Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Young rice expert gets international development leader award

Sarah Beebout, a soil chemist at IRRI, has made the list of Devex's recent Manila 40 Under 40 awards—a global program that recognizes 40 international development leaders under the age of 40 in cities around the world.

Devex is the world’s largest community of aid and development professionals.

“The Philippines is home to an extremely dynamic and vibrant international development community driving change both at home and abroad,” Devex Manila Director Pete Troilo said. “The young and committed development talent here deserves this recognition.”

Dr. Beebout was honored with other awardees at a private reception on 19 February2013 in Makati City, the Philippines, that was attended by select government officials, corporate and NGO executives, and community leaders.

Following a public nominations process and rigorous review of more than 250 nominees, awardees were selected based on their influence on the development agenda and impact on development results in the Philippines and abroad.

"Our research is about increasing the amount of zinc in rice, so that families will be able to get enough zinc through their daily diet, even if they can't afford more nutritious foods that are naturally higher in zinc," said Dr. Beebout. "When people have good access to high-zinc rice, there will hopefully be fewer cases of acute malnutrition.

Dr. Beebout joins the ranks of past Devex 40 Under 40 winners, such as U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah; Cherie Blair Foundation for Women CEO Henriette Kolb; Google’s Jared Cohen; and Obama Administration Senior Foreign Policy Adviser Samantha Power.

Following successful 40 Under 40 events in London in 2011 and Washington, D.C., in 2010, Devex is proud to have selected the Philippines as the first emerging country to host this event.

Chevron is the founding sponsor of the Devex 40 Under 40.



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