Events galore! Crisis Mapping and Liberia's President
I shall blog about my third and fourth weeks a little later, but I just wanted to share some exciting events that will be occurring at the USIP.
Tomorrow, there looks to be a very promising event called "From Crisis to Community: Mapping as a Peacebuilding Tool." Courtesy of mobile technology becoming more available and more advanced, there have been some very high profile cases of cell phones and social media providing real-time updates on disasters, revolution, elections, etc. (think Haiti, Libya, Egypt). However, this is a very reactive process that is more about locating and documenting (or mapping) the problem. This event looks to see how we can take this information & technology and turn it into a proactive problem solving tool. I find this extremely fascinating and hope I can finish my work so I have time to attend.
Another extremely exciting event is one occuring next week. Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will be paying a visit to the USIP. She is Africa's first elected female head of state! She is going to talk about the opportunities and issues Liberia is facing, especially in light of Cote d'Ivoire's conflict. This should be a jam packed event so I hope to get a seat.
That's all for now...more to come soon...