Global Poverty & Practice Minor

Student Stories

Several students in the GPP Minor have documented their Practice Experiences by keeping blogs. Follow the links below to visit their blogs and learn more about their experiences and insights.

GPP

Welcome to the Global Poverty & Practice Minor!

The problem of poverty is far from a clear-cut issue. In the new age of globalization and technology, future generations must develop the skills needed to critically think about the complexities of inequality in order to overcome the world’s most challenging obstacles. Since its formation 2007, the Global Poverty and Practice minor at the University of California Berkeley trains students to understand contemporary forms of poverty, wealth, and inequality through invaluable academic coursework and a worthwhile practice experience. GPP has become one of the largest, most popular minors on campus, with about 350 students regularly enrolled in the program. At the core of the minor lies the “Practice Experience”, a fieldwork opportunity where students apply the theoretical approaches they learned in their coursework to aiding local and international populations by partnering with a non-governmental organization, government agencies, and other poverty or development groups around the world. In addition to utilizing theory in the field, students learn from the organizations on how they approach poverty in action. GPP invites all students from different majors and backgrounds to gain a critical edge and a unique opportunity to supplement their field of study. Priya Natarajan, a 4th year linguistics major, completed her Practice Experience in the summer of 2017 with KIVA, an international nonprofit dedicated to alleviating global poverty through microfinancing. According to her, the GPP curriculum allows for a diverse range of students from multiple disciplines to come together, which changes the perspective of each individual student and fosters a more holistic approach to learning about inequality. “Sometimes you look at a problem and you’re like ‘Ok this is it. Let’s tackle it’, but we fail to consider a lot of different factors that are causing the problem in the first place […] I think GPP really pushes you to explore the different roots of the problem rather than just the surface level problem and I’ve really appreciated that and that’s really helped me in different parts of my life, not just in school,” said Natarajan. Check out the GPP website to learn more about the minor! If you have any questions about the application process or the program in general, feel free to attend any GPP info sessions. Best of luck to our incoming freshmen and returning students. Go bears! Deadline to apply for the minor is October 4th.

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Blum Center Undergrads, Walking the Villages

Richard Blum looks back across 10 years of the Global Poverty and Practice Minor he created at UC Berkeley. More than 700 students have worked with organizations in 70 countries around the world–and the program is still growing. Read the blog

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A View from the Loo

In this impassioned TED Talk, Isha Ray, UC Berkeley Energy and Resources professor and Blum Center affiliate, talks gender, dignity, and toilets. Watch the

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How a Cellphone Could Save Millions From Disease

UC Berkeley changemakers built a cellphone-turned-microscope that detects parasites in the blood in just 30 seconds—without expensive equipment, a lab, or a clinic. Reporter Laura Ling meets with the team to discuss how the innovation could revolutionize the field of public health.

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Impact Design

Save the Date: Blum Center to Host Impact Design Education Summit

Save the Date:Impact Design Education Summit November 6th, 2017 9:00am-3:00pm The Blum Center For Developing Economies, UC Berkeley Social impact design, referring to the practice of design for creating positive change and lasting impact in low-resource settings, has increasingly gained popularity at universities across the country and indeed globally. From engineers to entrepreneurs, students from diverse disciplines are seeking opportunities in this field. But how can universities better equip students in translating ideas, projects and skills from classrooms and lab benches to the real world? With support from the Autodesk Foundation, The Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley will host the Impact Design Education Summit to bring together educators and practitioners to discuss the state of university-based impact design education. The summit aims to generate and disseminate knowledge about impact design pedagogies, from novel curricula used by universities and design colleges to online approaches targeting lifelong learners. Sessions will highlight best practices and learnings with a focus on how to integrate equity, entrepreneurship training, and 21st century skills into design impact curricula.The summit will also identify ways to build upon educational tools that are working and serve as a platform for seeding new, powerful collaborations. Participants will have the opportunity to share existing strategies used to teach design, compare tactics, and create an agenda for determine the most effective vehicles for imparting impact design skills on future practitioners. Register Here: http://bit.ly/2un9FIA For more information, please contact Chloe Gregori, cgregori@berkeley.edu

