The Deaton Institute 'Poverty to Promise' Conference 2015

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DEATON INSTITUTE “FROM POVERTY TO PROMISE” CONFERENCE 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

A Note from Brady & Anne Deaton

5

About the Deaton Institute

7

Why Now?

8

Why Us?

9

The Conference Highlights

11

Student Research Presentation

13

Meet the Panelists

18

Words on Marble

19

Student Global Development Poster Session

20

Photospeak

21

Participant Feedback

22

Conference Coverage

23

Conference Committee

Photo by Rob Hill

PREFACE

Brady J. Deaton, Chancellor Emeritus and Executive Director

THE DEATON INSTITUTE CONFERENCE 2015

THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI

DEATON INSTITUTE FOR UNIVERSITY LEADERSHIP

IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The Brady & Anne Deaton Institute for University Leadership in International Development

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he Deaton Institute supports and develops interdisciplinary research and applied programs focused on the food security and socioeconomic needs of developing countries with the aim of eliminating extreme poverty. The institute utilizes the strength of the University of Missouri’s global relationships and exceptional Extension abilities. The institute is currently funded by the University of Missouri and is actively pursuing potential sources of diverse financial support from foundations, private corporations and other donors.

THE DEATON INSTITUTE CONFERENCE 2015

THE DEATON INSTITUTE GOALS Raise awareness of the challenge and focus needed research on science and technology that contribute to the improvement of food security, alleviation of extreme poverty, and the related issues of health, malnutrition, and environmental sustainability.

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Explore a new approach to higher education leadership in development: propose an innovative institution-wide "charge" to all disciplines and Extension to make a full press effort to design integrated intervention strategies aimed at reducing the incidence of poverty, utilizing measurable objectives for long and short term goals.

Promote discussions with other land-grant, public and private research universities, as well as leaders in government, non-government agencies and the corporate sector regarding cutting edge and innovative research.

Capitalize on digital technology and social media to disseminate applied research findings to indigenous leaders in targeted countries.

Stimulate the growth of internal leadership capacity, including youth leadership, in developing countries to implement socioeconomic and agricultural policies/practices that improve food security, economic development and environmental sustainability.

THE DEATON INSTITUTE CONFERENCE 2015

WHY NOW?

BY YEAR

2050

=

9

POVERTY LINE

1

Nearly

BILLION PEOPLE

LIVE BELOW THE POVERTY LINE

ON $1.25 O R

L E S S / D A Y

BILLION PEOPLE

=

LIMITED LAND BASE + FRAGILE RESOURCE BALANCE

The Institute’s mission has been significantly shaped by recent and highly relevant research findings identifying the larger impact of investments in smallholder farmers and supportive infrastructure as compared to other sectors in yielding the greater return to sustainable and resilient development. The mission is also underscored by economic theory pointing to the essential nature of such investments to help offset political instability. Additionally, within the overall Institute’s mission, the plight of undernourished mothers and children and severe health challenges, such as the Ebola epidemic, have become more clearly framed for education, research and action because of the severe impact on smallholders’ capacity to remain agriculturally productive. For these reasons, the Institute’s work will focus on smallholder farmers and their families as the means to reduce the incidence of “extreme poverty” while stimulating economic progress.

THE DEATON INSTITUTE CONFERENCE 2015

WHY US?

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he Deaton Institute is well positioned to be a significant voice in higher education, including University Extension, regarding important international development and policy matters, while simultaneously enhancing the University’s reputation for quality programs of applied research and education.

Vision of the institute: The University of Missouri will be a national leader for break-through, interdisciplinary research and education that critically inform agricultural, economic, health policies, and innovative development practices that enable targeted countries to achieve food security, nutritional adequacy and environmental sustainability.

The University of Missouri is a top land-grant research institution which excels in life sciences, journalism, engineering, and comprehensive health research and education.

The University of Missouri has relationships with other land-grant institutions and universities abroad with international recognition for institution building of indigenous strengths in India, Asia and Africa.

The University of Missouri is a leader in agricultural policy, including smallholder behavior, resilience, and cooperative leadership.

