Download the Call for Proposals here

Please submit your proposed poster, paper, or panel online at: https://www.conftool.org/hdca2023

Theme: ‘Vulnerability, human development and cooperative re-building in turbulent times’

While the conference call is open to all types of contributions that engage with the broader theme of human development and capabilities, the 2023 HDCA conference brings the questions describe in the conference theme to the fore. We invite papers which inform and discuss the search for answers looking at human agency, the capacity of people to overcome emerging crises, changes in well-being and moving towards flourishing societies, and sustainable development. Accounts are welcome looking at the ways in which people co-create, collaborate and thus re-build lives in a range of settings aiming to create better futures for the human and non-human worlds. Studies of cooperation among individuals, an enlargement of people’s capabilities as an essential feature of any resilient and hopeful society will provide an understanding of how to address important societal challenges. We also invite work which considers what makes cooperation sustainable, that is, stable and valuable so can contribute to our understanding of how to deal with the challenges that we face. Since cooperation is not confined to a particular social domain, its understanding requires a strong interdisciplinary perspective in which emphasis on capabilities is indispensable.

We would especially like to welcome papers that engage in research in the following four broad areas:

1. how to conceptualize and measure vulnerability and human development at micro, macro level – country, regional and global – in turbulent times;
2. how new challenges facing contemporary societies may enhance or restrict human development and social inequalities;
3. how to encourage cooperation among differently located actors, institutions, and organizations with the aim to enrich development outcomes for all social groups, localities, nations and sub-regions;
4. how to develop capabilities associated with well-being and equity that respond to the changes of work, family, knowledge production, political and social relations, the environment and non-humans.

The conference theme provides a space to examine these issues across disciplines, in research, teaching, and professional practice, and to explore policy dialogues across sectors such as the labour market, education and health. Papers are invited which explore vulnerability, human development and cooperation through different  approaches – quantitative, qualitative, participatory,  and mixed-method methodologies. The conference theme is intended to give space for discussion of topical areas in research on the capability approach and human development concerned also with, collective capabilities, intersectionality, empowerment and sustainability.

We invite scholars, activists, policymakers, practitioners, and students working in the area of human development and capabilities from all parts of the world to Sofia, Bulgaria. We look forward to hosting participants from a wide range of research fields, topics, methods, professions, and regions to engage in fruitful conversations with each other, and to provide space for co-creation of new theoretical and methodological advances on the capability approach and the human development paradigm which may also have political and practical implications for reducing human vulnerability and improving individual, societal and ecological well-being.

Important Deadlines

15 February 2023 – Closing date for submission of proposals

15 April 2023 – Announcement of acceptance/rejection

30 April 2023 – Deadline for scholarship applications

1 May 2023 – Opening of conference registration

9 June 2023 – Deadline for conference registration at early-bird rates

07 July 2023 – Deadline for paper submission for Kuklys prize

04 August 2023 – Final deadline for conference registration at standard rates

04 August 2023 – Submission of full papers/posters/presentations

In addition to keynote lectures and other plenaries, the conference will accommodate seven types of sessions. Except for the poster sessions, all of them can take place either in-person (during the 3 conference days) in Sofia, or online (at the end of day 2 or early day 3 of the conference):

1. Academic paper sessions, for which single papers can be submitted. Each paper will be presented in a session with 2 or 3 other submissions (25 minutes per paper including Q&A). Please send an abstract of 500-1,000 words, with a list of 3-5 keywords.
2. Thematic panel sessions, for which a set of presentations on a single theme related to this year’s conference theme or to the subject of one or more of the HDCA’s thematic groups is submitted. Panel proposals are welcome from the thematic group coordinators as well as from people unaffiliated with them. We particularly welcome interdisciplinary panels and panels that combine academic perspectives with those of practitioners. Each thematic panel should have a maximum of three presentations. It is also possible to propose two panels on the same theme. Each theme must have a coordinator who submits a panel abstract of up to 1,000 words, plus 3-5 keywords. In addition, an abstract of 500-1,000 words, with a list of 3-5 keywords, should accompany each presentation. The coordinator will act as the contact person for the thematic session(s) and the other panel presenters. (NB: If not all of the papers in the proposed panel session are evaluated favorably, the approved papers will be regarded as individual submissions and may be allocated to the sessions listed in point 1.)
3. Author-meets-critics sessions, in which an author presents a summary of a recent book or larger piece of research. Each author should send a 500-word synopsis of the relevant book or research project, along with 3-5 keywords. The submission should also include the names of one or two confirmed discussants. Discussants can be researchers, but we particularly encourage including at least one practitioner (or organization) as proposed discussants.
4. Roundtables, which are intended to engage policymakers or (non-)governmental stakeholders, or to organize discussions with practitioners about practical approaches to dealing with the problems that are the focus of the conference. Please send a 500 – 1,000 word abstract, plus 3-5 keywords. Also include information on the roundtable participants, affiliations, and whether the participation of each of them has been confirmed. Submissions can be academic-led or practitioner-led.
5. Young-scholar-meets-senior-scholar sessions, intended for graduate students to present their research plan or work in progress (proposals should be 500-1,000 words, with 3-5 keywords). Senior scholars, including HDCA Fellows, will provide feedback and chair the discussion.
6. Documentaries. If you would like to present and discuss your film or documentary during this conference, please send in a proposal with background and motivation (500-1000 words).
7. (not available online:) Poster exhibition, for which dedicated time slots will be available in the program so that authors can communicate their ideas to the circulating audience. Posters could present a research project, some completed fieldwork, a case study, or an early-stage research proposal. Please send an abstract of 300-600 words, with a list of 3-5 keywords.

Please note:

• You will be required to identify the broad theme for your proposal to enable us to allocate it to reviewers (for example, education or health).

• Since we expect a large number of submissions, each person is allowed to be involved in a maximum of two proposals and these must be for different types of sessions (e.g. full paper and thematic panel)

• The same proposal may not be submitted more than once to different kinds of sessions, for example, full paper, poster, and young scholar.

• For panel proposals, the panel organizers may not substitute a non-reviewed paper if a presenter withdraws.

The main criteria for evaluating the various kinds of submissions are:

• Novelty/originality

• Clarity and structure

• Significance/impact/relevance to/engagement with the capability approach and/or human development

• Methodology/methods or practical application

• Fit with the conference theme

While the proposals may come from any discipline and may be theoretical, applied, or policy-based, every submission must engage with, apply, extend, criticize, or offer insights specifically relevant to the capability approach and/or the human development paradigm.

We plan the conference in a hybrid format. We invite people to come to Sofia and participate in person in the Conference but will also provide for HDCA members who are unable to attend with panels for online presentations.

All keynote events will be livestreamed. One will be open for the public (Martha Nussbaum). A variety of in-person parallel sessions will be organized during days 1, 2 and 3, in-between the different plenary sessions; parallel sessions of day 2 late afternoon and day 3 early morning will be completely in online modus.

Martha Nussbaum,
University of Chicago,
United States

Melanie Walker,
Higher Education & Human Development,
University of the Free State, South Africa

Branko Milanović,
City University of New York,
United States

Subbu Subramanian
Independent Scholar;
formerly Professor: Madras Institute of Development Studies,
Chennai, India

Vassil Kirov,
Institute of Philosophy and Sociology,
BAS, Bulgaria

Gustaf Arrhenius,
Institute for Futures Studies,
Sweden

Ursula Holtgrewe,
Centre for Social Innovation,
Austria

Information to come

Online conference and summer school registration will open around 1 May 2023. For the conference, separate fees are foreseen for those wishing to attend in-person and for those wishing to attend online only (please note that in-person attendees will of course have full access to all livestreams as well). Applicants from low and middle-income countries are eligible for reduced registration fees, as per this schedule:

°NGO worker or similar or unwaged

The conference registration fee includes a one-year HDCA membership, including a year’s subscription to the Journal of Human Development & Capabilities.

Summer School

Information about the fee for participation in the Summer School will be announced on the HDCA website additionally in due time before the start of the conference.

Scholarships

The HDCA has a limited number of scholarships to attend the conference in person or online. They will be awarded based on merit and need to either:

1. early career scholars presenting single-authored papers at the 2023 HDCA Conference or
2. scholars residing in low- and mid-income countries presenting papers at the 2023 HDCA Conference (for jointly authored papers to qualify for scholarship funds, both authors must reside in a low- or middle-income country).

Applications for scholarships, should be downloaded and completed after applicants have received the referees’ review of your abstract by 15 April 2023 and submitted by 30 April 2023.

Information to come

Information to come

Programme Committee

Melanie Walker, Higher Education & Human Development, University of the Free State, South Africa

Elaine Unterhalter, Centre for Education & International Development, UCL, United Kingdom

Martin van Hees, VU Amsterdam/Amsterdam University College, the Netherlands

Shailaja Fennell, Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Pepka Boyadjieva, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at BAS, Bulgaria

Petia Kabakchieva, Sofia University, Bulgaria

Vassil Kirov, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at BAS, Bulgaria

Melis Cin, Lancaster University, United Kingdom

Petya Ilieva-Trichkova, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at BAS, Bulgaria (Conference Chair)

Organising Committee

Emilia Chengelova, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at BAS, Bulgaria

Petya Ilieva-Trichkova, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at BAS, Bulgaria

Sonya Karabelyova, Sofia University, Bulgaria

Boyan Znepolsky, Sofia University, Bulgaria

Petia Kabakchieva, Sofia University, Bulgaria

Georgi Stoytchev, Open Society Institute Sofia, Bulgaria

Marin Lessenski, Open Society Institute Sofia, Bulgaria

Dessislava Velkova, Open Society Institute Sofia, Bulgaria

Bagryan Malamin, Open Society Institute Sofia, Bulgaria

Doriana Basamakova, Trust for Social Achievement, Bulgaria

Martin van Hees, VU Amsterdam/Amsterdam University College, the Netherlands

Pepka Boyadjieva, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at BAS, Bulgaria (Chair)

Information to come

The 2023 conference will be held at Sofia University, main building.

Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria since 1879 and the largest city in the country. The city is one of the oldest in Europe being inhabited for 7000 years. Sofia is at the foot of Vitosha Mountain (2290 m) – a favourite hiking place for the citizens and guests.

Sofia is both old and modern with a relatively small centre. Most of the significant buildings – (Parliament, Presidency, City Hall, University, National Theatre, National Gallery) are within walking distance.

Sofia is a green city, with trees lining the streets and several parks in the centre. The city has viable public transport, with the metro being the most convenient transport from the airport to the centre. Taxis are available and there is a wide choice of restaurants, bars, and clubs in the broad centre.

In September the weather is mild, with a little chance of rain and the average maximum temperature is around 23 degrees Celsius.

The conference is hosted by Sofia University – the oldest higher education institution in Bulgaria. The rectorate building is an architectural landmark with 36 000 sq. m. of floor space, 324 rooms, including 65 auditoriums with 6000 seats in the ideal centre of the city.

The halls that will accommodate the participants are comfortable and cosy – study halls of several humanities faculties located in the central building imbued with the traditional academic spirit. The opening of the conference and hybrid events will be in the University’s formal Aula, with side events in beautiful buildings nearby.

Sofia University employs some of the best Bulgarian scientists in all the research fields. Scientific activity of the University’s lecturers is a mandatory integral part of the educational process.

Welcome to Sofia!

The UAntwerp has an important research and teaching tradition in social justice and active pluralism in the social and human sciences. The Conference has been set up in such a way that all social and human science faculties participate in it.  We can also count on the The University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp (UCSIA), well versed in building bridges between academia and wider society in the area of  social justice.

This Conference will also be the culmination of the 20^th anniversary year of the Institute of Development Policy (IOB). The  Human Development & Capability Association stands for a multi-dimensional vision of development, as it gives central attention to human agency as both the end and the means of development and as it assigns a constitutive role to public debate and deliberation in the development process. In this, it provides for the core ingredients of the work the IOB has been cultivating over the last two decades.

The conference venue is located at a mere 10 minute walk from the old city center of Antwerp, with many opportunities to relax, have dinner or simply stroll around.  Throughout history, and today, Antwerp connects to the world through its inland port, with direct yet sheltered access to the North Sea.  During the pre-conference you will have the opportunity to explore one or more  traces of the traditions that have been shaping the city.

DOWNLOAD THE CALL FOR PROPOSALS HERE

We invite work on capabilities and institutions related to three overarching issues:

First of all, we invite contributions that explore the interrelation between institutions (economic, political, social, cultural) and people’s opportunities to be and do what they value, with a special emphasis on how institutions may have an unequal impact on different social groups. Sen’s early work on the role of democracy in preventing famines and, more generally, on the way in which economic and political incentives may exacerbate or overcome social divisiveness, both within and across national borders, points to the importance of this issue.

Secondly, diverse disciplines and strands of the literature provide different angles from which to discuss individual agency in relation to social structure and our ability to act in concert. It is not only that human sociability is intrinsically rewarding (regardless of the material benefits provided by different social structures), but also—as authors like Paul Ricoeur, drawing on Hannah Arendt, argue—that the “structures of living together” play a constitutive role in situating both ourselves and others as distinct yet equivalent beings and in shaping structures of solidarity. Further contributions to this debate can inspire us to find new ways to transform unjust structures and unsustainable ways of living.

Thirdly, institutions organize collective decision-making. In the work of both Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen, considerable room is made for “government by discussion” as a crucial link between individual ideas about the good life and reasoned social choice. The reflection on ways to deepen democracy and to promote participation at multiple levels of decision-making has been part and parcel of the development debate in the Global South. In the Global North, this reflection has recently taken another turn, with the emergence of what has been called “polaritics”, the related debates on the potential of the New Media to contribute to or challenge democratic decision-making, and on the impact of economic inequality on democracy.

While the conference call is open to all types of contributions that engage with the broader theme of human development and capabilities, we would especially like to invite papers that engage with one of the above three broad areas.

We invite scholars, activists, policymakers, practitioners, and students working in the area of human development and capabilities to Antwerp, Belgium. We look forward to hosting participants from a wide range of research themes, topics, methods, professions, and regions to engage in innovative conversations with each other, and to find new synergies in advancing the core aims of the Human Development Paradigm. We especially welcome those who are new to the field, introducing us to fresh ideas and perspectives. We would also like to expressly invite participants from the Global South, from ethnic minorities and from Indigenous peoples.

In addition, the conference will also host a number of sessions organized by the coordinators of the different thematic groups and regional networks of the Human Development and Capability Association.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL

Please download and read the full Call for Proposals.
Call for Proposals HDCA 2022_Final

Then submit your proposed poster, paper, or panel online from 1 December 2021 (https://www.conftool.org/hdca2022)

If you encounter any problems, please contact the conference organizers by email (hdca2022@uantwerp.be).

