PhD. Rural Studies Guest Speaker

"Development in Conflict Zones: Impossible or New Terrain for International Development"

by Leah Soroka

When: Friday, November 21, 2014
Time: 3-5
Where: Landscape Architecture, Room 143

Leah Soroka has recently returned to Canada after three years of managing and implementing development initiatives in Afghanistan agriculture and mining development) and Democratic Republic of Congo (agriculture value chain development).  With some successes and some failures, the question remains if development work can be successful and sustainable in areas of conflict.  At the same time, there is an increasing focus on development with results, greater integration of foreign policy and international development, and a greater number of countries and regions in various amounts of conflict (Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and many regions of Africa).  Is it possible the frameworks and methodologies underpinning international development are up for revision? 

Biography: Leah has worked as a foresight specialist/Director with various Federal Government Departments. She has worked in the fields of agriculture, mining, health, and the environment in private sector and international development initiatives throughout Canada, the former Soviet Union, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Eastern Europe, China, Africa, and the Middle East/Central Asia. Leah is working on her PhD in Rural Studies at the University of Guelph and has adopted an interdisciplinary approach to explore if the study of the future can operationalize the temporal dimension in the definition of sustainability.  She has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta, a Master of Science from the University of Saskatchewan, a Diploma in Environmental Economics and Policy from the Harvard Institute of International Development, and a Master in Health Care Management from York.  Leah is a farm girl from Alberta and makes her home with her family in Ottawa.