Focusing Global Philanthropy on Human Rights and Media

A LINKAGES program co-hosted by NEID Global and The Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights, Harvard University

September 16-17, 2026

 

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Wednesday, September 16th at John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

 

7:00pm

Keynote Panel: Focusing Global Philanthropy on Human Rights

• Amb. Samantha Power, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations and former Administrator, USAID

• Nadia Murad, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; Founder and President of Nadia's Initiative

With opening remarks by Harvard Kennedy School Dean Jeremy Weinstein

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Thursday, September 17th at the David Rubenstein Treehouse at Harvard University, Boston, MA

 

9:00am 

Welcome

• Ina Breuer, Executive Director, NEID Global

• Maggie Gates, Executive Director, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights

 

9:15am

Exploring how Philanthropy has Approached Human Rights​

• Moderator - Yifat Susskind, President Emeritus, MADRE

• Otto Saki, Senior Program Officer, Global Governance, Ford Foundation

• Gabriela Bucher, President and CEO, Fund for Global Human Rights

• Julia Pettengill, Executive Director, The Schooner Foundation

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10:30am

Coffee break 

 

11:00am

Listening to the Frontlines of Human Rights Defense

• Moderator - Sushma Raman, Human Rights Expert and Social Change Strategist

• Noah Bullock, Executive Director, Cristosal 

• John Prendergast, Co-Founder, The Sentry

• Bineta Diop, Special Envoy of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission on Women, Peace, and Security and Founder of Femmes Africa Solidarité

 

12:15pm

Lunch (roundtable conversations led by human rights funders, scholars, and activists)

 

1:15pm

Networking

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2:00pm

Where Human Rights and Media Intersect      

• Moderator - Nicole Ozer, Executive Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

• Carolyn Dallmann, Senior Manager, Peacebuilding,  Humanity United

• Sam Gregory, Former Executive Director, Witness

• Jeanne Bourgault, President and CEO, Internews

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3:00pm

A New Opportunity: The Global Alliance for Human Rights

• Claudia Fuentes Julio, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, United Nations

 

3:30pm

Coffee/tea break

 

​3:45pm

The Future of Human Rights 

• Moderator - Jessica Stern, Former U.S. Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons

• Kerry Kennedy, President, Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center

• James Goldston, Executive Director, Open Society Justice Initiative

• Mathias Risse, Director, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights

• Kumi Naidoo, former Secretary General of Greenpeace and Amnesty International; Founder of Artivism

 

5:00pm

Closing and Call to Action

• Ina Breuer, Executive Director, NEID Global

• Maggie Gates, Executive Director, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights

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5:05pm

Closing Coffee Break and Networking