Harvard International Development Conference - April 3rd-6th

Harvard’s annual International Development Conference will be taking place this upcoming week from Thursday, April 3rd to Sunday, April 6th at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Details follow:

The Annual International Development Conference is a student-run event providing a world-class inter-disciplinary forum on global sustainable development for practitioners and academics. Each year the conference attracts over 600 participants from every corner of the world.

Specifically, the objectives of the Conference are to:

• Explore and emphasize multi-disciplinary approaches to sustainable development.

• Agree on relevant methods and key strategies in sustainable development.

• Identify existing best practices, lessons learned, and gaps.

• Define the way forward for the delivery of sustainable development. 

This year’s conference includes 7 tracks consisting of 4 panels each, with topics ranging from “Rethinking Foreign Aid” to “Development Private Sector Solutions.” Notable panels follow after the jump.

• Changing the World through Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Perspectives from Funders and Entrepreneurs (notable panelists include Sonal Shah, Director of the Global Development Team at google.org)
• Public Private Partnerships and Development: Hype or Helpful?
• Financing Infrastructure in Developing Economies: What Role for the Private Sector (notable panelists include Jyoti Shukla, Head, Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF), World Bank
• Investing in Emerging Markets and Impacts on International Development
• Women’s Employment in Developing Countries
• Innovative Solutions to Bridge the Education Divide through Technology (notable panelists include Mr. Chuck Zane, One Laptop per Child, and Dr. Fred Mednick, Teachers Without Borders)

This year’s conference will also be hosting 4 workshops on topics ranging from “Selecting Appropriate Microfinance Institution Models” to “Exploring How Film and Media Advance International Development.” Want to learn more? For a detailed schedule, go here. To register, go here.