Thursday, October 8th, 2020 9:45 AM (EDT)
This session will attempt to synthesize key information that participants will have been exposed to over the course of the Summit and will also focus on gaps in the current evidence base related to programming for food assistance for nutrition.
Elizabeth Brown, Moderator
Deputy Office Director, USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance
Elizabeth is a Foreign Service Officer with over nineteen years’ experience supporting development and humanitarian initiatives worldwide. Elizabeth’s over seventeen years with USAID have included tours in Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Iraq, West Africa, and Washington, DC. Elizabeth first joined USAID as Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellow with the Congressional Hunger Center working on food and nutrition security in Ethiopia and in Washington with the Office of Food for Peace (FFP). She next joined the Bureau for Latin American and the Carribean as a Program Analyst working on democracy and civil society strengthening in Cuba. Her interest in governance systems and stability operations then took her to Afghanistan where she worked on two Provincial Reconstruction Teams before joining the Kabul Agriculture Office as the Agribusiness and Environment Team Lead. In West Africa, Elizabeth served as Director for the Mission’s Agriculture Office and as Acting Regional Economic Growth Office Director covering agriculture, environment and trade portfolios. Elizabeth serves as a Deputy Director for BHA’s Office of Technical and Program Quality (TPQ). In this capacity she oversees the Risk Analysis Division and Public Health and Nutrition Division which are responsible for ensuring high quality technical and programmatic approaches are utilized in BHA’s operations globally. Prior to her new role, Elizabeth was Detailed to HCTM, where she served under the Center for Overseas Human Capital Initiatives as the Foreign Service National (FSN) Special Initiatives Officer working on FSN Talent Management. Elizabeth served with FFP for three years as a Senior Advisor within FFP’s Technical, Learning, and Planning Division (TLP), and before that as TLP Acting Division Chief for eighteen months, and as the Nutrition Security Team Lead.
Shawn Baker, Speaker
Chief Nutritionist, USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance
Shawn K. Baker is the Chief Nutritionist for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In this position, he chairs the Agency’s Nutrition Leadership Council, oversees the vision and strategy of the Agency’s Center for Nutrition in the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, and coordinates related efforts across USAID. He also guides USAID’s investments and engagement with partners to address malnutrition in developing countries. Prior to joining USAID, Baker was the first director of nutrition at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has over 30 years’ experience in global public health nutrition, including 25 years living in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Baker worked for Helen Keller International for 19 years, including 16 years as Vice President and Regional Director for Africa. He also served as country director for Helen Keller International in Niger and Bangladesh. He spent nine years with Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine working with the Niger Health Information System, Center for International Health and Development, Famine Early Warning System in Southern Africa and Niger, and Madagascar food and nutrition surveillance system. Baker started his career in international development as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
His service on committees and advisory groups includes the Technical Review Panel for The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, which he chaired until November 2014. He was chair of the Executive Committee of the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement and now serves as special advisor. He was also on the board of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition from 2013-2016, and now serves on its Partnership Council. Baker has a master’s of public health from Tulane University, with concentrations in international health and nutritional epidemiology. He earned his bachelor’s of science degree in biology from the University of Miami.
Dr. Steve Collins, Speaker
Founder and Chairman, Valid Nutrition
Steve Collins is a medical doctor with a doctorate in nutrition. He developed Community based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) in 1998 and has been the central figure behind the development and expansion of CMAM using Ready to Use Foods (RUFs), and the acceptance of these innovations by the World Health Organisation. In 2001, he received a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to humanitarianism. He is a respected academic who publishes widely in major international journals, including The Lancet. Steve is also a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Child Health in London and sits on the council of the Commonwealth Association of Paediatrics and Gastroenterology. He is one of the two founders and an executive director of both Valid International and VALID Nutrition.
Danielle Mutone-Smith, Speaker
Acting Managing Director, USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance
Danielle Mutone-Smith is the Acting Managing Director for the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) at USAID. BHA is the U.S. Government lead for international emergency response. With a mandate to save lives, alleviate human suffering, and reduce the impact of disasters, BHA monitors, mitigates, and responds to global hazards and humanitarian needs. The Bureau also promotes resilience by preparing communities for disasters before they strike, and by helping people recover and move beyond crises.
Prior to this, Danielle served as Division Chief for the Policy, Partnerships, Program and Communications Division in USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (FFP). In this capacity, she increased FFP’s collaboration with other donors on emergency responses, including representing the USG at multi-donor groups such as the Food Assistance Committee; strengthened partnerships with the World Food Program and UNICEF; led on humanitarian policy issues such as increased UN oversight and accountability; advanced key U.S. policy issues including reforming the Food for Peace Act to increase the effectiveness and flexibility of Title II food assistance programs; strengthened FFP’s strategic resource management; and increased support for FFP programs through enhanced public outreach and communications. Danielle previously worked in USAID’s Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs where, among other efforts, she led legislative efforts around Food Aid Reform.
Before joining USAID in 2012, Danielle served as Director of Global Trade and Agriculture Policy at Women Thrive Worldwide where she worked to mainstream gender priorities into US government food security and agriculture policy initiatives, such as Feed the Future, as well as advocated for trade policies that would increase opportunities for farmers in less developed countries. Additionally, she worked with women’s cooperatives in African nations to help them influence domestic and regional policy to increase opportunity in their own countries.
Danielle also worked at Bread for the World, where she strengthened NGO anti-hunger coalition efforts and served as the chair for the InterAction Agriculture and Food Security Working Group for several years. Danielle started her career working with the Farmer to Farmer program at Partners of the Americas where she engaged with farmer groups throughout Central America and Haiti to build food security and strengthen livelihood opportunities. Danielle holds a PhD in Public Policy, with a focus on international policy, from George Mason University and both an M.A. in International Development and a B.A. in Economics and International Studies from American University.
Allison Oman Lawi, Speaker
Deputy Divisional Director, Nutrition Operations, Analysis and Integration, Nutrition Division, World Food Programme
Allison Oman Lawi is a Deputy Director of Nutrition at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) leading the division’s Operations, Analysis and Integration teams. Prior to taking up her current role, she was a Senior Regional Nutrition Advisor including Social Protection, School Feeding and HIV at the Regional Bureau in Nairobi. She joined WFP in 2014. During her career, Allison held leadership positions in the nutrition field with UNHCR, and worked with both UNICEF and IFRC. Before relocating to WFP’s Rome Headquarters, she worked in East and Horn of Africa for over 20 years. She holds a Master’s in Public Health with a specialty in International Nutrition, and concentration in Maternal and Child Health from the University of California – Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, Anthropology and Religion from Swarthmore College in the USA.
Dr. Stephen Vosti, Q&A Discussion Leader
Senior Economist/ Cost Specialist, Tufts University, Food Aid Quality Review
Dr. Vosti’s current research focuses on the economics of maternal and early childhood undernutrition, with particular focus on developing and using bioeconomic models to improve the efficiency of national and subnational strategies for addressing micronutrient deficiencies in developing countries. He received his PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Rockefeller Foundation in Brazil, and a Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute.
The Future of Food Assistance for Nutrition: Evidence Summit II 