Harvard Center for International Development Harvard University

On this week's Speaker Series podcast, we are joined by Dr. Aditya Bahadur, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Earth Institute at Columbia University for a discussion on Urban Resilience Traps: Pivoting to A New Paradigm for Reducing Climate Risk in Cities of the Global South. Aditya sat down with CID's Executive Coordinator Rosemary Berberian for a conversation on his research and upcoming book.

// Recorded on February 28, 2020 at Harvard Kennedy School.

ABOUT THE TALK
The fact that most of the world’s population now lives in urban areas that are facing sharply rising threats from climate change impacts means that the time for ‘business as usual’ is truly over. Since the advent of ‘urban resilience’ as a paradigm, governments and non-governmental actors have adopted certain modes of reducing risk that are no longer effective in dealing with the climate challenges that towns and cities face. Therefore, in this book we draw on empirical evidence from across the world to argue that the time is ripe to break out of these established ways of working or as we call them, ‘urban resilience traps’ and pivot to a new set of approaches that are fit for purpose. The book explores cutting edge examples of how big data and artificial intelligence can be coupled with traditional methods of collecting climate information to provide a richer and more granular picture of the challenges that cities face; it draws on emerging examples of transformative climate action to demonstrate pathways of building resilience sustainably and at scale; it illustrates the limits of formal planning and outlines approaches of engaging with informality as part of resilience; it makes a strong argument for balancing the prevailing emphasis on techno-managerial and infrastructure oriented solutions for resilience with a focus on building climate capabilities and competencies of those running cities; and finally, it argues for a shift from the singular focus on international climate finance as the primary source of funds towards a closer examination of the importance of the private sector, emerging innovative finance mechanisms and public budgets as sources of finance for building resilience at scale.


ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr. Aditya Bahadur is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York where he is writing a book on urban resilience. Previously he served as the Regional Programme Development Manager with the UK Government funded Action on Climate Today Programme (2016-2019) based at Oxford Policy Management. He has 12 years of experience in research, evaluation and practice of disaster risk reduction, climate change and development. In the past he served as the Research Coordinator of the BRACED Programme (one of the world's largest community level resilience building initiatives, running across 9 countries). He has also advised IFAD, the Hewlett Foundation, the Shell Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, ActionAid and a number UN organs on pathways of climate resilient development. He has published widely on these issues including in highly regarded academic journals. His work has been cited over a thousand times, including by the IPCC and he is a contributing author to the forthcoming IPCC assessment report (AR6). He completed his undergraduate studies at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University and has an MA and a PhD in Development Studies (focus on climate change resilience) from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK. Aditya was granted a Fellowship by the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS) in 2014 and the World Social Science Fellowship in 2015. He was Research Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute (2013-2016) and has been awarded the Fulbright-Kalam Postdoctoral Climate Fellowship in 2018.

On this week's Speaker Series podcast, we are joined by Marla Spivack, Research Fellow at CID’s Building State Capability program, and the Research Manager of the Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) program where she leads an array of research activities focused on synthesizing the findings of RISE country team work. Marla sat down with CID Student Ambassador Emma Cameron to discuss her research on Diagnosing Education Systems following her talk at the CID Speaker Series.

// Recorded on February 21, 2020 at Harvard Kennedy School.

The rapid expansion of schooling is one of international development’s most remarkable achievements. In nearly every country the average child can expect to complete basic schooling. At the same time, in many developing countries, more than half of children complete primary school without mastering basic reading and math skills. Despite laudable progress on schooling, much of the world faces a learning crisis. Large-scale efforts to address the symptoms of this crisis often take the form of “more” – pushing children to spend more years in school, providing more inputs, and spending more money – and have failed to produce significant learning gains. More of the same isn’t working, highlighting the need for systemic change. Systems change will require moving beyond identifying symptoms of the learning crisis towards articulating a diagnostic characterization of its causes. This talk will make the case for systems analysis and outline a new approach to education systems diagnostics, rooted in an accountability framework. We argue that this approach can explain systems’ poor performance, identify priority areas for reform, and suggest principals for effective intervention to make meaningful progress on national learning goals.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Marla Spivack is a Research Fellow at CID’s Building State Capability program, and the Research Manager of the Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) program. She leads an array of research activities focused on synthesizing the findings of RISE country team work.

