Is foreign aid a good idea gone terribly wrong?
It’s a jarring proposition, to be sure. Yet it’s a question that many in the philanthropic community are asking more and more.
It is also one of the provocative questions raised by Poverty Inc., a film that grapples with the unintended consequences, collateral damage, failures and—yes!—successes of more than 50 years of international charity and foreign aid. The scorecard is certainly mixed: we must now admit that many of the most well-intentioned efforts have actually contributed to the failure of developing economies to thrive.
But there is reason to hope that a new day is dawning—and our distinguished panelists will tell us why. With decades of experience innovating, implementing, and assessing strategies that support development, these pragmatic speakers will affirm that real progress in reducing poverty is being made globally…if not quite in the ways we’d always imagined.
6:00 Reception (includes hors d'oeuvres and drinks)
7:00 Film Screening
8:40 Panel Discussion
MEET THE PANELISTS:
Kosar Jahani is currently the Director of Impact at Samasource, where she leads the design and implementation of the organization’s monitoring, evaluation & learning (MEL) system across the U.S. and East Africa. She brings over 7 years of experience in research, data analysis, and measurement & evaluation work with NGOs, the private sector, and government bodies. Kosar earned her M.A. from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and holds a B.S. in Business Administration from UC Berkeley.
Michael A. Kraft is Managing Partner and CEO of the banking and global advisory firm M&A Media Group. A longtime advocate of corporate responsibility, Mike became disenchanted with prevailing models of philanthropy for international development, and found FSD’s ground-up Asset Based Community Development model of sustainability a strong match with his own pragmatic approaches to international development. He has served on the FSD Board since 2012. Mike is especially an advocate of the impacts of foreign direct investment through innovation and entrepreneurship. Presently a doctoral candidate at Saybrook University, he is completing his dissertation on real-world solutions to global poverty, ones that marry realism to the latest developments in governmental entities and restrictions. Mike holds a BA from DePaul University and an MBA in International Finance from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Jonathan C. Lewis is a life-long social justice activist and accomplished social entrepreneur. Jonathan is the Founder of MCE Social Capital, an innovative social venture that leverages $110 million of private capital to finance tiny business loans to deeply impoverished people, mostly women, in 33 countries in the developing world. He is also Founder and President of the Opportunity Collaboration, an annual strategic business retreat for 450 senior level anti-poverty leaders from around the globe. In addition, Jonathan is the co-founder of Copia Global, an Amazon-like consumer catalog serving the base of the economic pyramid in Kenya. Jonathan teaches a course entitled Making Social Entrepreneurship Happen at New York University. He is a social sector thought leader and recipient of the Social Venture Network Innovation Award.
Lisa Kuhn (moderator) is the Executive Director of FSD and a respected authority on international development. She has provided training, assessment, and capacity-building services to more than 35 international organizations in 22 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. She has nearly 20 years of experience specializing in multi-sectoral and sustainable solutions to development challenges such as food security, women's empowerment, access to affordable and adequate health care, education, and enterprise development. After receiving her MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, she held a number of technical, policy, and leadership positions in microfinance networks including Freedom from Hunger, Opportunity International, and FINCA International. Prior to joining FSD, Lisa served as the Vice-President for Programs in Latin America for Freedom from Hunger where she helped bring integrated microfinance, health, and business services to more than 1 million women through more than 100 local Latin American partners.
show less
It’s a jarring proposition, to be sure. Yet it’s a question that many in the philanthropic community are asking more and more.
It is also one of the provocative questions raised by Poverty Inc., a film that grapples with the unintended consequences, collateral damage, failures and—yes!—successes of more than 50 years of international charity and foreign aid. The scorecard is certainly mixed: we must now admit that many of the most well-intentioned efforts have actually contributed to the failure of developing economies to thrive.
But there is reason to hope that a new day is dawning—and our distinguished panelists will tell us why. With decades of experience innovating, implementing, and assessing strategies that support development, these pragmatic speakers will affirm that real progress in reducing poverty is being made globally…if not quite in the ways we’d always imagined.
6:00 Reception (includes hors d'oeuvres and drinks)
7:00 Film Screening
8:40 Panel Discussion
MEET THE PANELISTS:
Kosar Jahani is currently the Director of Impact at Samasource, where she leads the design and implementation of the organization’s monitoring, evaluation & learning (MEL) system across the U.S. and East Africa. She brings over 7 years of experience in research, data analysis, and measurement & evaluation work with NGOs, the private sector, and government bodies. Kosar earned her M.A. from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and holds a B.S. in Business Administration from UC Berkeley.