To ensure academic quality, all submissions will be assessed by two reviewers, at least one of whom is an HDCA Fellow or a senior researcher in the field.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES

EXTENDED DEADLINE: 23 February 2022 – Closing date for submission of proposals

15 April 2022 – Announcement of acceptance/rejection

30 April 2022 – Deadline for scholarship applications

1 May 2022 – Opening of conference registration and final decision on conference format

26 June 2022 – Deadline extended for conference registration at early-bird rates

15 July 2022 – Deadline for paper submission for Kuklys prize

15 August 2022 – Final deadline for conference registration at standard rates

15 August 2022 – Submission of full papers/posters/presentations

Types of proposals for parallel sessions

In addition to keynote lectures and other plenaries, the conference will accommodate eight types of sessions. Except for the poster sessions, all of them can take place either in-person in Antwerp, or online, at the end of day 2 or early day 3 of the conference:

1. Academic paper sessions, for which single papers can be submitted. Each paper will be presented in a session with 2 or 3 other submissions (25 minutes per paper including Q&A). Please send an abstract of 500-1,000 words, with a list of 3-5 keywords.
2. Research and Action sessions, for which a set of presentations can be submitted, describing and analysing a particular field of action and the way it links with the human development paradigm and/or capability approach. Each session will include 3 or 4 other presentations (20 minutes per presentation including Q&A). Please send an abstract of 500-1,000 words, with a list of 3-5 keywords for the whole set of presentations. In addition, an abstract of 500-1,000 words, with a list of 3-5 keywords, should accompany each single presentation. A coordinator will act as the contact person for all presenters.
3. Thematic panel sessions, for which a set of presentations on a single theme related to this year’s conference theme or to the subject of one or more of the HDCA’s thematic groups is submitted. Panel proposals are welcome from the thematic group coordinators as well as from people unaffiliated with them. We particularly welcome interdisciplinary panels and panels that combine academic perspectives with those of practitioners. Each thematic panel should have a maximum of three presentations. It is also possible to propose two panels on the same theme. Each theme must have a coordinator who submits a panel abstract of up to 1,000 words, plus 3-5 keywords. In addition, an abstract of 500-1,000 words, with a list of 3-5 keywords, should accompany each presentation. The coordinator will act as the contact person for the thematic session(s) and the other panel presenters. (NB: If not all of the papers in the proposed panel session are evaluated favorably, the approved papers will be regarded as individual submissions and may be allocated to the sessions listed in point 1.)
4. Author-meets-critics sessions, in which an author presents a summary of a recent book or larger piece of research. Each author should send a 500-word synopsis of the relevant book or research project, along with 3-5 keywords. The submission should also include the names of one or two confirmed discussants. Discussants can be researchers, but we particularly encourage including at least one practitioner (or organization) as proposed discussants.
5. Roundtables, which are intended to engage policymakers or (non-)governmental stakeholders, or to organize discussions with practitioners about practical approaches to dealing with the problems that are the focus of the conference. Please send a 500 – 1,000 word abstract, plus 3-5 keywords. Also include information on the roundtable participants, affiliations, and whether the participation of each of them has been confirmed. Submissions can be academic-led or practitioner-led.
6. Young-scholar-meets-senior-scholar sessions, intended for graduate students to present their research plan or work in progress (proposals should be 500-1,000 words, with 3-5 keywords). Senior scholars, including HDCA Fellows, will provide feedback and chair the discussion.
7. Documentaries. If you would like to present and discuss your film or documentary during this conference, please send in a proposal with background and motivation (500-1000 words).
8. (not available online:) Poster exhibition, for which dedicated time slots will be available in the program so that authors can communicate their ideas to the circulating audience. Posters could present a research project, some completed fieldwork, a case study, or an early-stage research proposal. Please send an abstract of 300-600 words, with a list of 3-5 keywords.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Martha Nussbaum
University of Chicago

Bas van Bavel
Faculty of Humanities, Utrecht University

Sunita Narain
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), University of Delhi

Achille Mbembe
Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of the Witwatersrand

Bonny Ibhawoh
Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University

Marc Fleurbaey
Paris School of Economics

Julia Steinberger
School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds.

Priscilla Claeys
Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, Coventry University

Download a pdf of the program

Global Dialogue Day (GDD) is a free online event open to all, taking place on 19th September. It includes parallel sessions and webinars bringing together academics, leaders, and practitioners of human development and diverse voices from across the world to discuss the most pressing global challenges and emerging challenges to human-centered development.

GDD will include a day-long series of multifaceted discussions including but not limited to education, decolonisation, development ethics, neuroscience, and environment. The interactive sessions organised by the HDCA thematic group and regional network coordinators will give you the opportunity to explore and enquire about the opportunities and challenges concerning SDGs and human development in different regions. This dialogue will also highlight the importance of multi-regional and interdisciplinary engagement to initiate a global discussion on contemporary issues, movements, and tensions in the field of human development.

Download the Global Dialogue Day Program

Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 September 2022
University of Antwerp, Belgium

Summer School Programme

The summer school aims to develop participants’ knowledge and understanding of key concepts in human development with a particular focus on the capability approach. Giulia Greco and Oliver Mutanga will lead the summer school, together with special guest tutors.

The two-day programme will include sessions delivered by senior HDCA academics on the nature of human development; foundational concepts in human development and the capability approach; measurement issues; inequalities and social justice; and the role of institutions. There will also be opportunities to get group feedback on research projects in a workshop-style format.

Accepted participants will be given pre-course preparation to do ahead of the summer school. All sessions will be in English.

Summer School Eligibility

The programme is specifically aimed at doctoral students and post-doctoral scholars who already have some understanding of development issues and are currently working with the capability approach. To be eligible for the 2022 HDCA summer school you need to be a current doctoral student or postdoctoral researcher (within 3 years of receiving doctorate) working with or interested in the capability approach. You must also be attending the main HDCA conference in Antwerp (separate registration and payment required).

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Alejandra Boni, Ingenio, CSIC Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain

Bea Cantillon, Faculty of Social Sciences UAntwerp, Belgium

Koen De Feyter, Faculty of Law, UAntwerp, Belgium

Melanie Walker, Higher Education & Human Development, University of the Free State, South Africa

Guido Erreygers, Faculty of Business & Economics, UAntwerp, Belgium

Faith Mkwananzi, Higher Education & Human Development, University of the Free State, South Africa

Elaine Unterhalter, Centre for Education & International Development (CEID), UCL, United Kingdom

Luc Van Ootegem, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, UGent

Tom De Herdt, Institute of Development Policy, UAntwerp, Belgium (Conference Chair)

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITTEE

Tom De Herdt, Institute of Development Policy, UAntwerp

Frédéric Huybrechs, Institute of Development Policy, UAntwerp

Joelle Dhondt, Institute of Development Policy, Uantwerp

Hans Debacker, Institute of Development Policy, Uantwerp

Charlotte Teunis, Institute of Development Policy, Uantwerp

Elsy Verhofstadt, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ugent

Barbara Segaert, University Centre Saint-Ignatius, Antwerp (chair)

Māori are tangata whenua or people of the land. The relationship that tangata whenua have with the natural environment (mountains, rivers, flora and fauna) has been shaped by experiences from and responsibilities to past, present, and future generations. This deep relationship and responsibility to the natural environment is exemplified in the way that Māori, when introducing themselves, do so by situating themselves within a particular landscape (in relation to a mountain, river, ocean, region, marae, people). It is also evident in the way that ‘whenua’ means not merely land but also placenta – highlighting the fundamental connection that people have to the natural environment.

Information About Local Maori Communities in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland

Te Tino O Kaipara – The Great Kaipara

and

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei

Information About Marae

Marae is centrally about people and the environment working together – or, in other words, about tangata whenua, people of the land. […] Marae (kin-community centres) remain the quintessential focus of tribal Māori identity. […] Prior to East Polynesians arriving in Aotearoa, marae had continuously evolved and developed in response to more than 2000 years of oceanic exploration and settlement. […]

However, many marae communities struggled under the pressures enforced upon them due to land wars and resulting laws that vastly diminished tribal land estates. And if those pressures were not significant enough, the economic recession of the 1930s – as well as other factors – has had cumulative, irreversible effects on marae. Since World War II, further major changes have occurred within marae communities. Perhaps the most significant is that Māori as individuals are no longer culturally, politically or economically dependent on their marae community or papakāinga to survive. This creates a dilemma: hapū and their marae cannot survive without kin support. The marae and their leaders are the primary means for transmitting cultural values and the language that symbolises tribal identity. […] The net effect of limited youth engagement, participation or even simply presence with elders in marae contexts is to reduce the sustainability of community cultural knowledge and values. […]

The major question facing many communities is, can tribal marae survive this silent crisis of human resource depletion? Can marae transform themselves again, as in the past, to remain relevant and vital to the new generation of Māori living in mostly distant urban environments? And how can those descendants living away (virtually) reconnect and support their local marae communities who keep the home fires alight? The outcomes of the decisions made today, especially about Treaty settlements, language and marae programmes, will have a ripple effect on the living of tomorrow.

_{(From: Tapsell, Paul [2014]. Tribal marae: Crisis? What Crisis? In Merata Kawharu [ed.] Maranga Mai: Te Reo and Marae in Crisis? Auckland University Press)}

	Reweti
	Puatahi
	Haranui
	Araparera
	Kakanui
	Piritahi
	Orakei

For all tribal marae throughout the country, see HERE.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi

When modern Aotearoa New Zealand was founded in 1840, a partnership between two cultures and two systems of law and morality was forged. Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Te Tiriti), The Treaty of Waitangi, recognises this to be the case. It affirms and promises to uphold the mana (customary authority), tino rangatiratanga (leadership), and tikanga (law) of Māori, and commits to a relationship of equal partnership between Māori chiefs and the British Crown.

For further information about Te Tiriti, see:

Please note that some dates have recently been adjusted (compared to the original call for papers).

March 21, 2020: Announcement of acceptance/rejection

April 18, 2020: Deadline for scholarship applications

May 2, 2020: Announcement of scholarship recipients

May 16, 2020: Deadline for conference registration at early-bird rates

June 6, 2020: Final deadline for conference registration at standard rates

June 15, 2020: Submission of posters/videos

Following the outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), we had to change the set-up of the 2020 conference to a pure online format. In effect, presenters now have two different options to display their work:

In addition, our keynote speakers will address the audience live during various specific timeslots throughout the conference.

Presenter Requirements

The technical solution we will employ for option 1 is Zoom Meetings. The use of Zoom itself does not involve any cost for conference presenters. However, to ensure that all participants are satisfied with their experience of the papers (in terms of both delivery and reception), presenters will be allowed to participate in option 1 sessions only if they have access to appropriate technology of the following kinds:

(We will conduct a test run with each remote presenter prior to the event.)

The technical solution that we employ for option 2 is an online platform for posting materials and hosting forum discussions. It too does not involve any cost for conference guests, and the technical requirements for participation in this category are lower. Presenters who wish to display their material in the form of an online poster merely need to be able to produce their exhibit in PDF or high-resolution picture format. Presenters may post additional video or audio clips to accompany their display (10-minute maximum length). The latter require corresponding technology to produce such media (the organisers will not be able to produce these for them). We will arrange for the installation of all option 2 files on our online platform.

Audience Requirements

Technical requirements for our audience is significantly lower compared to those for presenters. To view and comment on option 2 materials, access to a computer with a standard up-to-date browser and a standard Internet connection suffice.

To view option 1 sessions and keynotes live (as they are produced), we recommend that guests have access to appropriate technology of the following kinds:

In addition, those who wish to orally participate in Q&A sessions need a microphone of sufficient quality. Anyone who wishes to provide their own video stream (such that can be seen by everyone else) requires a webcam of sufficient quality (as well as an Internet connection of slightly greater speed and capacity).

Note:

1. FOR GENERAL INTEREST

1.1 What are the time slots of live presentations in Zoom?

On each day of the conference (30 June to 2 July), we have three consecutive 1.5-hour slots in the morning between 8:00-12:30 and three consecutive 1.5-hour slots in the evening between 20:00-00:30 (New Zealand time). To convert these slots to your own local time, we suggest you use THIS TOOL.

1.2 If my paper has co-presenters, do we all have to register and pay the event fee?

Yes. The approach we take is the same one you would find in a traditional conference. Anyone who ‘comes to the conference’ (ie, dials into Zoom sessions and/or enters our online platform for prerecorded sessions) has to register and pay the corresponding event fee.

1.3 I’ve never used the Zoom app, can you teach me how to use it?

For basic information on how to install and use Zoom in Windows or Mac OS, please check out THIS RESOURCE. In addition, you can find Zoom video tutorials on a variety of issues HERE.

1.4 How do the two options — live presentation and prerecorded session — differ?

Please check out the Online Conference Formats and Technical Requirements section of this website.

1.5 How can I apply for a scholarship towards the conference fees?

Please check out the Scholarships and Prizes section of this website. That’s also where you find eligibility information.

1.6 If I have specific questions about registration payment or fees, whom can I contact?

Please message Kathy Rosenblum at admin@hd-ca.org.

1.7 What’s the deadline for participants to let the organisers know which session format they choose?

You need to contact us by 16 May at the latest.

1.8 Will there be any prizes for presenters during this conference?

For our newly instated online-conference awards, please check out the Scholarships and Prizes section of this website.

2. FOR PARTICIPANTS WHO PRESENT LIVE

2.1 I’ve never presented online in Zoom, can you teach me?

We will make resources on how to use Zoom during your live presentation available here soon, please check back in a few days. In the meantime, consider learning about general Zoom use by checking out item 1.3 above.

2.2 When will I be notified of the date and time of my session?

We are aiming to send out a draft schedule for live presentations at around 20 May (one week after early bird registration has closed).

2.3 How long are Thematic Panel Sessions?

Each session is 1.5 hours long. Panel organisers will be in touch with panellists to discuss in detail how best to use this time.

2.4 How much time will I have to present my individual paper?

Each session is 1.5 hours long and incorporates a maximum of three individual papers. Thus, you each have 25 minutes (including Q&A), regardless of whether you are an academic, practitioner, or young scholar. Chairs will be in touch to discuss in detail how you would like to use your time.

3. FOR PARTICIPANTS WITH PRERECORDED SESSIONS

3.1 How will I get feedback for my prerecorded contribution?

We will be encouraging members of the conference audience to visit our online platform where each prerecorded contribution is posted and engage with the author in the respective forum.

3.2 How long can my prerecorded session be?

If you wish to make your contribution a prerecorded audio or video session, we recommend you limit yourself to 15 minutes length. Otherwise, you will not be eligible for a viewers’ choice award.

3.3 What’s the deadline for participants to send the organisers their prerecorded materials?

You need to submit all of your files by 15 June at the very latest. We will make an inbox for uploads available in due course.

While ideas about well-being, human development, and justice have always been progressed, now more than ever is the time for us to push ahead. Problems like radical climate change and the many effects it has on the ability of communities to flourish worldwide leave us with little other choice.

The Capability Approach and Human Development Paradigm have been playing an important role in this progress. They provide a meeting point for diverse perspectives, in- and outside of academia; link the Global South and Global North; and place the lives that people are able to have at the heart of well-being, development, and justice. Sustainability and equity are two of the pillars of human development, and while much progress has been made in understanding these ideas, new challenges have emerged. The urgent need to face these new challenges requires even more inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural understanding and exchange. How do we meet the needs of the present generation without sacrificing those of future generations? Can capability concepts help to distinguish sustainable flourishing from damagingly excessive living standards? How might we reinvent our means of satisfying human needs, so that our planet’s population can still function well while reducing consumption? In the age of rising sea levels, what are the bases of community if territory and historical connections to places are no longer available? And in the face of worsening ideological conflicts, how might economic, social, and political frameworks be rethought?

Indigenous philosophies are highly relevant to sustainable and equitable development. They have been playing an increasingly prominent role in advancing social, economic, environmental, and cultural development around the world. In Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori philosophies ground the naming of Te Awa Tupua (the Whanganui river) and Te Urewera (previously a national park) as legal entities with rights. Similarly, Kaupapa Māori Theory has helped to pioneer a platform for indigenous knowledges globally, providing space to reimagine the role of communities in research and development. Beyond Aotearoa New Zealand, concepts such as aloha ‘āina (Hawai’i, ‘love of the land’), minobimaatisiiwin (Anishinaabe, ‘the good life’), and sumaq kawsay (Quechua, ‘good living’) are transforming environmental thinking. Within and beyond the Pacific region, calls for sustainability chart a renewed course for development, highlighting the urgency and centrality of environmental concerns for tackling poverty, the value of diverse knowledges, and the need for local and global solutions. We can use this momentum to prevent that governments worldwide continue to ignore indigenous people’s knowledge and values and refuse to give them effect in policy and law.

Cross-disciplinary dialogue and conversation among people with very diverse experiences provide us with exciting opportunities for discovering creative solutions to old and new problems and harnessing the potential of creative and often unexpected synergies. In this regard we ask: What new conversations involving the Human Development Paradigm and Capability Approach are currently underway? In which discussions should the approach participate in the future? What can we learn from perspectives that remain at the margins of current mainstream conversations? How, within the human development and capability space, can different values speak to each other? And how can we prevent that the silencing of differences and the monopolisation of discourses squashes innovation?

Under the theme New Horizons: Sustainability and Justice, the 2020 HDCA Conference aims to provide an enriching way to focus on fresh ideas, new directions, and different voices that take us into the future.

