CASE Chat with Ticora Jones, Division Chief, USAID Higher Solutions Education Network (HESN)

This month’s CASE Chat features Ticora Jones, Division Chief of the Higher Solutions Education Network (HESN). HESN is a partnership between USAID and seven top universities, including Duke University, designed to channel the ingenuity of university students, researchers, and faculty towards global development.

In the CASE Chat, Ticora discusses the need for tri-sector leadership, the importance of messaging your impact, and the skills needed to work in international development.

On tri-sector leadership…

“A piano has 88 keys. And if you’re one single note, you’re not going to get the complex melodies that are necessary in these broader challenge that we face.”

On skills needed in international development…

“Empathy and humility to me are some of the most critical things that you must build if you want to work in international development.”

On messaging your impact…

“There are multiple and varied interests that [social entrepreneurs] have to take into account. There are business interests that have to be taken into account. There are political messaging interests that have to be taken into account. And when you’re only sounding your note and you can’t hear all of the other things that are necessary, you’re sounding your note alone. That choir of one is not really that powerful.”

Want to hear more from Ticora? Watch the full CASE Chat:

 

About Ticora Jones:

Ticora Jones is the Division Chief for the Higher Solutions Education Network (HESN). Beginning in 2009 as a AAAS Diplomacy, Security and Development Fellow, she helped manage the establishment of an Agency-wide agenda for science & technology through policy and programming designed to elevate USAID’s presence in this area. Prior to joining USAID, Dr. Jones served as the 2008-2009 Materials Societies Congressional Fellow for Senator Russell D. Feingold (D-WI) where she worked on energy and environment issues. Learn more.

About the Higher Solutions Education Network (HESN):

In November 2012, the United States Agency for International Development announced the creation of the Higher Education Solutions Network, a multidisciplinary research and development effort led by seven world-class universities working directly to evaluate and strengthen real-world innovations in development. Each university lab focuses on different aspects of international development, with the Duke University lab being the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAD). SEAD is a partnership of CASE, Innovations in Healthcare, the Duke Global Health Institute, and Durham-based Investors’ Circle. Learn more about HESN here.