Friday, March 30, 2012
BBC Forum: A Relationship of Equals?
Session Description
Location: Nelson Mandela Lecture Theatre
Those who come together in pursuit of social change may aspire to a partnership of equality, but do they ever achieve it? Is it possible to create and achieve a true balance of power when the ‘outsiders’ have most of the money and much of the resources? Hear perspectives on this sensitive topic from leaders and practitioners around the globe. This special session will be recorded by the acclaimed Forum radio programme airing on the BBC World Service which reaches over 166 million globally. Audience members will be encouraged to engage with the guests and host, Bridget Kendall.
When | Where
09:00 - 10:30
Friday, March 30
Session leaders
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Diplomatic Correspondent and Presenter, BBC
Bridget Kendall is BBC Diplomatic Correspondent, covering major international developments, with a particular interest in Russia. She is also host of The Forum, the flagship ideas programme for the BBC World Service.
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Director, AVINA Americas, AVINA Americas
Brizio Biondi-Morra
President of AVINA, a foundation working in partnership with civil society and business leaders in Latin America in their initiatives toward sustainable development; 19 offices in 14 countries.
Chair of INCAE, the leading Latin American business school with campuses in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Previous experience includes:
• Director, Oxfam America´s Board
• Chair, Fundes International, a foundation promoting small and medium enterprise development in Latin America and operating in ten Latin American countries.
• President, INCAE Business School.
• Management consultant at Arthur D. Little, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Founder and President of ICC, a chemical and paper processing company based in New York. Marketing for E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co. in Europe.
Published books on development in Latin America for Cornell University Press, Editorial Siglo XXI and Nicaragua’s Central Bank.
Doctor in Business Administration, Harvard University; doctor in Economics, Bocconi University, Italy.
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Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF
Dr. Geeta Rao Gupta, Ph.D., is Deputy Executive Director, Programmes, at UNICEF where she oversees UNICEF's programming, policy, strategy, and research. Dr. Rao Gupta's previous appointments include senior advisor at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and president of the International Center for Research on Women. Her distinguished work has been recognized with numerous awards, including Harvard University's 2006 Anne Roe Award and the 2007 Washington Business Journal's "Women Who Mean Business" Award.
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Willy Foote is founder and CEO of Root Capital, an agricultural impact investor that helps increase incomes and stabilize employment for rural farmers in developing countries by investing in agri-businesses that collect and market the crops of hundreds or thousands of small-scale producers. Root Capital provides these enterprises with a unique combination of capital, training and access to trade partners to help them grow and become engines of impact that transform rural communities. Under Foote's leadership, Root Capital has provided more than $1 billion in loans to 630 agricultural businesses in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Together, these businesses have generated more than $6 billion in revenue, 80 percent of which has been paid directly to the 1.2 million smallholder farmers they serve.
Foote serves on the Executive Committee of the Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). He is a 2012 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute; received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2005; and was named an Ashoka Fellow in 2007, a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2008, and one of Forbes’ “Impact 30” in 2011. He holds an MS in development economics from the London School of Economics and a BA from Yale University.
