POVERTY, GENDER, AND YOUTH PROGRAM
Seminar Series 

2008 Schedule

Seminars are held from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm at the Population Council, One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (on Second Avenue between 47th & 48th Streets), in the John D. Rockefeller seminar room (JDR-A) on the 9th floor. Please RSVP to pgy-seminar@popcouncil.org so your name can be provided to security in the building lobby. Please enter the building at the 48th Street entrance.

For further information on seminars or to be added to the seminar announcement mail list, please contact seminar organizer Sajeda Amin. 

27 May 2008
Speaker: Ashok Rai
Assistant Professor of Economics, Williams College
Title: "Do spouses make claims? Empowerment and microfinance in India"

Abstract
We study a situation in which health insurance is extended to husbands and wives of microfinance borrowers. We find that nonborrowing spouses are less likely to file insurance claims than those who are borrowing. Further, a man is more likely to use the health insurance acquired through his wife's loan than is a woman (through her husband's loan). These patterns could arise either because of underlying morbidity differences or because women who do not borrow are disempowered. We find evidence consistent with the latter explanation. (co-author: Shamika Ravi, Indian School of Business) (PDF)

Speaker bio
Ashok Rai is assistant professor of economics at Williams College. His research is on financial contracts and poverty. Rai has microfinance field experience in Bangladesh, India, and Kenya. His research has been published in the Review of Economic Studies and the Journal of Development Economics. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

24 April 2008
Speaker: Alan Whiteside
Director, Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD)
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
Title: “Rethinking emergencies: Swaziland, a case study”

Abstract
The world’s highest HIV prevalence and the increasing number of deaths due to AIDS is having unprecedented impact on Swaziland. HIV/AIDS in Swaziland has been characterized by a slow onset of impacts that have failed to command an emergency response. With insufficient resource allocation and a lack of capacity, slow onset events can become emergencies. The absence of an agreed definition of “disaster” or “emergency” has helped to sustain this characterization.

An emergency can be thought of as an event affecting a group of people, causing a social, infrastructural, or health impact that places the population under an excessive amount of stress and exceeds its coping capacity. However, definitions by humanitarian actors fail to provide clear guidelines as to when an event is severe enough to be declared an emergency and don’t recognize change in the nature of disasters. Humanitarian assistance tends to focus on development as a linear progression. Disasters occur as a temporary setback on this path, creating a dire short-term need. Humanitarian aid is seen as both the response to "bolt-from-the-blue" events that are impossible to plan for, and as a tool to move affected states back onto their normal path to development.

Traditional humanitarian thinking focuses on the short-term and is often aimed at returning affected populations to "normality." This characterization is supported by the lack of an agreed definition of a “disaster” or an “emergency.” The nature of these terms is changing. The case of Swaziland emphasizes that emergencies can be long-term, complex, widespread events that evolve over years.

An economic downturn, demographic changes, an increasing dependency ratio, high death rates, and high levels of HIV prevalence and morbidity have resulted in a situation where Swazi households are forced to use drastic coping strategies in order to survive. While HIV/AIDS is not solely to blame for the dire situation, it has compounded the effects of other events such as drought and falling foreign direct investment (FDI). In Swaziland, HIV/AIDS is creating a chronic emergency that is permanently altering development. This demonstrates a "new" disaster that exceeds emergency thresholds and requires a new style of holistic response.

While the traditional threshold approach remains useful for classifying "traditional" disasters, a new framework of analysis is needed for HIV/AIDS. The element of "time" has been missing from the debate surrounding humanitarian response. A new, comprehensive response is essential to address the devastation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Swaziland.

26 March 2008
Speaker: Deborah Balk
Associate Director, CUNY Institute for Demographic Research
Title: "Urbanization and climate change: A challenge to demography?"

