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Hello EPD-ers!

Happy Monday! We hope you had a great weekend. As usual, we bring you some news, events, and opportunities for you this week to cheer you up!

This week’s newsletter includes:

DEI Steering Committee Message
Upcoming EPD & Other Events
Opportunities
Upcoming OCS Events
Jobs, Internships, and Other Opportunities
Columbia Health Announcement
Student Spotlights
Pick of the Week
EPD Office Hours

MESSAGE FROM THE DEI STEERING COMMITTEE

SIPA's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Steering Committee is coordinating an assessment of past and current efforts to ensure greater diversity, equity and inclusion at SIPA, including identifying gaps, opportunities for improvement, and concrete actions that can be taken. The committee will be communicating later this week with students, faculty, staff and alumni about their work, and inviting everyone to participate in a short climate survey. Please be on the lookout for messages from the committee, and be sure to respond to the survey so that your voice will be heard! If you have any questions or suggestions, also feel free to contact the co-chairs of the committee, Suresh Naidu and Jenny McGill.

RECORDING BOOK TALK - Making It Big: Why Developing Countries Need More Large Firms with Alexandros Ragoussis

For those who missed the Book Talk - Making it Big: Why Developing Countries Need More Large Firms with Alex Ragoussis last week you can watch the recording here.

UPCOMING EPD & OTHER EVENTS

DP Seminar: Indigenous and Innovative Approaches in Social Work - The True Humanitarian Response with James S. Boyon
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 | 1-2PM (EST)
REGISTER HERE

Join the first DP Seminar of the semester with James Suru Boyon, an Advocacy Officer specializing in child protection from MAEJT and Enda Jeunesse Action, based in Senegal. James will host the seminar on Indigenous and innovative approaches in Social Work.

The Future of Finance and Empowering the Retail Investor
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 | 7:00-8:00 PM (EST)
Thursday, February 18, 2021 | 9:00-10:00 AM (Japan Time)
REGISTER HERE

Join Alicia Ogawa, Director, Project on Japanese Corporate Governance and Stewardship, Center on Japanese Economy and Business, Columbia Business School, in a conversation with Oki Matsumoto, Chairman and CEO, Monex Group, Inc.
They will discuss how Monex is using cross-fertilization across technologies and geographies to grow its business, the role of Monex in increasing financial literacy in Japan, and how Monex has launched a new fund which will harness the power of retail investors in order to challenge Japanese executives to improve their environmental, social, and governance standards.

HUMANITARIAN SECURITY IN THE BIDEN ERA AND BEYOND
Thursday, February 18, 2021 | 1-2PM (EST)
REGISTER HERE | Zoom Link

The ISP Interdisciplinary Security Dialogues, in partnership with the ISP and HRHP Concentrations, presents Humanitarian Security in The Biden Era and Beyond, a lively discussion with prominent alumni in the field as they dialogue about the ways in which national security and humanitarian frameworks can either come into conflict with each other, or be brought together to craft a more holistic, humane security policy – not only in theory, but in practice.

Panelists are:
Jesse Wolfe, Branch Chief of Training and Engagement at the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance in Pearl Harbor, reporting directly to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM)
Jenny McAvoy, Director of Protection at InterAction, with more than thirteen years of experience working with national and international NGOs in Southeast Asia and Sudan
Amir Khouzam, Associate for Humanitarian Diplomacy and Policy at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Moderated by Brit Felsen-Parsons, ISP-ICR Coordinator, and Michelle Chouinard, HRHP Coordinator.

Building Back Better – Opportunities for the World Bank and International Cooperation
Tuesday, February 23, 2021 | 1-2PM (EST)
REGISTER HERE
The global pandemic has reversed decades of progress on poverty, healthcare and education and the knock-on effects are most devastating for the most vulnerable. The scale of the effects has prompted wide-ranging discussions on how to rebuild economies, education, health, and social protection systems the world over. Each crisis also provides an opportunity and the global development community is thus faced with the question: How to build back better? How to use the rupture of the pandemic to create more equitable, effective, and environmentally-sound systems and thus "recover forward"?
Dr. Jürgen Zattler, Director-General for International Development Policy; 2030 Agenda and Climate at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development shares insight into opportunities for the World Bank and other multilateral organizations. Until 2020, Dr. Zattler represented Germany as Executive Director for the World Bank and his talk will equally shed light on the political processes at the World Bank to steer and influence the institution's consequential activities.
The talk is moderated by Daniel Naujoks, director a.i., International Organization and UN Studies, SIPA

COVID-19 in Asia: Diverse Effects, Responses and Prospects for Recovery
Wednesday, February 24, 2021 | 1-2PM (EST)
REGISTER HERE |

Join Qin Gao, Professor of Social Policy and Social Work, Director of China Center on Social Policy, Columbia University; Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst; and Duncan McCargo, Director, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies and Professor of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, in a discussion on the very diverse effects, responses, and prospects for revovery post-covid-19 in Asia looking at political, economic, and social lenses.