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CGIU

30 Student Innovators from UC Berkeley Gear-Up for Clinton Global Initiative University

By Francesca Munsayac   In October, the Blum Center will send 30 UC Berkeley students to the 2017 Clinton Global Initiative University, an annual meeting sponsored by the Clinton Foundation. Each year, CGI U unites over 1,000 students from around the world to implement innovative solutions for global challenges. Students apply to CGI U with a “Commitment to Action,”—a concrete project that addresses an issue relating to one of CGI U’s five focus areas: education, environment & climate change, poverty alleviation, peace & human rights, and public health. An invitation to CGI U is a highly competitive process for students as their Commitment to Action (COA) must be new, specific and measurable. CGI U provides support, mentorship, and resources to emerging student innovators, including opportunities for students to pitch their COA at the conference, win prize money, and learn from experts in the field of social entrepreneurship. Eleven of the 30 UC Berkeley students attending were also selected to present at the CGI U Exchange, an exhibition to explore partnerships and network with other participants. In addition, two students were selected for the “CGI U Commitment Challenge” – a crowdsourcing competition to raise money for their COA. As a CGI U network partner, UC Berkeley has sent 350 UC Berkeley students to CGI U over the event’s ten-year history, and students have gone on to raise thousands of dollars in investment to launch impactful social ventures. This year’s CGI U attendees also include eight participants from Big Ideas@Berkeley; like CGI U, Big Ideas@Berkeley brings together students from multidisciplinary backgrounds who collaborate to develop innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing social and development challenges. According to CGI U organizers, UC Berkeley has maintained a reputation for consistently sending large cohorts of students who produce high-caliber projects every year. The following UC Berkeley teams are among those that will present at the CGI U in October. Check back on the Blum Center News’ section for updates and to track their progress as the competition unfolds.   Social Innovator Spotlights Aiding the Refugee Effort in Greece Thanh Mai Bercher, UC Berkeley’s 2017 Activist of the Year, and Holly Wertman, Chair of the City of Berkeley’s Community Health Commission, joined forces to support The Melissa Network—a Blum Center partner organization that provides critical services to female refugees in Greece. Bercher and Wertman are supporting the Melissa Network to develop a long-term women’s health program, which will be widely publicized through UN-based and local agencies, filling the information gap of where and how female refugees can seek health services. Maximizing Social Relationships to Improve Women’s Health Osman Shokoor, former Vice President of UC Berkeley’s Afghan Student Association, is building a comprehensive community-based program that connects Afghan refugee mothers, and uses modeling of positive peer behavior to demonstrate how to achieve positive health outcomes. Shokoor will coordinate an interactive weekly women’s exercise program that includes reflection sessions, and group seminars that provide a platform for Afghan women to discuss issues related to mental health, PTSD, intergenerational trauma, and common health concerns—such as Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease. To recruit participants and volunteers, Shokoor will partner with the Afghan Coalition, the oldest and most recognized Afghan community organization in the Bay

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Blum Center Student Instructors Receive Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Awards

This year two Blum Center student instructors, Sonia Travaglini and Julia Kramer, will receive Berkeley’s Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor award. The women were chosen for their command of the subject area, promotion of problem-based learning, and their ability to motivate students. Sonia attests that the key to being a successful teacher is putting the students first. “My teaching style is all about supporting students to discover their own approach to learning, and to find their unique voice to communicate their knowledge. My teaching philosophy is student-centered; I help students develop self-motivated learning and apply their strengths to their work,” said Sonia. Julia also believes in having a hands-on approach. “I work with students one-on-one to talk through what they’re trying to accomplish, and how they might reach those goals,” Julia said. “In the courses I teach, we try to give  students a variety of design tools they might use, then we support them in figuring out how to apply those tools in their own work.” Sonia and Julia will receive certificates of distinction and a $250 stipend in recognition of their