The following keynote speakers have been confirmed for our conference in its new all-online format (updates here soon):

​

	Sakiko Fukuda-Parr Professor of International Affairs and Director of Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs, The New School Mahbub-ul-Haq Memorial Lecture: Rescuing Human Development from the HDI: A Human Development Agenda for the 21st Century
	Pedro Conceição Director of the Human Development Report Office and lead author of the Human Development Report, United Nations Development Programme
	Kate Raworth Senior Research Associate at Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University / Professor of Practice, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
	Arunabha Ghosh Chief Executive Officer, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW)
	Linda Smith Professor of Indigenous Education, University of Waikato
	José Gabriel Palma Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge (Emeritus) / University of Santiago Amartya Sen Lecture: What Went Wrong With European Social Democracy: On Building a Debilitating Capitalism, Where Even the Welfare State Subsidises Greater Market Inequality
	Sridhar Venkatapuram Senior Lecturer in Global Health and Philosophy, King’s College London
	Jay Drydyk Professor of Philosophy and Program Director of Ethics and Public Affairs, Carleton University

Mahbub-ul-Haq Memorial Lecture, by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr

Rescuing Human Development from the HDI: A Human Development Agenda for the 21st Century

What would Mahbub be advocating today as the priority human development agenda? What are the most urgent challenges of the day and what can the human development perspective contribute?

Inspired by this question and Mahbub’s propensity to change his mind readily in response to new ideas or new realities, this lecture argues that human development is as relevant as it was in 1990 to bring new perspectives on the crises of contemporary society such as pandemics, climate change and inequality. But to do so requires rescuing the concept from the HDI – a highly imperfect, simplified representation of the complex and broad concept. The imperfections were recognized even at the origins but the index was developed as an important tool of communicating the new paradigm, capable of drawing attention to human ends of development and reframing development thinking. But as numeric indicators often do, the HDI began to redefine, not just represent, human development. This lecture will consider the origins of the concept of human development and its relationship to capability theory, and the evolution of the literature on human development. It will argue that the misalignment between HDI and human development has widened in terms of a discourse of development capable of presenting an alternative paradigm and shifting frameworks, and as an analytical framework for setting policy agendas.

Amartya Sen Lecture, by José Gabriel Palma

What Went Wrong With European Social Democracy: On Building a Debilitating Capitalism, Where Even the Welfare State Subsidises Greater Market Inequality

This presentation will elaborate on a proposition advanced in a previous paper: that the only sustainable progressive and enabling social and distributive agendas are those anchored in an economic agenda that already leads to low levels of inequality in the market. In other words, from the perspective of sustainability and economic efficiency, and also from that of functionings and capabilities, it matters whether low levels of inequalities have been achieved already in the market, or if they are achieved only subsequently via taxes and transferences. Yet European countries have let their markets reach Latin American levels of inequality (and have done so happily), while simultaneously attempting to sustain their traditionally low levels of disposable income inequality via taxes and transfers. As a result, the average share of ‘social protection’ in overall public expenditure among European Union countries stands at 40 per cent — and including health and education, this share jumps to two thirds. Meanwhile, they have given a generous new tax status to those who have benefited most from this increased market inequality; and as there are limits to how much they can tax everybody else, governments’ debts are mounting. The idea that inequality should be dealt with ‘at source’ (i.e., in the market) has become totally alien to the new social democratic ideology, which is stuck in the past twice over: in their social agenda, they just want to replicate the past, while in terms of their economic agenda, they seek to construct a future which is almost the exact opposite of that past. Such an inability to deal creatively with the inevitable “uncomfortable uncertainties” of change has deprived this ideology of most of its social imagination. This has led to a major political dilemma in the advanced as well as in the emerging worlds, because while this impoverished ideology has lost its legitimacy, more progressive discourses have so far been unable to generate sufficient credibility.

30 years of the Human Development Report

Since its introduction in 1990, the Human Development Report (HDR) has been one of the UN’s great success stories. It has redefined the global development debate in many countries while also broadening the conceptual scope of development by directing policymakers to the multidimensional nature of wellbeing.

Human development about expanding the richness of human life, rather than simply the richness of the economy in which human beings live. It is an approach that is focused on people and their opportunities and choices.

One of the more important achievements of the human development approach, as embodied in successive HDRs, has been to ensure a growing acceptance of the fact that monetary measures, such as GDP per capita, are inadequate proxies of development. The first HDR s introduced the Human Development Index (HDI), which provides a measure of human development progress achieved by a given country.

Today, much has changed in the development world in the 30 years since the first report. Fundamental shifts are taking place in how we understand ourselves and our connections to local and global societies in the light of new technologies, socio-political realities and deep environmental changes, including the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Consequently, the opportunities, aspirations and choices of a person are also evolving rapidly.

In order to adapt to these changing times with a renewed commitment to illuminating the development landscape, UNDP is endeavoring to construct a New Generation of HDRs that, builds on the unparallel legacy of three decades of reports,  and engages in new ways with new ideas and new actors in the development world.

The HDRs in history

Overall, 26 HDRs and one statistical update have been published since 1990, covering a wide range of important themes including financing, human security, gender, human rights, and sustainability (find all reports here or link to individual reports below.)

1990: Concept and Measurement

1991: Financing

1992: Global Dimensions

1993: People’s Participation

1994: New Dimensions of Human Security

1995: Gender

1996: Economic Growth

1997: Human Development to Eradicate Poverty

1998: Consumption

1999: Globalization with a Human Face

2000: Human Rights

2001: Making New technologies Work for Human Development

2002: Deeping Democracy in a Fragmented World

2003: MDGs: A Compact among Nations to End Human Poverty

2004: Cultural Liberty in Today’s Diverse World

2005: Aid, trade and security

2006: Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis

2007-8: Fighting Climate Change: Human solidarity in a divided world

2009: Overcoming barriers: Human Mobility

2010: The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development

2011: Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for all

2013: The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World

2015: Work for Human Development

2016: Human Development for Everyone

2018: Human Development Indices and Indicators: Statistical Update

2019: Beyond income, beyond averages, beyond today: inequalities in human development in the 21st Century

Moreover, National Human Development Reports, which apply the human development lens to development thinking at the country level, have complemented the findings and messages of the global HDR with local contexts and insights. With around 800 reports from 150 countries published since 1990, the NHDRs have promoted the concept of human development in national policy dialogues and spurred public interest for action and change.

Links to related videos are below:

The submission period has ended. The Call for Papers below is for the conference in its original format (on the ground in Auckland). Thus, some of the information is no longer applicable.

Conference Aims and Topics

To explore the role that the Human Development Paradigm and Capability Approach, in interaction with other perspectives, can play in navigating the opportunities and challenges ahead, we invite scholars, activists, policymakers, practitioners, and students working on the areas of human development and capabilities to Auckland, New Zealand. We especially welcome those who are new to the field introducing us to new ideas and perspectives. Recognising the need for diverse participants to engage in innovative conversations and explore the potential for new synergies, we look forward to seeing participants from a wide range of research themes, topics, methods, professions, and regions. Submissions that engage with the role of the humanities in partnership with other disciplines in advancing the core aims of the Human Development Paradigm and Capability Approach are encouraged. We would also like to expressly invite the participation from indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities, and those from the global south.

Contributions to our conference on New Horizons: Sustainability and Justice may explore, among others, the following topics:

In addition to papers on the conference theme, papers on all core HDCA topics are welcome, including, but not limited to:

For information about thematic groups, visit https://hd-ca.org/thematic-groups.

Keynote Speakers and Plenary Panels

We’re lining up an exciting list of speakers for you. Detailed information on keynote topics and presenters will be provided here on our conference website as it becomes available.

Conference Timeline and Sessions

The main conference takes place from 30 June to 2 July 2020 (Tuesday to Thursday). It will be preceded by a summer school for graduate students (27 and 28 June, weekend) and a day of pre-conference events (29 June, Monday).

In addition to keynote lectures and other plenaries, the conference will accommodate seven types of session:

Please note:

The main criteria for evaluating the various kinds of submissions are:

While the papers may come from any discipline and may be theoretical, applied, or policy-based, every paper must engage with, apply, extend, criticise, or offer insights specifically relevant to the capability approach and/or the human development paradigm.

Stream Proposals

This year, we would like to invite stream proposals made up of two or more panel sessions that are scheduled sequentially. We especially invite streams on a single theme that are: multi-disciplinary, cross-cultural, and/or that bring scholars, practitioners, and members of the wider community into conversation.

If you envision that multiple panel sessions could be arranged in a dedicated thematic stream, please contact the organisers by email (2020HDCA@massey.ac.nz) to discuss your proposal. Please also consider discussing the session with the coordinators from one or more of the thematic groups (see https://hd-ca.org/thematic-groups).

HDCA Summer School

During the weekend that precedes the conference (27 and 28 June 2020), the HDCA will be holding a two-day summer school for graduate students working with the capability approach. Senior HDCA academics will present the basics of the capability approach and discuss cutting edge topics and developments. There will also be opportunities to get group feedback on research projects. Further details will be communicated closer to the event (please check back online here).

HDCA Journal

We encourage papers presented at the conference to be submitted for publication in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. This HDCA-owned journal is a peer-reviewed multi-disciplinary journal for people-centred development. For more information on the journal and on how to submit your paper, please see the journal webpage (https://hd-ca.org/publication-and-resources/journal-of-human-development-and-capabilities).

Conference Sustainability

Not only to live up to the theme of the conference, but we will also make special efforts to run the 2020 events as sustainably as possible. For example, conference programmes will be supplied through an app; meals will be plant-based and made from locally sourced ingredients; we strongly encourage all participants to bring their own reusable drinking cups or bottles; we ask attending students in particular to bring reusable containers (e.g., stainless steel or plastic lunch boxes) to take away leftover foods at the end of the day; we very much encourage participants to consider offsetting their CHG emissions (as the HDCA is committed to doing); and we suggest that guests combine their conference visit with an extended stay in beautiful New Zealand, thereby preventing further flight emissions for additional holiday trips. We will also offer options to participate in practical conservation activities that demonstrate first-hand the efforts made in New Zealand to become more sustainable.

If you have ideas about how we can make the 2020 HDCA Conference more sustainable, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible (2020HDCA@massey.ac.nz). During the conference itself, we will also host a workshop to discuss the future of annual mass-conference events like ours in the age of radical climate change.

Conference Accessibility and Inclusiveness

We aim to make our conference as inclusive and accessible as possible, not only in terms of physical space and materials provided (e.g. programmes, presentations, and nametags) but also with regard to presentation pedagogy and session design (e.g. we encourage presenters to think about how they plan to interact with the audience and to think about what audiences at this particular conference may be able to contribute to conference sessions).

In addition, we are exploring options for accommodating families during the event by providing a dedicated family space and offering options for childcare. You will be able to indicate your interest in these facilities in the online registration form.

For further suggestions how we can make the 2020 gathering more accessible and inclusive, please contact us by email (2020HDCA@massey.ac.nz). Conference-goers with special requirements are especially encouraged to get in touch.

How to Submit Your Proposal

Please submit your proposed poster, paper, or panel online from 1 November 2020 (http://www.conftool.org/2020hdca) using the appropriate form.

If you encounter any problems, please contact the conference organisers by email (2020HDCA@massey.ac.nz.

To ensure academic quality, all submissions will be assessed by two reviewers, at least one of whom is an HDCA Fellow or a senior researcher in the field.

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED

Due to the change of format, the conference registration fees have been adjusted as follows:

Early Bird Rates – Through May 16

The conference registration fee provides a one-year HDCA membership, including a year’s subscription to the Journal of Human Development & Capabilities.

Scholarships

The HDCA has a limited number of scholarships to attend the annual conference. They will be awarded based on merit and need to either

To apply for one of these scholarships, please download and complete the scholarship application form after you have received the referees’ review of your abstract in mid-February. All scholarship applications must be received by the Chair of the Scholarships Committee by 18 April 2020.

2020 Conference Prizes

Kuklys Prize for Best Paper from a Graduate Student

At the conference, the HDCA will award the annual Wiebke Kuklys Prize for the best paper presented by a graduate student. All graduate students who have not been awarded their degree before 30 June 2020 and are presenting a paper at the 2020 HDCA conference under their sole authorship are eligible to be considered for this prize. If you wish your paper to be considered, indicate so on the online submission form.

To compete for this prize, the full paper must be submitted by 15 May 2020. The winner of the 2020 Wiebke Kuklys Prize will be awarded a cash amount (the purpose of which is to contribute to the student’s graduate work, for example, in the form of equipment or book purchases or conference attendance). The name of the winner will be announced at the closing plenary session of the conference, which the author must attend.

Other Prizes

Following the change of format from traditional conference to all-online event, the HDCA offers the following prizes for best contributions:

Best Live Presentation as voted by viewers $300
Runner-up $150

Best Prerecorded Session as voted by viewers $150
Runner-up $75

Local Organising Committee

Kerry Taylor (School of Humanities, Massey University, New Zealand)
Krushil Watene (Philosophy, Massey University, New Zealand)
Marco Grix (Philosophy, Massey University, New Zealand)
Siautu Alefaio (Psychology, Massey University, New Zealand)
Fiona Te Momo (Te Pūtahi a Toi, Massey University, New Zealand)
Vanessa Schouten (Philosophy, Massey University, New Zealand)
Sharon Bell (Development Studies, Massey University, New Zealand)
Negar Partow (Security Studies, Massey University, New Zealand)
Mandy Yap (CAEPR, Australian National University, Australia)
Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan (Institute of Rural Management, Anand, India)
David Schlosberg (Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney, Australia)
Tom Eats (Maritime New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand)

Programme Committee

Jay Drydyk (Carleton University, Canada [Chair])
Ann Mitchell (Pontifica Universidad Católica, Argentina)
Sakiko Fukuda-Parr (The New School, USA)
Reiko Gotoh (Hitotsubashi University, Japan)
Krushil Watene (Massey University, New Zealand)
Kerry Taylor (Massey University, New Zealand)
Marco Grix (Massey University, New Zealand)

Massey University Albany Māori Advisory Group

Fiona Te Momo (Ngāti Porou [Convenor])
Messina Shaw (Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Te Ata)
Apirana Pewhairangi (Ngāti Porou)
Pita King (Te Rarawa)

Organising Institution

College of Humanities and Social Sciences: School of Humanities
Massey University Auckland
Private Bag 102904
Auckland 0745
New Zealand

Contact the Organisers

Preferred: email 2020HDCA@massey.ac.nz
Optional: call +64 (0)9 414 0800, ext. 43495

Due to the unprecedented circumstances around the coronavirus pandemic, the HDCA has decided that this year’s Summer School will not be held.

Instead, the association’s Education Officers are working to review and revise the resources available on the HDCA website, and look forward to the face-to-face Summer School at the 2021 conference.

Below is the list of currently confirmed presenters, with more names and details being added in our conference platform at Whova.com on an ongoing basis. Any changes made in Whova will automatically appear here right away.

To see a world map showing the locations of our presenters, please click HERE.

Below is the current schedule of events as they are planned in our conference platform at Whova.com (in New Zealand time). Up until the conference, this schedule remains a work in progress. It may also be updated during the event, if necessary. Any changes made in Whova will automatically appear here right away.

Below, you’ll find a number of guides that we’ve been putting together for you.

2020 HDCA Conference: Audience Guide for Whova (click to download)

This guide is directed toward all conference guests. It explains how you get access to our conference content through Whova (which is the online platform we use), and how to operate within Whova through both its dedicated Android / Apple iOS apps and the Internet browser interface.

2020 HDCA Conference: Chair and Speaker Guide (click to download)

This guide is directed toward those conference guests who are also presenters and/or chairs in our regular live-streamed sessions. It explains how to access Zoom meetings, what the process of our live-streamed sessions looks like, and various other important details.

2020 HDCA Conference: Whova Session Q&A Add-On to Chair and Speaker Guide (click to download)

This add-on is directed toward presenters and/or chairs in our regular live-streamed sessions. It explains how to monitor items in Whova’s Session Q&A while being active in Zoom.

“Desarrollo humano e inclusión social en un mundo crecientemente urbanizado”

Hoy más de la mitad de la población mundial vive en áreas urbanas y se espera que para el 2050 el porcentaje alcance al 66 por ciento. La intensa interacción social, cultural y económica de la aglomeración de personas en ciudades ofrece diversos beneficios para el desarrollo humano y económico, sin embargo, también plantea numerosos desafíos. La fragmentación social, la segregación residencial y el amplio crecimiento de asentamientos informales reflejan la persistente desigualdad social y económica en el contexto de la expansión de las ciudades. Los rápidos cambios demográficos y su incidencia en la urbanización, junto con el estrés ambiental causado por las ciudades, impiden la adecuada prestación de los servicios públicos y una eficaz gobernanza urbana. El reciente flujo de inmigrantes de países pobres e inestables a ciudades de naciones desarrolladas trae nuevos obstáculos a la participación económica, social y cultural en el Norte global. Todas estas tendencias desafían a los gobiernos y la sociedad en su conjunto a encontrar nuevas formas de fomentar el desarrollo humano e inclusión social para todos.

