Event Type: Online

USAID LandLinks is working to support private sector partners to de-risk investments and secure legitimate land rights in order to improve livelihoods and other outcomes for communities affected by investments. Join us, along with Agrilinks, Microlinks, and a panel of experts, for an interactive online discussion on the Business Case for Land Rights: Private Sector Perspectives on Responsible Land-Based Investment.

Secure, clear land rights are critical for sustainable land-based investments. But in the developing world, where an estimated 70 percent of land is unregistered, it can be challenging to understand who has legitimate land and resource rights, and land grabs and land rights abuses are often associated with commercial investments.

Featuring USAID partners, The Hershey Company and ECOM Agroindustrial Corporation, this webinar will explore how these companies think about and address land tenure risks in their supply chains. We will also delve into why and how these two companies are working with USAID to mitigate land tenure risks for their suppliers and increase cocoa yields in Ghana. Olga Gormalova (ECOM Agroindustrial) and Jeff King (Hershey’s) will be speaking, with Sarah Lowery (USAID) moderating.

Thursday, November 2, 2017
2:00 – 3:00 pm EDT

Watch the webinar recording!

You can also connect on Twitter using the hashtag #BusinessCase4Land.

Panelists

Jeff King

Senior Director of Sustainability, CSR, and Social Innovation for the Hershey Company

Jeff King is responsible for Hershey’s sustainability and farmer livelihoods programming, philanthropic giving and community programs, as well as leading Hershey’s commitment to childhood nutrition programs and expanding economic development in underserved communities. Prior to this position King was responsible for the strategic direction and regional execution for the Hershey Company’s two biggest franchises, as the Sr. Director Global Hershey and Reese’s. Additionally, he led Hershey’s new business model in Ghana that combines CSR activities with commercial development, specifically supporting the health and nutrition of Ghanaian children and the launching of a new, nutrition focused snacking brand in Africa.

King has also been the Director of Disruptive Innovation for The Hershey Company, and Sr. Brand Manager for the U.S. Reese’s Franchise. King joined the Hershey Company in 2008 from Procter and Gamble and also spent time in merchandise retailing at Victoria’s Secret and Lazarus Department Stores.

Olga Gormalova

General Manager, ECOM Agroindustrial’s Sustainable Management Services Ghana and Nigeria

Olga Gormalova has overseen sustainability programs of ECOM in Ghana and Nigeria since 2012. Olga comes from an international development background (MSc International Development – School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK) and has been working on health, education, and community development in the UK, India, Kenya, and Liberia since 2007. She is passionate about finding the most efficient and innovative solutions to deliver services to rural populations with an aim of improving their prosperity. In Ghana and Nigeria she has been overseeing a team of more than 160 staff, of which 130 are field based Agronomists.

ECOM Agroindustrial Corp. Ltd is a leading global commodity merchant and sustainable supply chain management company. As an origin-integrated business operating in over 40 major producing countries worldwide, ECOM focuses primarily on coffee, cotton, and cocoa, as well as participating in selected other agricultural product markets.

Discussion Moderator

Sarah Lowery

Economist and Public-Private Finance Specialist, USAID E3/Land and Urban Office

Ms. Lowery leads work on integrated finance for sustainable land use and responsible private sector investment. She focuses on the link between secure land tenure and inclusive economic growth and leads econometric and financial analysis related to strengthened land tenure and access to finance. Ms. Lowery holds an MBA and a master’s degree in Environmental Management from Yale University.

Ms. Lowery brings over 12 years of experience at the intersection of business, finance, and the environment. Prior to joining USAID, Ms. Lowery managed the Public-Private Co-Finance Initiative at Forest Trends and has authored several papers and thought-pieces on climate finance innovations like REDD+ bonds and ways to utilize climate finance to unlock larger pools of capital-like domestic agricultural finance in the pursuit of conservation goals.

Join USAID LandLinks and a panel of experts for an interactive online discussion on land and conflict. Around the world, concerns related to access to and development of land and resources, equitable use of valuable resources, and distribution of revenues associated with land and resource use drive disputes and violence. These diverse and widespread conflicts are often tied to weaknesses in the land sector—particularly to problems associated with land governance. Finding practical, actionable strategies to address these land-related conflicts can help to promote greater transparency, accountability, and resilience; and reduce conflict and support for violent extremism.

Did you miss the live webinar? View the recording here.

You can also connect on Twitter using the hashtag #LandAndConflict and check out this brief on Land and Conflict before the event.

