Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Global poverty and inequity are key challenges facing the United States in the twenty-first century, and although Congress has a major role in determining U.S. policies on international trade and global development, few members understand the issues or the stakes involved, and even fewer members make these issues a priority. The "Wilson Center on the Hill" program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is designed specifically to expand the small core group of members of the U.S. Congress and senior congressional staff that know and care about international development and trade and to increase the knowledge and understanding of these issues across the Congress. It hosts a series of approximately twenty programs each year that provides the members and staff with opportunities to hear and discuss issues with leading experts, U.S. and foreign government officials, representatives of civil society, and academics. In the coming year, issue areas will include foreign policy challenges, the Administration’s review of U.S. development policy, food security, and energy security. The program also organizes structured study trips that allow the participants to gain firsthand understanding of these issues. A trip to Africa is being planned during the spring recess in 2011.