The Institute is envisioned as a leadership initiative to marshal university research, educational, and Extension strengths in focusing on the eradication of extreme poverty

THE CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

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he conference was opened by Chancellor Emeritus Brady Deaton, Executive Director of the Brady and Anne Deaton Institute for University Leadership in International Development. In addition to giving a spirited charge for a sustained joint interdisciplinary involvement in addressing the pertinent challenges of the 21st century and providing the background and rationale for the conference, Dr. Deaton recognized the distinguished presence of Dr. Harriet Giles and Dr. June Henton, founder of Universities Fighting World Hunger (UFWH) from the University of Auburn. Renowned faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students from various fields of study gathered at the Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) Fred W. Smith Forum Room for this one day conference.

The opening remarks were followed by three graduate student presentations on several global community engagements ranging from agro-economics, smallholder land-ownership policies, and improving common bean's drought tolerance in Colombia. To kick off the morning session, Bruno Miranda & Maria RodriguezAlcala discussed 'Connecting Low-Income Farmers in Brazil to Higher-End Coffee Markets’. They set the scene, presenting their objectives and shared their success stories and challenges. A highly interactive question and answer session followed these presentations.

The sectoral composition of registrants included approximately 36% from the MU student body (most of them graduate students), showing the vital interest in global development and an interdisciplinary collaborative outlook considering the seriousness of the conference, and further substantiating the conference as a cogent melting-pot for limitless partnership and student involvement. About 64% of the attendees who registered for the conference were members of staff and faculty from different MU system-wide campuses and departments, including the University of Missouri St. Louis.

THE DEATON INSTITUTE CONFERENCE 2015

The conference itinerary featured the input of 13 speakers from several departments, including representatives from MU Extension; The Center for Applied Research and Environmental Systems (CARES); MU Center for Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR); Truman School of Public Affairs; The School of Medicine; The MU Departments of Rural Sociology, Public Health, Agricultural Economics, Political Science; Center for Health Policy; and the Health Communication Research Center, bringing together leading experts and practitioners from several sectors of society. The conference proved an excellent opportunity for networking and sharing of experiences in the application of global development research and outreach to address critical problems of food security, health, and economic growth while enhancing internal capacity, sustainability, and resilience. The morning Session closing remarks was delivered by Dr. June Henton. The highlights of her speech included a need to recognize and encourage students as drivers for sustainable change. She also discussed the forthcoming 11th UFWH Summit scheduled for February 2016 to be hosted by the University of Missouri. In her capacity and along with Dr. Harriet Giles, they would serve to provide a direction for the distinguished multinational summit.

The conference agenda had been formulated to include two afternoon plenary sessions, with parallel topics assigned to each panel. The first panel on Smallholders, Risk, Individual Decision Making, addressed research that seeks to understand family behavior and incentives that expand productive capacity, reduce risk, and guide individual and collective decision making. This was followed by a 15-minute break for Student Poster Presentations in the Palmer Room of the Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI). The second panel, under the leadership of Lise Saffran, the Director of the Masters of Public Health program, discussed Ebola as a case study for using interdisciplinary analyses to shape strategies designed to overcome threats to global health and well-being, paving the way for economic recovery.

STUDENT RESEARCH PRESENTATION Bruno and Maria presented a baseline survey conducted among 350 coffee producers (a sample from 3500 small farmers) in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, that are part of a sustainable development project titled Força Café. The project is headed by the Hanns N. Neumann Stiftung Foundation, headquartered in Germany, in partnership with the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a branch of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). The purpose of Força Café is to help small low-income farmers connect to higher-end coffee markets that can provide them with a higher income over time. In addition, the project seeks to help participants adopt more environmentally sustainable practices that include climate change adaptation.

