Global Affairs Canada Joins the Canadian International Council (CIC) National Capital Branch’s Politics at the Pub (P@P) Panel:
Youth Inclusion in the International Assistance Review

Monday, June 27th, 6:00 p.m. at The Red Lion Pub!
Tickets ($5 for members, $10 for non-members) now include a premium craft beer or glass of wine!

P@P has moved to a new venue!
The Red Lion
47 Clarence St,
Ottawa, ON K1N 9K1

EVENT DESCRIPTION:

In May 2016, Global Affairs launched the International Assistance Review (IAR), kicking off a consultation process and signaling Canada’s intent to make its assistance spending count. Nothing like this has been done in over a decade. The Review involves broad consultations. The Canadian International Council (CIC) and its Politics at the Pub panel series will be at the forefront of this process.

Youth are the inheritors of the future, the drivers of social change, and a major source of innovation. Sadly, youth are often neglected, both in the policy-making process here at home and as recipients of international assistance abroad. This needs to change. The Honorable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, has outlined the government’s aim to “generate new opportunities for youth, so that their despair does not become a risk for global stability and security”. Enabling youth enables the future of a nation. Within every core and crosscutting theme of the IAR, there are policy options that can improve the prospects for youth.

Join us to hear our panelists and participate in the consultation process, all while enjoying a summer pint of craft beer or a glass of wine at our Byward Market location, The Red Lion. While the panel will be held inside, informal discussion with our panelists and guests will happen on the patio after the panel (weather permitting).

The Panel Problematic:

The Global Affairs International Assistance Review process has five interconnected core policy themes:
Health and the Rights of Women and Children,
Clean Economic Growth,
Governance and Diversity,
Peace and Security, and
Responding to Humanitarian Crisis.
In addition to these themes, issues related to poverty and inequality, innovation, and delivery results are cross-cutting throughout the Review. Enabling youth enables the future of a nation. We must therefore pose the most relevant and important questions to our panel: what policy choices, considerations, or frameworks can best improve the lives of youth across these divergent but interconnected areas? Are there policies in particular that are best suited for different regions? Where should Canada focus its international assistance to best serve youth?

Post-Panel Open Dialogue:

Politics at the Pub seeks to garner expert opinion, but also to nurture enhanced youth inclusion in the policy-making process. To this end Global Affairs has confirmed that team members will be available to engage in direct interactions with members of the audience who are interested in expressing their views on the topic after the structured Q&A session.

The People:

OPENING REMARKS:
Deirdre Kent, Director General, Development Policy, Global Affairs Canada

PANELISTS:
Jean Daudelin, Professor, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University
Louise Ouimet, Former Ambassador, and Chair of the Africa Study Group of the CIC
Nadia Abu Zahra, Professor, University of Ottawa
Marc Bonomo, Director of Partnerships, SOS Children’s Villages Canada

MODERATOR:
Ehsan Torkamanzehi, Chair, Politics at the Pub, CIC

BIOGRAPHIES:

DEIDRE KENT
Deirdre Kent is the Director General for Development Policy within Global Affairs Canada responsible for the advancement of strategic development policy and emerging issues, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Since joining the Foreign Service in 1994, Ms. Kent’s career has focused on multilateral diplomacy, including international development policy, peace and security issues, and human rights. From 2012-2015, she was responsible for operational responses to complex crises, police and civilian deployments, and program finances with the Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force (START) which coordinates Canada’s whole-of-government engagement for stabilization and reconstruction in fragile and conflict-affected states. Previously, she served for four years as Director of the Development Policy and Institutions Division with responsibilities within the Foreign Ministry for international development policy, food security, and international finan cial institutions. Her last overseas assignment was as Human Rights Counsellor at the Canadian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2002 to 2006, where she was elected Rapporteur for the United Nations Human Rights Commission in 2005. She has also served abroad in Israel and the West Bank/Gaza. Deirdre Kent holds a Bachelor of Science and an International Masters of Business Administration (MBA). She is married with two children.

JEAN DAUDELIN
Jean is a Professor at Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, where he teaches on development and conflict. Jean is a specialist on Latin America, particularly Brazil, Central America, and Columbia, where he has researched religious movements, indigenous politics, urban violence, economic integration, and regional politics. Jean’s current research focuses on property rights and conflict, on Brazilian foreign policy and international relations in the Americas, and on crime and violence in Latin America. He has expertise in conflict and development (particularly tenure regimes, property rights, and land conflicts); Brazilian foreign trade and security policy; Canadian foreign and security policy; inter-American politics; insurrections and political violence; and Indigenous mobilizations.

LOUISE OUIMET
Louise is Director of the Canada office at ACT-for-Performance and Chair of the Canadian International Council affiliated Africa Study Group. She has over 40 years of experience in international development (mostly with CIDA), with a particular emphasis on Africa. Among other positions, Ms Ouimet was posted as Canadian Ambassador to Burkina Faso from 1995 to 1997 and Mali from 2001 and 2005. In 2000-01, she was Senior Advisor, Development and Africa for the Prime Minister of Canada, working at the Privy Council and Chief of Staff to the President of CIDA in 2007-08. Ms. Ouimet is founding partner and Vice President at ACT-for-Performance and provides support to public sector reforms in DRC and Mali.

NADIA ABU ZAHRA
Nadia is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa’s School of International Development and Global Studies. She has broad research interests in health, environmental issues, human rights, and education. Working with Oxfam-Quebec, and on other projects sponsored by UNICEF, the EU, and CIDA, Nadia has explored the possibilities of raising awareness of these issues. As a result of these projects, as well as academic work, Nadia continues to think about the ethics of research and international development. Her writings are generally within these subject fields, with a recent focus on how states – and particularly their policies of identity documentation (passports, IDs, databases, etc.) – affect individuals and groups at personal levels. Nadia also has expertise in development assistance, refugees, and the Middle East and North Africa. Nadia holds a doctorate from Oxford University and a Masters degree from the University of Toronto.

MARC BONOMO – Youth Panelist
Marc is the Director of International Partnerships at SOS Children’s Villages Canada, part of the umbrella organization of SOS Children’s Villages International, which offers safe and nurturing family homes to over 75,000 orphaned and abandoned children in 134 countries around the world. Marc joined SOS Children’s Villages Canada in 2010. He has spearheaded SOS Children’s Villages Canada’s work in engaging the private sector in development, Maternal and Child Health programs, Youth Livelihood programs, and International Humanitarian Assistance. As part of Marc’s work and education he has traveled extensively throughout Latin America, South East Africa, and Asia. Marc represents SOS Children’s Villages Canada on the Humanitarian Response Network, the Devonshire Initiative, the Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, as well as in the Canadian Coalition for International Cooperation. In 2010, Marc received his Bachelor of Social Sciences from the University of Ottawa’s School of International Development. Prior to joining SOS Children’s Villages, Marc worked in several federal government departments and on Parliament Hill for the Honourable Belinda Stronach.

EHSAN TORKAMAN-ZEHI
Ehsan is Chair of Politics at the Pub (P@P) for the Canadian International Council’s National Capital Branch. He started his career in the private sector working for Novatek International, a Canadian multi-national software firm, as Associate Director of International Business Development. In 2007, Ehsan co-founded BenAstrum Life Sciences Institute, a life sciences consulting firm.