Student Workshop: Building Multi-Actor Coalitions in International Development
Speaker
Elisa Zogbi (Senior Advisor, External Affairs & Communication; Inter-American Development Bank)Date & time
Location
This is an in-person event for current U-M students. Space is limited. Preference will be given to RSVPs from Ford School students.
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.
Scope
This Aid & Development workshop will explore the role of coordinating across multiple actors towards shared objectives in international development, and the key skills needed to be successful in doing so.
In an era where resources for international development have been decreasing, effective collaboration between and across actors towards shared goals has become increasingly important. Many international development actors are creating new collaborative networks, rethinking how (and finding new ways) to work together, and setting shared goals and paths forward. Relationships between actors are relying less on formal contract or financial mechanisms to dictate terms, and more on skills of coordination and orchestration. These skills build on years of intra-sector and cross-sector collaboration between development actors; however, these coordination mechanisms continue to evolve in the 2026 development landscape.
Using the Colombian country context as a frame of reference, students will explore practical skills that are essential in this emerging development landscape.
Facilitator
This workshop will be led by Ms. Elisa Zogbi, Senior Advisor for External Affairs & Communications at the Inter-American Development Bank. Ms. Zogbi will facilitate this workshop in her personal capacity.
Elisa Zogbi is an international development leader with more than two decades of experience working at the intersection of democracy and economic development across Latin America and the Caribbean and the Middle East. She currently serves as a Senior Advisor in the Inter-American Development Bank's External Affairs and Communications Department, supporting strategic engagement and partnerships that advance the IDB Group's institutional priorities and strengthen its relationships with key stakeholders.
Prior to joining the IDB, Elisa spent nearly 15 years with the U.S. Agency for International Development, most recently as Director for South American Affairs and Principal Officer for Venezuela in USAID's Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. Throughout her Foreign Service career, she held senior leadership roles overseeing complex development portfolios in Colombia, El Salvador, Paraguay, Venezuela, and the West Bank and Gaza.
Elisa holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies and Spanish and an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Kansas, and an M.Sc. in Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science.