NGO Leaders Seminar Series

Greater Influence, Growing Threats: The Shifting Landscape for NGOs
Sam Worthington (President and CEO, InterAction)
Moderated by Peter Bell (Senior Research Fellow, Hauser Center)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
9:30 am, Fainsod Room (Littauer 324)

Link to Humantitarian and International Development NGOs blog reference>>
sam_worthington
Description: The development and relief NGO community is experiencing explosive and diverse growth worldwide. Organizations like CARE, Oxfam, Save the Children, and World Vision are becoming increasingly influential but face a number of challenges, including the need to create perform at scale and demonstrate accountability; develop new forms of partnership and global governance; create boundaries with the military; and deal with competition and collaboration from the for-profit sector. Sam Worthington, President and CEO of InterAction, will discuss the growing threats that NGOs face and the community’s efforts to confront them.

Sam Worthington is President and CEO of InterAction, the nation’s largest alliance of relief and development nongovernmental organizations working overseas. Previously, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Plan USA and worked for Delphi International Group. As a Fulbright Scholar, he analyzed and evaluated United Nations international development program methodologies at the International Labor Office in Switzerland. He currently serves on the Advisory Committee for Voluntary Foreign Assistance (ACVFA) at USAID, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) at the United Nations, the Board of The Alliance to End Hunger, and is a Trustee of Religions for Peace. Mr. Worthington has a master’s degree with distinction from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont.

Peter D. Bell is a senior research fellow at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University and chairs the facilitation group of the NGO Leaders Forum. He is also co-chair of the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS. Before joining the Hauser Center, he was a visiting fellow at the Carter Center. Previously, Peter served as president of CARE USA for ten years. He has also been president of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, President of the Inter-American Foundation, and Deputy Under Secretary of the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in the Carter Administration. At the outset of his career, he worked for 12 years with the Ford Foundation, including ten years with its Latin American program. Peter’s volunteer positions include being vice-chair of the Inter-American Dialogue, vice chair of the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, a director of the Global Water Challenge and a trustee of the World Peace Foundation. He is a graduate of Yale College and holds a master’s degree in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton.