Work for Human Development: A Panel Discussion on the 2015 Human Development Report
#HDR2015 @HDRUNDP @UNDP @UNDPDC @Georgetown @GeorgetownSFS @GeorgetownGHD @the_IADB @WomenThrive @PatThrive
Background
Fast technological progress, deepening globalization, aging societies and environmental challenges are rapidly transforming what work means today and how it is performed. This new world of work presents great opportunities for some, but also profound challenges for others.
The 2015 Human Development Report calls for equitable and decent work for all. In doing so, it encourages governments to look beyond jobs to consider the many kinds of work, such as unpaid care, voluntary, or creative work that are important for human development. The report suggests that only by taking such a broad view can the benefits of work be truly harnessed for sustainable development.
The 2015 Human Development Report presents topics as inequality between men and women at work, the double-edged effects of globalization and the digital revolution, sustainable work and the new agenda for work.
Speaker Biographies
Selim Jahan
Director, Human Development Report Office | United Nations Development Programme
Selim Jahan is the Director of UNDP's Human Development Report Office (HDRO) in New York. He was previously Director of the Poverty Practice in UNDP’s Bureau for Development Policy in New York (2007-2014).
Mr. Jahan was Deputy Director of the Human Development Report Office and was a member of the Core Team that authored nine global Human Development Reports (1993-2001).
Before joining UNDP in 1992, Mr. Jahan held several positions, including Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Research Unit, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh (1984-92); Economic Adviser, Planning Commission, Government of Bangladesh, (1989-90); Visiting Scholar, School Of Public Policy, University of Maryland, USA (1992) and Lecturer, Department of Economics, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (1983-84). Mr. Jahan also worked as Adviser and Consultant to various international organizations including ILO, UNDP, UNESCO, and the World Bank during the 1980s and the early 1990s.
Mr. Jahan is the author of 10 books and more than 150 articles in various national and international academic journals. His areas of expertise include the following: human development, poverty and vulnerability, macroeconomic policies, inequality, vulnerability, inclusive growth, the MDGs and the post- 2015 development agenda.
Mr. Jahan is a Bangladesh national and holds a PhD in Economics from McGill University, Canada.
Steven Radelet
Donald F. McHenry Chair in Global Human Development and Director of the Global Human Development Program | Georgetown University
Steven Radelet holds the Donald F. McHenry Chair in Global Human Development, is Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Development, and is Director of the Global Human Development Program at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He serves as an economic adviser to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, and is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution. His work focuses on economic growth, foreign aid, debt, and financial crises, primarily in Africa and Asia.
Dr. Radelet joined the Georgetown faculty in 2012 after serving as Chief Economist of USAID and Senior Adviser for Development for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (1999-2002). From 2002-2009 he was Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development. He spent twelve years with the Harvard Institute for International Development, while
teaching in both the Harvard economics department and Kennedy School of Government. While with HIID, he spent four years as resident adviser to the Ministry of Finance in Jakarta, Indonesia, and two years with the Ministry of Finance and Trade in The Gambia.
Dr. Radelet is the author or coauthor of several books and dozens of academic articles, including The Great Surge: The Ascent of the Developing World (Simon & Schuster, 2015), Emerging Africa: How 17 Countries are Leading the Way (Center for Global Development, 2010) and the textbook Economics of Development (W.W. Norton, 7th Edition, 2013). He holds PhD and master's degrees in public policy from Harvard University and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Central Michigan University.
Cheryl W. Gray
Director, Office of Evaluation and Oversight | Inter-American Development Bank
Cheryl W. Gray is Director of the Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE) at the Inter-American Development Bank. OVE is independent and reports directly to the Bank’s Board of Executive Directors. It conducts evaluations of the Bank’s projects and programs to help improve the developmental effectiveness of the IDB.
Dr. Gray joined the IDB in June 2011 after working 25 years at the World Bank, most recently as Director of Independent Evaluation. Prior to that position she served as a Director in the Bank’s Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Vice-Presidency, managing the World Bank’s work on economic policy, governance, legal and judicial reform, and gender and poverty analysis in 30 ECA countries. From 1997 to 2002 she served as Director for Public Sector Reform, co-authoring the World Bank’s anticorruption and public sector reform strategies, and from 1987 to 1997 she worked as an economist in the Bank’s Development Research Department and Office of Chief Economist. Before joining the World Bank she worked for three years as an advisor in the Ministry of Finance in Indonesia.
Dr. Gray holds a PhD and law degree from Harvard University and an undergraduate degree in economics from Stanford University. She has published extensively on legal reform, governance, and enterprise restructuring in transition economies.
Patricia T. Morris
President | Women Thrive Worldwide
Patricia T. Morris, Ph.D. is President of Women Thrive Worldwide and an internationally known leader in women’s empowerment and development. Dr.Morris is a gender-mainstreaming expert with a career spanning more than 20 years whose work has taken her to Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America.
Dr. Morris previously managed a global portfolio of social and economic development projects with a view to promoting equality, accountability, and sustainability at Development and Training Services. She also
served as Executive Director of Peace X Peace, a global network of peacebuilders in 120 countries. Earlier, at Women for Women International, Dr. Morris managed nine country offices in conflict-affected countries with a budget of over $12 million and responsibility for more than 450 overseas staff.
She was Deputy Director of the Commission on the Advancement of Women at InterAction, an alliance of over 180 international relief and development organizations, where she led technical assistance for member organizations on mainstreaming gender equality in programs and organizational structures. She also founded Creative Associate’s Center for Women’s Leadership in International Development, and was President of the Board of Directors of the Afghan Women’s Writing Project. Dr. Morris has worked closely with the U.S. government to advance initiatives empowering women and girls—including as a team leader for the USAID-funded GBV Strategy Research Agenda Project and Project Director for the State Department’s assessment of programs with marginalized populations. She has also led dozens of organizations and corporations to institutionalize equitable gender policies.
Dr. Morris is currently an adjunct professor at American University’s School of International Service. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Society for International Development's Washington Chapter and on the Executive Committee of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network.
She holds a PhD from Florida State University, and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from Bowling Green State University and Jacksonville University, respectively. She is a native of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Moderator Biography Henry S. Richardson
Senior Researcher Scholar and Professor | Kennedy Institute of Ethnics | Georgetown University
Henry S. Richardson is Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. He is the author of three books: Practical Reasoning about Final Ends (Cambridge, 1994), Democratic Autonomy: Public Reasoning about the Ends of Policy (Oxford, 2002), and Moral Entanglements: Medical Researchers’ Ancillary-Care Obligations (Oxford, 2012). He was a member of the World Commission on the Ethics of Science and Technology (a UNESCO body) 2010-13 and its rapporteur from 2011-2013. He is currently the editor of Ethics and the president of the Human Development and Capability Association.
Dr. Richardson received his PhD from Harvard University and has held research fellowships sponsored by Georgetown University, the Program in Ethics and the Professions at Harvard University, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.