Q&A Report Coming Soon!

As COVID-19 continues to disrupt countries around the world, organizations are struggling with how to continue delivering quality services while maintaining essential COVID safety measures. One of the solutions could be digital, but it is not without challenges.

In this session, representatives from the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Grainotheque, Bora Digital, and GeoPoll discussed how they adapted programming in Côte d’Ivoire by leveraging digital tools. The IRC and Bora Digital highlighted PRO-Jeunes, a 5-year digitally enabled youth entrepreneurship and employment readiness project. The partners discussed the challenges they faced in switching to 100% digital training and delivery services. GeoPoll, a leader in conducting remote, mobile-based research will provide insight into the transition from in-person research to mobile-based data collection tools. This discussion looked at the challenges presented by COVID but also the opportunities as digital tools become more pervasive.

Moderators

Natalia Strigin: Senior Technical Advisor for Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods, IRC

Natalia Strigin is the Senior Technical Advisor for Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods. Having worked in gender-sensitive economic programming with IRC for almost a decade in both field management and advisory positions, Natalia's experience covers a broad range of topics, including emergency interventions, mainly cash and voucher assistance, climate adaptation and food security interventions, financial inclusion, women’s economic empowerment, value chain development, employment, and enterprise development. Prior to her engagement with IRC, Natalia spent three years with the Aga Khan Foundation in Afghanistan as a program manager for market system development focusing largely on horticultural value chain development. Her regional experience covers the Middle East, East and West Africa, Southeast and Central Asia.

Kelsey Weber: Rural Livelihoods Officer, IRC

Kelsey Weber is the Rural Livelihoods Officer for IRC’s Economic Recovery and Development Unit, where she supports IRC’s agriculture and rural livelihoods programs in countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia regions. She focuses on rural market assessments, value chain development, financial inclusion, and private sector partnerships. Prior to this role, Kelsey worked for IRC as a program manager for the Women’s Protection and Empowerment Unit and deployed to Liberia during the Ebola crises, where she stayed on as a grants manager. She has also worked on market analyses for social enterprises with FHI360’s Social Venture Accelerator and development of economic constraints analyses with Millennium Challenge Corporation. She served as a Community Economic Development Volunteer with the United States Peace Corps in Senegal. Kelsey holds a BS in Economics and Anthropology at Ohio State University and a Masters in Global Human Development from Georgetown University.

Speakers

Michel Pokoudiby: Team Leader PRO-Jeune, IRC

Michel leads the IRC PRO-Jeune project in Côte d’Ivoire managing a team of 30 and a network of 40 coaches to ensure technical excellency. He ensures coordination between all the program's stakeholders. Prior to his position as a team leader, Michel joined PRO-jeune as a training manager in charge of training, enrollment, gender-equality, and partnerships aspects. Michel is a specialist in training and has worked on various training and integration projects, most notably for the United Nations and IRC. Michel holds a Masters in Training and Employment Systems from University de Toulouse, a post-graduate degree in Literature, and a degree in Sociology from University of Cocody.

Daniel Oulai: CEO of Grainotheque and PRO-Jeunes Coach

A graduate of agricultural business management and marketing, Daniel Oulai is CEO of the startup Grainotheque, a social enterprise which works for the enhancement of the genetic biodiversity for African farmer seeds and through its rural incubators in Côte d’Ivoire. In 2018, he was elected Young African Entrepreneur by AfricAngels, on FOB magazine’s 30 most successful young entrepreneurs on the continent, and winner of Orange’s Social Entrepreneurship prize for Côte d’Ivoire in 2018. Member of the YALI network and an Ashoka Changemaker, Daniel Oulai is also the winner of the Pierre Castel Prize, instituted by the Pierre Castel Bordeaux Africa Endowment Fund, awarded to young African entrepreneurs, for projects in the field of agriculture with a great impact.

Kevin Niangoran: Co-founder & Chief Operations and Training Officer of Bora Digital

Trained as an Engineer in Telecommunications & Audiovisual Technologies, Kevin worked in the field of video surveillance until 2016. He then discovered a passion for the development of Edtech initiatives and Co-founded Bora Digital in 2017, a startup supported by Seedstars and the Jacobs Foundation.

Meera Sawkar: Business Development Manager, GeoPoll

Meera Sawkar is a Business Development Manager at GeoPoll on the International Development Team. She works with international development implementors to support the use of digital tools for agriculture, public health, and economic development programs. Previously, Ms. Sawkar worked at MicroGraam Marketplace, a financial inclusion technology platform in India, where she worked with smallholder farmers to develop microfinance investment and insurance products. She has an M.A in International Development Studies, a B.A in Economics and in International Affairs from George Washington University.