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GPP

Global Poverty & Practice Graduates Reflect on Program’s Impact

By Sarah Bernardo The Blum Center’s Global Poverty & Practice (GPP) minor is one of the most popular undergraduate minors at UC Berkeley, bringing together students from across disciplines to explore poverty, wealth, and inequity through coursework and practical field experience. As a course requirement, students spend six weeks working with local or international organizations on issues ranging from human rights, to public health, to the environment. This year 78 GPP students will graduate, having completed practice experiences in 15 countries around the world. The Blum Center sat down with three graduates–Andrea Miller, Elise Umansky, and Gustavo Alvarez–to hear more about their experiences and future plans. Skills Gained and Lessons Learned through GPP The GPP program is highly experiential, enabling students to take what they’ve learned in the classroom and apply it in real world settings. Students are taught to engage with communities, think critically, exercise patience, and persevere. “The work that many GPP students want to do can be disheartening, and it’s important to be resilient,” student Andrea Miller said. While the students feel classroom-based coursework is critical, they also attest that the greatest education often comes from direct engagement with communities. “[Gaining] knowledge doesn’t necessarily mean [gaining] education,” Alvarez said. “Listening to people’s narratives can teach the greatest lessons.” Umansky agreed. “I will bring with me the importance of humbly honoring the traditions of any community I’m working with, and letting them guide the work.” Memorable Moments For Andrea Miller, the classroom engagement was the most impactful. “The Ethics, Methods, and Pragmatics of Global Practice was my favorite class in all of my Berkeley experience,” she said. “Our Professor (Clare Talkwalker)  and GSI (Mary Glenn) were the Superwomen duo. My peers were intelligent, caring, and amazing humans. There was something to learn from [each person], and everyone was so accepting of each other and ready to help.” For Alvarez, a moment from his practice experience solidified his desire to work in service to others. While working on a water project outside Chiapas, Mexico, he met two poor young boys. “I remember the joy of the two brothers-who were 5 and 6- when they met us. They lived in such humble circumstances, yet their faces were bright with happiness. They showed me their toys, their hammock. The reason I am doing what I am doing is for them. I want to help provide clean, drinking water to this and other families so they don’t have to worry about illnesses.” Like Alvarez, Umansky’s work was motivated by her practice experience. Working with Nepalese communities after the 2015 earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 and injured 22,000 was an eye opening experience for her. “My first trip to Nepal occurred right after the 2015 earthquake, and much of my time was spent on rebuilding efforts,” Umansky said. “When I returned for my Practice Experience, I had the great fortune of living with the same host family. We had tears in our eyes when we reunited at the Kathmandu airport. I worked with an organization providing mental health services to post-earthquake trauma victims. Experiencing the healing and rebuilding effort was very powerful,” she said. Future Plans and Parting Advice The students credit the GPP program for inspiring the future direction of their careers, which include positions in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Following graduation, Umansky will return to Nepal to work with The Centre for Victims of Torture. In the future she plans to pursue a doctoral degree in Global Health with a focus on mental health in Nepal.  Andrea Miller will join the Peace Corps in Guatemala, where she will work in the field of public health. Alvarez’s will join Eaton, an energy company, and plans to pursue a PhD in Environmental Engineering “to develop more effective intervention plans to provide clean, drinking water to individuals in Central America.” All had important parting advice for GPP students. “Keep an open mind, learn to sit in discomfort, and remember that there is never a completely pure path from which to act,” Umansky said. “No approach to social justice and poverty alleviation work is without flaw, but proceed with genuine intention, a critical lens, and a yearning to always learn.” Alvarez advises, “Remember: we are not the experts. Those whose lives we are attempting to impact are the experts, and we must work together in order to innovate. Our collaborative efforts to design for meaningful impact will propel us to success.” Miller encourages students to “Take advantage of the GPP community. The program is a family; people will always have your back here. They will also help remind you that you are not alone against this fight of trying to make the world a better