América Latina, la región más urbanizada y desigual del mundo, con la mayor concentración de megaciudades, es un lugar particularmente relevante para realizar esta conferencia. Problemas como la segregación residencial, la desigualdad urbana, la marginalidad y la exclusión social, la violencia, las adicciones, la degradación del medio ambiente, entre otros, han adquirido especial relevancia en la región. El origen de estos problemas está enraizado no solo en procesos de urbanización, sino también en complejos aspectos históricos, políticos y culturales. El continente también ha producido importantes innovaciones en el diseño de redes de seguridad social (por ejemplo, las transferencias condicionadas de ingresos) y en políticas para fomentar la integración urbana.

El tema de la Conferencia de la HDCA 2018 propone analizar estos problemas urbanos a través de la óptica del enfoque del desarrollo humano y de las capacidades, y a la luz de experiencias globales. Examinará cómo el enfoque proporciona herramientas y criterios innovadores para evaluar la calidad de vida y cómo se distribuyen sus condiciones en el contexto de las ciudades. La conferencia examinará asimismo cómo el enfoque de las capacidades puede contribuir a pensar críticamente el diseño de políticas adecuadas para alcanzar los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible, especialmente el objetivo 11: lograr que las ciudades y los asentamientos humanos sean inclusivos, seguros, resilientes y sostenibles. Puede asimismo fomentar la discusión sobre cómo abordar la Nueva Agenda Urbana establecida por UN-Habitat III: 1) Asegurar que nadie se quede atrás, lo que supone poner fin a la pobreza en todas sus formas y dimensiones, incluida la erradicación de la pobreza extrema, garantizar la igualdad de derechos y oportunidades, la diversidad socioeconómica y cultural, y la integración en el espacio urbano; 2) Asegurar el desarrollo de economías urbanas sostenibles e inclusivas, aprovechando los beneficios que se derivan de la aglomeración resultante de una urbanización planificada, incluida la alta productividad, la competitividad y la innovación, lo que supone fomentar el empleo pleno y productivo y el trabajo decente para todos; 3) Garantizar la sostenibilidad del medio ambiente promoviendo el uso de la energía no contaminante y el uso sostenible de la tierra y los recursos en el desarrollo urbano, protegiendo los ecosistemas y la diversidad biológica.

Comité de Programa

Chair: Beatriz Balian de Tagtachian, Academia Nacional de Educación
Ann Mitchell, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina
Ana Lourdes Suarez, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina/CONICET
Eduardo Lépore, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina
Pablo Vinocur, FLACSO-Argentina
Ingrid Robeyns, Universidad de Utrecht
Veronica Crosbie, Universidad de la Ciudad de Dublin
Luis Felipe Lopez Calva, Banco Mundial
Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti, Universidad de Pavia
Graciela Tonon, Univ. Nacional de Lomas de Zamora y Univ. de Palermo

 Comité Organizador Local

Chair: Beatriz Balian de Tagtachian, Academia Nacional de Educación
Ann Mitchell, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina
Ana Lourdes Suarez, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina/CONICET
Eduardo Lépore, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina
Juan Cruz Hermida, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina
Pablo Vinocur, FLACSO-Argentina
Luciano Andrenacci, FLACSO-Argentina
Maria Emma Santos, Universidad Nacional del Sur (Argentina)
Severine Deneulin, Universidad de Bath (Reino Unido)
Alejandra Segura, Fundación Cre-Ser
Cristina Calvo, Universidad de Buenos Aires

Ravi Kanbur, Cornell University
“Urbanización: Una desagregación”
Chair: Maria Emma Santos
Ravi Kanbur enseña e investiga en temas de desarrollo económico, economía pública y teoría económica. Se desempeñó como funcionario superior del Banco Mundial, ocupando el cargo de economista jefe para África. Ha publicado en revistas académicas líderes, incluyendo Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Economic Theory and Economic Journal.

Es presidente de la Human Development and Capabilities Association; presidente del Consejo del Instituto Mundial de la Universidad de Naciones Unidas de Investigaciones de Economía del Desarrollo; co-presidente del Consejo Científico del Panel Internacional sobre el Progreso Social, y miembro del Grupo Experto de Alto Nivel de la OCDE para la Medición del Desempeño Económico. Fue previamente presidente de la Sociedad para el Estudio de la Desigualdad Económica, miembro del Consejo Asesor de Alto Nivel del Dialogo sobre Justicia Climática, y miembro del Grupo Central de la Comisión sobre Pobreza Global.

Santiago Levy, Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
Ul Haq Lecture
“Informalidad y inclusion social”
Chair: Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti
El economista mexicano Santiago Levy Algazi es el vicepresidente de sectores y conocimiento del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo. Previamente, se desempeñó como gerente general y economista jefe del Departamento de Investigación. Antes de ingresar al BID, fue director general del Instituto Mexicano de Seguridad Social (IMSS) desde diciembre de 2000 a octubre de 2005. De 1994 hasta 2000, Levy sirvió al gobierno mexicano como viceministro del Ministerio de Hacienda y Crédito Público, convirtiéndose en el arquitecto principal del conocido programa social Progresa-Oportunidades que beneficia a los pobres.  Levy posee un doctorado en economía y una maestría en economía política de la Universidad de Boston, además de un post doctorado honorífico de la Universidad Cambridge. Ha sido asesor de varios gobiernos y organizaciones internacionales, además de ocupar diversos cargos docentes en el Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México y en la Universidad de Boston, donde fue profesor asociado y director del Instituto para el Desarrollo Económico. Es autor de por lo menos 80 artículos, monografías y capítulos de libros en temas tan diversos como reducción de la pobreza, competitividad, políticas cambiarias, desequilibrios en las exportaciones, precios, microeconomía y energía. Su trabajo “La pobreza en México” obtuvo en 1992 el Premio Nacional de Investigación en Economía del Banco de México. Sus libros publicados recientes son: No Crecimiento sin Equidad? Desigualdad, Intereses, y Competencia en Mexico, (editado con Michael Walton) Palgrave MacMillan and World Bank, 2009;  Buenas Intenciones, Malos Resultados: Política Social, Informalidad y Crecimiento Económico en México, Brookings Institution Press, 2008; Progreso contra la Pobreza: Sosteniendo el Programa Progresa-Oportunidades de México, Brookings Institution Press, 2006; Sin Herencia de Pobreza, Editorial Planeta, 2005 (con Evelyne Rodríguez); y Ensayos sobre el Desarrollo Económico y Social de México, Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, 2004.

Alejandro Portes, Princeton University
Sen Lecture
“Ciudades Latinoamericanas: su evolución bajo el Neoliberalismo y más allá”
Chair: Liliana Pantano
Alejandro Portes es Profesor Howard Harrison y Gabrielle Snyder Beck (Emeritos) de Sociología en la Universidad de Princeton, Profesor de Investigación en Sociología y Profesor de Leyes en la Universidad de Miami. Es el director fundador del Centro de Migraciones y Desarrollo en la Universidad de Princeton. Nacido en la Havana, Cuba, emigró a los Estados Unidos en 1960. Se educó en la Universidad de la Havana, La Universidad Católica de Argentina y la Universidad de Creighton. Recibió su Maestría en Artes y su Doctorado de la Universidad de Wisconsin-Madison. Ha recibido doctorados honorarios de New School for Social Research, la Universidad de Wisconsin-Madison, la Universidad de Génova en Italia, la Universidad de Roskilde en Dinamarca, la Universidad Nueva de Lisboa. Portes es el autor de 250 artículos y capítulos sobre desarrollo nacional, migración internacional, urbanización de Latino- América y el Caribe y sociología económica. Ha escrito más de 40 libros y ediciones especiales. Sus libros y artículos han sido traducidos en español, portugués, italiano, chino y japonés. Sus más recientes artículos han sido publicados en prestigiosas revistas y diarios de investigación en todo el mundo. Sus investigaciones actuales se enfocan sobre el proceso de adaptación de las segundas generaciones de migrantes, el papel de las instituciones en el desarrollo nacional y el estudio comparativo de organizaciones inmigrantes transnacionales. Portes es miembro titular de la Academia de Artes y Ciencias y de la academia nacional de Ciencias de Estados Unidos.

Avner De-Shalit, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
“Ciudades, inmigrantes y el sentido de lugar”
Chair: Jay Drydyk
Avner de Shalit es Profesor Max Kampelman de Democracia y Derechos Humanos en el Departamento de Ciencias Políticas de la Universidad Hebrea de Jerusalén. Desde la obtención de su doctorado en la Universidad de Oxford (1990) ha estado trabajando en temas de filosofía ambiental, teoría de la política urbana, y cuestiones de pobreza y desigualdad. Es autor de ocho libros, entre ellos Why Posterity Matters (Routledge), The Environment: Between Theory and Practice (Oxford UP), Disadvantage (Oxford UP, en co-autoría con Jonathan Wolff), The Spirit of Cities (Princeton UP, en co-autoría con Daniel Bell), y más recientemente Cities and Immigration (Oxford UP, en prensa). Ha sido jefe de departamento y decano de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad Hebrea. En 2014 recibió el Rothschild Prize en Ciencias Sociales. En Israel ha tenido una activa participación política en asuntos sociales y ambientales, y también en el apoyo a los derechos políticos de los palestinos.

Ingrid Robeyns, Utrecht University
¿Qué, en todo caso, está mal con ser super rico ?
Chair: Ravi Kanbur
(Descargue la presentación aquí)
Ingrid Robeyns es presidente electa de la Human Development and Capability Association y director del departamento de ética de las instituciones en la Universidad de Utrecht. Formada en economía y filosofía, trabaja en temas de justicia social y distributiva, aplicados a un amplio espectro de problemas, incluyendo los de género, discapacidad, desigualdades globales, y cuestiones ambientales. Actualmente dirige un proyecto de investigación de 5 años de duración referido a la pregunta sobre si debería haber límites superiores a la cantidad de recursos económicos y ecológicos que es éticamente permisible tener. También ha publicado ampliamente sobre los fundamentos teóricos del enfoque de las capacidades, siendo su más reciente publicación el libro de libre acceso Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice (Open Book Publishers 2017). Mayores detalles pueden encontrarse en www.ingridrobeyns.info.

Panel plenario sobre Poder, desigualdad y justicia: Una perspectiva latinoamericana (panelistas: Fernando Calderon, Sonia Fleury, Javier Iguiñiz)
Chair: Pablo Vinocur

Fernando Calderón es Sociólogo por la Universidad de Chile, con una Maestría en Ciencias Sociales de FLACSO, en Santiago de Chile, y un Doctorado en Sociología de l’École del Hautes Études en Ciencias Sociales en París. Actualmente es profesor de la Cátedra Simón Bolivar de la Universidad de Cambridge (2017/2018). Director del Programa Innovación, Desarrollo y Multiculturalismo en la Universidad Nacional de San Martín (Argentina) y profesor de Desarrollo Humano en el Programa de Desarrollo Humano de la FLACSO-Argentina, y en la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina. Ha sido profesor invitado en varias universidades de los Estados Unidos (Austin, Texas; Chicago; Universidad de California at Berkeley; y Cornell); de Europa (Universidad de Barcelona, y Universidad Abierta de Cataluña); y de América Latina (en Bolivia, México, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, y Chile). Fue Secretario Ejecutivo del Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO), Asesor en Política Social de la CEPAL (Comisión Económica para América Latina) de las Naciones Unidas; y Asesor Especial en Desarrollo Humano y Gobernanza del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo de esa misma Organización. Fue el Coordinador y Asesor Senior de más de 10 Informes de Desarrollo Humano en diferentes países de América Latina, Europa y África, a nivel nacional, subregional, y global. Entre el 2000 y el 2002 fue el director del Informe de Desarrollo Humano de Bolivia, que fue premiado como el más destacado a nivel global. Es autor de 23 libros y ha editado 34 publicaciones sobre Democracia, Cultura y Desarrollo.

Sonia Fleury es Psicóloga por la Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais, Magister en Sociología Salubrista y Doctora en Ciencia Política por el Instituto Universitario de Pesquisas de Río de Janeiro, de la Universidad Cándido Mendes, Brasil. Trabaja en temas relacionados con la construcción de democracias, ciudadanía, derechos sociales, seguridad social y protección social, reformas de sistemas sociales en América Latina, subjetividad y exclusión, entre otros.  Fue docente de la Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais, investigadora y docente de la Escuela Nacional de Salud Pública de la Fundación Oswaldo Cruz, docente del INDES – Instituto de Desarrollo Económico y Social del BID, de la Escuela Brasileña de Administración Pública y de Empresas de la Fundación Getulio Vargas. Ha sido profesor visitante y conferencista en varias universidades de América Latina y Europa. Tiene una larga producción sobre democracia y políticas sociales publicadas y traducidas en varios países de la región (134 artículos en publicaciones científicas, 70 capítulos de libros y 12 libros publicados).

Javier Iguiñiz Echeverría es Ingeniero Electricista por la Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Master of Science en Economía, por Iowa State University and PhD en Economía por The New School for Social Research. Es profesor emérito y se desempeña como profesor del Departamento de Economía de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú desde 1973. Actualmente es Secretario Ejecutivo del Acuerdo Nacional y presidente del Instituto de Desarrollo Humano de América Latina (IDHAL). Ha publicado una treintena de libros y varios artículos. Los últimos son “Derechos Humanos y pobreza extrema: distancias y acercamientos”; “La verdad nos hace libres. Sobre las relaciones entre filosofía, derechos humanos, religión y universidad”; “Inclusiones y desarrollo humano: relaciones, agencia, poder”; “The Muldimensionality of Poverty”; y “Poder, rigor y efectividad de una idea: el caso de la informalidad de los pobres”.

Panel plenario sobre Urbanización e integración de asentamientos informales (panelistas: Nora Libertun del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, Pablo Lopez de CAF-Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina y Carole Megevand del Banco Mundial)
Chair: Ann Mitchell

Nora Libertun de Duren es especialista en vivienda y desarrollo urbano en el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) donde lidera las actividades de investigación sobre temas urbanos. Tiene experiencia en investigación y el desarrollo de proyectos en las áreas de vivienda, espacio público urbano, crecimiento urbano y desarrollo sostenible. Ha brindado conferencias sobre estos temas en diversas universidades y próximamente será docente en Harvard University. Anteriormente, se desempeñó como Directora de Planificación del Departamento de Parques y Recreación de la Ciudad de Nueva York donde lideró una estrategia para crear espacios públicos accesibles y sostenibles. Es autora de diversos artículos publicados en revistas académicas incluyendo Housing Policy Debates, Planning Journal of Education and Research, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, City and Community, Urban Studies, Cities y International Journal of Housing Policy. Ha sido editora del Journal of Planning de MIT y co-editora del libro Cities and Sovereignty: Identity Politics in Urban Spaces (Indiana University Press, 2011). Ha recibido numerosas distinciones incluyendo una beca Fulbright, la beca presidencial y la beca de doctorado de MIT, una beca de Harvard y la Medalla de Oro de la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Tiene un PhD en Urbanismo y Planificación Regional del MIT, una maestría en diseño urbano de Harvard University, y otra en arquitectura de la Universidad de Buenos Aires.

Pablo López es Ejecutivo Senior de la Vicepresidencia de Desarrollo Social de CAF-Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina. Pablo está especializado en la formulación y gestión de proyectos de infraestructura con especial énfasis en proyectos de desarrollo urbano. Sus áreas de interés profesional se centran en la planificación del desarrollo urbano y regional, la relación entre las inversiones en infraestructura y el desarrollo y el vínculo entre las políticas urbanas y el uso de suelo. Ha trabajado como asesor de políticas regionales y urbanas en Argentina e Inglaterra y durante los últimos 20 años, ha participado en proyectos urbanos y regionales en Brasil, Paraguay, Argentina y Bolivia. Pablo tiene una Maestría en Planificación Urbana otorgado por la Universidad de Londres y una Maestría en Administración Pública y el grado en Ingeniería Civil otorgado por la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina.

