Location:
International Food Policy Research Institute
2033 K Street, NW, Washington, DC
Fourth Floor Conference Facility
Thursday, December 13, 2001
3:30 - 5:00 p.m.

These are particularly harsh times for the residents of some countries in the developing world. The ever-present scourges of hunger and pestilence in the poorest nations are, from time to time, exacerbated by civil conflicts and war. Some are generated by the countries themselves and others are pressed on them from the outside. The results, in any case, can be devastating, as recently witnessed in North Korea and Afghanistan.

Administrator Natsios has had more experience than most in dealing with this more turbulent end of the development spectrum, first with the Bureau for Humanitarian Development in USAID, then with World Vision and with the United States Institute of Peace, and recently with USAID, where he has just returned from an intensive visit to Afghanistan. He became particularly familiar with the North Korean famine of 1955-99 before rejoining USAID and has written on the subject.

His involvement with crisis situations has led him to a keen appreciation of the need for famine mitigation efforts and the need to move to recovery programs and then into more sustainable agricultural development programs. He sees agricultural development as the key to more general economic development in these societies. And he is keenly aware of the contributions that agricultural research can make to moving down this continuum - from the restoration of seed supplies to providing more sophisticated technologies at later stages of development.

He will present his personal views on these matters and will relate them to ongoing organizational changes in USAID.

Kindly RSVP to 202-862-8107 or Email: S.Hill-Lee@cgiar.org.