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GPP

GPP Lecturer Khalid Kadir Honored with the Distinguished Teaching Award

By Sarah Bernardo Each year, UC Berkeley bestows its Distinguished Teaching Award, the campus’ highest honor for teaching. This year, Dr. Khalid Kadir is one of five esteemed recipients. Since joining Berkeley in 2010, Professor Kadir has built a reputation for being brilliant, personable, and passionate, gaining recognition from both his students and colleagues for his accomplishments and his service to others. Professor Kadir currently teaches courses in Global Poverty & Practice (GPP), Political Economy, and the College of Engineering. The Blum Center caught up with Professor Kadir to hear what drives him, and learn more about his experience teaching at Berkeley. How would you describe your teaching style? At the root of it, it’s about building a bridge between theory and people’s lived realities. That’s a formal way of saying that I try to make things relatable, relevant, and meaningful to my students. That’s at the core of my teaching. I am also excited about what I do and I have a lot of energy. Even when I walk into a class tired, I get pumped up as I dive into the material. The ideas excite me, and working through the ideas with my students gives me energy. I try to keep my classes interactive. I’m not interested in listening to myself talk for an hour; I’d rather have a conversation. When I feel that I’m grinding too hard on complex topics, I pull back and ask the students a really simple question just to get them talking. For example, “What’s your favorite color?” Then, I gradually move towards the content I’m trying to cover. What makes your interaction with students unique? Sometimes professors operate in an austere, removed, inaccessible way when they talk to students. I don’t have the capacity to consciously perform when I teach, and as a result I think that students in my classes relate to me, and think “Hey, that’s someone I can actually talk to!” There was a student in one of my engineering classes who came into office hours and asked “Did you read my assignment?” I told him yes. He then asked, “Did you write those comments?” I told him “Yes, I did.” Astounded, he said “You’re the first professor who’s ever done that.” I can’t deny that I was a little shocked to hear that. It was a large course, and he was amazed that I took an interest in each student’s assignment. After that, he came to my office hours every week and we developed a great relationship. He is a deeply respectful person and a powerful thinker, and it was great to have the opportunity to get to know him. How does your background as an engineer impact your teaching in Global Poverty & Practice? Like many engineers, I was always interested in going out into the world and applying what I learned, and the GPP program is very much oriented that way. The program doesn’t just include theory classes, it also has a Practice Experience where students engage and then reflect upon how ideas and theories manifest in the real world. This allows students to understand those ideas better and iterate upon them. GPP is a place where I can take social science ideas and work with students to apply them to the world. I’m an engineer who studied social sciences. Often students are looking for hard engineering skills – they want to know how to use this software or do that quantitative method or produce this other kind of product. I’m trained with those skills, but I’ve come to believe that, when you are working with marginalized people, there are a different set of skills that are actually far more important to the success and failure of projects than “hard” engineering skills. Deep thinking and humility is required. It is important to me that students understand that their ability to engage humbly and effectively with communities is one of the most important skills. I think that resonates with students. Do you bring concepts from your Global Poverty & Practice courses into your Engineering classes? One challenge I face is that concepts taught in my GPP courses are not always viewed as valid or relevant in technical engineering courses. Nonetheless, I try to squeeze them in every moment I can. For example, in the middle of a lecture about water chemistry, I will try to bring in the politics of measurement in an attempt to really contextualize things for students. It’s great if we can talk about what chemicals are in the water and in what quantity, but it’s important to also talk about who chooses what to measure, when, and where, and who decides what counts as dangerous or not, and for whom. These are absolutely critical questions, and learning to ask those questions is, for me, a crucial part of my students’ education. What do you value most about being a professor? At the root of it, I value the people, the students. I value their willingness to be vulnerable and learn. I value getting to be a part of their difficult journey because I get to see their intellectual and personal progression. Being invited to join the journey that students are on is very rewarding. In the GPP program, the kind of relationships that we – the faculty and staff – build with our students are incredible. I also value the ways teaching holds me accountable. If you’re real with your students and you’re open with them, they’re going to push you. I can understand why some professors might not want this sort of pushback, but I’m open to it, even though I can’t deny that at times it is hard. As much as we may try to push ourselves, it helps to have other people push us too. I really value my students in that sense – they push me – and I appreciate them for that. How does it feel to receive the Distinguished Teaching Award? I just want to say that it takes a crew or perhaps a village. GPP is unique in that we bring the curricular and co-curricular together. We are deeply integrated throughout the program in a way that I have not seen anywhere else on this campus. We acknowledge that learning doesn’t just happen in these single-semester boxes inside the classroom, but that it’s a complex process that happens between classes, over breaks, through summers, through office hours, and in peer advising. GPP and the American Cultures Engaged Scholarship program (ACES) are key programs that I’ve been a part of, and both these programs are pushing against the tide of the factory model of schooling. I worry about the future disappearance of programs like these that reward, encourage, and enable great teaching. The invitation to teach in these programs is what has led to this award, and I am grateful to those who share these spaces with me. Overall, I’m excited about this award. This is a space where teaching gets recognized, and I would like to see good teaching recognized and in fact structurally prioritized across our campus. Professor Kadir and the other award recipients will be honored at a public ceremony on April 19, 2017 in Sibley Auditorium at 5:00 pm. In addition to the ceremony, Professor Kadir will receive a cash award from the campus, recognition by the Academic Senate, and permanent indication as a Distinguished Teacher in the UC Berkeley

