Individual Program Plan for Kurt Manrique 2014 - 2015
- Humphrey Seminar
During Fall semester I attended all Humphrey seminars, and for this Spring 2015 I will be offering a seminar on March 25threlated to my professional experience at CIP. I have been invited by the Einaudi Center of Latinamerican Studies to present a seminar, but it will be merged with my Humphrey seminar.
- Academic Enrichment
Spring 2015
On January 15, I have started a Cornell certificate eCourse “LSMC07 Business Strategy: Achieving Competitive Advantage”, this certificate consists of 6 courses, that will last until April 7th 2015.
Feb 2nd to 9th 2015, Humphrey Enhancement e-workshop “Project Development and Entrepreneurship”.
Feb 13th visit to the United Nations in NYC (one day trip).
Feb 23rd to 27th 2015, Humphrey Enhancement workshop in Syracuse “Leadership, crisis management and governance”.
Fall 2014 / Spring 2015IARD 6960Perspectives in International Development
AEM 3020Farm Business Management
HORT 4070Nutritional Quality Improvement of Food Crops
IARD 2020Perspectives on International Agriculture and Rural Development / HE 6013Evaluation of international programs and projects
AEM 3390 Research methods in international development
IARD 7830 Farm-centered research and extension
Fall 2014
Sept 15th to 17thSeven Habits Seminar
Oct 8th to 10th Participation in the FAO meeting to organize a regional network of postharvest specialists in Latinamerica. I was designated as the focal point in Peru. There is a local NGO in Peru with which I am in contact that are conducting local activities in coordination with the regional network.
Oct 24thMBTI Seminar by Linda Gasser
Oct 31stInterview Skills Seminar by Linda Gasser
Nov 6th to 9thFinger Lakes Social Entrepreneurship Workshop. This activity was a great introduction class to the ecourse that currently I am taking.
Nov 12thVisit the NY state capital city Albany and state organizations. As a result of this visit I was contacted by a representative of this last organization to organize and participate in a real inspection on site in Ithaca groceries stores to verify that these outlets comply with the quality standards. This field visit is still pending, because coordination with local inspection service was delayed.
Nov 14thCV and Resume Seminar by Linda Gasser
Nov 19th to 20thVisit the Alfred State College. I prepared a little powerpoint to emphasize some aspects of the process of plant domestication and evolution of agriculture. Following our presentations there were questions and interaction with students.
- Professional Development
During the IIE Global Leadership Forum(Nov 1st to 6th, 2014)there was the chance to visit and make contacts with organizations at Washington DC that relates to our fields of professional interests. This last activity was of particular importance for my Professional Affiliation because it helped me to have firsthand contact with global organizations (World Bank, IADB, IFPRI and IFC) representatives that work in the fields of my professional interest and where I can apply to spend some time of practical experience in different aspects of rural development projects management and evaluation.
During the lasts communications that I had with IADB representatives (Dr Hugo Li Pun and Mrs Eugenia Saini), they requested to provide them when I will start my professional affiliation, as well as a draft of my intended work plan.
In regard to the first point, I want to complete the course work that of the Spring 2015 semester because I consider these classes as key elements of my academic enrichment. Therefore, I propose to do my PA between mid May to end of June/July 2015. In regard to the second point, I have a scheduled meeting on January 23rdwith Prof. Miguel Gomez who will guide me in the elaboration of a draft of work plan that I can discuss with Dr. Li Pun because they have the interest in evaluating the outcomes of completed projects that Fontagro/IADB has funded to include market oriented components for future projects.
Following the contact that I had with Dr. Howard Bouis (IFPRI), before Christmas I contacted Prof. Ross Welch and Ray Glahn to start making contacts for future research collaboration with CIP and LATIZA in the area of biofortification. I mentioned in this meeting the need to develop a soil fertility map of zinc deficient soils with the GIS data base that I brought from Peru, Prof. Welch recommended me to contact Prof. Steve DeGloria who is an expert in GIS and I am also providing information about malnutrition incidence in the Andes. The objective is to overlap both sets of data to develop a map that shows geographically were both situations converge. This map will be a valuable tool to identify hot spots in the Andes in Peru in order to challenge the Prof. Cakmak’s hypothesis that poor zinc deficient soilsproduce poor food crops that contribute to malnutrition incidence. The information provided by this map will help to guide biofortificationpojects in which CIP and LATIZA can collaborate, and eventually Cornell can participate sending students interested in conducting studies similar to the projects in Africa.
I have also the interest to contact Prof Ed Mabaya, to discuss with him the chances to conduct in Peru a similar study to develop a seed index following the scheme he used to develop the TASAI seed index for Africa (The African Seed Access Index, TASAI). This study can be conducted in coordination with CIP and INIA.
- The Washington Global Leadership Forum
To prepare for the GLF meeting (Nov 1st to 6th 2014) I had the chance to facilitate the preparation process of our presentation on Climate Change until my departure to attend an FAO meeting in October 7th but I kept in close contact with my fellows who took the lead conducting the world survey. This year the GLF forum theme was “Resilience in the Face of Climate Change: a Global Perspective on Leadership”, and the forum´s program included talks of several experts in climate change representing governmental agencies, international and national NGOs, the media and research institutions. Our cohort at Cornell presented the world survey that our group has conducted during October in preparation for the GLF meeting, and we had the chance to interact with fellows from other cohorts and learn about their research topics during their presentations.
On March 10th to 11th, 2015 the presentation on climate change that our cohort did in GLF will be also presented to a group of Kenyan visiting scholars at Cornell.
In general we have learned and understood the importance that the climate change issue represents for the future of the world, and we have now the conviction of the need of incorporating the climate change issue in our daily life, in order to become an agent of change in our home countries. Finally, the reference and legacy of Hubert H. Humphrey is a true inspiration for our professional life.