Humanitarian NGOs Domain
NGO Leaders Seminar Series:

Seeing Like a Citizen:
International Perspectives on Deepening Democracy
John Gaventa
Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex
Vera Coelho
Visiting Fellow, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations

Moderated by Archon Fung
Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Citizenship, Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation

Thursday, April 30, 2009,
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Light refreshments served
Fainsod Room, L324, Harvard Kennedy School
Free and open to the public

Co-sponsored by the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations and
The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation

john gaventa
John Gaventa is a political sociologist, educator and civil society practitioner with over 30 years experience of research, training and organisational leadership in North and South. Currently he is a Professor and Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at University of Sussex, where he is a member of the Participation, Power and Social Change team and Director of the Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability. He has written widely on issues of power, participatory development and governance, civil society and social change. Before coming to IDS in 1996, John was the co-director of research and Director of the Highlander Centre, an NGO with over seven decades of experience in working on poverty and social justice issues in poor regions of the United States. John also serves as Chair of Oxfam Great Britain.

Vera P. Coelho is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations. She has a PhD in social sciences from UNICAMP (Campinas State University), Brazil. She is a Senior Researcher and coordinator of the Citizenship and Development Group at the Brazilian Centre for Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP). Prof. Coelho co-coordinates with Bettina Von Liers, the Comparative Research Program, Deepening Democracy in States and Localities at the Citizenship Development Research Centre (IDS) at Sussex University. Other research interests include public policy, political participation, accountability, democracy and development. She has written various articles on health, social security, social policies and citizen participation. Prof. Coelho edited, Social Security Reform in Latin America (fgv, 2003); Participation and Deliberation in Contemporary Brazil (with Marcos Nobre, 34 Letras, 2004) and New Democratic Spaces: The Politics of Citizen Participation In New Democratic Arenas (with Andrea Cornwall, Zed Books, 2006). She works with both qualitative and quantitative research methods and has extensive experience in evaluating policies and coordinating research projects at local, national and international level, having led various comparative studies in her area.

Archon Fung is Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Citizenship, Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School. His research examines the impacts of civic participation, public deliberation, and transparency upon public and private governance. Recent books include Full Disclosure: The Perils and Promise of Transparency (Cambridge University Press, with Mary Graham and David Weil) and Empowered Participation: Reinventing Urban Democracy (Princeton University Press). Current projects examine democratic reform initiatives in electoral reform, urban planning, public services, ecosystem management, and transnational governance. He has authored five books, three edited collections, and over fifty articles appearing in journals including American Political Science Review, Public Administration Review, Political Theory, Journal of Policy and Management, Environmental Management, American Behavioral Scientist, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, and Boston Review.