Carole Megevand tiene más de 20 años de experiencia profesional en Desarrollo Internacional en varias regiones del mundo. Tiene dos maestrías, una en Economía Agrícola y Medio Ambiente, y la segunda en Economía de Recursos Naturales. Después de adquirir experiencia en ONGs y empresas consultoras, se unió al Banco Mundial en 2002 y desde entonces ha dirigido varios proyectos complejos vinculados con recursos naturales, con un enfoque específico en dimensiones intersectoriales y cuestiones de gobernanza. Actualmente es la responsable del Programa de Desarrollo Sostenible del Banco Mundial para la región del Cono Sur (que cubre Argentina, Paraguay y Uruguay), donde sus responsabilidades abarcan diversos sectores, incluyendo Infraestructura (Transporte, Energía y Agua), Urbano, Agricultura, Cambio Climático y Social. Su experiencia internacional en el mundo en desarrollo incluye tres asignaciones a largo plazo: Túnez, Camerún y ahora Argentina; y misiones en más de 15 países en África, Medio Oriente, África del Norte y América Latina. Es autora de importantes trabajos analíticos con un enfoque específico en soluciones multisectoriales para el desarrollo sostenible.

“Human Development and Social Inclusion in an Urbanizing World”

Today more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas and the share is expected to reach 66 per cent by 2050. While the intense social, cultural and economic interaction implied by the agglomeration of people in cities offers diverse benefits for human and economic development it also poses numerous challenges. Social fragmentation, spatial segregation and the widespread growth of informal settlements, or slums, reflect the persistence of social and economic inequality in the context of the expansion of cities. The rapid demographic shifts and resulting urban sprawl, coupled with the environmental stresses caused by cities, hinder the adequate provision of public services and effective urban governance. The recent flow of immigrants from poor and unstable countries to the cities of developed nations present new obstacles to economic, social and cultural participation in the Global North. All of these trends challenge governments and society as a whole to find new ways to foster human development and social inclusion for all.

Latin America, as the most unequal and urbanized region of the world, with the largest concentration of megacities, is a particularly relevant place to host the conference. Issues such as residential segregation, urban inequality, social marginalization and exclusion, violence, addictions, environmental degradation, among others, have acquired particular relevance in the region and their origins are rooted not only in the urbanization process but also complex historical, political and cultural factors. The continent also has produced relevant innovations in the design of social safety nets (for example, conditional cash transfers) and policies to foster urban integration.

The 2018 Conference theme proposes to analyse these urban issues through the lens of the capability approach and human development framework and in light of global experiences. It will examine how the approach can provide innovative tools and criteria to assess quality of life and how its conditions are distributed in the context of cities. The conference will also examine how the capability approach can contribute to critically thinking on how to design adequate policies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, especially goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. It can also frame the discussion on how to address the Urban Agenda set out by UN-Habitat III: 1) ending poverty in all its forms and dimensions by ensuring equal rights and opportunities, socio-economic and cultural diversity, integration in the urban space; 2) achieving sustainable and inclusive urban economies by promoting full and productive employment and decent work for all and 3) promoting environmental sustainability, by promoting clean energy, sustainable use of land and resources in urban development.

The 2018 HDCA Conference was hosted by hosted by the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA) in collaboration with FLACSO-Argentina in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Program Committee

Chair: Beatriz Balian de Tagtachian, National Academy of Education (Argentina)
Ann Mitchell, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina
Ana Lourdes Suarez, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina/CONICET
Eduardo Lépore, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina
Pablo Vinocur, FLACSO-Argentina
Ingrid Robeyns, Utrecht University
Veronica Crosbie, Dublin City University
Luis Felipe Lopez Calva, World Bank
Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti, University of Pavia
Graciela Tonon, Univ. Nacional de Lomas de Zamora & Univ. de Palermo

Local Organizing Committee

Chair: Beatriz Balian de Tagtachian, National Academy of Education (Argentina)
Ann Mitchell, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina
Ana Lourdes Suarez, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina/CONICET
Eduardo Lépore, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina
Juan Cruz Hermida, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina
Pablo Vinocur, FLACSO-Argentina
Luciano Andrenacci, FLACSO-Argentina
Maria Emma Santos, Universidad Nacional del Sur (Argentina)
Severine Deneulin, University of Bath
Alejandra Segura, Cre-Ser Foundation
Cristina Calvo, Universidad de Buenos Aires

CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO RECORDINGS OF THE KEYNOTE LECTURES

Ravi Kanbur, Cornell University
“Urbanization: A Disaggregation”
Chair: Maria Emma Santos
Ravi Kanbur researches and teaches in development economics, public economics and economic theory. He is well known for his role in policy analysis and engagement in international development. He has served on the senior staff of the World Bank including as Chief Economist for Africa. He has also published in the leading economics journals, including Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Economic Theory and Economic Journal.

He is President of the Human Development and Capabilities Association, Chair of the Board of United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research, Co-Chair of the Scientific Council of the International Panel on Social Progress, member of the OECD High Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance, Past-President of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, past member of the High Level Advisory Council of the Climate Justice Dialogue, and past-member of the Core Group of the Commission on Global Poverty.

Santiago Levy, Interamerican Development Bank
Ul Haq Memorial Lecture
“Informality and Social Inclusion”
Chair: Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti
Santiago Levy is the Vice-President for Sectors and Knowledge at the Inter-American Development Bank, and before that Chief Economist. Previously, he was General Director at the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) from December 2000 to October 2005. From 1994 to 2000, Levy served as the Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico, becoming the main architect of the renowned social program Progresa-Oportunidades that benefits the poor. He holds a Ph.D. in economics and a Masters in political economy from Boston University. He was a post-doctoral fellow at Cambridge University. Mr. Levy has advised several governments and international organizations and has held several teaching positions, including faculty positions at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo of Mexico and Boston University, where he was Associate Professor and Director of the Institute for Economic Development. He is the author of at least 80 articles, monographs and book chapters on such diverse subjects as poverty reduction, competitiveness, foreign exchange policy, export imbalances, pricing, microeconomics and energy. His paper Poverty in Mexico won the 1992 National Research Prize in Economics awarded by the Bank of Mexico. His recent published books are:  No Growth without Equity? Inequality, Interests and Competition in Mexico (edited with Michael Walton), Palgrave-Macmillan and the World Bank, 2009; Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes: Social Policy, Informality, and Economic Growth in Mexico, Brookings Institution Press, 2008; Progress Against Poverty: Sustaining Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades Program, Brookings Institution Press, 2006; Sin Herencia de Pobreza, Editorial Planeta, 2005 (with Evelyne Rodríguez); and Ensayos sobre el Desarrollo Económico y Social de México, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico, 2004.

Alejandro Portes, Princeton University
Amartya Sen Lecture
“Latin American Cities: their Evolution under Neoliberalism and Beyond”
Chair: Liliana Pantano
Alejandro Portes is Howard Harrison and Gabrielle Snyder Beck Professor of Sociology (emeritus) at Princeton University and Professor of Law and Distinguished Scholar of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami. He is the founding director of the Center for Migration and Development at Princeton. Formerly, he taught at Johns Hopkins University, where he held the John Dewey Chair in Arts and Sciences; Duke University, and the University of Texas-Austin. In 1997, he was elected president of the American Sociological Association and served in that capacity in 1998-99. Born in Havana, Cuba, he came to the United States in 1960. He was educated at the University of Havana, Catholic University of Argentina, and Creighton University. He received his M. A. and Ph. D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Portes is the author of more than 250 articles and chapters on national development, international migration, Latin American and Caribbean urbanization, and economic sociology. He has published 40 books and special issues. His books and articles have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese, and Japanese. Ten volumes of his collected essays have been published in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. His most recent articles have appeared in the American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, International Migration Review, Population and Development Review, and the British Journal of Sociology.  His current research is on the adaptation process of the immigrant second generation in comparative perspective, the role of institutions on national development, and the comparative study of immigrant transnational organizations. Portes is a former fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences and of the Russell Sage Foundation.

Avner De-Shalit, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
“Cities, Immigrants and Having a Sense of Place”
Chair: Jay Drydyk
Avner de Shalit is the Max Kampelman Professor of Democracy and Human Rights at the department of political science, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Since his D.Phil. in Oxford (1990) he has been working on environmental philosophy, urban political theory, and issues of poverty and inequality. He is the author of eight books, among them Why Posterity Matters (Routledge), The Environment: Between Theory and Practice (Oxford UP), Disadvantage (Oxford UP, co-authored with Jonathan Wolff), The Spirit of Cities (Princeton UP, co-authored with Daniel Bell), and most recently Cities and Immigration (Oxford UP, forthcoming). Avner served as head of department and also as dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Hebrew University. In 2014 he was awarded the Rothschild Prize in the Social Sciences. In Israel he has been politically active in social and environmental issues, and also in campaigning for the political rights of Palestinians.

Ingrid Robeyns, Utrecht University
“What, if anything, is wrong with being super-rich?”
Chair: Ravi Kanbur
(Download the presentation here)
Ingrid Robeyns is president-elect of the Human Development and Capability Association and holds the chair in ethics of institutions at Utrecht University. Trained in economics and philosophy, she works on questions of social and distributive justice, applied to a wide area of issues, including in the areas of gender, disability, global inequalities, and environmental concerns. She is currently directing a 5-year project on the question whether there should be upper limits to how many economic and ecological resources each person should be allowed to appropriate. She has also published widely on the (theoretical foundations of) the capability approach, most recently in her Open Access book Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice (Open Book Publishers 2017). More details can be found at www.ingridrobeyns.info.

Plenary panel on Power, Inequality and Justice: A Latin American perspective (panelists: Fernando Calderon, Sonia Fleury, Javier Iguiñiz)
Chair: Pablo Vinocur

Fernando Calderón is a Sociologist from the University of Chile, has a Master’s in Social Sciences from FLACSO and a Doctorate in Sociology from L’Ecole des Hautes Ètudes in Paris. He is currently Simon Bolivar Chair at the University of Cambridge (2017/2018), Director of the Program “Innovation, Development and Multiculturalism” at the National University of San Martin (Argentina), professor of Human Development at FLACSO-Argentina and at the University of Córdoba, Argentina. He has taught at several universities in the United States (Austin, Chicago, Berkeley, and Cornell), Europe (University of Barcelona, Open University of Catalonia), and Latin America (in Bolivia, Mexico, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Chile). He was Executive Secretary of Latin American Social Science Council (CLACSO), Social Policy Adviser of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and Special Adviser on Human Development and Governance for the United Nations Development Program. He was Coordinator and Senior Adviser in over ten Human Development Reports in several countries of Latin America, Europe and Africa, at national, sub-regional and global levels. In 2000 and 2002, the Bolivian Human Development Reports, which he coordinated, received global awards. He has authored 23 books and edited 34 volumes on democracy, culture and development.

Sonia Fleury is a Psychologist from the Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais, has a Master’s in Health Sociology and a Doctorate in Political Science from the Instituto Universitario de Pesquisas of Río de Janeiro, Universidad Cándido Mendes, Brazil. She works on topics related to the construction of democracies, citizenship, social rights, social security and social protection, the reform of social systems in Latin America, subjectivity and exclusion, among others.  She has been a professor at the Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais, professor and researcher at the National School of Public Health of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and professor at the Institute of Economic and Social Development of the Interamerican Development Bank, the Brazilian School of Public Administration and of the Getulio Vargas Foundation. She has also been a visiting professor and lecturer at several universities in Latin America and Europe. She has authored 12 books, 70 book chapters and 134 articles on democracy and social policy.

Javier Iguiñiz Echeverría is an Electrical Engineer from the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (Peru), has a Master’s of Science in Economic Sciences from Iowa State University and a PhD in Economics from the New School for Social Research. He is emeritus professor and teaches in the Department of Economics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru. He currently is Executive Secretary of the Acuerdo Nacional and president of the Instituto de Desarrollo Humano de America Latina (IDHAL). He has published around thirty books and numerous articles. The most recent ones include: “Derechos Humanos y pobreza extrema: distancias y acercamientos”; “La verdad nos hace libres. Sobre las relaciones entre filosofía, derechos humanos, religión y universidad”; “Inclusiones y desarrollo humano: relaciones, agencia, poder”; “The Muldimensionality of Poverty”; y “Poder, rigor y efectividad de una idea: el caso de la informalidad de los pobres”.

Plenary panel on Urbanization and Integration of Informal Settlements (panelists: Nora Libertun of the Inter-American Development Bank, Pablo Lopez of CAF-Latin American Development Bank and Carole Megevand of the World Bank)
Chair: Ann Mitchell

Nora Libertun de Duren is an urban development and housing expert at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), where she leads research activities on urban issues. Nora has comprehensive research and operational experience in the topics of housing, urban public space, urban growth and sustainable development. She has lectured about these topics in many universities and will be teaching at Harvard University next fall. Prior to joining the IADB, she was the Director of Planning at New York City’s Department of Parks and Recreation, where she led a citywide strategy for creating sustainable and accessible public spaces. She has authored papers published in peer reviewed journals, including Housing Policy Debates, Planning Journal of Education and Research, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, City and Community, Urban Studies, Cities and International Journal of Housing Policy. She has been the MIT Journal of Planning editor, and the co-editor of Cities and Sovereignty: Identity Politics in Urban Spaces (Indiana University Press, 2011). Nora has been the recipient of various awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship, a Harvard Fellowship, an MIT Presidential Scholarship, an MIT prize for outstanding PhD Dissertation in Planning, and the University of Buenos Aires Highest Achievement medal. Nora holds a PhD in Urban Planning from the MIT; a Master in urban design from Harvard University and in Architecture from the University of Buenos Aires.

Pablo López is Chief Executive Officer at the Vice Presidency of Social Development of CAF-Latin American Development Bank. He specializes in the formulation and management of social infrastructure projects with emphasis on urban development projects. His areas of professional interest are focused on urban and regional development planning, the relationship between infrastructure investments and development and the link between urban policies and land use. He has worked as a policy advisor on a range of regional and urban policies in Argentina and England and during the last 20 years he has been involved in urban and regional projects in Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia.  Pablo holds a Master in Urban Planning from the University of London and a Master in Public Administration and a degree in Civil Engineering from the National University of Córdoba, Argentina.

Carole Megevand has more than 20 years of professional experience in International Development across various regions in the world. She holds two Master degrees respectively in Agricultural Economics and Environment/Natural Resources Economics. After gaining experience in NGOs and consultancy firms, she joined the World Bank in 2002 and since then has managed various complex operations on Natural Resources, with a specific focus on inter-sectoral dimensions and governance issues. She is currently the Program Leader for Sustainable Development for the World Bank for the Southern Cone region (covering Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay), where her responsibilities span various sectors, including Infrastructure (Transport, Energy and Water), Urban, Agriculture, Climate Change and Social. Her international experience in the developing world includes three long-term assignments (Tunisia, Cameroon and now Argentina) and missions in more than 15 countries in Africa, Middle East-North Africa and Latin America. She has authored major pieces of analytical work with a specific focus on multi-sectoral solutions to sustainable development.

