From Washington D.C.

Hello everyone,
My name is Swetha and I am writing from Washington D.C this summer while I complete my fellowship at the Ministerial Leadership Initiative (MLI) through the Aspen Institute. MLI is focused on strengthening leadership and governance across 5 countries to support country driven development. The 5 specific countries MLI supports are Sierra Leone, Mali, Ethiopia, Nepal and Senegal.
This week is a hectic one as delegates from all 5 countries will be arriving in DC for the Global Health Council (GHC) and will be leading some of the panel discussions and sessions at the conference. It has been an interesting day and I've had the opportunity of meeting the delegates as they've been arriving. I have also been learning more about MLI activities in their specific countries. MLI provides technical support on health financing, donor harmonization and reproductive health and are showcasing their Call to Action for Country Led- Development on June 14th at the Global Health Conference. But most importantly, MLI and its delegates are promoting country-led development. Their hope this week, is to provide examples of countries taking the lead with public health development and how that has resulted in successful program implementation and donor/partner support.
I look forward to providing a more in-depth coverage of MLI's activities as the summer progresses.
Hope everyone is well!