A conference, "Achieving Sustainable Communities in a Global Economy," will be held Friday, Nov. 8, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in 401 Warren Hall, Cornell University. Sponsored by Cornell's Emerging Markets program and the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development program (CIIFAD), the conference is free and open to the public.

Organizer Ralph Christy, the J.T. Clark Professor of Applied Economics and Management, says the goals are to consider the key processes by which globalization is affecting the agricultural and rural sectors and to propose policies and alternative strategies.

The conference will open at 9 a.m. with remarks from Christy and Norman Uphoff, director of CIIFAD. A panel discussion at 9:30 a.m., "Is There a New Role for the Private Sector in Economic Development?" will be led by Willene Johnson, former U.S. executive director at the African Development Bank. Panelists will be Frank Pedraza, international management consultant; Everett M. Ehrlich, Committee for Economic Development; Mark Wenner, Inter-American Development Bank; and Joyce Cacho, Rabobank.

A panel at 11 a.m., "Can Markets Matter for the Poor?" will be chaired by Kay R. Whitmore, Eastman Kodak, and panelists will be Robert Herdt, Rockefeller Foundation; Oren Whyche-Shaw, Technoserve; C.Y. Thomas, professor of economics, University of Guyana; Carlton Davis, Professor, University of Florida; Ed Mabaya, Cornell postdoctoral researcher in applied economics and management; and David R. Lee, Cornell professor of applied economics and management.

The final panel, at 2 p.m., "How Can We Achieve Sustainable Communities in a Global Economy?" will be chaired by Gayle Lewis, chair of the board of director for the Developmental School Foundation. Panelists will be Roland Bunch, Central American (Honduras) representative for World Neighbors; Ivye Allen, MDC Inc.; Monique Salomon, University of Natal, South Africa; Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue, Cornell assistant professor of rural sociology; and Philip McMichael, Cornell professor of rural sociology.