pandemic in order to address losses and reimagine global development in the post-COVID era. This week, we are joined by Raffaella Sadun, Professor of Business Administration in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School. CID Student Ambassador Sohee Hyung sat down with Raffaella on December 1, 2021, to discuss resilient health systems and hospital management.

This podcast was originally recorded on Friday, December 3rd, 2021 for the CID Speaker Series featuring Sharmi Surianarain, Chief Impact Officer of the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. Surianarain continued the conversation with our CID Student Ambassador, Jamar Williams, after an appearance at the virtual CID Speaker Series event. South Africa has the highest youth unemployment rate in the world. Annually, approximately 1 million young people exit schooling and enter the labor market. Within a year, nearly two-thirds are unemployed and discouraged, meaning only one-third find any kind of work or continue to further education. Harambee develops solutions to promote inclusive growth and reduce unemployment by identifying and creating jobs and work experiences for young people, breaking barriers for young people to access work, and linking young work-seekers to formal and informal work opportunities. In this session, Harambee and its key research partners share lessons from 10 years of impact and partner

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Beyond COVID podcast. This podcast is a series of conversations with CID faculty experts on various key dimensions of COVID response and recovery. Our goal with these conversations, and with CID’s Beyond COVID research initiative, is to make use of lessons learned and capitalize on emergent innovations sparked by the pandemic in order to address losses and reimagine global development in the post-COVID era. This week, we are joined by Margaret (Maggie) McConnell, Associate Professor of global health economics in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. CID Student Ambassador Harsh Sahni (Mason Fellow, HKS) sat down with Maggie on November 15th, 2021, to discuss how to build resilient education systems.

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Beyond COVID podcast. This podcast is a series of conversations with CID faculty experts on various key dimensions of COVID response and recovery. Our goal with these conversations, and with CID’s Beyond COVID research initiative, is to make use of lessons learned and capitalize on emergent innovations sparked by the pandemic in order to address losses and reimagine global development in the post-COVID era. This week, we are joined by Zoe Marks, Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. CID Student Ambassador Aqil Merchant (Harvard College) sat down with Zoe on November 10th, 2021, to discuss how to build resilient education systems.

This podcast was originally recorded on Friday, October 29th, 2021 for the CID Speaker Series featuring Latanya Mapp Frett, President of Global Fund for Women. Frett continued the conversation with our CID Student Ambassador, Kerianne DiBattista, after an appearance at the virtual CID Speaker Series event, Co-sponsored by the Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) at the Harvard Kennedy School. From the Green Wave to #EndSARS, movements drive social transformation but lack resources and support. Feminist funds are changing that. They up-end the development model by providing flexible funding straight to local grassroots leaders and groups to use as they wish. Instead of dictating priorities, feminist funds follow grantees’ leadership, supporting them in addressing needs, opportunities, and challenges as they arise, on their own terms. Traditional philanthropy can resemble an old boys’ club. Only 0.42%—less than half of 1%—of all foundation grants are dedicated to women's rights. Feminist funders take a diff

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Beyond COVID podcast. This podcast is a series of conversations with CID faculty experts on various key dimensions of COVID response and recovery. Our goal with these conversations, and with CID’s Beyond COVID research initiative, is to make use of lessons learned and capitalize on emergent innovations sparked by the pandemic in order to address losses and reimagine global development in the post-COVID era. This week, we are joined by Asim Khwaja, CID Director and the Sumitomo-Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development Professor of International Finance and Development at the Harvard Kennedy School. CID Student Ambassador Devangana Rana(Harvard College) sat down with Asim on October 19, 2021, to discuss how to build resilient education systems.

Welcome to the Harvard Center for International Development’s Beyond COVID podcast. This podcast is a series of conversations with CID faculty experts on various key dimensions of COVID response and recovery. Our goal with these conversations, and with CID’s Beyond COVID research initiative, is to make use of lessons learned and capitalize on emergent innovations sparked by the pandemic in order to address losses and reimagine global development in the post-covid era. This week, we are joined by Emmerich Davies, Assistant Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. CID Student Ambassador Aqil Merchant (Harvard College) sat down with Emmerich on October 13, 2021, to discuss how to build resilient education systems.