COVID-19 has created a major and lasting impact on the global economy. Join experts on five of the world’s major economies—the U.S., Brazil, Russia, India, and China—as they discuss the uneven economic shock of this global pandemic, as well as how these economies might recover in the coming years.
Speakers
Natalia Volchkova, Assistant Professor and Policy Director,Center for Economic and Financial Research, New Economic School, Moscow
Monica DeBolle, Adjunct Lecturer, Latin American Studies Program, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
Prithwiraj Choudhary, Lumry Family Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Willy Shih, Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Management Practice in Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Moderator
Rawi Abdelal, Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management, Harvard Business School; Director, Davis Center
Zainab Qureshi, LEAPS Director, Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD), Harvard Kennedy School
Panelists
Asim Ijaz Khwaja, Director, Center for International Development; Sumitomo-Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development Professor of International Finance and Development, Harvard Kennedy School
Fernando Reimers, Ford Foundation Professor of Practice in International Education; Faculty Director, International Education Policy
COVID-19 has shut down traditional education programs throughout South Asia, from primary education to higher education. This panel will discuss the unique challenges the region is facing in the education sector, such as access to technology and the potential long-term effects of distance learning. Additionally, the panelists will address two pressing questions:
What will be the short- and long-term effects of this disruption to education?
How are countries responding and preparing to mitigate these effects?
Professor Mukti Khaire and Dr. Shashank Shah will discuss learnings from six field projects in the Indian crafts sector, funded by Tata Trusts. The grants supported and enabled the implementation of social and technological innovations at:
The webinar will highlight organizational best practices and ground-level innovations for impact in the Indian crafts sector. It is for practitioners in the Indian handicrafts and handloom sectors. All those who are interested to know more about the current state of the sector and the immense potential it holds for rural livelihood creation would be most benefited.
Local government policies and urban plans have a direct and strong impact on home-based workers. Because their home is their workplace, home-based workers are more directly affected than other workers by government policies and practices regarding housing (notably, slum upgrading and/or slum eviction-relocation schemes), basic infrastructure services (notably, the availability and cost of electricity but also water and sanitation), and zoning regulations (notably, whether commercial activities are allowed in residential areas). They may also be affected by the accessibility and cost of public transport, especially if they are forced to relocate at great distances from their customers, markets or contractors.
This webinar will highlight:
Why the city governments and urban planners need to integrate home-based workers and their livelihood activities into local economic development plans.
Why the city governments need to extend basic infrastructure to the homes-cum-workplaces of home-based workers and transport services to the settlements where they live and work.
Some promising examples of where and how this can be done.
Dr. Martha (Marty) Chen, Harvard Kennedy School; Harvard Graduate School of Design
Professor Chen is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and an Affiliated Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is also the Co-Founder and International Coordinator of WIEGO. A renowned development scholar, Marty has steered WIEGO since its inception, turning the research, policy and action network into one of the world’s leading organizations focused on the informal economy. Her specialization includes employment, gender, and poverty with a focus on the working poor in the informal economy. Marty’s expertise is sought globally by a range of major institutions, from the European Commission and the International Labour Organization to the World Bank and the United Nations.
Moderated by Shalini Sinha, India Country Representative and Home-based Sector Specialist, WIEGO
Shalini’s work focuses on developing and documenting decent work and livelihoods opportunities for women workers in the informal economy, especially women home-based workers in urban locations in India. Shalini specializes in labour, gender and social development issues and has worked with several national and international NGOs and funding agencies.
Bijal Brahmbhatt,Director, Mahila Housing SEWA Trust, Ahmedabad
Bijal is a civil engineer by training and is a recognized expert in habitat improvement, community development and housing finance. She oversees the MHT’s (Mahila Housing SEWA Trusts) operations at the national level and has experience in conceptualizing planning, managing and providing support for slum up gradation programmes across India. Bijal has authored several publication / papers on livelihood and habitat, housing finance and community development.
Home-based workers produce goods or services for the market from within or around their own homes. In countries both rich and poor, they produce a wide range of low- and high-end goods and services for both domestic and global markets. Some of them are self-employed while others are sub-contracted. Today, these workers represent a significant share of urban employment in some countries, particularly for women, and especially in Asia.
6:30pm IST (8:00am EST)
This webinar will highlight that:
Homes are workplaces, especially for women workers.
Most home-based workers do not enjoy adequate economic opportunities, legal rights, social protection or representative voice.