Bruno Miranda is a native of Brazil and a PhD candidate in Agricultural Economics at the University of MissouriColumbia. Bruno has a BA in International Relations and a MSc in Business Administration, both from the University of São Paulo. Bruno is editor of Pontes, a publication in Portuguese dedicated to the relationship between international trade and sustainable development. Prior to his arrival to Columbia, Bruno was a research assistant at the Center of International Negotiations Studies (CAENI) and the Agribusiness Intelligence Center (Pensa). His research interests include the study of patterns of economic organization in emerging markets and the relationship between institutional change and collective action in Latin America. Maria Rodriguez-Alcala is a native of Paraguay and a PhD candidate at the University of Missouri-Columbia in the Department of Rural Sociology. Maria has a BSc in Agricultural Economics from Texas A&M University and a MSc in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Before beginning her PhD, Maria worked for a think tank in São Paulo, Brazil where she completed research on agricultural trade and managed a large project in the four Mercosur countries. Maria also held a teaching and advising position at University of Missouri -Columbia in Agricultural Economics before serving as a research assistant with the Cambio Center, studying the Latino community in the state of Missouri. As a researcher, Maria is currently interested in marginalized groups and interdisciplinary projects in the context of sustainable development.

Decision Making Processes of Smallholders in Ethiopia - Anne Cafer Anne presented on the major drivers behind the recent expansion of Ethiopia's extension system, major barriers to the adoption of new management practices proposed by extension, and potential areas of improvement. Anne Cafer is a PhD candidate and US Borlaug Fellow at the University of Missouri-Columbia in the Department of Rural Sociology. She holds a Master's degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Anthropology and a BSc in Biology and Sociology from Northwest Missouri State University. During her graduate career at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Anne worked with at-risk immigration populations and conducted her field research in South Wollo, Ethiopia. At University of MissouriColumbia Anne worked with the Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security, compiling data from several state and federal agencies to assess food security needs for Missouri counties. Anne also served as president of the Rural Sociology Graduate Student Association. Anne is currently studying the relationship between rural subsistence farming communities and extension services in Ethiopia, with an emphasis on the role extension plays in farmers' decisionmaking processes on adoption of tef technologies and improved management practices.

Improving Common Bean's Drought Tolerance in Colombia - Michael Maw Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is a main protein source in Latin America and Africa. Most yields are limited by drought affects at some point during plant growth. Drought is a contributing factor to limit nodulation and biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) of the beans as well, resulting in reduced yields. Common beans are already low in BNF compared to other legumes, like soybeans, but genetic differences for BNF under drought may allow for improved breeding. Mr Maw’s research involved collaborating with The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Colombia to identify genetic differences between 16 parental lines that are integral to CIAT's breeding program. If differences are found for BNF under drought stress, then there is potential to use more drought-tolerant lines to improve common beans yields.

Michael Maw is a PhD student at the University of Missouri-Columbia in the Division of Plant Sciences. Michael holds an MSc from the University of Missouri-Columbia in Crop, Soil and Pest Management and a BSc in Water and Soil Resources from the University of Georgia. His Masters research examined the management practices of sweet sorghum that are required for optimal ethanol production in Missouri. In his doctoral research, Michael is collaborating with The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Colombia to identify genetic differences in common beans to drought effects on biological nitrogen fixation. Common bean is a main protein source in Latin America and Africa, and the genetic differences that are discovered may allow for improved breeding to increase the yield of common bean under drought stress.

PANELISTS

Panel I – Smallholders, Risk, Individual Decision Making

Panel II – Ebola, An Interdisciplinary Response

Corinne Valdivia, Agricultural Economics Tom Johnson, Agricultural Economics Max Summers, MU Extension Jere Gilles, Rural Sociology Simone Dietrich, Political Science

Lise Saffran, Public Health Chris Fulcher, Rural Sociology Amy Dunaway, HCRC Ioana Staiculescu, Center for Health Policy Jo Turner, MU Extension

PANEL 1 - SMALLHOLDERS, RISK, INDIVIDUAL DECISION MAKING Corinne Valdivia, Agricultural Economics

Tom Johnson, Agricultural Economics

Max Summers, MU Extension

Dr. Valdivia is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Social Sciences Unit, at MU. Her research is on sustainable livelihoods, livelihood strategies and household economic portfolios in rural development in Latin America, East Africa, and the USA, the economics of coping and adaptation to climate variability, the economics of risk in agricultural and rural communities of developing countries. In her capacity building and outreach work, she has worked to strengthen social sciences research for development in national agricultural research institutes in Kenya, Bolivia, Peru and Uganda, and evaluated methods for investments in research, and for research priority setting in Indonesia, Kenya, and the US. She is a graduate adviser and teaches international development and policy. She is also the Director of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Minor in International Development.