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International development with a focus on social, agricultural, and environmental issues

By Sarah Bernardo Winrock International is a global leader in international development with a focus on social, agricultural, and environmental issues. Named after Winthrop Rockefeller, the organization grew out of the visions of both Winthrop and his brother, John D. Rockefeller III. Today, Winrock International supports US-based and international development projects in 45 countries around the world. The Blum Center recently sat down with Amit Bando, Senior Director of Winrock’s Clean Energy, Environment, and Water group; Erin Hughes, Director of Regional and Country Planning; and Jennifer Holthaus, Program Officer, to discuss their experiences and the new projects on the horizon for Winrock. They also shared with the Blum Center seven ways that students can prepare themselves for a career in the international development sector. What is the mission of Winrock’s Clean Energy, Environment, and Water group? How does your role contribute to this vision? Amit Bando: For our group, the mission primarily is to empower those at the bottom of the pyramid. We are very focused on rural and agricultural communities which include people who are typically “off-the-grid,” or not connected to a major energy network. We work domestically in the United States and in 45 countries around the world. The issues we address include access to clean water, access to energy, land use, and protection of forests. Within Winrock, our role is to focus on the resources mentioned and to work with other branches of the organization to address interrelated issues like gender, trafficking, and youth education. Erin Hughes: The environment is also seen as a key actor. Our mission is to ensure conservation for the benefit of people, not just conservation for conservation’s sake. We aim to make good use of resources and promote conservation by engaging community members so that they’re benefiting from these practices. Jennifer Holthaus: Globally, Winrock has about 700 employees in 45 countries. The Clean Energy, Environment, and Water group involves roughly 300 people. Amit’s role is to lead the work for this group and coordinate all the different funders which include US government organizations, private companies, and foundations. Bando: What makes Winrock International unique is that we work with communities directly and with decision makers spanning the local level (e.g. the provincial and municipal) to the national level. This work requires us to bring in the private sector, local community groups, and NGOs. We want projects to be sustainable after we leave, so we encourage practices such as co-management of resources as well as the creation of job opportunities and business models that allow the initial beneficiaries to continue working and expanding their circles. Lastly, all of our work is very data driven. We do a lot of analysis on what’s working and what’s not working and take that back to the next round of our projects. That’s why we are excited to work here with UC Berkeley since this same iterative, data-based approach is used. Which project has impacted you the most during your time at Winrock? Hughes Education for Income Generation was a five-year project in Nepal which focused on helping marginalized youth increase their income. The project was impactful not only because we provided entrepreneurial literacy, but also because we tied it to income-generating activities like vocational training and market-based agriculture. We provided literacy and numeracy, but also showed them how to be an entrepreneur by teaching them about income, profit/loss, and developing simple business plans. Education for Income Generation was life-changing for the 74,000 beneficiaries we worked with in midwest Nepal. We were working with extremely marginalized people, such as young women who never had job opportunities because of gender discrimination. Through this program, these women were able to learn to read, send their kids to school, and help their kids with homework. Bando: It’s important to recognize in a country like Nepal that there is a benefit that goes beyond any specific project. The beneficiaries of the Education for Income Generation program are marginalized people who do not have a lot of equity, so they cannot go to the banks to get money. Since banks are more likely to lend money to cooperatives, Winrock developed a separate project that allowed farmers to work in cooperatives. We then helped these groups receiving funding that they could distribute to their members. With our wide spread of projects, Winrock International is working in 70 of the 74 districts in Nepal, and we have been able to help 250,000 farmers. The project-level work we’re doing has a huge impact on the sector and the country. Holthaus The John D. Rockefeller 3RD (JDR 3RD) Scholars Program supports independent policy research. Our program worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to fund an independent research team in Myanmar in 2007. At this time, Myanmar was still very much closed to the world. We convinced the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries, and Rural Development in Myanmar to hold an open grant competition. We were worried that no one would apply, but we received 11 applications. The winning team of the competition was led by Dr. Ai Thanda Kyaw. Kyaw’s team took 660 household surveys and returned a very clear picture of the impacts on poor households of the government’s practice of aggressively culling chickens to stem the spread of avian influenza. After the report was released, the government went in a different direction regarding their culling practice. Dr. Kyaw is now Winrock’s country director for our USAID-funded program in Myanmar. That’s the kind of policy and research impact we want to have in other countries. We want to see governments consider data, and we aim to use a bottom-up approach to influence change. Bando For Enhancing Capacity For Low Emission Development Strategies (EC-LEDS) we have been working with municipalities in the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Currently, we are working with 14 different municipalities in Georgia. Georgian officials asked Winrock to show them how to use energy more efficiently in institutions, such as fire stations, schools, supermarkets, and shopping centers. Winrock approached this project with the concept that it makes business sense to improve energy use and use water more efficiently. We wanted to focus on