Working from in or around their own homes, home-based workers’ contribution to the economy remain largely invisible and undervalued.
Dr. Martha (Marty) Chen, Harvard Kennedy School; Harvard Graduate School of Design
Professor Chen is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and an Affiliated Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is also the Co-Founder and International Coordinator of WIEGO. A renowned development scholar, Marty has steered WIEGO since its inception, turning the research, policy and action network into one of the world’s leading organizations focused on the informal economy. Her specialization includes employment, gender, and poverty with a focus on the working poor in the informal economy. Marty’s expertise is sought globally by a range of major institutions, from the European Commission and the International Labour Organization to the World Bank and the United Nations.
Sudhaben
Sudhaben is a home-based worker from the slums of Delhi. A migrant from eastern Uttar Pradesh, she works as an embroidery worker, often doing embellishment work on products for global companies and brands. Suhdhaben’s income is critical to the well being of her family, and for the education of her children.
Moderated by Shalini Sinha, India Country Representative and Home-based Sector Specialist, WIEGO
Shalini’s work focuses on developing and documenting decent work and livelihoods opportunities for women workers in the informal economy, especially women home-based workers in urban locations in India. Shalini specializes in labour, gender and social development issues and has worked with several national and international NGOs and funding agencies.
The webinar will focus on:
• Successful organizational interventions
• Challenges faced and strategies to overcome them
• Useful resources and tools while working with boys and men
The webinar is open to anyone interested in issues relating to gender based violence and working with men and boys to prevent it. It will also provide practical tools for grassroots practitioners working on these issues. Post the panel discussion, there will be an opportunity for live Q&A.
Dr. Gary Barker
Gary Barker is President and CEO of Promundo and is a leading voice for the worldwide effort to establish positive, healthy dynamics between men and women. Gary is the co-founder of MenCare, a global campaign to promote men’s involvement as equitable, non-violent caregivers, and co-founder of MenEngage, a global alliance of more than 600 NGOs and UN agencies working toward gender equality. He coordinates IMAGES (the International Men and Gender Equality Survey), a pioneering multi-country survey of men’s attitudes and behaviors related to violence, fatherhood, and gender equality, among other themes. He is a member of the UN Secretary General’s Men’s Leaders Network and has been honored with an Ashoka Fellowship, a fellowship from the Open Society Institute, and the Vital Voices Solidarity Award.
Rujuta Teredesai-Heron
Rujuta Teredesai-Heron is the co-founder of Equal Community Foundation (ECF). Equal Community Foundation was set up in 2009 with the objective of engaging boys and men to prevent violence and discrimination against women. Rujuta has been working in the development sector for around 10 years. She specializes in program management and communications. Having studied English Literature and Print Journalism, she is a trained journalist. At ECF, she is currently focusing on scaling the approach of working with boys and men across India.
Speaker: Professor Shantha Sinha Professor Sinha is one of India’s leading child rights activists and the founder and Secretary Trustee of M. Venkatarangaiya Foundation. She was the former Chairperson National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), and Professor in the Department of Political Science – University of Hyderabad. She has been honoured with the Raman Magsaysay Award in 2003, and the Padma Shri in 2008.
Moderated by Professor Jacqueline Bhabha Jacqueline Bhabha is a Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. She is the Director of Research at the Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, the Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School, and an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.
The webinar will focus on:
Factors enabling girls to attend school
Challenges faced by school-going girls
Successful strategies for ensuring that girls have access to secondary education
The webinar is open to anyone interested in the issue of access to education in India. It will provide practical tools for grassroots practitioners working on issues relating to gender and access to education. Post the panel discussion, there will be an opportunity for live Q&A.
Differences between copyright, GI, trademark, and costs of certification
Business advantages conferred by intellectual property certifications
What kinds of handicrafts/handlooms products and designs might be eligible?
Who owns IP rights in the handicrafts/handlooms sector? – artisans, designers, or the organization?
Guriqbal Singh JAIYA will share his thoughts and insights from his two decade long experience at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and provide information and examples of how organizations in the Crafts Sector can benefit from intellectual property certifications.
This webinar is for:
Individuals associated with the handicrafts and handlooms sectors who lead and occupy senior positions in their organizations;
Social entrepreneurs and executives of social organizations in creative industries who may wish to use IP as a powerful tool to protect their products and innovations;
Practitioners involved in the non-profit sector who wish to maximise impact,
Students who are interested in knowing how using IP effectively can become a very important strategy in achieving the objectives of a social organization
This is fifth in a series of monthly webinars on the Indian handicrafts and handlooms sector until November 2016. Every webinar in this series is completely free of cost.