Abstract
Settlements in coastal lowlands are especially vulnerable to risks resulting from climate change, yet these lowlands are densely settled and may be growing rapidly. This talk will present results from the first global review of the population and urban settlement patterns in the Low Elevation Coastal Zone (defined here as the contiguous area along the coast that is less than 10 meters above sea level). Overall, this zone covers 2 percent of the world's land area but contains 10 percent of the world's population and 13 percent of the world's urban population, with some important regional differences. Almost two-thirds of urban settlements with populations greater than five million fall, at least partly, in the zone. In some countries (most notably China), urbanization is driving a movement in population toward the coast. This talk will also present new results comparing coastal cities to those in other ecosystems and those from new city-level data of relevance to climate change. Despite these new findings, much less can be said about urban growth in the context of climate change. The talk will conclude with some remarks on (1) possible mechanisms (demographic and otherwise) for reducing the risk of disasters related to climate change in coastal settlements, in particular; and (2) the challenges in methodology and data collection to the demographic community on understanding future urbanization.

Speaker bio
Deborah Balk is associate director of the CUNY Institute for Demographic Research, and associate professor at the Baruch School of Public Affairs and the CUNY Graduate Center (in the sociology and economics programs). She is also an adjunct research scientist at Columbia University's Center for International Earth Science Information, within the Earth Institute. Her expertise lies in spatial demography and the integration of earth and social science data and methods to address interdisciplinary policy questions. Her current research focus is on urbanization, population, poverty, and environmental interactions (such as climate change). Prior to CUNY, Balk has held appointments at Columbia University, the East-West Center, and the University of Michigan. She received her Ph.D. in demography from the University of California at Berkeley, and her master's degree in public policy, and A.B. in international relations, from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is currently a member of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population working group on urbanization and recently completed service to two National Research Council panels.

27 February 2008
Speaker: Marianne Gimon
Independent consultant specializing in gender and international development
Title: "Iraqi adolescent girls: Voices to be heard"

Abstract
Iraqi adolescent girls living in Syria are concerned about their future. They are part of the 1.5–2 million refugees that have arrived in Syria since the United States-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Ms. Gimon will present her findings regarding the increasing vulnerability of Iraqi adolescent girls (ages 12–18) living in the outskirts of Damascus. In addition, she will discuss her recent work with UNICEF Syria (June–October 2007) and her recommendations on how to design protection interventions for Iraqi girls at risk.

Speaker bio
Marianne Gimon works as an independent consultant specializing in gender and international development. She has recently been working with the UNICEF Syria Country Office on developing protection interventions for vulnerable adolescent Iraqis living in Syria. She previously worked for the Population Council, the Social Science Research Council, the United Nations Development Programme, and Equilibres et Populations. She taught English in Yantai, China, as a WorldTeach volunteer. Marianne serves on several boards including the Funders' Network for Afghan Women and Echoing Green. She earned her bachelor of arts at Brown University and her master's degree from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

12 February 2008
Speakers:
Kristin Anderson Moore, Senior Scholar (offsite bio)
Laura Lippman, Senior Research Scientist and Senior Program Director for Education and Data Development (offsite bio)
Jennifer Manlove, Senior Research Scientist and Senior Program Area Director for Fertility and Family Structure (offsite bio)

Title: "Positive program outcomes, indicators, and teen relationships: Contributions from Child Trends’ research"

Three researchers from Child Trends, a nonpartisan Washington, DC, nonprofit research organization, share examples of work at Child Trends (offsite link).

• Kristin Anderson Moore will describe Child Trends’ Research-to-Results initiative and identify approaches that evaluations have found to enhance outcomes for children.
• Laura Lippman will discuss work developing positive indicators of child well-being and present examples that may be useful for less-developed countries.
• Jennifer Manlove will describe a project examining how teens' relationships with their parents, peers, and partners are associated with their reproductive health behaviors.

30 January 2008
Speaker: Dean Karlan (offsite bio)
Assistant Professor of Economics, Yale University
President, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) (offsite link)
Title: "Microfinance: Learning what works, what does not, and why"

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