CID & David Rockefeller Center Special Event

"Medellín: From Fear to Hope"

Speaker: Sergio Fajardo, Mayor, City of Medellín, Colombia

Co-sponsored by the Center for International Development, Kennedy School Colombia students, and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies

Moderated by Ricardo Hausmann, Director, CID and Professor of the Practice of Economic Development, KSG

Wednesday, 4 April 2007
6:00 PM
IOP Forum, 1st Fl., Littauer Building, KSG 

Biography:

Sergio Fajardo Valderrama is Mayor of Medellin, Colombia's 2nd largest city, since January 2004. He has a Mathematics degree from the Universidad de Los Andes from Bogota Colombia, a Ph.D. in Mathematics and minor in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In just a couple of months, he demonstrated that he was able to run a city of Medellin, through transparency and opportunity. He balanced the local budget, used performance-based evaluation to assign the highest staff positions for the Boards of the city, and normalized teacher recruitment for one year terms. Being informal and always happy to talk to people and walk along the city streets, Fajardo changed politics in Medellin. Today, public opinion polls show he has an 80% approval rating.

With the Movimiento Compromiso Ciudadano (Citizen Commitment Movement), he provided an alternative to traditional campaign politics. Fajardo campaigned by walking down the streets of Medellin, he stood at the stop lights, rode in buses, and spoke to the cab drivers. This constant contact with the people allowed him to diagnose the needs, hopes, and desires of the people and combined them with management experience and citizen participation.

Fajardo focused for a long time in the higher education opportunities in the country. He was a member of the National Council on Basic Sciences, the National Commission on Masters and Doctorates, the Board of the Foundation Supporting the Universidad de Antioquia, and Director of the Center for Science and Technology in Antioquia.

As a journalist he has been involved in multiple levels. He was subdirector of El Colombiano and columnist for El Mundo, El Espectador and the magazine Dinero. He worked in the television programs Operacion Ciudad of Telemedellin and Zanahoria of Teleantioquia, he was also part of the Viva FM group of Caracol Radio.

Sergio Fajardo participated in the peace process as a founding member of the Facilitating Commission for Peace in Antioquia (Comisión Facilitadora de Paz de Antioquia) during the tenure of current President Alvaro Uribe. Mayor Fajardo also has given lectures at conferences on the conflict in Colombia.