Where
Chemonics
1717 H Street NW
Washington, DC 20006
Squaring the Circle: Can We Reshape Development by Doing It Differently?
Please join us for a moderated panel discussion on thinking and working politically (TWP). Speakers will explore how donors and project implementers can support more effective, flexible, politically savvy interventions to better respond to dynamic local contexts and sector-specific outcomes. Donor frameworks are often linear and predetermined, but working politically often necessitates a high degree of flexibility and resourcefulness. How do we square this circle?
Despite significant foreign assistance to support local service delivery, and community resilience efforts, interventions often fall short of producing lasting changes. Why? Over the last few years, an increasing body of evidence points toward politics. Most of us understand that political, material, social, and personal interests critically affect reform efforts. The most recent World Development Report on governance and the law further supports this view. But international development projects tend not to sufficiently address the political dynamics of the communities they are designed to assist. TWP is one potential solution, but we still need more discussion and consensus on how to operationalize TWP in actual projects.
How can we, as development practitioners, better understand and navigate dynamic political contexts and support existing local initiatives in ways that “go with the grain” rather than against it? From the perspective of those who advocate TWP and political economy analysis, what does sustainability look like for implementing organizations working on fixed-term projects (2 to 4 years)? While there is increasing recognition that TWP is the right approach in theory, we also need to determine as a community what TWP entails in practical and material terms.
Please join us for a conversation with leading experts and practitioners on TWP and its implications for programming. Panelists will focus especially on opportunities for TWP in projects, particularly at the local level.
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Jennifer Swift-Morgan, Director, West and Central Africa and Haiti, Chemonics International Jennifer Swift-Morgan is a director with Chemonics International in the West and Central Africa and Haiti division and in the company’s Democracy and Governance Practice, as well as the Education and Youth Practice. She is an international development practitioner, scholar, and entrepreneurial leader with over 18 years of experience designing, managing, and evaluating innovative education and governance programming in Africa and South Asia. Her areas of expertise include inclusive governance reform, decentralized education system strengthening, early grade reading development, ICTs for citizen engagement and continuous professional development, asset-based strategic planning, and political economy analysis. In her current capacity, she serves as technical director for the USAID/Senegal All Children Reading project and is increasingly striving to think and work politically in education program implementation and new program design across sectors. Prior to Chemonics, Dr. Swift-Morgan provided her subject-matter, technical, and management skills to work with USAID, KfW Development Bank, the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Education Development Center, World Learning, National Democratic Institute, and InterAction. She holds a doctorate in international education policy from Teachers College, Columbia University and is a returned Peace Corps volunteer, co-founder of a Guinean-American human rights and democracy NGO, and fluent in French and Pulaar. |
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Diana Cammack, Research Associate, Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Diana Cammack is an ODI Research Associate, specializing in political economy analysis and ‘thinking and working politically.’ She has lived and worked in southern Africa for three decades and writes mainly about neopatrimonial politics and its impact on development. In recent years she has focused on local governance, decentralization and service delivery, but has a broad background in fragile states, conflict and refugee studies, food security, human rights, and gender. |
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Sarah Swift, Cross-Sectoral Programs Division, Center for Democracy, Human Rights and Governance (DRG), USAID Sarah Swift serves within the Cross-Sectoral Programs Division in the Center for Democracy, Human Rights and Governance (DRG) in USAID, coordinating support to the Agency's Applied Political Economy Analysis practice. Beginning in early 2015, she has contributed to Political Economy efforts across a broad range of sectors and regions, including addressing maternal mortality rates in Indonesia, biodiversity preservation in DR Congo and Tanzania, domestic resource mobilization in Liberia, and improvement of labor conditions in the garment industry in Bangladesh. Prior to joining the DRG Center, she served within the Africa Bureau, working first as a Desk Officer for Liberia and Sierra Leone, and then within the Bureau's program office focusing on the Agency's nascent African Union program, and CDCS development. Prior to Africa Bureau, she worked on Donor Coordination within the former bureau for Policy and Program Coordination. Sarah received an MPA in International Relations from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Peace Studies from Haverford College. |
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Charles Cadwell, Director, Center on International Development and Governance, The Urban Institute Charles Cadwell leads the Urban Institute’s Center on International Development and Governance. The Urban Institute international team conducts research and provides policy advice in areas of urban service delivery, governance of public goods, aid effectiveness and political economy. Examples of current Urban Institute work include support for health governance reform in Tanzania, devolution in Kenya and research on economic growth’s effects on women’s empowerment, social networks in refugee settings and assessment of urban resilience efforts. He currently also teaches at the George Washington University Elliott School. Cadwell joined the Urban Institute in 2007, following 16 years at the University of Maryland’s IRIS Center, in the Department of Economics. Cadwell has a law degree from the George Washington University and an undergraduate degree from Yale College. He has worked in the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, the Office of Advocacy at the U.S. Small Business Administration, in private law practice, and in private business. |
Moderator
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Sharon Van Pelt, Director, Democracy and Governance Practice, Chemonics International
Sharon Van Pelt leads Chemonics’ worldwide Democracy and Governance Practice. She has extensive expertise in the design and implementation of democracy and governance programs, particularly focused on policy dialogue and reform initiatives, civic engagement and advocacy, local governance, and conflict and violence prevention. During tenures in Guatemala, Moldova, and Sri Lanka, Ms. Van Pelt liaised with donors, governmental agencies, and beneficiaries while operating in highly sensitive geopolitical situations. As Director of the Office of Democratic Initiatives for USAID, she designed and managed multi-million dollar, multi-country programs that fostered political dialogue to help reach consensus on governance reforms. She was intimately involved in all aspects of development and debate of the reforms called for in the Guatemalan Peace Accords related to greater indigenous participation, decentralization, transparency, and accountability. In 2002, she was awarded the USAID Meritorious Honor Award for her contributions to advancing policy dialogue and reform in the areas of decentralization and transparency in a difficult political environment. Ms. Van Pelt has served as principal governance advisor for USAID, the US Embassy, GIZ, UNDP and others. She served as chief of party for an MCC-funded civil society and media project in Moldova and also directed FHI360’s governance programs including major counter-extremism and peace-building programs in francophone Africa. In 2012, Ms. Van Pelt received her official designation as a Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) from the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). |
Join the Conversation
Follow the panel discussion on Twitter with #TWP4Dev or call-in with our conference line: 1-866-715-6499 (participant code: 4104795960)