Michael A. Kraft is Managing Partner and CEO of the banking and global advisory firm M&A Media Group. A longtime advocate of corporate responsibility, Mike became disenchanted with prevailing models of philanthropy for international development, and found FSD’s ground-up Asset Based Community Development model of sustainability a strong match with his own pragmatic approaches to international development. He has served on the FSD Board since 2012. Mike is especially an advocate of the impacts of foreign direct investment through innovation and entrepreneurship. Presently a doctoral candidate at Saybrook University, he is completing his dissertation on real-world solutions to global poverty, ones that marry realism to the latest developments in governmental entities and restrictions. Mike holds a BA from DePaul University and an MBA in International Finance from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Jonathan C. Lewis is a life-long social justice activist and accomplished social entrepreneur. Jonathan is the Founder of MCE Social Capital, an innovative social venture that leverages $110 million of private capital to finance tiny business loans to deeply impoverished people, mostly women, in 33 countries in the developing world. He is also Founder and President of the Opportunity Collaboration, an annual strategic business retreat for 450 senior level anti-poverty leaders from around the globe. In addition, Jonathan is the co-founder of Copia Global, an Amazon-like consumer catalog serving the base of the economic pyramid in Kenya. Jonathan teaches a course entitled Making Social Entrepreneurship Happen at New York University. He is a social sector thought leader and recipient of the Social Venture Network Innovation Award.
Lisa Kuhn (moderator) is the Executive Director of FSD and a respected authority on international development. She has provided training, assessment, and capacity-building services to more than 35 international organizations in 22 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. She has nearly 20 years of experience specializing in multi-sectoral and sustainable solutions to development challenges such as food security, women's empowerment, access to affordable and adequate health care, education, and enterprise development. After receiving her MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, she held a number of technical, policy, and leadership positions in microfinance networks including Freedom from Hunger, Opportunity International, and FINCA International. Prior to joining FSD, Lisa served as the Vice-President for Programs in Latin America for Freedom from Hunger where she helped bring integrated microfinance, health, and business services to more than 1 million women through more than 100 local Latin American partners.
Is foreign aid a good idea gone terribly wrong?
It’s a jarring proposition, to be sure. Yet it’s a question that many in the philanthropic community are asking more and more.
It is also one of the provocative questions raised by Poverty Inc., a film that grapples with the unintended consequences, collateral damage, failures and—yes!—successes of more than 50 years of international charity and foreign aid. The scorecard is certainly mixed: we must now admit that many of the most well-intentioned efforts have actually contributed to the failure of developing economies to thrive.
But there is reason to hope that a new day is dawning—and our distinguished panelists will tell us why. With decades of experience innovating, implementing, and assessing strategies that support development, these pragmatic speakers will affirm that real progress in reducing poverty is being made globally…if not quite in the ways we’d always imagined.
6:00 Reception (includes hors d'oeuvres and drinks)
7:00 Film Screening
8:40 Panel Discussion
MEET THE PANELISTS:
Kosar Jahani is currently the Director of Impact at Samasource, where she leads the design and implementation of the organization’s monitoring, evaluation & learning (MEL) system across the U.S. and East Africa. She brings over 7 years of experience in research, data analysis, and measurement & evaluation work with NGOs, the private sector, and government bodies. Kosar earned her M.A. from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and holds a B.S. in Business Administration from UC Berkeley.
Michael A. Kraft is Managing Partner and CEO of the banking and global advisory firm M&A Media Group. A longtime advocate of corporate responsibility, Mike became disenchanted with prevailing models of philanthropy for international development, and found FSD’s ground-up Asset Based Community Development model of sustainability a strong match with his own pragmatic approaches to international development. He has served on the FSD Board since 2012. Mike is especially an advocate of the impacts of foreign direct investment through innovation and entrepreneurship. Presently a doctoral candidate at Saybrook University, he is completing his dissertation on real-world solutions to global poverty, ones that marry realism to the latest developments in governmental entities and restrictions. Mike holds a BA from DePaul University and an MBA in International Finance from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Jonathan C. Lewis is a life-long social justice activist and accomplished social entrepreneur. Jonathan is the Founder of MCE Social Capital, an innovative social venture that leverages $110 million of private capital to finance tiny business loans to deeply impoverished people, mostly women, in 33 countries in the developing world. He is also Founder and President of the Opportunity Collaboration, an annual strategic business retreat for 450 senior level anti-poverty leaders from around the globe. In addition, Jonathan is the co-founder of Copia Global, an Amazon-like consumer catalog serving the base of the economic pyramid in Kenya. Jonathan teaches a course entitled Making Social Entrepreneurship Happen at New York University. He is a social sector thought leader and recipient of the Social Venture Network Innovation Award.
