Grow 2.0: Advancing the Small-Scale Farmer: Working Session - CGI U 2015

CGIU 2015 // Grow 2.0: Advancing the Small-Scale Farmer

Thank you to the organizers of the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU 2015) for inviting me to join such amazing company at this year’s meeting. Held at the University of Miami’s new Student Activities Center, CGIU 2015 kicked off with a two-day Codeathon on March 5-6 that included UM MFA in Interactive Media students Kelsey Kjeldsen and Sevika Singh’s climate games for South Florida preparedness CGI Commitment.

The main event then kicked off with an open plenary session on March 6, 2015, with Dr. Chelsea Clinton and President Bill Clinton and UM’s own Donna Shalala, who will be ending her tenure at UM and will be heading up the Clinton Foundation as its new president at the end of this academic year.

As moderator of “Grow 2.0: Advancing the Small-Scale Farmer” on March 7, I had the pleasure of first honoring two previous CGI Commitments from students at University of Colorado at Boulder and TEI Crete. I then used my international field experience as a lens to guide both questions and advice from a diverse set of panelists on considerations for how committed students could do their part to help advance small-scale farmers. And not just (or necessarily) with technology – basic resources and information go a long way. Also working closely with the community and having their support is critical to success, lessons I have taken to heart with all my own community-based, humanitarian design efforts. Thank you to Timote, Ryan, and Loretta for engaging these highly motivated and devoted students and advising them to push forward their incredible commitments to alleviate poverty globally.

Grow 2.0 Panelists:

 

Photo Credit: Paul Morse / Clinton Global Initiative