the  business side of things first, and then hopefully, that’ll have huge impacts for climate change. Based on our work in the municipalities, the ministry of the national Georgian government asked Winrock to develop a nation-wide policy on climate change which has now become the country’s Low Emissions Development Strategy. We didn’t do this work top-down, but rather built up the case and showed the government our data-driven analysis to encourage a change in their practices. A lot of the work we do at Winrock follows this model. We generally start at the grassroots level and support capacity-building for individuals, researchers, policymakers, and political actors. What challenges have you faced in the Clean Energy, Environment, and Water Group, and how did you overcome them? Holthaus: With the JDR program, something I’ve learned is how long it takes to start something new and get it off the ground. Getting other staff to know what the program is and be on board basically took us ten years. Now, we have nine new research teams being incorporated into five projects. My advice is that it is worth sticking it out and making a long-term commitment. You just have to be careful not to burn out so that you can see it through. Bando: Because we work internationally and domestically, there are a lot of knowledge transfer opportunities, and typically people think that the knowledge goes from the US out. However, I think there are even more opportunities to transfer knowledge in from other countries. A lot of us who work in this field share this sentiment, and I think there isn’t enough emphasis on that. Hughes: We had a recent exchange with Cuban Farmers who came to the US. Several years ago we also had a reverse Farmer-to-Farmer–like exchange in our Forestry Project in Russia. Instead of US volunteers sharing their skills or expertise abroad, Russians volunteered to come to the United States to teach Americans about forestry equipment, so that the companies could adjust their machines to withstand cold winters with the hope of selling their product in Russia. Bando: Funders and the public at large often don’t know how important this transfer of knowledge is. For example, it was complete happenstance that the US Forest Service found out about a Nepalese forest management tactic. In Yosemite, the US Forest Service used to have uncontrolled fires. Nature has a way of starting small fires that die out and clear out the underbrush, but Yosemite didoesn’t allow these small fires. The Forest Service looked to Nepal for a solution. The Nepalese government had been managing the Himalayan forests for a long time with very simple, traditional means. Once a year, the King allows the people to go into the protected forest to collect branches and leaves for their thatch roofing. No one really calls this good forest management, but it has been working effectively for millennia. Looking forward, what’s in store for Winrock? Are there any new projects that you’re particularly excited about? Bando: Finance–the ability to finance deals is important to learn. Our focus is on the ultimate beneficiary, which could be, for example, a farmer sitting away from the grid who has little to no access to the market. How can we make it possible for that farmer to borrow $300 for a solar pump or $2500 for two solar panels that to increases their productivity? Their outlook can change and expand dramatically with such a loan. Holthaus: Winrock sees a lot of work coming down the pike on renewable energy financing. The levels we’re seeking to facilitate and open up options for range from small farmers (micro-finance) to national governments. We want to help accelerate markets for renewable energy technologies which can increase peoples’ incomes. For these kinds of endeavors, a neutral entity like Winrock is often needed to bring the various market players together. Bando: Another focus is land management issues. There are lots of areas which need protection and better management. Conservation financing can greatly benefit this process, so this is another topical area that would be helpful for students to know if they’re interested in development. What advice do you have for students interested in entering the energy or water sector? Are there particular subjects you recommend they explore or certain skills that they learn? Bando, Holthaus, and Hughes: Writing. People don’t realize how important it is to be a good writer. We often work with people for whom English is a second language. We need someone who can communicate with our ESL field staff without using jargon, but can also communicate clearly with the Rockefeller family members on our board as well as donors. They also have to be able to produce professional, published material. Monitoring and evaluation, impact evaluation. It’s important that people in this field know how to conduct evaluations. They also should have a firm grasp of the quantitative skills involved with monitoring and evaluation, such as utilizing spreadsheets and basic statistics. Technical skills. There are a lot of people who are majoring in broad areas like International Relations. If you’re just a generalist, you may not have the rigor of the science or the technical depth. Knowing how to conduct an experiment and having solid science skills is important. You can always add other skills, so don’t be scared of exploring one area in depth. The ideal model for technical knowledge is a T-shape: pick your passion and go deep in that area; then you will have the ability to pick up other skills on a surface-level. The Global Poverty & Practice and Development Engineering minors at UC Berkeley are great examples of academic tracks that allow students to do practical studies grounded in development work. Also keep in mind, that “technical” doesn’t have to mean coding and spreadsheet analysis. Having technical skills is more about having the mind for scientific inquiry and holistic rigor. Survey work. If you have any chance to do survey work, do it. Our projects have  to collect data from the field to see if things are working, so we encourage students to gain survey work experience through internships or courses. We’re big advocates of a second language. Being bilingual is immensely helpful. Many of our colleagues in Winrock’s US Office were Peace Corps volunteers. Gaining a similar overseas experience can be beneficial. Be a good speaker. You can do all this work, but you won’t be able to do anything if your communication skills do not include the ability to speak. Public speaking is a vital method of presenting information.

