Photo credit: @sboudhabhay1 via Twenty20
Over the last two decades, 200 million people have been lifted out of hunger. Yet according to the World Bank, nearly 800 million people around the world still experience food insecurity, and an estimated 3 million children die each year due to causes related to under nutrition. Climate change has the potential to increase food insecurity for those living on the margins, as it increases the frequency and intensity of droughts, floods, and storms, destroying crops and livelihoods. Furthermore, experts warn that we will need to double world food production by 2050 to keep up with the growing population growth, most of which will take place in developing countries. Come join the conversation about the work being done to increase food security in developing countries to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate.
Who:
Everyone
Where:
Global Washington
When:
Tuesday: October 9, 2018
Time:
Program: 3:00pm – 4:30pm
Reception: 4:30 – 5:30pm
Address:
1601 Fifth Ave, Suite 1900
Seattle, WA 98101
Cost:
Members: $25
Non-Members: $35
email pratima@globalwa.org for member code
Speakers:
- Juan Echanove, Senior Director for Food and Nutrition Security, CARE
- Chris Shore, Chief Development Officer, Economic Empowerment, World Vision
- Jen Duncan, Director of Africa Programs, Landesa
- (Moderator) Gabrielle Fitzgerald, Founder and CEO, Panorama
Juan Echanove
Senior Director for Food and Nutrition Security
CARE
Juan Echanove has been active in the food security, agriculture, rural development and climate adaptation sectors for 25 years. Juan started his career working as food aid monitor in Croatia, Bosnia and Cuba; he spent 5 in Central America as chief of party on agriculture programs for the Swedish Development Cooperation, policy advisor for Oxfam International and consultant for DFID, Spanish Development Cooperation Agency and UNDP. Later, he coordinated the agriculture programs of Spanish NGO Solidaridad International in West Bank and Gaza.
In 2004 Juan become staff of the European Union. Based in Manila, he leaded the establishment of the South East Asia Centre for Biodiversity (a unique mechanism that uses a bottom-top approach to deal with the biodiversity loss problem) and he run the EU Food Security Facility for the Philippines. He lived in the Caucasus from 2009 to 2016, where he successfully managed the agriculture and food safety negotiations for the free trade agreement between Georgia and the EU. Juan also coordinated the EU’s agriculture and rural development programming, co-designed the national agriculture strategy and successfully established more than 1,500 smallholders’ cooperatives across the country. In 2015 Juan was awarded by the Prime Minister of Georgia with the Order of the Golden Fleece (the highest State recognition in the country) for his ‘outstanding contribution to the development of agriculture’.
Juan joined CARE in 2016, first as agriculture policies’ advisor, and since May 2017 as Senior Director for Food and Nutrition Security at CARE USA and Chair of CARE International Food and Nutrition Security Steering Committee.
Juan has a Bachelor’s Degree in Law, a Master’s Degree in Development Cooperation and a Minor Degree in Anthropology on Amerindian Studies.
Amongst other distinctions, Juan is the Honorary President of the 10,000 members’ Georgians Farmers Association and Funding Member of the Spanish Development Workers Professional Association. He has authored various articles popularizing FNS development policies in newspapers, magazines and academic papers and he is the author of four books. Juan is a proud father of three and is currently living with his family in Strasbourg, France.
Chris Shore
Chief Development Officer, Economic Empowerment
World Vision
Christopher Shore is Chief Development Officer, Economic Empowerment for World Vision (USA). Chris’ role is to globalize the work of building radically improved and resilient livelihoods for small-holder farmers, and aims to capitalize this work with over $175 million in new funding by 2022. This is work that Chris previously led for World Vision’s three Africa Regions, of which he has been a principal architect. This work takes aim at the critical problems of both entrenched poverty and the effects of rapidly changing environmental challenges. The work seeks to improve three critical systems affecting the small-holder farmer: The end-to-end business processes of farming; the on and off-farm natural resource management supporting the farm; and the shock and emergency management systems supporting the small-holder farmer and his/her community. It sits on the foundation of building the empowered world view needed to overcome endemic dependency.