Dr. Johnson has a joint appointment as the Frank Miller Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics, and professor in the Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs at MU. He is Director of the Community Policy Analysis, which is affiliated with the Rural Policy Research Institute. Dr. Johnson is also director of RUPRI’s Analytic and Academic programs. His recent research areas include the causes and consequence of rural economic development, fiscal and economic impact analysis, local government finance, renewable energy, rural entrepreneurship, broadband, land use and rural transportation. He has studied rural policy issues in Canada, Ukraine, the European Union, and Korea. He recently served on an OECD team reviewing English Rural Policy. He is a founding member of the International Comparative Rural Policy Studies Consortium.

Mr. Summers is the MU Extension Transition Team Leader. He leads five program theme areas of (1) Educational Attainment, (2) Environmental Concerns, (3) Community, Economic, Business and Workforce Development, (4) Global Food Systems and (5) Health Systems. His focus is on developing long-term sustainable processes that drive development of effective strategies and approaches that can be appropriately deployed and measured. Previously, he was the Interim Program Director and Associate Dean of Entrepreneurship & Economic Development at MU Extension, and the State Director of the Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Centers.

THE DEATON INSTITUTE CONFERENCE 2015

Jere Gilles, Rural Sociology Dr. Gilles is an Associate Professor as well as the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Rural Sociology at MU. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in social change, research methodology and the sociology of agriculture and natural resources. His research centers around the linkages between the knowledge of producers and scientists. He has conducted research on this topic in the areas of irrigation management, range management and climate change. In addition to working in North America, he has also worked primarily in Africa (Chad, Kenya, Morocco) and in Latin America (Costa Rica, Bolivia, Peru).

Simone Dietrich, Political Science Dr. Dietrich is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at MU. She also holds an appointment at the Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs. Her research includes studying the allocation process of foreign development assistance and its effectiveness.

The focus of her investigations are on foreign aid delivery mechanisms: why do donors choose to bypass government authorities and channel their assistance to NGOs or international organizations in some but not other recipient countries? How does donor selectivity in aid delivery affect poverty outcomes? Answers to these two important questions use country-level as well as subnational data for analysis. In addition to investigating aid effectiveness, she also studies important second-order effects of foreign aid delivery decisions as it is used in combating terrorism abroad, in mitigating repressive behavior among dictators, and to facilitate democratization.

THE DEATON INSTITUTE CONFERENCE 2015

PANEL 2 - EBOLA, AN INTERDISCIPLINARY RESPONSE Lise Saffran, Public Health Lise Saffran, MPH, MFA is the Director of the Master of Public Health Program at the University of Missouri, where she is responsible for administering a graduate program of over 275 students with 15 shared faculty in seven collaborating schools and colleges. Her areas of teaching competence include public health planning and global health and she has developed and led a study abroad course in public and community health in Ghana, West Africa, an interdisciplinary workshop in global health ethics and workshops in narrative and public health. A graduate of the University of North Carolina School (the Gillings School) of Global Public Health, she has worked in public health on the local, state, national and international levels. Lise is also a published novelist and a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (MFA 1998) where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow.

Her recent teaching and

research focuses on public health humanities and storytelling.

Amy Dunaway, Health Communication Research Center

Chris Fulcher, Rural Sociology

Ms. Dunaway is the Co-Director of the Health Communications Research Center and was formerly the Associate Director, with oversight of the Center’s projects and daily operations.

She has a background in social marketing and health communication and has led HCRC projects on healthy and active living. She has managed a wide array of research and marketing communication projects related to health, education, advocacy and behavior change. Projects have included working with underserved populations, health care providers, adolescents and parents. A former Peace Corps volunteer based in West-Central Africa, she earned her MPH from Boston University and her MA from Emerson College.