UPCOMING OCS EVENTS

Education Pioneers Impact Fellowship Information Session
When: Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Work Authorization Requirement: N/A
For more information and to register CLICK HERE.

Dalberg Global Development Advisors Employer Information Session
When: Thursday, February 18, 2021
Time: 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Work Authorization Requirement: Work authorization for the U.S.
For more information and to register CLICK HERE.

Tips for Finding Summer Internship Funding
When: Thursday, February 18, 2021
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Work Authorization Requirement: N/A
For more information and to register CLICK HERE.

JOBS, INTERNSHIPS AND OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

Check out this week's OCS New Job and Internship Opportunities CLICK HERE and Upcoming Deadlines for Jobs and Internship Application CLICK HERE.

CAREER RESOURCES

SIPA Career Website & Resources
Check out great career development resources for students that can be found on SIPA Career Resources Website.

Factsheets on Career Development - Tips for international students and on connecting with alumni, interviewing, networking, PMF information, writing resumes and cover letters and other career development topics.

Career Overview Factsheet - Information, sample employers, and online resources for a variety of fields and industries

Sector-Specific Fact Sheets - Lists of employers by industry or field, organizational charts, and information on IFC and World Bank internship programs and YPPs.

Check out other resources in the website.

COLUMBIA HEALTH SUPPORT GROUPS

Columbia Health has put together an expansive list of support groups to help students cope and thrive in this current moment.
You can learn more at https://health.columbia.edu/content/support-groups

STUDENT SPOTLIGHTS

Abul Hashem is a MIA candidate, with a concentration in Economic and Political Development. Abul’s Regional specialization is in the Middle East. A New Yorker who was born in Bangladesh, and raised in NYC, valuing both cultures while growing up. An avid sports fan, his love for soccer recently took him to the World Cup in Russia. Outside of sports and academics, Abul is also a passionate foodie, conjoining his Bangladeshi and American roots through fusion dishes. Prior to SIPA, Abul and his friends started a Mexican restaurant in Brooklyn which was profiled in the WSJ.

Natasha Barrientos (she/her/hers) is a first-year MIA student concentrating in EPD and specializing in IO/UNS. She is first-generation American of Guatemalan, Cuban, and Puerto Rican descent and was raised in Boston, MA. She received her B.Sc. in Business Management from Babson College and has spent the last 10 years working in the private sector. As the co-founder of her organization’s global innovation lab network, she has launched labs in Boston, Toronto, and Singapore- where she lived for 1 year developing new partnerships in the APAC region. With experience in both start-ups and large corporations, Natasha currently continues to head Research & Development at a financial service company on a part-time basis while in school. Her areas of focus include financial inclusion, digital strategy, and emerging technologies. Driving social impact and cross-sector collaboration is what motivated Natasha to seek a graduate degree, and Columbia’s strong ties to the UN are representative of a potential path she wishes to explore after graduation. Outside of SIPA, Natasha enjoys binging Latin American and Turkish telenovelas, and dancing bachata, merengue, and salsa - in that order. She is excited to get back to dancing more next year and hoping to learn more tango and kizomba. Feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/in/natashabarrientos.

(Reach out to us if you'd like to be featured in the next newsletter!)

PICK OF THE WEEK

This week's featured film: The White Tiger

The ambitious driver for a rich Indian family uses his wit and cunning to escape from poverty and become an entrepreneur. Society has trained Balram to be one thing -- a servant -- so he makes himself indispensable to his rich masters. But after a night of betrayal, he realizes the corrupt lengths they will go to trap him and save themselves. On the verge of losing everything, Balram rebels against a rigged and unequal system to rise up and become a new kind of master.
Based on the bestselling novel and 2008 Man Booker Prize-winning novel.