Prior to joining CID, she worked on social protection, rural development, and micro-credit programs with government agencies and the World Bank in a range of contexts including India, Mexico, and Zambia. She has also contributed to work on migration and development with researchers at the Center for Global Development. She holds a Masters in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from the Harvard Kennedy School and a BA in Economics from Tufts University.

Learn more about Marla's work at: https://www.riseprogramme.org/people/marla-spivack

On this week's Speaker Series podcast, we are joined by Annette Idler, a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. She is also the Director of Studies at the Changing Character of War Centre, Senior Research Fellow at Pembroke College, and at the Department of Politics and International Relations, all University of Oxford. Annette sat down with CID Student Ambassador Mark Conmy to discuss her research from her latest book; Borderland Battles: Violence, Crime, and Governance at the Edges of Colombia's War.

// Recorded on February 14, 2020 at Harvard Kennedy School.

ABOUT THE TALK
Annette Idler will discuss the findings of her timely new book, Borderland Battles: Violence, Crime, and Governance at the Edges of Colombia’s War (Oxford University Press, 2019). The post–cold war era has seen an unmistakable trend toward the proliferation of violent non-state groups-variously labeled terrorists, rebels, paramilitaries, gangs, and criminals-near borders in unstable regions especially. Applying a "borderland lens" to security dynamics and drawing on challenging fieldwork including more than 600 interviews in and on the war-torn borderlands of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, in Borderland Battles, the speaker examines the micro-dynamics among violent non-state groups. She finds striking patterns: borderland spaces consistently intensify the security impacts of how these groups compete for territorial control, cooperate in illicit cross-border activities, and replace the state in exerting governance functions.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr. Annette Idler is Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. She is also the Director of Studies at the Changing Character of War Centre, Senior Research Fellow at Pembroke College, and at the Department of Politics and International Relations, all University of Oxford. Dr Idler’s work focuses on the interface of conflict, security, and transnational organized crime. Over the past decade, she has conducted extensive fieldwork in and on crisis-affected regions of Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Myanmar and Somalia, including more than 600 interviews with local stakeholders. Dr Idler is the author of Borderland Battles: Violence, Crime, and Governance at the Edges of Colombia’s War (Oxford University Press, 2019) and co-editor of Transforming the War on Drugs: Warriors, Victims, and Vulnerable Regions (Hurst Publishers, forthcoming in 2020). Her work appeared in journals such as the Journal of Global Security Studies and Stability: International Journal of Security and Development. Dr Idler advises governments and international organizations, she is a regular expert for internationally renowned media outlets, and she served on the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council's Fellow on International Security. She holds a doctorate from the Department of International Development, University of Oxford, an MA in International Relations from King’s College London’s Department of War Studies, and a double bachelor degree from University Complutense of Madrid, Spain; and Regensburg University, Germany.

On this week's Speaker Series podcast, we are joined by Miguel Angel Santos, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Director of Applied Research at CID's Growth Lab, as well as Tim O’Brien, Senior Manager of Applied Research at CID's Growth Lab. Miguel and Tim sat down with CID Student Ambassador Valeria Mendiola to discuss their research from Jordan on Macroeconomic Stability and Long-Term Growth.

ABOUT THE TALK
From February 2018 through September 2019, the Growth Lab conducted an applied research project in Jordan centered on understanding and addressing the country’s macroeconomic disequilibria and identifying the most binding constraints to economic growth. The project team applied growth diagnostic and economic complexity methodologies in coordination with the Government of Jordan and developed over 40 problem-specific research deliverables to support government policymaking and implementation. The project, which was supported through a grant from the Open Society Foundations, helped to inform Jordan’s overall growth strategy under Prime Minister Omar Razzaz, improve policy direction in several areas (fiscal, labor markets, energy, investment promotion), and harmonize donor programming in Jordan (including by the IMF, World Bank, USAID, DFID and EBRD). During this event, team members will present key findings on the Jordanian economy, discuss innovations in applying growth diagnostic and economic complexity applications that emerged from the project, and reflect on challenges and lessons learned from this applied research effort.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Miguel Angel Santos is an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and the Director of Applied Research at the Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University.

