RIU projects at international conferences: Shujaaz at World Bank and RIU Tanzania at research donors' forum in Indonesia
2 June 2011

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Rob Burnet, head of the DFID RIU-funded Shujaaz initiative, is to be a speaker at an important World Bank conference on 20 June 2011.

The conference will explore options for leveraging commercial entertainment media (TV, radio, film) and new media (cell phone apps, SMS, social media, internet) for development impact in finance, health and other sectors, taking the World Bank's open data and knowledge policy to the consumer.
Panel 1: 360* Approach - use of trans-media
Panel 2: EE business and impact models
Panel 3: Public-private partnerships

Other speakers include:
Mahmoud Mohieldin, Managing Director, World Bank Group
Rahul Bose, Indian Actor, Screenwriter, Director, and Social Activist
Usha Bhasin, Deputy Director General, Doordarshan, Public TV Broadcaster of India
Sandra de Castro Buffington, Director, Hollywood Health & Society
Nancy Lee, Founder and Director, Social Marketing Services, Inc.
Lebo Ramafoko, CEO, Soul City Institute, South Africa

Vera Mugittu, head of RIU Tanzania, has been invited to present at the 2011 International Forum for Research Donors (IFORD) meeting Indonesia 29 June - 1 July. She will be sharing the platform with DFID's Kerry Albright.

The idea of the joint sessions is that each donor will take it in turn to introduce an example programme from their portfolio, briefly explain why they feel it is innovative in terms of implementing systems thinking and structure. Vera will talk about her experiences of practical implementation of systems thinking in the field and any positive lessons and/or challenges emerging particularly to vulnerable communities in Tanzania.

Vera's frank writing in her regular updates showed the conference programmers that she is well-placed to talk about innovation brokering in practice as well as the theory. Vera's strong private sector background was also of interest.

Rasheed Sulaiman will also talk about some of the interesting academic learning and conceptual thinking behind RIU.

Deputy Director of RIU, Andy Frost said:

"This clearly demonstrates where RIU has arrived in a relatively short space of time. Our experiences and lessons are now being shared around the world and I hope this will influence how donors invest their research and development funding in the future - which is exactly what RIU was set up to achieve."