Chris Fulcher is the Co-Director of the Center for Applied Research and Environmental Systems (CARES) in the Department of Rural Sociology at MU. His primary research interest includes using emerging information technologies to evaluate the socio-economic and environmental impacts of group decision making at the state, regional and community levels. Current research focuses on incorporating tacit and explicit knowledge into decision support systems that help private landowners, citizen groups and government agencies make better management decisions.

He is a member of the International Society for Ecological Economics and the Soil and Water Conservation Society.

THE DEATON INSTITUTE CONFERENCE 2015

Ioana Staiculescu, Center for Health Policy Ms. Staiculescu is a Research Specialist at the Center for Health Policy at MU. In this position she has worked on Missouri Health Equity Collaborative project, which works to make good health and access to health care a reality for all Missourians, and the Healthy Literacy Quality Improvement Training Program, in which physicians are introduced to the best practices in effective provider/patient communication and given data collection tools and individualized analysis to implement proven change strategies for better patient health outcomes.

Jo Turner, MU Extension Dr. Linda Jo Turner served as director of Missouri 4-H youth development programs and as Interim Vice Provost and Director of Cooperative Extension. During her time as Director of Cooperative Extension, Dr. Turner worked with UM faculty to provide evidence-based solutions and best practices to address individual and societal problems. Dr. Turner’s focus has been on integrating research with practice in areas such as youth development, non-formal educational programs, risk and protective factors, resiliency, youth-adult partnerships, youth communitybased programs, volunteer and staff development. As a consultant to the National 4-H Council, she served as PI for a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant entitled, "Preparing Young Farmers to Reduce Hunger and Poverty in Sub- Saharan Africa," working closely with 4-H programs in Liberia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and Ghana.

THE DEATON INSTITUTE CONFERENCE 2015

WORDS ON MARBLE

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“Health inequity puts everyone at risk; just consider the challenge of trying to control an infectious disease when a significant proportion of the population can't afford to seek early medical attention."".

- Lise Saffran

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Resilience and Sustainability are fundamentally very similar constructs - Dr Tom Johnson

Humanizing the message helps. It reminds us that people are people.

- Amy Dunaway

Resilience requires knowledge of human behaviors, financial resources, inventories of critical material, human resources - Dr Tom Johnson

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The fight against Ebola is a fight against Inequality.

- Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank group

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It Is important for policies to complement each other and not contradict themselves.

- Ioana Staiculescu

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We need to put aside our cultural lens to realize how to work in other places abroad.

- Dr. Jo Turner

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The response is only as good as the preparedness we have. We should also consider an Ecologic framing - Dr Chris Fulcher

- Drs Brady & Anne Deaton

STUDENT GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT POSTER SESSION ·Immigrant Muslim women in Columbia, Missouri to accessing health related services, Sawsan Hasan & Naziha El Hassan ·Utilizing Physiological Traits as a High-Throughput Phenotyping Selection Tool for Yield and its Components in Soft Red Winter Wheat, David Chappell ·Teaching Abroad in Tanzania: A Compositional Model of Cultural Competence, Lina Trigos-Carrillo & Nino Kalatozi ·Interspecific interactions among timber seedlings, improved grasses, and fodder shrubs in two stages of succession in a tropical silvopastoral system in Panama, Ryan Dibala ·The Grass Tribe Paniceae and C4 Photosynthetic Evolution, Jacob Washburn ·Engaging nonprofits more effectively in the context of developing countries, with the focus on Asia, Quyen Nguyen ·Ebola in Sierra Leone: A History of the 2014 Outbreak Based on National and International Reports, Emily Anne Smith ·A Theoretical Proposal to Bind the Pillars of Food Security: “Communication” as the Missing Link, Megan Koch ·Raising bees in Bolivia and Peru/Peace Corps' development strategy and mission, Lebo Moore ·Smallholder farmers and marketing sweet potatoes in Rwanda, Katherine Higgins ·Food security, women's empowerment and micro finance in rural Uganda, Elliot Meador ·Measurement of JCV and BKV Replication by a Luciferase Reporter Assay, Kirtan Joshi ·Tiger Pantry, Kylee Groon ·A Case Study Presentation of a Sustainable Livelihoods Approach Application in Community Development Within Meru, East Kenya, Fridah Mubichi

