Summer Newsletter 2013

Sheelah — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 21:56:30 +0000

I2UD Promotes Resilience to Climate Change in Latin America Research Trip to Condega and Cartagena Alejandra Mortarini and Carolina Morgan conducted research trips to cities in Nicaragua and Colombia to further their study of urban adaptation to climate change. They met with local partners and met with community members and local officials, putting their research into action. “In both cities, the challenge is not only an environmental one, but an urban planning one: at the core of the problem is the unavailability of affordable urban land, which forces low income groups to settle in the riskiest areas,” says Morgan, in an in-depth piece on their trip. +read more
First National Workshop In Belize	Dr Serageldin Presents for UN-Habitat on GCC	Meeting of the Board 2013

In May, an I2UD team led a series of workshops in Belize, facilitating introductory training modules on urban planning as part of ongoing assistance to seven town councils as they each draft Municipal Development Plans. +more	Dr Mona Serageldin was invited to discuss challenges and priorities for urban development in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council at the Gulf States Regional Office of UN-Habitat workshop in Amman, Jordan last month. +more	I2UD’s annual Meeting of the Board commenced on May 3^rd 2013 with a dinner at the Harvard Faculty Club and ended with an engaging and successful board business meeting the following day. +more
Forward this newsletter	I2UD Job Opportunity: Full Time Research Associate	Subscribe \| Unsubscribe Change your preferences

Board Meeting 2013

Sheelah — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 18:26:42 +0000

I2UD’s annual Meeting of the Board commenced on May 3^rd 2013 with a dinner at the Harvard Faculty Club. I2UD staff was pleased to welcome Members of the Board and esteemed guests including Joe Brennan, Mary Jane and Jim Lawson, Clemens Sels, John Sanger and Maria Vela, and Rene Pantalone. The North Dining Room, ripe with Harvard heritage, evoked a cordial ambiance for sharing old memories and new introductions.

Members of the Board and I2UD staff reconvened on Saturday May 4^th, to discuss Institute activities. I2UD’s senior affiliate, Elda Solloso launched the meeting with an insightful presentation on capacity building of local governments in Belize where she has been working alongside team leader John Driscoll and Jim Kostaras. Driscoll and Daniel Tsai illustrated an innovative direction for developing distance learning modules with a web-based “I2Academy.” They presented a demo of the new project, discussing both participatory and presentation techniques for a new online mode of teaching for the Institute. They were followed by Alejandra Mortarini and Carolina Morgan, both of whom recently returned from field work in Condega, Nicaragua, an experience that provided meaningful context to their engaging presentation on urban planning strategies in response to climate change. Mona Serageldin offered expertise advice and discussion on Institute network building.

Fundraising was a major point of discussion at the meeting. Joe Brennan offered the idea of internet “crowd-sourced” fundraising initiatives. There were two schools of thought in this dialogue: fundraise to offset costs on discrete projects and fundraise to add to the Institute’s general pool of operating money. It was agreed that staff will create a comprehensive prospectus on how to implement a crowd-sourced fundraising initiative.

The business meeting included approval of all actions in 2012, discussion of the annual report and financial statements and the future direction of the Institute. Joe Brennan was unanimously re-elected as Chairperson. Additional discussion focused on the 2013 board trip to Cuba. The meeting was adjourned, fueling the Board and I2UD staff with an impetus for fulfilling goals, projects and fundraising initiatives to propel the Institute into a promising and successful future.

I2UD » Sheelah

Summer Newsletter 2013

Board Meeting 2013