Tuesday, 28 August 2018

Pre-conference activity:

8:30 – 11:00 am

Walking visit to one of Buenos Aires’ informal settlements or urban slum (“Neighborhood 31 – Retiro”)

Wednesday, 29 August 2018

Pre-conference activities:

9:00 – 13:00

Operationalizing the Capability Approach in Qualitative Research:  A  workshop for postgraduate students
UCA, San José Building, Classroom 125

9:30 – 18:00

Ethics and Development in Times of Growing Authoritarianism, Tucumán 1966
Tucumán 1966, FLACSO

10:00 – 13:00

Visit to the Remembrance and human rights center
Av.del Libertador 8151

13:00 – 17:00

Capability of Being Healthy: Child Nutrition and Inequality
UCA, San José Building, Classroom 117

15:00 – 18:00

ALCADECA meeting
UCA, San José Building, Classroom 125

15:00 – 16:00

Global Health, Justice and Governance Book Launch,UCA, San José Building, Classroom 101

19:00 – 20:30

Book launch of the Latin American Human Development textbook, Tucumán 1966
Tucumán 1966, FLACSO

Thursday, 30 August 2018

8:00 – 8:45           Registration / Welcome coffee, San Agustín Foyer

8:45 – 9:15           Opening Ceremony, San Agustín Auditorium

9.15 – 10.15

Plenary session I: HDCA Presidential Address
“What, if anything, is wrong with being super-rich?”
Ingrid Robeyns – President HDCA, Utrecht University
San Agustín Auditorium

10:30 – 12:00       Concurrent session 1, San José Building

12:15 – 13:15       Lunch, San Agustín Foyer & Pabellón de Bellas Artes

13:30 – 15.00        Concurrent session 2, San José Building

15:00 – 16.00       Thematic group meetings, San José Building

• Children & Youth (Classroom 121)
• Health & Disability (Classroom 108)
• Human Rights (Classroom 109)
• Foundational Issues in the Capability Approach (Classroom 125)
• Horizontal Inequality (Classroom 116)
• Technology, Innovation and Design (Classroom 127)

15:00 – 16:00       Editorial Meeting, San José Building, Classroom 122

15:15 – 16:15

Poster presentations / Coffee break, Pabellón de Bellas Artes / San Agustín Foyer

16:15 – 17.15

Plenary session II: Sen Lecture

“Latin American Cities: their Evolution under Neoliberalism and Beyond”
Alejandro Portés, Princeton University & University of Miami
San Agustín Auditorium

17:30 – 18:30

Plenary session III: Plenary Panel
“Urbanization and Integration of Informal Settlements”
Panelists: Nora Libertun, Inter-American Development Bank; Carole Megevand World Bank; Pablo López, CAF-Latin American Development Bank
Chair: Ann Mitchell
San Agustín Auditorium

19:00 – 20:00      Graduate Student Network Meeting, UCA Classroom TBC

Friday, 31 August 2018

8:15 – 9:45          Concurrent session 3, San José Building

9:45 – 10:15        Coffee break, San José Building

10:15 – 11:45      Concurrent session 4, San José Building

12:00 – 13:00

Plenary session IV: Mahbub Ul Haq Lecture
“Informality and Social Inclusion”
Santiago Levy, Interamerican Development Bank
San Agustín Auditorium

13:00 – 14:00      Lunch, Pabellón de Bellas Artes / San Agustín Foyer

14:15 – 15:45      Concurrent session 5, San José Building

15:45 – 16:45      Thematic group meeting, San José Building

• Education (Classroom 122)
• Participatory Methods (Classroom 113)
• Indigenous People (Classroom 116)
• Quantitative Research Methods (Classroom 109)
• Sustainable Human Development (Classroom 108)
• Empowerment & Collective Capabilities (Classroom 125)
• Ethics & Development (Classroom 121)

16:00 – 17:00

Poster presentations / Coffee break
Pabellón de Bellas Artes / San Agustín Foyer

17:00 – 18:15

Plenary session V: Plenary Panel
“Power, Inequality and Justice: A Latin American Perspective”
Panelists: Fernando Calderón, Universidad Nacional de San Martín & FLACSO; Sonia Fleury, Centro de Estudios Estratégicos de la Fundación Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz); Javier Iguiñiz, Pontificia Univ. Católica de Perú
Chair: Pablo Vinocur
San Agustín Auditorium

19:00 – 21:00       Cocktail dinner,  Usina del Arte,  Agustín R. Caffarena 1

21:00 – 22:00      Tango Show, Usina del Arte,  Agustín R. Caffarena 1

Saturday, 1 September 2018

8:00 – 9:30          Concurrent session 6, San José Building

9:30 – 10:00        Coffee break, San José Building

10:00 – 11:30      Concurrent session 7, San José Building

11:30 – 13:00      Concurrent session 8, San José Building

13:15 – 14:15      Lunch, Pabellón de Bellas Artes / San Agustín

14:15 – 15:15

Plenary session VI: Keynote Address
“Cities, Immigrants and Having a Sense of Place”
Avner de-Shalit, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
San Agustín Auditorium

15:15 – 16:15

Plenary session VII: Keynote Address
“Urbanization: A Disaggregation”
Ravi Kanbur, Cornell University
San Agustín Auditorium

16:15 – 16:45       HDCA members meeting, San Agustín Auditorium

16:45 – 17:15       Closing ceremony, San Agustín Auditorium

Pre-conference events – Tues-Weds, 28-29 August 2018

Tuesday, 28 August, 2018

8:30 – 11 AM

Walking visit to one of Buenos Aires’ informal settlements or urban slum (“Neighborhood 31 – Retiro”)

The purpose of this activity is to visit one of Buenos Aires’ largest and oldest informal settlements, Neighborhood 31, which is currently undergoing an urban integration process.

We will meet at the UCA campus (Alicia Moreau de Justo 1600, north side entrance to the San José Building) at 8:30 AM and then take a short (10 minute) taxi ride to the entrance of the neighborhood.

At 9 AM the Secretary of Urban Integration of the City of Buenos Aires (Secretario de integración urbana), Diego Fernandez, will give a half hour talk on the history and characteristics of Neighborhood 31 and on the urban integration process.

The group will then take an hour-long walking “tour” of the neighborhood guided by persons who work in the City of Buenos Aires’s office of urban integration.

The tour will end at the Retiro train station (at the opposite end of the neighborhood, where we can share taxis back to the UCA or to the hotels.

The activity is free, but we will need to share the taxi fare (around $5 dollars, depending on how many people share the taxi). We suggest that you wear comfortable clothes, particularly shoes.

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

9am – 1pm
Operationalizing the Capability Approach in Qualitative Research:
A workshop for postgraduate students
Alicia Moreau de Justo 1600, UCA campus

Are you a postgraduate student trying to organize and analyze your empirical qualitative data?  If so, this workshop will be a great way to meet and work with other students who are trying to operationalize the Capability Approach. In this half-day workshop, postgraduate students will have a forum that will be both instructive and interactive.  We will begin the workshop with an established academic presenting a case study of how he/she has analyzed his/her own data and learn how he/she has operationalized the CA.

The second part will allow you time to work with another postgraduate student under the guidance of our expert to present your qualitative data analysis strategies and figure out how you might best proceed through data analysis.  Working with another postgraduate student will give you time to practice imagining the operationalization of the CA in your data analysis.  We expect this workshop to help you proceed, giving you confidence and experience in handling your data and moving forward in your analysis and write up processes.

9:30am – 6pm
Ethics and Development in Times of Growing Authoritarianism
Tucumán 1966, FLACSO

This event will explore a set of problems and topics relevant to the ethics of development in Latin America and other regions. It will begin with a lecture by Prof. Maristella Svampa (Universidad Nacional de La Plata) titled “Neo-extractivism, social-environmental conflicts and new forms of dependence in Latin America”, followed by a workshop on “Poverty and Philosophy: a Latin American perspective”. The event will conclude with the launch of the Routledge Handbook of Development Ethics, edited by Jay Drydyk and Lori Keleher. The Handbook is a tremendous collective accomplishment by an extensive network of contributors, both from HDCA and from the International Development Ethics Association (IDEA). The central idea is that the differences between good development and bad development are value-based. The values that define good development include well-being, equity or social/global justice, agency and empowerment, environmental sustainability, advancement of human rights, cultural freedom, and responsibility/integrity. This session includes two roundtable discussions by contributors to the Handbook. In the first, panelists will discuss what development ethics is, and how the capability approach has contributed to it. In the second, panelists will consider how development ethics and the capability approach should respond to the development model of ‘competitive authoritarianism’.

The event is free of charge and open to the general public as well as to HDCA Conference participants. We especially encourage the participation of graduate students and members of minority groups. Lunch and refreshments will be provided throughout the day.

10 am – 1 pm
Remembrance and human rights center
Av. del Libertador 8151

The Human Rights Thematic Group is organizing a site visit to the Remembrance and Human Rights Centre (Espacio para la Memoria y para la promoción y defense de los Derechos Humanos – Espacio Memoria).

The Escuela Mecanica de la Armada (ESMA) was one of the main clandestine detention centers for the last civilian-military dictatorship which ruled Argentina between 1976 and 1983. Since 2004, its grounds were transformed into a Remembrance and human rights Centre where activities are organized with the purpose of preserving the memory and promoting human rights. We are planning a group visit with English-speaking guide from the Centre. Admission is free.

Depending on your interest, we will also organize a roundtable with professionals working on the intersection between human rights and human development with a focus on economic, social and cultural rights. This would take place in the afternoon of August 29.

1pm – 5pm
Capability of Being Healthy: Child Nutrition and Inequality
Alicia Moreau de Justo 1600, UCA campus

In the first part of this workshop organized by the Children and Youth Thematic Group will analyze the complex mechanisms through which territorial inequalities may influence children nutrition and their capability of staying healthy. We will address the following questions: What types of achieved functionings are part of people’s capability of being healthy? What types of interlocking connections were identified by researchers and practitioners as key to accessing opportunities to break the health inequalities that affect children? This session will open a discussion regarding the programs and policies on children nutrition that could improve the existing or future interventions that aim at advancing health and welfare of children and youth in socioeconomically unequal territories. Then, in the second part of this workshop, we will facilitate an exchange of views between scholars and practitioners with respect to the implementation policies of new health programs for children. We will discuss the challenges of targeting children and youth using incentives and motivations, as well as the novelties in the communication process that supports the delivery of health programs. The following question will guide this discussion: How large are the functioning gaps and capabilities of breaking the barriers or shifting the events/factors that have driven children malnutrition in territories with an elevated level of territorial inequality in terms of resources and opportunities?

Confirmed presenters: Amalia Palma (ECLAC-UN), Maria Fernanda Awapara (UN-Peru), Sebastian Carrasco (UNICEF), Rodrigo López (PUC), Claudia Frias (PUC), Claudio Canales (Chilean Government), and Mario Biggeri (University of Florence and Action Research for CO-Development).

3pm – 6pm
ALCADECA meeting
Alicia Moreau de Justo 1600, UCA campus

The Latin American and Caribbean Association for the Study of Human Capabilities (Asociación Latinoamericana y de El Caribe para el Estudio del Enfoque de las Capacidades Humanas – ALCADECA) is an HDCA regional network that gathers Latin American researchers and practitioners interested in the human development and capability approach. The main purpose of this pre-conference workshop is to create a space for dialogue among ALCADECA members and other HDCA colleagues in order to increase the Association’s outreach to other researchers interested in Latin America and attend the HDCA meeting in Buenos Aires.  Our hope is that this pre-conference workshop will strengthen the Latin American regional network of HDCA. In particular, the pre-conference workshop will address three specific goals: (i) facilitate a dialogue around recent experiences, opportunities and challenges related to the human development and the capability approach in Latin America and The Caribbean, (ii) discuss preliminary ideas about the main theme, program and organizational aspects of ALCADECA 2019, and (iii) validate the first version of the Regional Directory of Human Development Researchers in Latin America (DHAL-Net) that is being prepared by IDHAL-PUCP.

3pm – 4pm
Global Health, Justice and Governance Book Launch
Alicia Moreau de Justo 1600, UCA campus

The HDCA Health & Disability Thematic group is pleased to invite you to the launch of Jennifer Prah Ruger’s book Global Health Justice and Governance. The author’s presentation will be followed by a roundtable with discussants and a Q&A session.

In a world beset by extreme and unconscionable health disparities humankind desperately needs a new vision to ensure central health capabilities for all. Yawing gaps in health law, dangerous contagions that can circle our globalized planet in hours, and a bewildering confusion of health systems are all profound challenges requiring urgent address. Global Health Justice and Governance presents the critical problems facing the world today and offers a new theory of justice and governance as a way to resolve these seemingly intractable issues. A fundamental responsibility of government is to ensure human flourishing. The central role that health plays in this flourishing place a unique claim on our public institutions and resources, as central health capabilities are pressed to reduce premature death and prevent avoidable morbidities. In a world of staggering inequalities, imperiling epidemics, and inadequacies of current models a new architecture of central health systems is desperately needed. Global Health Justice and Governance lays out a vision for achieving this important change.

Jennifer Prah Ruger is a leading scholar of global and domestic health policy and public health. She is currently the Amartya Sen Professor of Public Health Equity, Economics, and Policy; Associate Dean for Global Studies; and Faculty Chair at the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Ruger has authored over 100 publications and is internationally recognized for her leadership and work, which has been cited by the United Nations, World Bank, World Health Organization and United States Government.

7:00 pm – 8:30pm
Book launch of the Latin American Human Development textbook
Tucumán 1966, FLACSO

ALCADECA will launch the textbook on human development in Latin America, titled Introducción al Enfoque de las Capacidades: Aportes para el Desarrollo Humano en América Latina, co-published by the editorial PUCP (Lima, Peru) and Manantial-FLACSO Argentina, and edited by Severine Deneulin, Jhonatan Clausen and Areli Valencia. The event will include a panel with three invited discussants, followed by a reception. The event will be entirely in Spanish.

Introducción al Enfoque de las Capacidades: Aportes para el Desarrollo Humano en América Latina is a Spanish translation and Latin American adapted version of the textbook An Introduction to the Human Development and Capability Approach published in 2009. Each of the translated original chapters is accompanied by an additional chapter which treats the topic from a Latin American perspective. The chapter on education has a companion chapter on education and social justice in Latin America, the one on democracy has a companion chapter on inequality and populism, and the chapter on equity and justice has an annex chapter on relational egalitarianism and the transmission of injustice in the Latin American context. There are also new chapters on collective capabilities, the measurement of multi-dimensional poverty in Latin America, buen vivir and sustainability, economic growth and income equality, and an analysis of conditional cash transfers from a human development perspective.

This activity is organized by ALCADECA in coordination with FLACSO and the Institute for Human Development of Latin America based at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (IDHAL PUCP).

“Challenging Inequalities: Human Development and Social Change” 

Economic inequality is bad for political equality and political freedoms which are key conditions for the expansion and securing of human capabilities and the building of decent and inclusive societies. The conference theme explores this as a dynamic challenge of human development and social change, together with the potential of the capability approach to offer a powerful normative framework to advance justice in unequal societies. The capability approach is now a widely-used framework for evaluating equality and justice in terms of human well-being, freedom, and development. It has been developed partly because traditional approaches focusing only on income or utility do not adequately capture the diverse, plural, and multidimensional nature of human lives and development experiences, nor provide the informational basis of justice in policy making and implementation. As a concept originally developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, capability works to understand and explain inequalities and injustices in the social, political, economic and historical arrangements that shape human experiences, and the valuable functionings that people have reason to choose for flourishing lives.

The capabilities emphasis on plural human freedoms allows us both to examine the experiences of real lives but also to develop methodologies to aggregate and index multiple aspects of human development and capabilities across significant in/equality dimensions (for example, youth, cities, education and social cohesion), viewed and researched from multiple disciplinary perspectives. One of the main goals of the HDCA 2017 Conference will be to assemble and compare a variety of research approaches – theoretical, conceptual, philosophical, methodological, empirical – in global South and global North contexts in order to shed light on the benefits of, and challenges human development and capability expansion confronts.

By selecting ‘challenging inequalities’ and also ‘social change’ as an overall theme for the HDCA 2017 Conference, we want to explore the normative and empirical power and scope of the capability approach to describe, assess, and promote change in the direction of human development and social justice in an increasingly globalized world where people’s circumstances and values are vastly different and in which inequality is rising within and across countries.

The capability approach itself is evolving and open to extensions, modifications, criticisms, and revisions. We would like to invite scholars, policy-makers, practitioners, and students who are working at the frontiers of this expanding field of research. Anyone new to HDCA is of course more than welcome, as we appreciate diversity of participants in terms of research topics and methods, professions, and regions.

This conference is being held at a key and historic moment for the continent and for South Africa – economically, socially and politically – offering the possibility to bring the approach to the attention of wider audiences of researchers, young scholars, practitioners, and policy makers and brokers. It will be an exciting opportunity for all of us to meet for the first time on the African continent.

Martha Nussbaum
Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. From 1986 to 1993, she was a research advisor at the World Institute for Development Economics Research, Helsinki, a part of the United Nations University. She has chaired the American Philosophical Association’s Committee on International Cooperation, the Committee on the Status of Women, and the Committee for Public Philosophy. She has received honorary degrees from fifty colleges and universities in the world. Her books include Women and Human Development (2000), Hiding from Humanity (2004), Frontiers of Justice (2006), Creating Capabilities (2012), Political Emotions (2013), and Anger and Forgiveness (2016). Among her awards are the Prince of Asturias Prize in the Social Sciences in 2012, and the Kyoto Prize in 2016.

Crain Soudien, CEO, Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)
Crain Soudien is the Chief Executive Officer of the Human Sciences Research Council and formerly a Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cape Town where he remains an emeritus professor in Education and African Studies. His publications in the areas of social difference, culture, education policy, comparative education, educational change, public history and popular culture include three books, three edited collections and over 190 articles, reviews, reports, and book chapters.