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We need to educate our students by way of experiential learning on the processes utilizable for extension & development - Dr Brady Deaton

POSTER SESSION

PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK The Deaton Institute Conference was a tremendous success! I am encouraged to see the University of Missouri joining in the push to solve world hunger problems and join the national network in Universities Fighting World Hunger. I am excited that MU will be hosting next year's conference and hope to be able to attend. I greatly appreciated the opportunity to present my research, which has a plant science focus, as well as view research conducted in other disciplines which is contributing to the fight against world hunger. I also learned of other opportunities to get involved with international development, including the Association for International Agriculture & Rural Development, which I plan to become a member of. I also plan to apply for a fellowship to attend the Washington, DC conference in late May and early June. David Chapell, MS Student Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics Though I attended only the morning session, I do want to respond. I believe the session was a very significant success and accomplished several objectives very well. First, it brought to the fore what has to be one of the most important, if not the most important issue facing mankind. In the long run, it appears to me as important as a warming climate and is closely related to two other global challenging issues—increasing disparity in income distribution and world peace. I cannot imagine that those who are hungry will tolerate their situation indefinitely while a small number have access to riches of all kinds. Second, the session provided a showcase for what I believe was outstanding talent among our graduate students who are doing research in this broad area. Indeed, having attended perhaps too many professional meetings over my life time, I thought the morning presentations compared well to the very best that I have heard from faculty members. Third, the session provided a warm invitation for those with an interest (and something to offer) to help. And it is this last point that prompts me to respond to your request. I doubt that I have any talent or past experience that qualifies me to help, but if the Deatons and their team have something that I might do, I would be interested in trying to help. - Wallace, Richard L (Chancellor Emeritus) I think that a more structured opportunity for networking would have been valuable. To do this, I would eliminate one of the panel presentations and provide an opportunity for dialogue. I was part of the final panel to discuss Ebola as a case study or example of how our university might respond and in my opinion the time would have been better spent in discussion groups among the participants rather than a panel presentation. I am excited about hosting the conference next spring and believe that the University of Missouri can showcase interdisciplinary work. I would like to see us include "tracks" for highschool age youth from 4-H and FFA and other youth groups. I think we could engage Monsanto, ConAgra, Pioneer or ADM as a sponsor for this component of the conference. I'd also like to see the broader community of University of Missouri retirees, book clubs, and other groups brought into the event. - Dr. Linda "Jo" Turner, MU Center for 4-H Youth Development

PARTICIPANT REPRESENTATION 34% Students (Graduate & Undergraduate)

64% Staff & Faculty Faculty, Staff and Visitors Graduate & Undergraduate Students

To better engage with participants online and stimulate dialogue, the Conference hashtag #DeatonP2P went live on the morning of the conference using both the Deaton Institute Facebook and Twitter pages for increased interactivity.

TWEET SPEAK

COMING SOON

UNIVERSITIES FIGHTING WORLD HUNGER THE 11TH ANNUAL SUMMIT

WHEN

WHERE

26 - 28 FEBRUARY 2016

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI

REGISTRATION COMMENCING SOON

COLUMBIA - MISSOURI, USA

Committed to bringing institutions of higher learning together, increasing student awareness about the hunger issue, and identifying ways to meaningfully contribute to the effort.

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE Brady & Anne Deaton Executive Directors

Vicki Dennison Support Staff

Lacy Peterson Claire Donze Chuka Emezue Graduate Research Assistants, DI

Dresa Cockrell Conference Videographer

Chuka Emezue Social Media Specialist Conference Branding

Kara Riggs Conference Coordinator Compere

DEATON INSTITUTE “FROM POVERTY TO PROMISE” CONFERENCE 2015

NOTES