Discussion Moderator

Kim Thompson

USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation, Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance

Kim Thompson is a Foreign Service Environment Officer at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and currently serves in the Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation in Washington, DC. She specializes in the linkages between natural resources and conflict. Kim has served overseas at USAID Missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Thailand. Prior to joining USAID, she worked at the World Resources Institute and the International Sustainable Development Studies Institute. She holds an MA in Environmental Policy and International Development from the London School of Economics.

Panelists

Zemen Haddis, PhD

Senior Agricultural Policy Advisor, USAID/Ethiopia

Dr. Haddis manages USAID’s LAND project, which focuses on the land rights formalization process in Chifra and Amibara woredas (administrative zones similar to counties) in Afar, Ethiopia. The project works with pastoral communities in Ethiopia to support the formal recognition of customary land rights and strengthen the capacity of formal and customary pastoral land administration and land use institutions.

Anna Knox

Chief of Party, USAID/Colombia’s Land and Rural Development Program

Anna Knox is currently serving as the Chief of Party for the USAID Land and Rural Development Program (LRDP) in Colombia for Tetra Tech ARD, supporting land restitution, land tenure formalization, and rural development. She previously led a USAID project in Rwanda that contributed to an evidence-based approach to policy-making on land and aims to strengthen the capacity of Rwandan research institutions to carry out rigorous policy research. Prior to this, she directed Landesa/RDI’s program in Sub-Saharan Africa where she directly engaged in work in Liberia, Rwanda, Angola, Ghana, Mali, and Burkina Faso. She has extensive experience working on USAID projects, particularly task orders issued under the Property Rights and Resource Governance Program and its predecessor. Beyond her work on project design and implementation, Ms. Knox has done research and published on a wide variety of subjects, including bridging customary and statutory land rights, gender and land rights, land/natural resource tenure and climate change, property rights and technology adoption, devolution of natural resource governance, collective action for watershed management, and participatory monitoring and evaluation. Her experience in land and resource tenure relates principally to Africa and Latin America, where she has cultivated particular expertise on issues of customary tenure, common property, governance of landscape level resources, women’s land and housing rights, and land tenure reform. She has designed and implemented assessment methodologies for resource tenure and governance, and is particularly knowledgeable on methods and issues of participatory rural appraisal (PRA), monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and impact assessment.

Jon Unruh, PhD

Associate Professor, McGill University

Dr. Unruh has over 25 years experience in developing and implementing research, policy and practice on war-affected land and property rights in the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and has published widely on these topics. His specialty is housing, land, and property (HLP) restitution claims in war-affected scenarios. Most recently he has assisted the UN in a mass claims HLP restitution project in Yemen; and he is currently working on an approach for mass HLP restitution claims for Syrian refugees regarding their lands and properties in Syria. Dr. Unruh has also conducted research and policy work regarding HLP in, Sudan, Liberia, Somalia, Mozambique, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, Madagascar, Cambodia, Angola, Cameroon, Jordan, Colombia, Peru, Zanzibar, Kenya, and Saudi Arabia, and remotely on Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. He has worked with the UN, The World Bank, USAID, DFID, and other multilateral and bilateral donors and NGOs.

Join USAID LandLinks and leading experts in artisanal mining for an interactive online discussion about the challenges faced by small-scale and artisanal miners around the world, as well as emerging lessons from global development programs that work with artisanal mining communities across different sectors.

Watch the Webinar

While in the U.S. the term ‘artisanal’ is generally associated with high-quality, specialty products, the reality for small-scale miners in the developing world is vastly different. Worldwide, between 20 and 25 million artisanal miners labor under generally archaic and difficult working conditions. Many live in extreme poverty, often receiving less than nine percent of the retail price of the stones they extract. The production and commercialization of minerals has driven conflict in countries like Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Peru, and Sierra Leone with property rights struggles often at the core of these conflicts.

This online event will explore the key issues around artisanal mining, including its relationship to land rights, conflict, economic growth, as well as how artisanal mining may have devastating environmental consequences. And we’ll delve into how local and regional contexts for different mining commodities—such as diamonds and gold—may change how development practitioners address issues faced by artisanal communities. Register today to attend this event.

Join the discussion live on Tuesday, December 13 at 10 am EST and connect on Twitter using the hashtag #ArtisanalMining.

Moderator

Jane Dennison
U.S. Department of State

Panel

Kim Thompson
USAID/DRC

Catherine Picard, PhD
Tetra Tech/ARD

Maina Martir-Torres, PhD
USAID/Peru