He is also the co-editor of three books on District Six, Cape Town, a jointly edited book on comparative education and the author of The Making of Youth Identity in Contemporary South Africa: Race, Culture and Schooling, the author of Realising the Dream: Unlearning the Logic of Race in the South African School, and the co-author of Inclusion and Exclusion in South Africa and Indian Schools. He was educated at the University of Cape Town and UNISA, South Africa and holds a PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

He is involved in a number of local, national and international social and cultural organisations and is the Chairperson of the Independent Examinations Board, the former Chairperson of the District Six Museum Foundation, a former President of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies and had been the chair of the Ministerial Committee on Transformation in Higher Education and is currently the chair of the Ministerial Committee to evaluate textbooks for discrimination. He is a fellow of a number of local and international academies and serves on the boards of a number of cultural, heritage, education and civil society structures.

Jayati Ghosh, Amartya Sen lecture
Jayati Ghosh is one of the world’s leading economists. She is professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru university, New Delhi, and the executive secretary of International Development Economics Associates (Ideas), a network of economists critical of the mainstream economic paradigm of neo-liberalism. She previously held positions at Tufts University and Cambridge University, lecturing meanwhile at academic institutions throughout India. She is one of the founders of the Economic Research Foundation in New Delhi, a non-profit trust devoted to progressive economic research. She is a regular columnist for several Indian journals and newspapers, a member of the National Knowledge Commission advising the prime minister of India, and is closely involved with a range of progressive organisations and social movements. She has  received the NordSud Prize for Social Sciences 2010 of the Fondazione Pescarabruzzo, Italy. She is co-recipient of the International Labour Organisation’s 2010 Decent Work Research prize.

Selim Jahan, Mahbub ul Haq lecture
Mr. Selim Jahan is the Director of the Human Development Report Office (HDRO) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), New York. Prior to his appointment to this position, he served as the Director of the Poverty Division of UNDP (2007-2014).  Mr. Jahan was the first Deputy Director (1996-2001). He had already served as a Policy Advisor in HDRO from 1992 to 1996. During his time in HDRO, he was a member of the Core Team that authored nine global Human Development Reports (1993-2001).Before joining UNDP in 1992, Dr. Jahan held different positions in universities, national governments and other international organizations. He was a Lecturer of Economics (1974-77) and Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Research Unit, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh (1984-89). He was a Lecturer, Department of Economics, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (1983-84), and a Visiting Fellow, School Of Public Policy, University of Maryland, U.S.A (1992).Mr. Jahan served as the Economic Adviser, Planning Commission of the Government of Bangladesh (1989-90). He has also worked as an Adviser and Consultant to various international organizations such as ILO, UNDP, UNESCO, and the World Bank during the 1980s and the early 1990s. He was the Secretary General of the Bangladesh Economics Association (1991-92). Mr. Jahan holds a Ph.D. with distinction in Economics from McGill University. He is the author of 10 books and more than 150 articles published in various national and international academic journals. His latest book entitled Overcoming Human Poverty – Essays on the Millennium Development Goals and Beyond was published in 2014

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni
Professor, founding Head of Archie Mafeje Research Institute for Applied Social Policy (AMRI) and currently Director for Scholarship at the Change Management Unit (CMU) in the Vice-Chancellor’s Office at the University of South Africa (UNISA).  He is also the founder of Africa Decolonial Research Network (ADERN) based  at the University of South Africa. He is a National Research Foundation (NRF) rated social scientist; a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf); a Fellow of African Studies Centre (ASC) in the Netherlands; and a Research Associate at the Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies at The Open University in the United Kingdom. His has published 13 books, over 50 journal articles and over 40 book chapters. His major publications include The Ndebele Nation: Reflections on Hegemony, Memory and Historiography (Amsterdam & Pretoria: Rosenberg Publishers & UNISA Press, 2009); Do ‘Zimbabweans’ Exist? Trajectories of Nationalism, National Identity Formation and Crisis in a Postcolonial State (Oxford & Bern: Peter Lang International Academic Publishers, 2009); Redemptive or Grotesque Nationalism? Rethinking Contemporary Politics in Zimbabwe (Oxford & Bern: Peter Lang International Academic Publishers, 2011); Empire, Global Coloniality and African Subjectivity (New York & Oxford: Berghahn Books, June 2013); Coloniality of Power in Postcolonial Africa: Myths of Decolonization (Dakar: CODESRIA, 2013); Nationalism and National Projects in Southern Africa: New Critical Reflections (Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa, 2013); Bondage of Boundaries and Identity Politics in Postcolonial Africa: The ‘Northern Problem’ and Ethno-Futures (Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa, 2013); Mugabeism? History, Politics and Power in Zimbabwe (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, August 2015); Decolonizing the University, Knowledge Systems and Disciplines (North Carolina, Carolina Academic Press, April 2016) and The Decolonial Mandela: Peace, Justice and Politics of Life (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, March 2016).

September 5 pre-conference day schedule:

8:30 – 16:30
Engaging with African Philosophies: Ubuntu and Justice
SOE Seminar Room, Economics Building, UCT

What can we learn from African Political Philosophies, and ‘Ubuntu’ in particular? How can Ubuntu transform our ideas about justice? More generally, how can we meaningfully enter into conversations with views outside ‘mainstream’ political philosophy? This pre-HDCA conference event brings established and emerging African scholars together to introduce and explore key concepts in African Philosophies as they apply to issues of justice. Papers explore themes such as: human rights, corporate social responsibility, health, rectification, corruption, economic distribution, and others. As such, the event provides opportunities for capability scholars and practitioners to learn about these ideas, and to reflect on the way that these ideas are able to transform capability scholarship and practice. Confirmed Keynotes: Prof Thaddeus Metz (UJ), Dr Motsamai Molefe (UKZN), Dr Uchenna Okeja (Rhodes). Invited Graduate Students: Motlatsi Khosi (UNISA), Khali Mofuoa (UJ), Wade Seale (UCT), Tony Shabangu (UJ), Tlhogi Swaratlhe (UJ).

9:00 – 13:00
Workshop on Participatory Video through the capability approach in an educational context
Eco LT 1, Economics Building, UCT

In this workshop we will explore the value of using participatory video as a methodology to study the expansion of capabilities in educational contexts, both for young people and adults. In order to do this, we will conduct a 4 hour workshop in which the participants will identify educational capabilities related to their participation in the HDCA conference. These capabilities will be the main themes of the videos that will be planned, filmed and screened during the workshop by the participants themselves. We will use mobile phones as digital tools. During the screening, a capability approach analysis of the content of the videos and of the process itself will be conducted using the main elements of the approach.

11:00 – ?

14:30 – 17:00
Roundtable Discussion: The use of participatory methods concerning youth and education: bridging the gap between research and practice
Eco LT 1, Economics Building, UCT

The session intends to facilitate an exchange of views between scholars and practitioners on the instrumental role of participatory research methodologies within development projects, especially concerning youth and education. The discussion will be guided by the following questions: How can participatory research be used to design development programmes concerning youth and education? How can participatory research be used to evaluate development programmes concerning youth and education? How can development programs enhance participatory research? What can practitioners expect from researchers and vice versa? The roundtable will involve the following external speakers: Vivienne Bozalek, Director of Teaching and Learning at the University of the Western Cape. Her areas of expertise include the social justice and the political ethics of care perspectives, innovative pedagogical approaches, including the use of educational technologies, feminist and participatory research methodologies and critical family studies. Ronald Wesso (TBC), Research and Policy Lead at Oxfam South Africa. He has worked as an activist researcher on land and agrarian studies, and before that, democracy and public power in order to support struggles for progressive social change. He has also been involved in various initiatives to build autonomous movements of the poor. Joanna Wheeler, Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Political Studies, University of the Western Cape. She is researcher, facilitator and trainer in participatory processes, including creative storytelling approaches, with a commitment to increasing the voices of those less heard through citizen action. She is also Founder and Director of Transformative Story.

Complexity and method: bridging the divide
(Time and place to be determined)
In this workshop we will explore how to use complex systems approaches to understand and engage with ‘wicked’ policy problems, such as food insecurity, income inequality or poor health. In order to do this it will start with an overview of complexity theory and its implications for the social sciences. Included will be a discussion of how complexity theory can enrich applications of the Capabilities Approach in the real world. We will then cover a range of practical tools to assist researchers and practitioners in operationalising complexity, drawing on Luke Craven’s work on food insecurity. Finally, we will split into small groups, where workshop participants will discuss their work-in-progress, and engage in a discussion about they could effectively incorporate complexity into their own projects.

 “Capability and Diversity in a Global Society”

The capability approach is a widely-used framework for evaluating human well-being, freedom, and development. It has been developed partly because traditional approaches focusing on income or utility don’t adequately capture the diverse, plural, or multidimensional nature of human conditions and development experiences.

By selecting ‘diversity’ as an overall theme for the HDCA 2016 Conference, we want to exhibit the power and scope of the capability approach to describe, assess, and promote human development and social justice in an increasingly globalized world where people’s circumstances and values are vastly different and rapidly changing.

As a concept originally developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, capability is defined to reflect diversity and freedom of human experiences, and so in the set of valuable functionings that people have reason to choose. We have seen many examples of research, using various methods, to try to capture diverse aspects of human capability and development for specific purposes in different contexts. One of the main goals of the HDCA 2016 Conference will be to assemble and compare a variety of those attempts in different fields, disciplines, and regions, in order to shed light on the benefits of, and challenges for, such attempts.

Human diversity not only highlights the scope and versatility of the capability approach but poses many theoretical, conceptual, philosophical, and methodological challenges. For example, how can diversity meet the demands of impartiality required for our ideas of justice? Can we formulate a broad and inclusive framework to encompass diverse capability indexes? How can different methods better represent diverse characteristics and policy objectives of different societies?

The capability approach itself is still evolving and open to extensions, modifications, criticisms, and revisions. We would like to invite scholars, policy-makers, practitioners, and students who are working on the frontiers of this expanding field of research. Anyone new to HDCA is also more than welcome, as we appreciate diversity of participants in terms of research topics and methods, professions, and regions. It will be an exciting opportunity for all of us.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO RECORDINGS OF THE KEYNOTE LECTURES

Plenary I: Presidential Address

Thursday, September 1st, 10:00am-11:00am (Kanematsu Auditorium)
Ravi Kanbur (Cornell University, President – HDCA)
Title: Citizenship, Migration and Opportunity
Chair: Reiko Gotoh
Welcoming Remarks: Koichi Tadenuma (President, Hitotsubashi University)
Download a pdf of the presentation here

Ravi Kanbur is T. H. Lee Professor of World Affairs, International Professor of Applied Economics and Management, and Professor of Economics at Cornell University. He has served on the senior staff of the World Bank, including as Resident Representative in Ghana, Chief Economist of the Africa Region, and Principal Adviser to the Chief Economist of the World Bank. He has also served as Director of the World Bank’s World Development Report. He is Past-President of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, Chair of the Board of UNU-WIDER, Co-Chair of the Scientific Council of the International Panel on Social Progress, a member of the High Level Advisory Council of the Climate Justice Dialogue, a member of the OECD High Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance, and a member of the Core Group of the Commission on Global Poverty. The honors he has received include an Honorary Professorship at the University of Warwick

Plenary II: Mahbub Ul Haq Lecture
Thursday, September 1st, 11:00am-12:00pm (Kanematsu Auditorium)
Rima Khalaf (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia)
Title: Autocracy, Conflict and De-Development in the Arab World: Changing Mindsets, Altering Paths
Chair: Selim Jahan (Director: UNDP)

Rima Khalaf is Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. During her tenure as Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), from 2000 to 2006, she launched pioneering projects to promote good governance, human rights and human development in Arab States, receiving international honors, including the Prince Claus Award and the King Hussein Leadership Prize. Prior to joining UNDP, she held many senior policymaking positions in Jordan, including Minister for Industry and Trade (1993-1995), Minister for Planning (1995-1998) and Deputy Prime Minister (1999-2000). As head of the ministerial economic team, she led the drive to reform and modernize the economy while simultaneously implementing a social package for building human capabilities, alleviating poverty and strengthening the social safety net.

Plenary III
Thursday, September 1st, 4:30pm-5:40pm (Kanematsu Auditorium)
Martha Nussbaum (University of Chicago)
Title: Aging, Stigma, and Discrimination
Chair: Henry Richardson (Georgetown University)

Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. From 1986 to 1993, she was a research advisor at the World Institute for Development Economics Research, Helsinki, a part of the United Nations University. She has chaired the American Philosophical Association’s Committee on International Cooperation, the Committee on the Status of Women, and the Committee for Public Philosophy. She has received honorary degrees from fifty colleges and universities in the world. Her books include WOMEN AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (2000), HIDING FROM HUMANITY (2004), FRONTIERS OF JUSTICE (2006), CREATING CAPABILITIES (2012), POLITICAL EMOTIONS (2013), and ANGER AND FORGIVENESS (2016). Among her awards are the Prince of Asturias Prize in the Social Sciences in 2012, and the Kyoto Prize in 2016.

Plenary IV: Panel Discussion
Friday, September 2nd, 11:10am-12:10pm (Kanematsu Auditorium)
Kotaro Suzumura (Hitotsubashi University), with Sabina Alkire (University of Oxford), Enrica Chiappero (University of Pavia) and Mozaffar Qizilbash (University of York)
Title: On the Possibility of Welfare Economics and the Capability Approach
Download the presentation here

Kaushik Basu is Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. Prior to this, he served as Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India and is currently on leave from Cornell University where he is Professor of Economics and the C. Marks Professor of International Studies. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and has received India’s Padma Bhushan award, the inaugural Professor A.L. Nagar Fellow award, as well as the National Mahalanobis Memorial award. His academic contributions span development and welfare economics, industrial organization, and game theory.

Kotaro Suzumura is Professor Emeritus of Hitotsubashi University, Professor Emeritus and an Honorary Fellow of Waseda University, a member of the Japan Academy, and a Fellow of the Econometric Society. He has served as President of the Japanese Economic Association and President of the Society for Social Choice and Welfare. He edited Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare (Volumes 1 and 2) with Kenneth Arrow and Amartya Sen. He was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon for his academic contribution by the Government of Japan in 2004 and the Japan Academy Prize for his contribution to the non-consequentialist foundations of normative economics in 2006.

Plenary V
Friday, September 2nd, 4:30pm-6:00pm (Kanematsu Auditorium)
Amartya Sen (Harvard University)
Title: On Specification and Measurement
Chair: Reiko Gotoh

Amartya Sen is Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, at Harvard University and was until 2004 the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. Earlier on he was Professor of Economics at Jadavpur University Calcutta, the Delhi School of Economics, and the London School of Economics, and Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University. He has served as President of the Econometric Society, the American Economic Association, the Indian Economic Association, and the International Economic Association. His awards include Bharat Ratna (India); Commandeur de la Legion d’Honneur (France); the National Humanities Medal (USA); Ordem do Merito Cientifico (Brazil); Honorary Companion of Honour (UK); Aztec Eagle (Mexico); Edinburgh Medal (UK); the George Marshall Award (USA); the Eisenhauer Medal (USA); and the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Plenary VI: Amartya Sen Lecture
Saturday, September 3rd, 10:00am-11:00am (Kanematsu Auditorium)
Michael Marmot (University College London)
Title: The Health Gap: The Challenge of an Unequal World

Sir Michael Marmot is Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health and Director of the Institute of Health Equity at University College London, and President of the World Medical Association for 2015-2016. Professor Marmot holds the Harvard Lown Professorship for 2014-2017 and is the recipient of the Prince Mahidol Award for Public Health 2015. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from 16 universities. He has led research groups on health inequalities for 40 years. He is an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy, and an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution for six years and in 2000 he was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen, for services to epidemiology and the understanding of health inequalities.

9:00 am-5:30 pm
Room 304, Lecture Building 1
Global justice, the capability approach, and social policy
With outset in Gillian Brock’s book Global Justice (OUP 2008), the Foundational Issues thematic group (FICA) will organize a pre-conference event on Brock’s cosmopolitan theory of global justice and related issues. The aim of the event is to consider how abstract discussions on global justice can translate into concrete policy advice, for example within a capability framework. In her book, Brock develops and defends a cosmopolitan account of global justice and shows how it can provide ample room for national self-determination and -governance while securing basic principles of justice. Brock has, both in her book as well as in subsequent work, applied her account of global justice to such policy issues as global poverty, taxation reform, nationalism, health justice, work exploitation, and responsibility. In the event, we will take up and discuss these relationships between global justice and concrete issues of global and national policy.

