The ACGC 2025 Annual Conference, “The Future We Want: Alberta’s Role in International Cooperation in a Rapidly Changing World,” was held on September 12, 2025.

The questions of how to ensure our peace-building and sustainable development work continues with integrity, as well as the role of decolonization, feminism, and equity, influenced many of our activities throughout the day. Thank you to everyone who joined us in Calgary, Alberta, both in person and virtually, to engage in meaningful dialogue and hear from experts in the field.

See below for a recap of the successful hybrid conference!

EVENT DETAILS

Date: The conference was held on Friday, September 12, 2025.

Location: cSPACE Marda Loop, 1721 29 Ave SW, Calgary, AB

Format: The event was a hybrid conference, held both in person and virtually on Zoom.

Conference Schedule

This schedule provides a look back at the key moments and sessions from our day of dialogue and collaboration.

SPEAKERS & FACILITATORS

Dr. Ruby Dagher (she/her), Keynote Speaker

Dr. Ruby Dagher is an International Development Professional, Researcher, Consultant, and an Assistant Professor (Replacement). She is also a co-founder of ADEV (Analyzing Development – think tank and advocacy group) and the lead content contributor and events organizer. Ruby’s work experience in international development and her research over the last decade have given her significant expertise in decolonization, donor-recipient relationships, power dynamics, public policy, state capacity, evaluations, and economic development. Ruby has a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Carleton University, a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration from Carleton University and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics from McGill University. She has several publications in reputable journals and books with notable publishers related to decolonized approaches to understanding development, evaluation practices, state legitimacy, policy spaces for developing countries and small island states, post-conflict development, and donor-recipient relationships. She is also the sole author of Building Locally Recognized State Legitimacy in Post-conflict Countries (2021) and co-author of The Role of Monitoring and Evaluation in the UN 2030 SDGs Agenda (2021). Her research interests are focused on decolonization, foreign aid and donor programming, evaluation, post-conflict development, fragile states, post-conflict legitimacy, decentralization, the role of civil society in non-Western cultures, the Middle East, and the Caribbean.  

Rochelle Ignacio (she/her), Workshop Facilitator

Rochelle Ignacio (she/her) is an equity strategist, facilitator, public speaker and community builder who guides organizations and individuals through meaningful equity and anti-racism journeys. Grounded in an intentional, relational, and care-based framework, she fosters environments where belonging, reconciliation, and transformative change can take root.

Since 2021, she has led Tamarack Institute’s inaugural Equity & Reconciliation team, spearheading the Seeds of Transformation, a loving framework for equity, belonging and reconciliation. Rochelle embeds equity into organizational culture by shaping policies, leading training programs, and coaching teams. She is experienced in developing equity strategies and coaching teams on developing disaggregated employee engagement dashboards.

Beyond consulting, Rochelle advances Black mobility and belonging through developing economic opportunities for Black entrepreneurs in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Paige Reeves PhD (she/her), Workshop Facilitator

Director of Research and Social Innovation Action Lab & Skills Society

Paige consults, designs, facilitates and leads workshops & innovation labs around complex challenges. She brings deep knowledge of participatory research methodologies, and has diverse experiences with facilitating human-centred design approaches.

Paige has a unique perspective in being in both the academy and grounded in community based research for systems change. Her recently completed doctoral research centered around ways of fostering communities of belonging.

Paige has also been mentored by some of the best in the world (Mark Cabaj) in developmental evaluation and applies this in longer term labs she stewards to help collectives ensure learning and outcomes are helpful and relevant for our clients. Paige is passionate about making real systems change happen for people and communities that need it.

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Rumbi Zinyemba , MC

Senior Manager Grant Programs, Canadian Red Cross

Rumbi Zinyemba has worked with the not-for-profit organizations in Canada, Zambia and Zimbabwe for a decade, building capacity and monitoring and evaluation projects in the human rights, peace and reconciliation, gender equality and humanitarian emergency management sectors.

Currently, Rumbi manages grants administration, design and programming at the national Canadian Red Cross and promotes equity and diversity in granting practices for the not-for-profit sector in Canada through her consulting work.

Rumbi is also devoted to promoting African literature and is the founder of the Harare Book Club, an online, international book club that connects readers to authors across African countries and diasporas.

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Global Affairs Canada Fireside Chat with Patricia Peña

The Fireside Chat, featuring Patricia Peña from Global Affairs Canada and moderated by Karen Joe, explored GAC’s changing structure and upcoming priorities. This session provided valuable insights into how GAC plans to continue engaging with Canadian organizations, with a focus on the future of the Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP). Participants were able to engage directly by asking questions, making for a dynamic and insightful dialogue.

Patricia Peña, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister – International Assistance Partnerships and Programming, Global Affairs Canada

Patricia Peña leads a multi-faceted team at Global Affairs Canada responsible for the delivery of Canada’s international assistance, and increasing impact, innovation and engagement with a wide range of partners, including in the areas of development finance, and social and economic development. She has a rich and long-standing history working with Canadian, multilateral, civil society, private sector, philanthropic and diplomatic partners globally. Since joining the Government of Canada in 2007, she held a number of senior positions at Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

She served as Canada’s Ambassador to Chile (2017-2020), Director General Foreign Policy and Director General Economic Development. From 2007 to 2011, Patricia held various policy and operational positions at CIDA, including as Director Democratic Governance and Human Rights, and Director of Economic Development and Natural Resources. Prior to joining the Canadian public service, Ms. Peña lived for almost ten years in London, England and worked in various public sector agencies, including the UK Electoral Commission where she oversaw political financing regulation in the United Kingdom. Patricia Peña has an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Toronto and a Master’s degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

She served as Canada’s Ambassador to Chile (2017-2020), Director General Foreign Policy and Director General Economic Development. From 2007 to 2011, Patricia held various policy and operational positions at CIDA, including as Director Democratic Governance and Human Rights, and Director of Economic Development and Natural Resources.

Karen Joe, Knowledge & Research Advisor, Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) – Moderator

Karen joined the Research and Learning team as a Knowledge and Research Advisor in November 2019. She holds a master’s degree in International Public Health from the University of Queensland and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Western Ontario.

Karen has over 10 years of experience in international development and public health, specializing in knowledge management, program design, gender equality and social inclusion, monitoring and evaluation, and results-based management. She is an experienced evaluator and has worked across Sub-Saharan African and the South Pacific regions.

Prior to joining CAWST, she worked at the University of Calgary, coordinating the Tanzania Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Initiative (Mama na Mtoto). She has previously lived in both Nigeria and Ghana where she worked on Global Affairs Canada funded Maternal and Child health programs. She currently sits on the Board of ACGC.

Member TED Talks

The Member TED Talks session was a fast-paced and engaging highlight of the day. Three of our members took the stage to provide a snapshot of their impactful work, followed by a live Q&A session. The session featured talks from Lindsey Machona (Expand Hope), Sarah Flynn (Centre for Global Education), and Kevin Melanson (The Brenda Strafford Foundation), showcasing the diverse and innovative work being done by Alberta’s leaders in the international cooperation sector.

View the full conference package

This event is undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through Global Affairs Canada.