Agenda: Smart Rural Development
The Smart Villages Initiative and the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC) held a one-day event on 19th June 2017 at the Leopold Hotel, Brussels, focusing on “Smart Rural Development: the SDGs and the New European Consensus on Development.” The New European Consensus on Development was proposed in November 2016 and the European Parliament adopted its position in February 2017. On 7 June 2017 at European Development Days, the New Consensus was adopted by the EU Institutions and Member States. This New Consensus will play a central role in how the Sustainable Development Goals are approached via EU and Member State policies.
To this end, we wanted to gather policymakers, civil society, private sector representatives, researchers, scientists and others for a series of presentations and open discussion under Chatham House Rule regarding the direction of the new consensus and SDGs, particularly focusing on people living in rural areas of developing countries that are at the bottom of the pyramid and part of the “last mile”.
From both top-down and bottom-up perspectives from policymakers and practitioners, we hoped to move the conversation forward regarding the implementation of the New Consensus and SDGs, ensuring that an integrated and holistic approach to development – with a strong focus on the people most at risk of being “left behind” – is a central part of their implementation.
Programme & Presentations
| 8:00 am | Welcome and registration |
| 9:00 am | Start of event: Welcome by Smart Villages Initiative and EASAC |
| Panel I: Ambitions and aims for the New European Consensus on Development / SDGs Format: Key note addresses |
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| 9:45-11:30 am | Key note address, Cristina Amaral, Director, EU Liaison Office, FAO, United Nations |
| Key note address, Karine Genty, Deputy Head of Unit, C.6, Sustainable Energy and Climate Change, European Commission |
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| Key note address, Sarah Rinaldi, Acting Head of Unit, B.1, Human rights, Gender, and Democratic Governance, European Commission |
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| Key note address, Natalia Alonso, Deputy Director of Advocacy & Campaigns, Oxfam EU Advocacy Office |
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| Key note address, Andrew Bradley, Director, Office of International IDEA to the EU | |
| Key note address, Simon Collings, Energy 4 Impact, Director of Learning and Innovation |
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| Discussion | |
| 11:30 am | Coffee break |
| Panel II: Voices from the villages – What do people at the bottom of the pyramid need from the SDGs / New European Consensus? Format: Individual presentations |
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| 11:45 -1:00 pm | Indonesia: Tri Mumpuni, Executive Director, IBEKA |
| Latin America: Karl Kolmsee, Smart Hydro Power / Alliance for Rural Electrification |
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| West Africa: Louis Seck, Country Manager, Energy 4 Impact; Mayor; Senegal’s Former Renewable Energy Minister |
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| South East Asia: Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia: Tariq Zaman, UNIMAS, and Ezra Uda, Penan Community Representative, P.A.D.E Penan Sarawak Organisation |
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| East Africa (via teleconference): Andrew Mnzava, Program Manager for the Lighting Tanzania program, International Finance Corporation |
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| Discussion |
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| 1:00 pm-2:00 pm | Panel III: Voices from the private sector, science, and civil society Format: Moderated panel discussion |
| 2:00 pm-3:45 pm | Isolina Boto, Manager CTA (Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation) |
| Alexander Brummeler, Finance Innovation, Azuri Technologies | |
| Hanna Saarinen, Investment in Agriculture Policy Advisor, Oxfam EU | |
| Christina Moberg, Vice-President, EASAC and President, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
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| Joop Hazenberg, Senior Manager European Advocacy, GSMA | |
| Rita Poppe, Public Affairs, ENERGIA / Hivos | |
| Discussion | |
| 3.45 pm-4.15 pm | Coffee break |
| Panel IV: Roundtable discussion: Moving together towards the SDGs | |
| 4.15 pm-5.45 pm | Sally Nicholson, Head of Development Policy and Finance, WWF European Policy Office |
| Franziska Bertz, DEVCO B.1 Human Rights, Gender, Democratic Governance |
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| Claudia Boldrini and Georgios Grapsas, DEVCO C.6 Sustainable Energy and Climate Change, European Commission | |
| Ben Campbell, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, UK | |
| Ezra Uda, Penan Community Representative, P.A.D.E Penan Sarawak Organisation |
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| Iskander Kuntoadji, IBEKA Co-Founder | |
| 6:00 pm-7:00 pm | Post-event Reception: |
| With Key Note Address from MEP Linda McAvan, Chair of the European Parliament’s Development Committee |
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