Vanessa Pizer and Abiy Seifu will talk broadly about the different, but often complementary approaches, skill sets, interests and priorities of academic vs NGO research. We will share about ERD's use of participatory learning and action tools for community-led empowerment and qualitative research, and our focus on building local implementing partners capacity in research and other areas) as a means for climate resilience and overall sustainability of development programs. Lastly we will share examples of research partnership characteristics, implementation process, results and recommendations from the Climate Resilience Scoping Study in TZ and Zim.

Vanessa Pizer has been a Senior Program Officer at Episcopal Relief & Development in New York for over 5 years. Vanessa leads the development and implementation of the organization’s integrated Climate Resilience strategy. She enjoys working closely with local implementing partners, research institutions and peer organizations on sharing tools and best practices related to food security, environmental conservation, women's empowerment and asset-based community development. Vanessa has an MPA in Development Practice from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and a B.A. in Anthropology and English from SUNY Stony Brook. 

Abiy Seifu is a Senior Program Officer at Episcopal Relief & Development in New York. Abiy has over 25 years of experience in program design, monitoring and evaluation; capacity building; training curriculum development; and organizational capacity assessment. He has an MS in Development Management from American University, SIS, Washington DC and an MS in International Economic Relations from Kiev State University. Abiy's sector expertise and portfolio management covers Early Childhood Development; Food Security and Livelihoods; Gender Based Violence; and Institutional Strengthening.