Foreign aid as the intersection between development and diplomacy: A practical skills-building workshop

This is an in-person event for current U-M students. This event will not be livestreamed.

Foreign aid lives at the intersection of development and diplomatic goals. Navigating both sets of priorities simultaneously requires a multifaceted and nuanced skillset. Elisa Zogbi has navigated this intersection for over 12 years as a foreign service officer for the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Ms. Zogbi will be joining the Ford School to discuss the challenges and opportunities she has experienced in working at this intersection. She will lead an interactive workshop designed to help students understand and navigate some of the key challenges in advancing diplomatic and development goals through its foreign aid programming.

Prior to the workshop, students will be asked to read brief case materials that describe the response to the influx of Venezuelan refugees and migrants in South America and the United States, in which Ms. Zogbi has navigated the diplomacy/development intersection. During the workshop, students will work with Ms. Zogbi to unpack the case and identify key diplomatic and development goals, the array of interests of involved parties, key challenges and barriers, and work to identify potential paths forward and strategies that maximize US Government tools to pursue them.

The International Policy Center (IPC) is hosting this workshop as part of its Aid & Development series. At Aid & Development events, students build practical skills for future international development careers.

Students will be required to read a short case profile prior to attending this workshop.

Facilitator

This workshop will be led by Elisa Zogbi, Director for South American Affairs and Principal Officer for Venezuela within the US Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Latin America and Caribbean Bureau.

Ms. Zogbi has worked in international development for nearly 20 years, both as a foreign service officer with the U.S. Government and in private sector project management with international development third-party implementers. During her time with the foreign service, Ms. Zogbi has been a Director within USAID’s Democratic Governance and Migration portfolios, notably in Paraguay, El Salvador, Colombia, and the West Bank and Gaza. Ms. Zogbi holds a BA in Latin American Studies and Spanish and a MA in Political Science from the University of Kansas, as well as a MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science. 

• Elisa Zogbi
• Aid & Development
• USAID
• Venezuela