Eileen de Ravin manages the Equator Initiative, a multi-partner effort within the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) that aims to foster successful community initiatives in the Equatorial belt which attempt to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Ms. de Ravin will discuss the Equator Prize and Red Ribbon Award--awards that attempt to promote indigenous efforts to address sustainable development and HIV/AIDS issues, respectively, in local communities. She will also discuss what success looks like on the ground in these different communities.

Ms. de Ravin is the manager of the Equator Initiative in the Environment & Energy Group (EEG) within UNDP's Bureau for Development Policy. She is currently engaged in developing UNDP's work on Local and Community Knowledge in partnership with the GEF Small Grants Programme as part of the Local Pillar within EEG, and serves on the Indigenous Peoples Liaison Committee in UNDP. Prior to joining UNDP in 2002, she worked in the non-governmental sector on sustainable development programs in India, focusing on environment and health. Earlier she was a nurse-midwife, practicing at inner-city hospitals in New York. She received her master's degree in Public Health in Population and Family Health from Columbia University, and has held clinical faculty positions at Columbia, addressing a range of environmental and development issues.

Pizza will be served.