The HDCA annual conference will take place from 19-22 September 2022.

“Capabilities and Transformative Institutions”

How can we organize today for the world of tomorrow? Covid-19 has taught us that we are not ready. We have re-discovered our common vulnerability – not only to a virus, but also to problems and difficulties arising from policy mismatch, institutional hiccups, authoritarian backlash and the effects of increasing national and international inequality. Divided we have stood, unable to act well  in concert. How can we improve the structures of living together and face the challenges ahead to build a more just and sustainable world? The HDCA Conference 2022 puts this question center stage.

Institutions, social arrangements, or the structures which emerge from our social ways of living, have been considered from many perspectives through the range of disciplines that engage with the capability approach. The conference will provide an opportunity to let these various understandings speak to and learn from each other.

September 24-26, 2024

Hosted by the Pratichi (India) Trust, the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata (IDSK), and Health Information Systems Program (HISP)

“Crises, Capabilities and Commitment”

The 2024 HDCA conference has special significance as 2024 marks the 20^th anniversary of the founding of HDCA. The conference is being held in Kolkata, West Bengal, India – home of the first HDCA president, Professor Amartya Sen. The conference theme of Crises, Capabilities and Commitment has been chosen because the inter-linkages between these three ideas require in depth discussion.

Many multi-faceted crises assail us. Some are global in scope, linked with the assault on our environment, violent conflicts, pandemics and humanitarian challenges. Some crises emerge from episodic events. Others emerge less dramatically linked with a backlash to transformations in social relations, or technologies. Crises, both episodic and cumulative, reveal deep inequalities in capabilities. Crises may be associated with both ‘loud’ and ‘silent’ capability deprivations, in areas such as education, health, disability, political participation and wellbeing. The immediate and visible fallout from crises may precipitate further inequalities in capabilities linked to loss of income and employment, inequity, food insecurity malnutrition, and polarization between groups. The conference will be a setting to discuss the forms of commitment needed to analyze and address many interlinked crises and their stress on capabilities.