Events

July 28 2009. Good, But How Good? Monitoring and Evaluation of Media Assistance Projects, featuring: Andy Mosher, Author, Good, But How Good?, with comments by: David Black, U.S. Agency for International Development ; Luis Botello, International Center for Journalists; Rebekah Usatin, National Endowment for Democracy. Moderated by: Don Podesta, Center for International Media Assistance. 12-2:00 p.m. (Lunch served from 12:00–12:30 p.m.) 1025 F Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, DC 20004. RSVP to CIMA@ned.org

In recent years, the process of monitoring and evaluation of assistance projects, or M&E, has received increased attention from both donors, who want to know if their money has been well spent, and implementers, who want to know their programs have met expectations. Adapting M&E practices to media projects is an ongoing process, and no two organizations in the media development sector share the same methods. In Good, But How Good? Monitoring and Evaluation of Media Assistance Projects, Andy Mosher discusses the importance of M&E in media development projects and shows that despite different approaches among practitioners, similar tools and techniques exist.

Why is monitoring and evaluation important? What common techniques do M&E practitioners use and how do they specifically relate to the media development sector? How will an emphasis on better M&E be driven and enhanced by advances in technology? Andy Mosher will address these questions and more in his presentation. Luis Botello, David Black, and Rebekah Usatin will provide their reactions to Good, But How Good? and discuss some of the challenges they have faced as evaluators in the field.

July 28 2009. The Project on Middle East Democracy and the Heinrich Böll Foundation North America present:FY2010 Appropriations and Middle East Democracy

In May, the Obama Administration submitted to Congress the details of its first annual budget request for foreign operations, for Fiscal Year 2010. As the House and Senate now continue their debates over appropriations, POMED is pleased to announce the publication of a new report, The Federal Budget and Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2010: Democracy, Governance, and Human Rights in the Middle East. What are the most significant changes in these portions of the budget request, as compared with the appropriations made in previous years? How does the budget impact US efforts to support democracy in the Middle East and North Africa? What does this budget tell us about the priorities of the new administration and its policy approach to the Middle East? And how are the appropriations made by Congress likely to compare with this request?  

Speakers: Stephen McInerney, Director of Advocacy, Project on Middle East Democracy; Thomas Melia, Deputy Executive Director, Freedom House; Marina Ottaway, Director of the Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  Moderated by Andrew Albertson, Executive Director, POMED. 2:00 – 3:30 pm, Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2200, Capitol Hill, Washington, DC. RSVP by clicking here or by email to: rsvp@pomed.org

 July 29, 2009. The U.S. Launch of the Arab Human Development Report 2009

The United Nations Development Programme is holding several discussions on development in the Middle East.  Some of the highlights will be: at 9 a.m. Amat Alsoswa, assistant secretary-general at the United Nations and assistant administrator at the United Nations Development Programme’s Regional Bureau for Arab States, will deliver remarks on the new report; at 9:45 David Yang, senior adviser at the United Nations Development Programme’s Washington Liaison Office, Bahgat Korany, professor of international relations and political economy at the American University of Cairo, and Marina Ottaway, director of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, will participate in a panel discussion on “The Arab State and Human Security”; and at 11 a.m. Riz Khan, host of the Riz Khan Show on Aljazeera Network, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, and Bahgat Korany of the American University in Cairo, will participate in a panel discussion on “Why Have Obstacles to Arab Human Development Prove to Be So Stubborn?” Venue: The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.  RSVP at wdc.events@undp.org or 202-331-8670 by July 27.

July 29, 2009. Ukraine in Crisis

Speaker of the Urkainian Verkhovna Rada (Parliament), Volodymyr Lytvyn, will discuss Ukraine’s issues.  Rudy deLeon, senior vice president of national security and international policy at CAP; and Samuel Charap, associate director of Russia and Eurasia at CAP will also participate.  Venue: Center for American Progress, 1333 H Street NW, 10th Floor, Washington, D.C. Begins at 10 a.m.  RSVP to 202-741-6246 or http://www.americanprogress.org.

July 29, 2009. The Iranian Elections and the Struggle for Democratic Change

Mariam Memarsadeghi, adviser on human rights to international democracy organizations, and Akbar Atri, Iranian human rights and democracy activist will participate in a discussion. Venue: The Middle East Institute, 1761 N Street NW, Boardman Room, Washington, D.C. Begins at 12 p.m.  RSVP to 202-785-1141; http://www.mideasti.org/programs/programs_events.php

July 30, 2009. Venezuela’s Assault on Freedom of the Press and Other Liberties

The Cato Institute will hold a policy forum on Venezuela’s violation of human rights.  Guillermo Zuloaga, president of Globovision Television Venezuela, Marcel Granier, general director of the RCTV Venezuela, and Ian Vasquez, director of the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity at the Cato Institute will participate in the forum.  Venue: Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Avenue NW, F.A. Hayek Auditorium, Washington, D.C.  Begins at 12 p.m.  RSVP to 202-789-5229 or online: http://www.cato.org.