2:00-4:30 pm
Room 308, Lecture Building 2
UNDP Pre-Conference Workshop: Teaching Human Development in Universities and Beyond
Lead Organiser: Jon Hall, The Human Development Report Office, UNDP
This workshop will be of particular interest to those actively engaged in teaching human development and the capability approach. It will also be of interest to individuals thinking about introducing human development courses in their institutions and organisations.

The Human Development Report Office at UNDP wishes to help support human development thinking and practices around the world. One way to do this is through educational courses including those which can help universities to encourage students to think critically about different approaches to human development. In addition, the learning resources being developed by UNDP aim to support those engaging with government departments, policy-makers and/or NGOs. UNDP has prepared a module entitled, “Introduction to Human Development” and it will soon be freely available online –in several languages – for teachers to use. This session will introduce the new UNDP module and materials with the aim of gaining feedback for future development and dissemination. UNDP is particularly keen to discuss how this resource and others could be made more useful to members of the HDCA and beyond. We will also discuss future priorities in developing additional material and resources and whether and how HDCA members could become more closely involved.

“Capabilities on the Move: Mobility and Aspirations”

Human development has in large part been a story of mobility.  Geographically, people move to seek a better job or a better life, and when they succeed, they move up the socioeconomic ladder, whether as assessed by income or by capabilities.  People’s aspirations fuel these efforts; yet aspirations can be quashed by poverty, inequality, or social exclusion.  Mobility can also pose challenges to human development, ranging from overcrowded cities to widening inequality, as some get left behind.  Examining how mobility and aspirations interact provides an important window on the dynamics of human development.

Upward mobility is a dynamic counterpart of equality, offering the possibility that those born in poverty might escape it.  Support for basic capabilities, especially in the areas of health and education, is essential to enabling such upward mobility.  How do the aspirations of the poor and vulnerable figure into this process?  How can their success in meeting them begin to match that of the rich and powerful?  Long-entrenched cultural barriers often inhibit social and economic mobility and put in place a kind of social distance. This can make it hard for highly trained professionals, such as doctors, to work effectively with the poor and less educated.  How can these barriers be overcome?  And how can those who are relatively deprived and excluded be adequately protected against downward mobility resulting from inadequate social policies, war, ill health, educational deprivation, or even climate change?

Such evils and misfortunes spur much of the world’s geographic mobility.  Among those forced to flee epidemics, economic crises, natural disasters, and human conflicts, the poor and vulnerable are disproportionately represented.  How can the ideals of human development adequately reach the world’s millions of refugees?   And as another billion of the world’s poor migrate voluntarily to cities, or to other countries, aspiring to improve their lot, how can their human development be adequately addressed?  All around the world, migration to cities is putting huge strains on the infrastructure that is meant to provide sanitation, transportation, health, education, and personal safety, thus threatening basic capabilities even while holding out hope for them.

People’s aspirations, which can drive them to move, can be a powerful engine of development.  Whether individuals’, families’, or communities’ pursuit of their aspirations translates into improvements in their capabilities and functionings, however, is a further question.  Understanding people’s aspirations, and their capabilities to aspire, is crucial to understanding poverty and human development.  Do we know how to encourage aspirations without setting people up for frustration?  Where people’s aspirations are stunted by lack of opportunities, development will languish; but where people’s aspirations are frustrated by barriers to education or employment or needed health care, apathy and resentment may set in.

Importantly, people aspire to agency as well as to well-being.  They seek an end to local oppressions.  They seek democracy and liberty for their own nations, and a real voice for those nations in international forums.  How can these agential aspirations—these political aspirations—be harnessed to promoting human development?  At a more theoretical level, aspirations deserve study also because they represent a deeper layer of human psychology than is ordinarily captured by preference-based models.

The theme of mobility and aspirations, then, will provide an enriching way to focus on capability enhancement over time, one that will deepen the social, political, and psychological richness of the capability approach.

1.     Aspirations Symposium

Thursday 9/10, 5-6:30 pm
Caroline Sarojini Hart, Martha C. Nussbaum, and Debraj Ray

Human aspirations express people’s deepest hopes, revealing a psychology and a pattern of valuing that is richer and more complex than that of simple desires.  Capturing this depth and subtlety of motivation and evaluation is a challenge for economic theory, for empirical understanding more generally, and for philosophical accounts that attempt to articulate our fundamental commitments to justice and human flourishing.  Each of our distinguished symposiasts takes up this challenge in a distinctive sphere and in a distinctive way.

2.     2015 Amartya K. Sen Lecture

Friday 9/11, 10-11 am
James Heckman, Nobel Laureate in Economics (The University of Chicago)
“Creating Flourishing Lives: The Dynamics of Capability Formation”

This lecture presents recent research on the economics of creating flourishing lives.  The implications of this research for the design of effective policies are discussed.

3.     2015 Mahbub ul Haq Lecture

Friday 9/11, 5:15-6:15 pm
Ernesto Zedillo, Former President of Mexico (Yale University)
“Tales from Latin America and Africa: Growing Policy Challenges at a Time of Vanishing Tailwinds”

This lecture will observe that the recent period of significant improvements in key social indicators in regions such as Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa have been driven, not exclusively but certainly significantly, both by better terms of trade and by the adoption of unprecedentedly effective social policies –like the conditional cash transfers programs. It will argue that such improvements, in the absence of more ambitious structural reforms, could stall or even reverse now that the commodity super-cycle is over, and that the impact of the innovative social programs either have entered their diminishing returns phase, in some cases, or, in others, are at risk of being interrupted or at least dwindling for fiscal reasons.

5.     Migration Panel

Saturday 9/12, 10-11:30 am
“International Migration and Human Development”

International migration and development intersect in many ways. The development process affects whether and how people move across international borders; migration in turn affects the development of both source and destination countries. In this session, four prominent experts in migration and development will discuss the interconnections between migration and development, its relevance to the post 2015 development agenda, and ways to enhance the human development and capabilities of migrants, their countries of origin and countries of destination.

The panelists include:

• Hein de Haas, Professor of Sociology, University of Amsterdam’s (UvA) Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Peggy Levitt,  Professor of Sociology, Wellesley College
• Kathleen Newland, Director, Migrants, Migration, and Development, Migration Policy Institute
• Dilip Ratha, Director, Lead economist and Manager of the Migration and Remittances Unit, World Bank. Founder and Head of the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD), World Bank
• Moderator: Susan F. Martin, Donald G. Herzberg Professor of International Migration, Georgetown University
  

6.     2015 Martha C. Nussbaum Lecture

Saturday 9/12, 4-5 pm
Seyla Benhabib, Professor of Political Science and Philosophy (Yale University)
“Democratic Iterations and Cosmopolitan Human Rights: A New Paradigm for the Dialectic of Law and Politics”

This lecture examines how we can interpret the relationship between democratic sovereignty and transnational legal order in a new age.  Critiquing the “new sovereigntism” and arguing that transnational human rights norms strengthen rather than weaken democratic sovereignty, this lecture will challenge us to think beyond the binarisms of the cosmopolitan versus the civic republican; democratic versus the international and transnational; democratic sovereignty versus human rights law.

7. World Bank Panel

Sunday 9/13, 10-11:30 am
“The Role of Governments and Markets in Promoting Mobility and Ending Poverty”

In 2013, the World Bank Group (WBG) declared two goals: ending extreme poverty by 2030 and achieving shared prosperity. This session will discuss the roles the government and the market will have to play to achieve these goals. What are the policies that can facilitate upward mobility among the poor? How much should we rely on growth and how much on targeted interventions? Empirical findings suggest that economic growth raises the incomes of the poor, but is that enough? In this session, leaders from the WBG will highlight some of the ongoing research related to the above questions, and will also introduce the audience to the open questions and challenges which the WBG currently confronts.

The panelists include World Bank Group leaders:

• Shantayanan Devarajan Chief Economist, Middle East and North Africa Region
• Francisco H.G. Ferreira, Senior Advisor, Development Research Group
• Emanuela Galasso, Senior Economist, Development Research Group
• Aart C. Kraay, Senior Advisor, Development Research Group
• Moderator: Kaushik Basu, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President

The session is being organized by Kaushik Basu and Garance Genicot.

The pre-conference events will take place on Thursday, Sept. 10, prior to the opening of the conference itself at 5:00 p.m. that day. The workshops and talks planned for that day are below.

Children and Youth, Human Development, and Research Methods: operationalising the capability approach

Sept. 10, 9:00 am – 10:30 am
Georgetown University Conference Center, Salon D

Organized by the Children and Youth thematic group, this workshop is an opportunity to meet in person with group members and others to share methods, information, and ideas for improving research. Research methods for research on/with children and young adults will be discussed (both qualitative/participatory and quantitative). The workshop will be divided in two parts: In the first part, participants will work together in small groups and will focus on critical aspects of their research on/with children; in the second part, each small group will present their results to the other participants.

Organizers: Mario Biggeri, Caroline Hart and Caterina Arciprete

Steven Radelet talk: “The Great Surge: The Ascent of the Developing World”

Sept. 10, 9:00 am – 10:30 am
Copley Formal Lounge

We live today at a time of the greatest development progress among the global poor in world history. Never before have so many people, in so many countries, made so much progress, in so short a time in so many dimensions of development. Since the early 1990s more than one billion people have been lifted out of extreme poverty, average incomes in developing countries have nearly doubled, child mortality has fallen sharply, life expectancy has grown, war and violence have declined, millions more girls are in school, and democracy—often fragile and imperfect—has become the norm. In this talk Steven Radelet will discuss what has happened and how this progress can be sustained and expanded to those still left behind.

Professor Radelet holds the Donald F. McHenry Chair in Global Human Development at Georgetown and was formerly the Chief Economist at USAID and Senior Advisor on Development to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This talk is a preview of his book on this topic, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster.

Global Justice Philosophy in 2015- Taking Stock

Sept. 10, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Georgetown University Conference Center, Salon B

This event takes stock of the current state of global justice theorizing. The program begins with Leif Wenar presenting from his new book Blood Oil which exemplifies engagement with empirical evidence. Other scholars will present work taking new directions in global justice theorizing.

Sustainability and Human Rights: Ethical Dimensions of an Urban Agenda

Sept. 10, 9:00 am -12:30 pm
Georgetown University Conference Center, Salon F

Sponsored by the Ethics and Development, Human Rights, and Sustainability Thematic Groups and the International Development Ethics Association. The event will consist of two panels; the first panel focuses on Human Rights as LGBTQI Rights internationally, as United States immigration issue, and finally within Washington, D.C. The second panel looks at Sustainability issues within Washington, D.C.

8:45 am -9:00 am:  Welcome
9:00 am -10:30 am:  LGBTQI rights; D.C., the Border and Beyond
10:30 am -10:45 am:  Break
10:45 am – 12:15 pm: Washington, D.C. as a “Sustainable City”

An ‘activation day’ event will be held on Weds., Sept. 9 from 10:00 am-1:00 pm. Participants in the activation day will volunteer with Martha’s Table, a local organization that focuses on feeding the more than 93,000 hungry residents, including 31,000 hungry children, of Washington, D.C.

Capability Measurement: An Overview

Sept. 10, 10:45 am-12:15 pm
Georgetown University Conference Center, Conference Rm 5-6

The workshop provides an overview of research conducted during a fifteen year period that has sought to develop questionnaires, datasets and analyses that illustrate an explicit and full operationalization of Sen’s (1985) original version of the theory. More specifically we shall look at research developed with teams of philosophers, social scientists and economists to operationalize Sen’s core relations and concepts and we shall see how Nussbaum’s list can be adopted for use within the Senian framework.  This may be of interest both to academics who are looking for explicit measures of capabilities as well as development practitioners in policy and practice who wish to use data on capabilities to identify needs or evaluate interventions. In the session, participants move from reasons why utilitarianism is a limited ethical framework to developing an understanding of how the capability approach now includes alternative tools that are genuinely ‘workable’ – see for example Anand et al (2009). In addition, we note applications ranging from clinical trials in Oxford to work with marginalised people in Ireland that promise to deepen understanding of human development whilst extending the reach of our approach.

Rajiv Shah talk:  “How Data & Evidence are Transforming the Fight for Global Health”

Sept. 10, 10:45 am – 12:15 pm
Copley Formal Lounge

Rajiv Shah (USA) served as Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from January 2010 to February 2015, advancing its mission of ending extreme poverty and promoting resilient, democratic societies. He pioneered new public-private partnerships, catalyzed scientific innovation and enlisted the private sector and Congressional leaders of both parties to join in this cause. He also led the U.S. Government’s humanitarian response to catastrophic crises around the world, including the Haiti earthquake, Typhoon Haiyan and the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.  Previously, he served as Under Secretary and Chief Scientist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Prior to that, he spent eight years at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from its inception, where he led efforts in global health, agriculture, and financial services.

Health and Disability Worshop

Sept. 10, 12:30 pm – 2:15 pm
Georgetown University Conference Center, Salon E

This workshop will bring together scholars and practitioners who have been working on health and disability issues in relation to the human development and capability approach.

This workshop will be a unique opportunity for participants to discuss their works in progress or planned work on health and disability. Each participant will be given the opportunity to present a relevant project and to receive feedback from other participants.

Frances Stewart talk: “Human Development in Practice: Lessons from 40 years’ country experience”
Click here to download the slide presentation

 Sept. 10, 1:15 pm – 2:15 pm
Copley Formal Lounge

Frances Julia Stewart is a world-renowned development economist who directed the Department for International Development at Oxford University and then the Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity (CRISE) there; she remains an advisor to the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative.  She was president of the HDCA 2008-2010.  She has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Sussex, the 2013 Leontief prize for advancing the frontiers of economic thought from Tufts University, and the 2009 Mahbub ul Haq award for lifetime achievement in promoting human development from the United Nations Development Programme.

Exploring Education with the Capability Approach

Sept. 10, 1:15 pm – 3:15 pm
Georgetown University Conference Center, Salon D

This workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to meet others interested in the field of education ahead of the main HDCA conference.

In particular this workshop will explore the opportunities and challenges of applying a capability approach to researching and understanding educational matters.  The scope of educational matters may encompass formal and informal teaching and learning opportunities across the life course as well as policy in all its guises. We are interested in sharing experiences of developing research strategies, questions and methods in ways that draw upon, or reflect, a capability paradigm.

You do not need to be an active researcher to attend this workshop.  However, we welcome proposals from individuals or groups who wish to present or discuss their work in this arena.

Indigenous Peoples Living on Tribal Lands: Challenges and Opportunities

Sept. 10, 2:00-4:00 pm
Georgetown University Conference Center, Conference Rm 5-6

This will be a discussion led by members of the Native American Students’ Council of Georgetown University, who will provide an overview of American Indian life on reservations with a particular focus on youth.

In the morning, there will be a visit to the National Museum of the American Indian (http://nmai.si.edu/) including the featured exhibition: Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations.

HDRO Panel: Human Development at a Crossroad – Revisiting the Concept and the Measurement

Sept. 10, 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Copley Formal Lounge

Human Development Reports have been published near annually since 1990, addressing development issues and challenges ranging from globalization to cultural diversity, from economic growth to environmental sustainability, from democracy to climate change. The time has come to revisit the simple but powerful basic notion of human development – a process and outcome of enlarging people’s choices. It is also time to reflect on how we continue to measurement of human progress.

There are issues and aspects which till now remain unresolved, unanswered and unvisited. For example, the human development notion focuses on individual choices, but the issue of collective choices was never addressed. How does the society make trade-offs? Similarly, there is a hierarchy among choices and there is a prioritization at individual and societal levels. How does the human development concept deal with these?

Lead speaker: Dr. Selim Jahan, Director of the UNDP Human Development Report Office (HDRO), since September 2014. He earlier contributed to nine HDRs. From 2002-2014 he served as Director of the UNDP Poverty Division.

Discussants:

Dr. Gaël Giraud, S.J., Chief Economist at the Agence Française de Développement

Dr. Jaya Krishnakumar, Professor of Econometrics, Institute of Economics and Econometrics, GSEM, University of Geneva