The Millennium Villages Project, based at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, is one of the initiatives being developed under general aegis of the UN Millennium Project led by Prof. Jeffrey Sachs and aims at a durable approach to escape the poverty trap. It is a new bottom-up approach to lift developing country villages out of the poverty trap that afflicts more than a billion people worldwide. Earth Institute scientists and development experts in agriculture, nutrition and health, economics, energy, water, environment and information technology are working with local communities and governments to apply a proven holistic package of interventions to help villages get out of extreme poverty. Over the past year, work has begun in two Millennium Villages: Sauri, Kenya and Koraro, Ethiopia.
Prof. Dr. Pedro A. Sanchez, Director of Tropical Agriculture of the Earth Institute Columbia University will highlight the background, approach and current status of the Millennium Village Project.
Dr. Reimund Roetter (Alterra/ESG) and Prof. Dr Herman van Keulen (PSG) will present a number of relevant research projects at Wageningen UR drawing from the two main development-related research and education programs of Wageningen UR (INREF and DLO-IC).Afterthoughts on the Millennium Village Project will be presented by Prof. Dr. Ruerd Ruben (ex Social Sciences Group Wageningen UR, now Chair Development Studies and Director Centre for International Development Issues Nijmegen (CIDIN) at Radboud University Nijmegen.The timing of the program is as follows:
14.00-14.15 Opening by Prof Dr. Martin Kropff, Rector of Wageningen University
14.15-15.00 Millennium Villages Project : Pedro Sanchez 15.00-15.35 Development-related research at Wageningen UR: Reimund Roetter/Herman van Keulen
15.45-16.20 Afterthoughts on the MVProject: Ruerd Ruben16.20-17.00 Plenary discussion; Discussion leader Dr. Bram Huijsman 17.00-18.00 Drinks