Lisa Kuhn (moderator) is the Executive Director of FSD and a respected authority on international development. She has provided training, assessment, and capacity-building services to more than 35 international organizations in 22 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. She has nearly 20 years of experience specializing in multi-sectoral and sustainable solutions to development challenges such as food security, women's empowerment, access to affordable and adequate health care, education, and enterprise development. After receiving her MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, she held a number of technical, policy, and leadership positions in microfinance networks including Freedom from Hunger, Opportunity International, and FINCA International. Prior to joining FSD, Lisa served as the Vice-President for Programs in Latin America for Freedom from Hunger where she helped bring integrated microfinance, health, and business services to more than 1 million women through more than 100 local Latin American partners.
read more
It’s a jarring proposition, to be sure. Yet it’s a question that many in the philanthropic community are asking more and more.
It is also one of the provocative questions raised by Poverty Inc., a film that grapples with the unintended consequences, collateral damage, failures and—yes!—successes of more than 50 years of international charity and foreign aid. The scorecard is certainly mixed: we must now admit that many of the most well-intentioned efforts have actually contributed to the failure of developing economies to thrive.
But there is reason to hope that a new day is dawning—and our distinguished panelists will tell us why. With decades of experience innovating, implementing, and assessing strategies that support development, these pragmatic speakers will affirm that real progress in reducing poverty is being made globally…if not quite in the ways we’d always imagined.
6:00 Reception (includes hors d'oeuvres and drinks)
7:00 Film Screening
8:40 Panel Discussion
MEET THE PANELISTS:
Kosar Jahani is currently the Director of Impact at Samasource, where she leads the design and implementation of the organization’s monitoring, evaluation & learning (MEL) system across the U.S. and East Africa. She brings over 7 years of experience in research, data analysis, and measurement & evaluation work with NGOs, the private sector, and government bodies. Kosar earned her M.A. from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and holds a B.S. in Business Administration from UC Berkeley.
Michael A. Kraft is Managing Partner and CEO of the banking and global advisory firm M&A Media Group. A longtime advocate of corporate responsibility, Mike became disenchanted with prevailing models of philanthropy for international development, and found FSD’s ground-up Asset Based Community Development model of sustainability a strong match with his own pragmatic approaches to international development. He has served on the FSD Board since 2012. Mike is especially an advocate of the impacts of foreign direct investment through innovation and entrepreneurship. Presently a doctoral candidate at Saybrook University, he is completing his dissertation on real-world solutions to global poverty, ones that marry realism to the latest developments in governmental entities and restrictions. Mike holds a BA from DePaul University and an MBA in International Finance from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Jonathan C. Lewis is a life-long social justice activist and accomplished social entrepreneur. Jonathan is the Founder of MCE Social Capital, an innovative social venture that leverages $110 million of private capital to finance tiny business loans to deeply impoverished people, mostly women, in 33 countries in the developing world. He is also Founder and President of the Opportunity Collaboration, an annual strategic business retreat for 450 senior level anti-poverty leaders from around the globe. In addition, Jonathan is the co-founder of Copia Global, an Amazon-like consumer catalog serving the base of the economic pyramid in Kenya. Jonathan teaches a course entitled Making Social Entrepreneurship Happen at New York University. He is a social sector thought leader and recipient of the Social Venture Network Innovation Award.
Lisa Kuhn (moderator) is the Executive Director of FSD and a respected authority on international development. She has provided training, assessment, and capacity-building services to more than 35 international organizations in 22 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. She has nearly 20 years of experience specializing in multi-sectoral and sustainable solutions to development challenges such as food security, women's empowerment, access to affordable and adequate health care, education, and enterprise development. After receiving her MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, she held a number of technical, policy, and leadership positions in microfinance networks including Freedom from Hunger, Opportunity International, and FINCA International. Prior to joining FSD, Lisa served as the Vice-President for Programs in Latin America for Freedom from Hunger where she helped bring integrated microfinance, health, and business services to more than 1 million women through more than 100 local Latin American partners.
show less
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600 Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94107
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