A Devex Newsmaker Event
Shaping growth in Latin America: A conversation with Roberta Jacobson
NOVEMBER 15, 2021 - 11 a.m. ET | 5 p.m. CET
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About the Event
In a world hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, one region has arguably fared worst: Latin America. While Latin America is a large and diverse region, people across countries have uniformly faced bad outcomes. Latin America has some of the worst mortality rates from the pandemic itself and among the worst economic contractions from the global slowdown and lockdown measures. Millions of people across the region have been pushed into poverty; crime and violence continue to plague several countries; corruption and political instability are immediate challenges, and there are three full-blown humanitarian crises in Venezuela, Haiti, and Central America.
Against this bleak backdrop, what are committed humanitarians, development agencies, and international organizations to do? In a special series of Devex Newsmaker conversations, we will explore both the underlying causes of the recent setbacks across the region and, importantly, what can be done to support national and community-led efforts to imagine a new future for the region.
These conversations include three exemplary leaders uniquely placed to address these questions. Luis Alberto Moreno served for 15 years as the president of the Inter-American Development Bank until stepping down last year and is among Latin America’s most prominent leaders on the global stage. Roberta Jacobson was the United States ambassador to Mexico, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, and served U.S. President Joe Biden in managing the migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border this year. In addition to holding a number of key government roles in Mexico’s finance ministry, Santiago Levy is globally recognized as the architect of Mexico’s noted incentive-based health, education, and nutrition program for the poor, and is one of the region’s most prominent development analysts.
Join Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar on Monday, Nov. 15, at 11 a.m. ET (5 p.m. CET) for the second Devex Newsmaker conversation on Latin America’s post-pandemic future hosted by Devex and presented by Open Society Foundations with Roberta Jacobson. By registering for this event you are registering for the entire series and will receive email updates on future conversations.
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Schedule
11 a.m. ET
Welcome and opening remarks
• Raj Kumar, president and editor-in-chief, Devex
• Teresa Wesh, senior reporter, Devex
11:05 a.m. ET
One-on-one interview
Speakers:
• Roberta Jacobson, senior adviser, Albright Stonebridge Group/Denton’s Global Advisors
• Moderator: Raj Kumar, president and editor-in-chief, Devex
11:35 a.m. ET
Fireside chat
Speakers:
• Pedro Abramovay, Latin America program and regional director, Open Society Foundations
• Moderator: Raj Kumar, president and editor-in-chief, Devex
11:45 a.m. ET
Closing Remarks
• Raj Kumar, president and editor-in-chief, Devex
Speakers
Pedro Abramovay
Latin America program and regional director, Open Society Foundations
Pedro Abramovay is director of the Latin America Program and regional director of Latin America and the Caribbean at the Open Society Foundations. Previously, Abramovay held a series of key posts within Brazil’s Ministry of Justice: He was a special adviser to the minister of justice from 2004 to 2006, the ministry’s secretary for legislative affairs from 2007 to 2010, and secretary of justice from 2010 to 2011. Under former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Abramovay helped draft significant pieces of legislation and led a campaign that resulted in the removal of an estimated half-million guns from circulation. He worked on reforming Brazil’s penitentiary system and created a blog-led drafting process for legislation on internet freedom. Abramovay was also a campaign director for Avaaz, leading campaigns against corruption and for the promotion of human rights in Latin America, and was a professor at Fundação Getulio Vargas School of Law in Rio de Janeiro. Abramovay studied law at the University of São Paulo Law School and received an MA in Constitutional Law from the University of Brasília.
Roberta Jacobson
Senior adviser, Albright Stonebridge Group/Denton’s Global Advisors
Roberta S. Jacobson is a senior adviser at the Albright Stonebridge Group/Denton’s Global Advisors. She served as the White House Coordinator for the Southwest Border from January through April 2021. She was the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico from May 2016 until her resignation in May 2018, retiring from the State Department after more than 30 years. In fall 2018, she taught at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics as a Pritzker fellow. Jacobson previously served as the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs since March 2012. She held various positions in the State Department’s Western Hemisphere Bureau, embassies in Argentina and Peru, and the White House during her career. Jacobson holds an MA in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a bachelor of arts from Brown University. She is the author of numerous articles, including, “10 Things You Didn’t Know About U.S.–Latin America Relations,” published by Americas Quarterly in 2013; “Women and the Rule of Law: A View from the Americas,” published by The Fletcher Forum in 2014, and “The United States and the Western Hemisphere: A Relationship on the Rise, seen in The Ambassador’s Review in 2015.
Raj Kumar
President and editor-in-chief, Devex
Raj Kumar is the founding president and editor-in-chief at Devex, the media platform for the global development community. He is a media leader and former humanitarian council chair for the World Economic Forum and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. His work has led him to more than 50 countries, where he has had the honor to meet many of the aid workers and development professionals who make up the Devex community. He is the author of the book "The Business of Changing the World," a go-to primer on the ideas, people, and technology disrupting the aid industry.