This week's featured book: Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

Data is fundamental to the modern world. From economic development, to healthcare, to education and public policy, we rely on numbers to allocate resources and make crucial decisions. But because so much data fails to take into account gender, because it treats men as the default and women as atypical, bias and discrimination are baked into our systems. And women pay tremendous costs for this bias, in time, money, and often with their lives.

Celebrated feminist advocate Caroline Criado Perez investigates the shocking root cause of gender inequality and research in Invisible Women, diving into women's lives at home, the workplace, the public square, the doctor's office, and more. Built on hundreds of studies in the US, the UK, and around the world, and written with energy, wit, and sparkling intelligence, this is a groundbreaking, unforgettable expos that will change the way you look at the world.

(We would love to hear your recommendations! Let us know what you have watched/read/listened to recently so we can feature them in the next newsletter!)

EPD OFFICE HOURS

José Antonio Ocampo, EPD Co-Director
Sign up online: https://tinyurl.com/officehours-ocampo

Jenny McGill, EPD Co-Director and Workshop Director
Sign up online: https://tinyurl.com/mcgill-oh

Ilona Vinklerova, EPD Manager
Sign up online: https://sipa.campusgroups.com/meetings/1060915/IlonaOH_spring2021

Séléna Batchily, EPD Program Assistant
By appointment at ssb2200@columbia.edu

Saiful Salihudin, EPD Program Assistant
By appointment at sas2409@columbia.edu

Your friendly PAs,
Saiful & Séléna

EVENT

DP Seminar on Indigenous and innovative approaches in Social Work

Wednesday, February 17, 2021
1:00pm - 2:00pm

Private Location (register to display)

Add to Google Cal, Outlook, Yahoo, iCal

James Suru BOYON is an experienced Advocacy Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the program development industry. Specialized in child protection, Skilled in Nonprofit Organizations, Public Engagement, Program Evaluation, and Volunteer Management. Strong operations professional with an M.Sc focused in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution from National open university Apapa Lagos.

He was a member of MAEJT, and now a program and child protection coordinator at the regional office of Enda Jeunesse Action, the supporting structure of MAEJT. He has experience working with children and in community accompaniment.

James will present on his experience working with the Africa and African Movement of Working Children and Youth, on Social work with children, youth, and adults at a grassroots level. He aims to aim to describe the content of systems that strengthen Human Relation for Social Economic and Political Transformation and inevitable actors with prominent Indigenous and innovative approaches in social work.

Key presentation section:
1. A conceptual and contextual problem affecting children, Human Relation for Social Economic and Political Transformation
2. The roles, spaces, and importance of children, youth, and elderly people in social work
3. Prominent and promising indigenous and innovative approaches

Conclusions and Implications section:

1. Children and youth implication in social work shrinking spaces are revamped
2. Coordinated and systematic holistic approaches are developed by communities members and actors
3. And a suggestion from this presentation is encouraging all stakeholders to promotes by applying the approaches proposed by accompanying societies that are pragmatically using the practices

EVENT

Building Back Better: Opportunities for the World Bank and International Cooperation

Tuesday, February 23, 2021
1:00pm - 2:00pm

Private Location (register to display)

Add to Google Cal, Outlook, Yahoo, iCal

A talk with Dr. Jürgen Zattler, Director-General for International Development Policy; 2030 Agenda and Climate at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, to understand and question how to build back better post the pandemic and how to use the rupture of the pandemic to create more equitable, effective, and environmentally-sound systems to "recover forward"?

EVENT

Covid-19 in Asia: Diverse Effects, Responses and Prospects for Recovery

Wednesday, February 24, 2021
1:00pm - 2:00pm

TBD

Add to Google Cal, Outlook, Yahoo, iCal

REGISTER HERE: https://events.columbia.edu/go/COVID19_inAsia
The pandemic that swept the world since early 2020 has triggered various level of response from different countries in Asia. While some countries in the region has been hailed as exemplary, others became cautionary tales. Join our panelists, Qin Gao – Professor of Social Policy and Social Work, Director of China Center on Social Policy, Columbia, Jayati Ghosh – Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Duncan McCargo – Director, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Professor of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, to discuss the varying effects, response, and outcome of the pandemic in this very diverse region. Moderator: Moderator: Jose Antonio Ocampo, Co-director of the Economic and Political Development Concentration, Professor of Professional Practice in International and Public Affairs, Columbia SIPA.