Risk and Uncertainty: Arab Development Challenges Report 2011
UNU-EHS and the Center for Development Research (ZEF) cordially invite you to the next Risk and Uncertainty lecture
on “Arab Development Challenges Report 2011 - Towards the Developmental
State in the Arab Region” by Noha al-Mikawy (Ford Foundation) and
Mohammad Pournik (Poverty and MDGs Practice Leader at UNDP, Cairo). The lecture takes place on 12 June 2012, 3-4.30 p.m., at ZEF (ground floor conference room).
The speakers
Noha al-Mikawy serves as representative for the Ford Foundation's Middle East and North Africa office in Cairo, Egypt. Her work concentrates on issues of equity, inclusion and civic engagement by supporting transparency, integrity and accountability; social, economic and cultural rights; creative arts; media; and higher education. Before joining the Ford Foundation in 2012, Ms. al Mikawy served as a team leader for democratic governance at the UNDP regional center in the Arab States Region and as global policy adviser who connected governance and poverty reduction themes—with a special focus on legal empowerment of the poor—to social and economic rights. In her previous career she focused comparative research on political economy and institutional analysis at the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn.
Mohammad Pournik is the Poverty Practice Leader at the UNDP Regional Centre for Arab States in Cairo. He is responsible for provision of advisory services in economic and social policy, human development and MDGs, inter-alia through production and dissemination of knowledge products. He has expertise in the following areas: Political economy of development, project management, assessing development results, community driven development, heterodox macroeconomics and micro finance. For most of his professional life in the United Nations system, Mohammad Pournik worked on issues pertaining to political economy of sustainable development and poverty reduction. He joined UNDP Iran in 1984 and has since worked in Laos, New York, Nepal, Sudan and Yemen.
Background: Risk and Uncertainty lecture
In this seminar series we
address opportunities, risks and uncertainties for development. Uncertainty,
i.e. the unknown unknowns, is a particular challenge. Risk and uncertainty have
become a focal topic among development researchers, policy makers and
practitioners as worldwide, economy and ecology have been assailed by a series
of global crises: financial crisis, high and volatile food and oil price,
and/or climate change. These crises present threats to development and to the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The understanding,
mitigating and controlling of risk and uncertainty is far from being
understood. The seminar series provides a forum for agenda setting and discussion
on related themes with leading experts in this field of research and policy.
The lecture series
is co-organized by
the United Nations University (UNU) in Bonn and
ZEF.
