DATE: Wednesday, October 28th, 2015
TIME: 17:30 pm – 19:30 pm
LOCATION: St. Paul’s university, Guigues Hall, 223 Main street, Room 103
1. Opening remarks
2. Land Grabbing
Guest speakers, Roy Culpeper and Samuel Bonti-Ankomah from CELADA will provide an overview of the organization (to be formalized), and land grabbing as it intersects with issues of equity and sustainability as Africa transitions from traditional and customary agriculture and rural development to industrial and commercial agriculture. Next, Sibiri Sawadogo will comment their presentations, and raise questions.
To prepare yourself for this very interesting and complex topic, you may want to consult CELADA’s article at : https://opencanada.org/features/global-land-rights-canadas-missed-opportunity/, its website : www.celada.ca and ASG website, which offers several documents, including CELADA’s at : https://africastudygroup.ca/en/topics/land-acquisition-and-ownership-food-security/
Bios :
Roy Culpeper is a Senior Fellow at the University of Ottawa’s School of International Development and Global Studies, Adjunct Professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, and a Fellow of the Broadbent Institute. He is Chair of the Group of 78, and Chair of the Coalition for Equitable Land Acquisitions and Development in Africa. From January until May 2011 he was a Fulbright scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. From 1995 until 2010 he was President and Chief Executive Officer of The North-South Institute, Ottawa. Earlier in his career he was an official at the World Bank in Washington, the federal Departments of Finance and External Affairs in Ottawa, and the Planning Secretariat of the Government of Manitoba in Winnipeg. He has published widely on the issues of international development, finance and global governance. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Toronto.
Samuel Bonti-Ankomah completed his BSc. from University of Science and Technology in Ghana and obtained his MSc. and Ph.D from University of Guelph. His Ph.D thesis was on Land Use Policies. After graduation, Dr. Bonti-Ankomah took an international assignment in South Africa with CUSO where he undertook several research projects on land redistribution programs, government policies on poverty and unemployment. He also collaborated with UNDP on food security and sustainable development analyses in South Africa. Dr. Bonti-Ankomah returned to Canada in 2002 and spent some time at McGill University as a faculty member teaching Resource and Environmental Economics and Food Policy. He also consulted for CUSO, by estimating cost of living indexes for 16 developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Dr. Bonti-Ankomah currently works for Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) as a manager to a team of economic researchers on agricultural policies. Dr. Bonti-Ankomah has also worked at Industry Canada as a Senior Economist and at Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada as a Principal Advisor to government departments on regulatory impact analysis. He also teaches at Carleton University and at the Canadian School of Public Service.
Sibiri Sawadogo holds a Master in Rural Economy from Laval University (1979), Sawadogo has more than 35 years of experience in international development, particularly agriculture and rural development in Africa. Borned in Burkina Faso, he started his career in his country, as an agriculture researcher for his governement (1980-1986). He then worked mainly for CIDA in several African countries such as Rwanda, Mali and Burkina Faso. The last 15 years of his career (2000-2015), he served as Advisor to one of the Africa Administrator on the Board of the World Bank, representing 23 countries. During this period, he formulated and suggested positions on WB policies and strategies on poverty reduction, agriculture, rural development, environment, and business climate.
3. Varia – news from members