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Celebrating International Women’s Day: A Look Back at Five Years of Blum Center Initiatives on Gender Equality

By Sarah Bernardo, 4th Year English and Legal Studies Double Major, UC Berkeley According to the official International Women’s Day (IWD) website, IWD was first celebrated on March 19, 1911 in the countries of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Denmark. Women campaigned for an end to gender discrimination and rallied for increased working, voting, and political rights. In 1913, on the precipice of WWI, March 8 was declared the official date for IWD. More than 100 years later, International Women’s Day continues to be honored as “a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.” This year’s theme #BeBoldForChange encourages people around the world to take action to advance gender equality. The Blum Center for Developing Economies continues to be committed to this vision of gender parity and inclusivity. In honor of International Women’s Day, the Blum Center looks back at our engagement with gender equality over the past five years.   Here’s a snapshot of the numerous ways gender equality is featured in our programs. Gender Equality is a Key Focus for Our Students Many of the winners of the Big Ideas@Berkeley contest focused specifically on gender equality. For example, several Big Ideas projects aimed to promote female leadership. 100 Strong, third place winner in the 2013 Global Poverty Alleviation category, combats the lack of female leaders by training a network of female mentors that are matched with middle and high school girls. 100 Strong also empowers young girls to create their own community projects. Empowering Women through Entrepreneurship, the 2016 first place winner of the Financial Inclusion category, fosters economic empowerment in female migrants living in the squatter settlement of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The organization offers the women information, skills, and low-interest microloans to help develop their small businesses. Other Big Ideas projects focus on maternal and infant health. WE CARE Solar, winner in the 2008 and 2010 Big Ideas contests, helps meet vital maternity care needs by addressing the issues of unreliable power and communication in health care facilities. The organization developed and distributes compact solar electric systems called “solar suitcases” which power overhead LED lighting, charges cell phones, and provides LED headlamps with rechargeable batteries. Uniting Mother and Child: A Battle Against Postpartum Hemorrhage, third place winner in the 2014 Global Poverty Alleviation category, developed a pressure detecting and reporting device for anti-shock garments. The device aims to improve the ability of existing anti-shock garments to combat postpartum hemorrhage which is the most common cause of maternal mortality in developing countries. Lastly, Que Viva La Mujer: Knights Landing Community Maternal Health Program, second place winner of the 2013 Maternal and Child Health category, proposed opening a maternal care unit with an on-site OB/GYN in the Knights Landing community in Yolo County, California. The unit aims to meet the health care and educational needs of the migrant and undocumented women living in the community. In addition to these Big Ideas proposals, an amazing group of Development Impact Lab (DIL) projects also directly address gender equality. WE CARE Solar  and TriSAN are two such projects. TriSAN, a DIL Pipeline Project, focuses on promoting the interrelated goals of sustainable sanitation and gender equality in India. In particular, TriSAN conducted research to better understand the defecation, urination, and menstrual hygiene management needs of women and girls. Women are Participating and Leading Almost 75% of the participants in our undergraduate Global Poverty & Practice (GPP) minor are women. Alumni of GPP include Jessica Praphath who graduated in 2013. Passionate about public health and direct community service, Praphath completed her practice experience at the Community Partnership for Families of San Joaquin, and she went on to work there after graduation. Praphath now works as a Junior Consultant at the public health research and consulting firm, John Snow, Inc. Similarly to Praphath, Nikki Brand‘s GPP experience has had a deep impact on her career trajectory. Dedicated to conducting development fieldwork addressing poverty, Brand moved to Guatemala shortly after graduating in 2013 to work for Community Enterprise Solutions. Brand now serves as Program Analyst for Feed the Future, a U.S. Global Development Lab at USAID. The initiative focuses on global hunger and food security.    In addition to participating in Blum Center programs, women also lead them. Women led almost 90% of gender equality projects in GPP, 65% of similar projects in Big Ideas, and 57% of gender equality projects in DIL. For example, Katya Cherukumilli led a winning 2015 Big Ideas team. Her team’s proposal was “A Novel Approach to Remediate Groundwater Fluoride Contamination in Nalgonda, India.” Laura Stachel is another outstanding female leader. Stachel co-founded WE CARE Solar in 2006. In addition to the Big Ideas awards, her organization received a DIL grant. Promoting Gender Equality Beyond UC Berkeley Faculty, staff, and students associated with the Blum Center have also contributed to the wider pursuit for gender equality beyond campus. In 2016, Laura Tyson, the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Blum Center, and Jeni Klugman co-authored the first report for the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment. The report entitled “Leave No One Behind: A Call to Action for Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment,” begins by explaining the importance of women’s economic empowerment and delivers a decisive call to action. It goes on to describe the pervasive gender gaps in areas such as employment, wages, enterprise ownership, and access to assets. The report then analyzes seven “proven and promising” strategies for expanding women’s economic opportunities which includes tackling adverse social norms and promoting positive role models as well as changing business culture and practice. Lastly, the report closes by detailing a robust agenda for action comprised of seven key principles: No woman left behind. Nothing done for women without women. Equal focus on rights and gains. Tackle root causes. State parties must respect international human rights and labour standards. Partnerships are critical. Deliver globally. While Professor Tyson and her team focused on improving gender equality in terms of economic opportunities, Rachel Dzombak and Chloe Gregori released a Blum Center article on January 20 centered on the role of academia in striving for gender parity. In the article, Dzombak and Gregori discus the United Nation’s fifth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 5), “Gender Equality. In response to SDG 5’s call to action, the Blum Center re-examined how academia can promote gender parity in the classroom and beyond. Dzombak and Gregori spoke with staff, faculty, and students in the Blum Center ecosystem. Through their discussions, four insights emerged on how academia can encourage gender equality: provide students (of all genders) opportunities to establish empathy regarding gender discrimination and inequality, support faculty and classes that engage in gender dimensions, connect women students with women mentors, and broaden the innovation ecosystem to encourage interdisciplinary action when tackling issues of gender-based inequality and violence. Based on knowledge developed by partners such as Tyson, Gregori, and Dzombak, the Blum Center will continue to increase our efforts to achieve inclusivity and parity in the classroom, within the lab, and on the field. With all that has been accomplished in the last five years, the Blum Center is hopeful that the next five will yield even greater progress towards gender

