Theme: Positive Disruption

Disruption is usually unwelcome. It represents conflict, chaos, and potential danger. We discourage disruptive behavior in our homes and our societies, often favoring passivity and compliance.

But disruption can be a positive – sometimes vital – catalyst for change. It can challenge old assumptions, ignite conversations, activate authorities and expose new possibilities. Disruption can shed a unique light on difficult issues, giving a fresh urgency and perspective to the challenges of our global community.

To solve the most intractable challenges in health and development, we need positive disruption. It is the path to true progress.

Duke of Breeze Hotel
Achieng' Oneka Rd
Kisumu
Kenya

Melinda Gates: Host

Melinda Gates is co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Along with Bill Gates, she shapes and approves the foundation’s strategies, reviews results, and sets the overall direction of the organization. Melinda will host TEDxChange from the Gates Foundation campus in Seattle, Washington.

Cathleen Kaveny: Religion, tradition, and modernity

Cathleen Kaveny is an American legal scholar and theologian. She is a John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and Theology at Notre Dame Law School, and is currently a visiting professor at Princeton University.

Halimatou Hima: Investing in girls

Halimatou Hima is a Masters in Public Policy candidate at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Following an internship in the Women & Population Division at the United Nations Foundation, she worked in the Child Protection Division at the United Nations in her home country of Niger (UNICEF).

Roger Thurow: Shifts in agriculture

Roger Thurow joined the Chicago Council in January 2010 after three decades at the Wall Street Journal. For 20 years, he was a foreign correspondent based in Europe and Africa.

Salim Shekh and Sikha Patra: Vaccine advocates

We will show a trailer from the feature film Revolutionary Optimists, about how children are saving lives in the slums of Calcutta. We will then invite Salim and Sikha, two of the children featured prominently in the film, to join onstage for Q&A.