Crafting more effective rural policies: Lessons from OECD countries

Crafting more effective rural policies: Lessons from OECD countries

Speaker: Betty-Ann Bryce, OECD

The seminar will explore the effectiveness of policies affecting rural areas does not rest solely on their design—it depends equally on how they are implemented. As rural communities increasingly express dissatisfaction with quality of life and display growing discontent and distrust in public institutions, addressing the barriers that hinder effective policy delivery in rural areas has become even more urgent. This presentation will use the OECD lens to examine a set of strategic factors that can help overcome these barriers—specifically, those that work to bring the top closer to the bottom, bring the bottom closer to the top, and ensure that both are equally informed. Betty-Ann Bryce is a Senior Policy Analyst and Rural Policy Coordinator at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the Centre for Entrepreneurship, Regions, and Cities in the Regional and Rural Unit. She joined the OECD from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), where she served as a Special Advisor for Rural Affairs. She was detailed to ONDCP from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture where she held different roles including Senior Policy Advisor, Rural Health Liaison, and Financial Investment Specialist in the Rural Development Agency. Betty-Ann is a licensed Attorney with a MPA in Economic and Territorial Development from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences-Po) in France, and a MPA in Economic and Political Development from Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in the United States.