At CID, he has been involved in various research projects aimed at helping governments to rethink their development strategies, both at the national and sub-national levels. Since he joined CID in August 2014, he has been involved in projects at the national level in Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela, and at the sub-national level in Mexico in the states of Chiapas, Baja California, Tabasco and Campeche; and the city of Hermosillo at Sonora state. He has also performed as project manager in the projects leading to the build-up of the Mexican Atlas of Economic Complexity, and the Peruvian Atlas of Economic Complexity.

Tim O’Brien joined CID in 2015 and has worked on both Growth Lab and Building State Capability projects. He is currently the Senior Manager of Applied Research at CID's Growth Lab. He has led growth diagnostic research in Albania and Sri Lanka.

Tim served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi from 2008-2010 and has experience working with the World Bank and in environmental engineering.

Tim’s research interests center on the challenges of economic transformation and adapting to climate change in developing countries and vulnerable communities.

On this week's Speaker Series podcast, we are joined by Rt. Hon. Andrew Mitchell, who was recently re-elected to the British House of Commons. Mitchell is a fellow at Cambridge University; a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University; and a Honorary Professor in School of Social Sciences for the University of Birmingham. Mitchell sat down with CID Student Ambassador Mark Conmy to discuss the Causes and Consequences of Brexit.

ABOUT THE TALK

Brexit has caused the most significant upheaval in British politics for decades. Its ramifications are being felt far beyond Britain’s shores. What caused the UK to advance down this route? How will it all end? CID’s Visiting Fellow Andrew Mitchell—re-elected to the House of Commons in Britain last month—answers these questions.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Andrew Mitchell was Secretary of State for International Development in the British Government from May 2010 until he became Government Chief Whip in September 2012. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 2010. Prior to joining the cabinet in 2010, he also held numerous junior positions in Government (1992-1997) and in opposition (2003-2010). He has been the Member of Parliament for Sutton Coldfield since 2001. He was a member of the National Security Council in Britain and a Governor of the World Bank between 2010 and 2012.

Andrew is a Senior Adviser to Investec (since 2013) and Ernst & Young (since 2016). In 2017 he was appointed as a Senior Adviser to the African Development Bank (AfDB). Previously he served in the Army (Royal Tank Regiment) as a UN Peacekeeper before joining the international Investment Bank, Lazard where he worked on and off for 30 years. He was a Director of Lazard Asia and Lazard India as well as of Lazard London.

He is a fellow at Cambridge University; a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University; and a Honorary Professor in School of Social Sciences for the University of Birmingham.

In today’s world, most workers are highly specialized, but this specialization can come at a cost – especially for those on the wrong team. New research by Growth Lab Research Director Frank Neffke assesses the importance of the skills of coworkers. Finding coworkers who complement and not substitute one’s skills can significantly impact earning potential. The impact is equal to having a college degree. Coworker complementarity also drives careers and supports urban and large plant wage premiums.

Learn more about this new research on The Value of Complementary Coworkers: https://growthlab.cid.harvard.edu/academic-research/complementarity

About Frank Neffke: Frank Neffke is the Research Director of the Growth Lab at the Center for International Development. He joined the team in 2012.

His research focuses on economic transformation and growth, from the macro level of structural change in regional and national economies to the micro level of firm diversification and the career paths of individuals. This research has shed light on topics ranging from structural transformation and new growth paths in regional economies, economic complexity and the role of cities, local labor markets, the importance of division of labor, human capital and teams in modern economies, the consequences of job displacement and the future of work.

Before joining the CID, Frank worked as an assistant professor at the Erasmus School of Economics in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

He holds a Ph. D. in Economic Geography from Utrecht University and Master degrees in Econometrics and Philosophy from the University of Amsterdam.