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International Day of Women and Girls in Science: Spotlight on Women Scientists in the Blum Center Ecosystem

By Sarah Bernardo The United Nations has long been committed to pursuing gender equality in all areas of society. Most recently, the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals, one of which is to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” Decreasing barriers while increasing opportunities for women and girls to participate in scientific fields is one key way to advance economic and educational equality. In recognition of the importance of women in science, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed that February 11 of each year would be the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Organizations like the Blum Center of Developing Economies at UC Berkeley endeavor to promote women and girls in science by encouraging and supporting their work at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional level. In honor of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the Blum Center is proud to spotlight innovative researchers, inventors, students, and faculty involved in our ecosystem. Kara Bresnahan Kara Bresnahan was a member of the Big Ideas team behind “Project Drsti: A Sustainable Method for Alleviating Vitamin A Deficiency.” Bresnahan received a BA in Nutritional Sciences and French as well as a PhD in Nutritional Science and Global Health from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She then went on to earn an MPH with a Nutrition and Epidemiology emphasis at UC Berkeley. During her time at Cal, Bresnahan worked with Christopher Johnson to develop Project Drsti which proposes alleviating Vitamin A deficiency in people living in developing regions by harnessing the metabolic power of the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus casei (L. casei.) Bresnahan and Johnson aimed to engineer L. casei to produce provitamin A (β-carotene) during yogurt fermentation with the goal of creating provitamin A biofortified yogurt that could benefit populations such as people in India who consume yogurt regularly. The bacteria strain developed by Project Drsti can be inexpensively created, freeze-dried for storage, and easily integrated into existing yogurt-production methods. Bresnahan’s proposal won Honorable Mention in the Global Health category of the 2015 Big Ideas@Berkeley contest. Katya Cherukumilli Katya Cherukumilli helped develop the Big Ideas proposal “A Novel Approach to Remediate Groundwater Fluoride Contamination in Nalgonda, India.” Cherukumilli was a Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholar at UC Berkeley who earned a BS in Environmental Sciences while completing minors in Global Poverty & Practice and Energy & Resources. Cherukumilli is currently pursuing a PhD in Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley. In 2015, Cherukumilli worked with four other UC Berkeley students to address the issue of drinking water contaminated with toxic levels of fluoride which can lead to dental and skeletal fluorosis. The project built upon Cherukumilli’s graduate research into sustainable fluoride remediation which was supported in part by a USAID-sponsored Development Impact Lab (DIL) Explore Travel Grant in summer 2013. Cherukumilli and her team focused their project on rural Nalgonda, India, and proposed using raw bauxite ore to create a defluoridation technology that is affordable, effective, and easy to operate as well as maintain. Cherukumilli also worked with her team to design business models that would allow defluoridated water to be provided to low-income populations at an incremental price meant to encourage use of the decontaminated water. This approach won second place in the Global Health category of the 2015 Big Ideas@Berkeley contest. The project went on to win first place in UC Irvine’s Designing Solutions for Poverty Contest, first place in the Research category of the 2016 USAID Higher Education Solutions Network Technical Convening’s Innovation Marketplace, and received funding as a VentureWell E-Team. Cherukumilli is currently part of the Development Engineering graduate program, and she plans to complete her PhD at Cal in May 2017. Amy Herr Amy Herr is the Lester John & Lynne Dewar Lloyd Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley. She is also the Faculty Director of the Bakar Fellows Program which fosters faculty entrepreneurship in the STEM+ fields. Professor Herr holds a BS from the California Institute of Technology in Engineering and Applied Science, an MS from Stanford University in Mechanical Engineering, and a PhD from Stanford University in Mechanical Engineering. Professor Herr was the Principal Investigator for a Development Impact Lab grant that developed  a rapid point of care device for infant HIV diagnostics. The project utilized existing microfluidic technology to develop a device that could detect the presence of HIV viral proteins in infants in low resource settings.  Her project secured a DIL Explore Travel Grant in Spring 2014 which allowed PhD student Rachel Gerver to conduct  a pilot study in HIV clinics and central testing labs in Kenya. Professor Herr’s lab at UC Berkeley focuses on bioinstrumentation for quantitative biology and medicine. The point of care device for infant HIV diagnostics is just one innovation to come out of her lab. Professor Herr has won numerous awards for her research including the NIH New Innovator Award, the Ellen Weaver Award from the Association for Women in Science, and the Mid-career Achievement Award from the American Electrophoresis Society. In December 2016, Professor Herr received the prestigious honor of being inducted into the National Academy of Inventors. Currently, Professor Herr is supervising several Bioengineering seminars in Spring 2017 including the Master of Engineering Capstone Project (ENGIN 296MA) and the Senior Design Projects course (BIOENG 192.) Professor Herr is also continuing her research in her lab. Emily Woods Emily Woods is the co-founder of the sanitation start-up, Sanivation which currently operates in Kenya. Woods developed Sanivation as a research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute while earning her BS in Mechanical Engineering.  Woods then went on to receive her MS and PhD from the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley. Sanivation installs container-based toilets in Kenyan homes for free and charges a small monthly fee to service them. The company then takes the waste and transforms it into a clean burning alternative to charcoal. Sanivation also licenses their model to refugee camps and trains local staff to help meet the immediate demand for sanitation services. In 2015, Woods and her co-founder, Andrew Foote, collaborated with two other UC Berkeley students to create the Feces to Fuel team. Their project, “Feces to Fuel: Saving Trees, Budgets, and Lungs,” aimed to unlock “the potential in human feces and other waste streams by transforming it into affordable household cooking fuel.” Through the project, Sanivation provides in-home toilets to low-income households. They then collect the human and agricultural waste, treat it, and turn it into charcoal briquettes. In addition to being a renewable energy source, the briquettes produce less smoke than traditional charcoal which results in a reduction of indoor air pollution and exposure to toxic fumes. Feces to Fuel won first place in the Energy and Resources Alternatives category of the 2015 Big Ideas@Berkeley contest. In 2016, the team won second place in the Big Ideas Scaling Up category. Currently, Woods serves as the Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder of Sanivation. Her social enterprise aims to expand throughout East Africa and serve one million people by 2020. Kara Nelson Kara Nelson is a Professor of Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley. Her research focuses on topics such as pathogens in water and sludge, water reuse, nutrient recovery, and sanitation in developing countries. She has won several awards for her research including the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and a Fulbright Fellowship to Colombia. Professor Nelson was the Principal Investigator for research into designing a business model for toilet waste. Professor Nelson’s research focused on developing a sustainable business model for the treatment of potentially pathogenic waste in household toilets. In Fall 2013, her project was awarded a DIL Explore Travel Grant that allowed MBA student Ryan Jung and PhD candidate William Tarpeh to travel to Nairobi, Kenya, to pilot test several prototypes with users. Professor Nelson was also the Principal Investigator for an urban sanitation management project. This project focused on managing fecal sludge in septic tanks within urban areas of India and Bangladesh. A DIL Explore Travel Grant allowed PhD student, Sharada Prasad, to travel to South Asia for further research into fecal sludge management. In the Spring 2017 semester, Professor Nelson is teaching several Civil and Environmental Engineering courses including Environmental Engineering (CivEng 111) and Water Systems and Society (CivEng

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