Chris is one of World Vision’s serial “intrapreneurs”. Prior to his current role and activities, he initiated and led World Vision’s global environment and climate when he began investigating if and how to harness the emerging markets for carbon credits for poverty alleviation. His global team worked on issues of environmental restoration and protection, as well as climate change adaptation, mitigation, and advocacy.
Through 2008 Chris led World Vision’s work in Economic Development. In this capacity World Vision laid out a strategy of ensuring sustainable access to financial services, markets, technology, information, and know-how. Chris led the development of World Vision’s first work in economic recovery, and into innovative ways of raising microfinance capital.
In the area of microfinance, under Chris’ leadership, World Vision grew its work in microfinance from $18 million to $175 million in lending capital, working in 47 countries. Chris was the founder of VisionFund International which is World Vision’s holding and operating company for its microfinance operations. VisionFund has continued to grow and now has over $600 million in lending portfolio serving 1 million clients.
Prior to moving to California in 2000, Chris was National Director and led World Vision’s work in Romania. Chris not only led the organization into rural economic development, innovative partnerships, and large social movements, but also expanded the work he helped begin in microfinance, helped to reform the system of care for special needs children, and was instrumental in leading World Vision’s work which modeled in three counties the restructuring of the entire system of care for children for the nation, moving it from an institutional basis to a family basis.
Chris got into international development in 1990 when he began and led the Mennonite Economic Development Associates’ work in the Soviet Union. Chris and his family lived in Moscow, where he started one of Russia’s first small business incubators, which was integrated with microfinance and business training for the rapidly emerging small and micro-business sectors.
Chris has also worked in the corporate world, with a background in strategic and corporate planning, acquired while working with a multinational company and in consulting. Chris has run a number of his own small businesses, worked behind the Iron Curtain for a number of years, and holds both an MBA and an undergraduate degree in finance. He enjoys cycling, woodworking, and classic literature. Chris is married to Dr. Susan Shore, and they have 2 children who are now undertaking graduate studies.
Jen Duncan
Director of Africa Programs
Landesa
Jennifer Duncan has worked in international development for more than 20 years, with an emphasis on land and housing rights. She has considerable experience in legal analysis and drafting, program design and management, and advocacy around rights to land and natural resources. She has written and published extensively on land tenure issues. Duncan has focused on gender perspectives and women’s rights to land and housing throughout her career, and is leading Landesa’s work on climate change. She has previously conducted policy work and field research on land issues across Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to her international experience, she has worked with socio-economic development and legal issues among minority groups within the US, including migrant farm worker communities in California and the Makah Nation in Washington State.
Moderator:
Gabrielle Fitzgerald
Founder and CEO
Panorama
Gabrielle Fitzgerald is a global leader who believes that innovative approaches and catalytic coalitions are needed to solve the most challenging issues. Her focus is on designing and driving strategies that measurably impact people, organizations and countries.
Gabrielle is the founder and CEO of Panorama, an action tank dedicated to helping ambitious leaders solve global problems. For more than two decades, she has led teams and collaborated with partners to spark global change.
Prior to founding Panorama, she directed the $100 million Ebola Program at the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, investing in creative approaches to combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Gabrielle previously served as the director of Global Program Advocacy at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, leading the team that advanced policy and advocacy agendas for the organization’s global issues. In 2014, she won the Gold Medallion award from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs for her leadership on malaria.
Earlier in her career, Gabrielle led the public affairs strategy for HIV/AIDS at the U.S. Agency for International Development and served as the communications director for the U.S. Committee for Refugees. She also served as a speechwriter for President Clinton at The White House.
Gabrielle is the chair of the board of the Washington Global Health Alliance, and serves on numerous advisory committees and panels.
Gabrielle holds a Masters of Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a bachelor of arts from American University in Washington, DC.