Social Enterprises in India have been increasingly playing a transformative role in solving a number of issues in a sustainable manner. Their contribution is visible in areas as diverse as health, education, drinking water, sanitation, women’s empowerment, energy conservation, art and culture, among many others.
This webinar will focus on:
Ways in which social enterprises in India can achieve impact and scale.
Examples of successful social enterprises from India and guiding principles that may have resulted in their success
Discussion of the ways in which these principles can be applied to your organizations
Tarun Khanna is the Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at the Harvard Business School, where he has sought for two decades to study the drivers of entrepreneurship in emerging markets as a means of economic and social development. At HBS since 1993, after obtaining degrees from Princeton and Harvard, he has taught courses on strategy, corporate governance and international business to MBA and Ph.D. students and senior executives. For many years, he has served as the Faculty Chair for HBS activities in India and South Asia.
In the fall of 2010, he was named the first director of the university-wide Harvard South Asia Institute. The institute rapidly grew to engage over 150 faculty from across Harvard in projects embracing the pure sciences, social sciences and the humanities, and spanning the region from Afghanistan to Myanmar. In this role, he currently teaches a popular university-wide elective course ‘Contemporary Developing Countries’, where students work in multi-disciplinary teams to devise practical solutions to complex social problems.
In 2014, the Government of India nominated him as the Chairperson of the NITI Aayog Expert Committee on ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship’. The Report submitted by this Expert Committee was accepted by the Indian Cabinet and has informed the formation of the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’, charged with contributing to build-up the innovation infrastructure of India.
Context of the Series of Webinars
This is the fifth in a series of monthly webinars as part of the Harvard University SAI and Tata Trusts Project. Every webinar in this series is completely free of cost.
This webinar is for social entrepreneurs from India and other South Asian countries.
Ritesh Mehta,Head of Economic Growth Initiatives, India & South Asia at Facebook
The webinar will address:
Importance of Social Media for Social Enterprises
Creating and maintaining a focused Facebook page
Social Media Best Practices for Social Enterprises
Ritesh Mehta will share his experiences from Facebook and provide practical examples of how Facebook can benefit social enterprises in their endeavour to empower their beneficiaries and sustain the institution.
This webinar will benefit:
Those who handle social media for social enterprises, civil society organizations, non-profits and trusts;
Entrepreneurs and executives in social organizations who wish to use Facebook as a powerful tool to reach out to more customers, donors and patrons;
Practitioners involved in the non-profit sector who wish to maximize impact; and
Students who are interested in knowing how use of social media like Facebook can be an important strategy in achieving the objectives of a social organization.
Dr. Vandana Bhandari,Professor and Dean (Academics) at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi
Indian handicrafts are a vast and important, but rapidly-disappearing aspect of Indian society and culture. While a range of handicraft organizations have been at the forefront of introducing consumers to traditional handicraft techniques and skills in the form of innovative and beautiful products, the sustainability of the supply of these products is threatened by the rate at which artisans seek alternative livelihoods. Documentation of craft techniques and practices is a crucial tool in a programmatic agenda to preserve that which is not just cultural heritage, but, in a world where handmade is equal to luxury, a competitive advantage.
Dr. Bhandari will share her expertise and experiences gleaned from years in the field, spent documenting cultural and economically significant crafts in danger of succumbing to modernization and socio-economic changes in the nation. Dr. Bhandari will provide practical insights on the benefits of documentation, as well as documentation best practices for organizations working in the handicraft sector.
Merchandising and Marketing of Handcrafted Goods: Challenges and Solutions in the Physical and Online Markets
Thursday, January 7, 2015. 6.00 pm to 7:00 pm IST
The webinar will address:
Innovation in design and product ranges and supply chain
Capturing larger audiences and potential customers online and offline
Principles of merchandizing that can add value to marketing efforts
This is the second in a series of monthly webinars on the handicrafts and handlooms sector until December 2016. Every webinar in this series is completely free of cost.
This webinar is for practitioners in the handicrafts and handlooms sectors and all those who are interested in knowing more about the current state of the sector and the immense potential it holds for rural livelihood creation.
Speakers will include representatives from handicraft and handloom retail ventures.
