Community Building in the Washington, DC area!!

SFP Editor: What inspired you to pursue a career in international development and foreign policy? Elizabeth Latham: During high school I decided that I wanted to do something other than rack up college credit during my senior year. So, I convinced the local Rotary Club to send me to South Africa for my senior year of high school. It was a difficult period in South Africa, post apartheid but before Mandela was elected. I was 18 and had no idea what was going on, but figured I should study international affairs to learn about what I had experienced. In grad school I learned that I had lived through the bloodiest period of South African history.

SFP Editor: What brought you to the DC area?

Elizabeth Latham: I came to DC to get my Masters in National Security Studies at Georgetown University. I loved the city so much I decided to make it my home.

SFP Editor: What inspired you to pursue a career in international development and foreign policy?

Elizabeth Latham: In high school I decided that I wanted to do something other than rack up college credit during my senior year. So, I convinced the local Rotary Club to send me to South Africa for my senior year of high school. It was a difficult period in South Africa, post apartheid but before Mandela was elected. I was 18 and had no idea what was going on, but figured I should study international affairs to learn about what I had experienced. In grad school I learned that I had lived through the bloodiest period of South African history.

SFP Editor: What is the most challenging aspect of working in the Int Dev field?

Elizabeth Latham: International Development is a long term investment in people, but most donors don’t have a long term attention span and want to be able to point to something concrete (often, quite literally concrete) as something they have accomplished.

SFP Editor: How did you become involved in UNA and how can Washingtonians get involved?

Elizabeth Latham: In graduate school a friend of mine put together an event on the United Nations. It made me realize that I knew nothing about the United Nations despite having attended two schools known for their international affairs teaching. I decided to join the United Nations Association so that I could learn more about what the UN does. Anyone who is interested in learning more about the UN can get involved through substantive task forces (focusing on Peace and Security to Asian Affairs), special events committees (like the annual UN week festivities in October), or volunteering with Global Classrooms (Model UN for inner city schools). Learn more at www.unanca.org

SFP Editor: What has been your single most proud contribution to UNDP?

Elizabeth Latham: After a trip to Somalia in 2007, I worked with my colleagues to create a Somali Women’s Scholarship Fund. Basically, our goal is to send Somali women to college. This is quite a modest undertaking considering that it costs less than $1,000 to send a woman to college in Somalia for an entire year. While not a short term fix to Somalia’s problems, I firmly believe that investing in women’s education is key to bringing about peace in this war ravaged society.

SFP Editor: Where has been the most interesting place you have traveled for your career?

Elizabeth Latham: In August I traveled to Mozambique. In the wake of civil war, Mozambique was covered in landmines. I was privileged to see the removal of a few of these landmines during my trip to Mozambique. When we watched the controlled detonation of a mine less than 100 feet from a family’s home, I was so excited that they were going to be able to use that land to grow their own food that I did a little victory dance. I had read all about it, but seeing it first hand was powerfully motivating.

SFP Editor: What is Poncho Vino and how did you come up with the Poncho Vino Idea?

Elizabeth Latham: Poncho Vino is a unique wine accessory. It is a cloth poncho that keeps your wine from dripping down the side of the bottle onto your table. They come in a variety of colors and styles and are fully customizable. I sell them at ponchovino.com and at wine festivals. A few years ago, part of my job entailed funding small business incubators in Africa. I wanted to be able to better understand what our project participants were getting out of our project, so I decided to try to start and run a business. While pondering the idea of what type of business to start, I was drinking a bottle of wine and washing some dishes when I accidently sliced through a wash cloth with a large kitchen knife. My boyfriend made me move away from the sink and, as he finished the dishes, I realized that the counter was stained with drips from the wine bottle. I took my wash cloth to clean up the spills and then realized that the hole I cut in the washcloth could fit over the bottle’s neck and keep future spills away. Thus Poncho Vino was born!