Exploring trends in international development was the focus of a presentation made by ASC to the Regional meeting of the newly established Canada Department for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.
In response to an invitation supportive of our partner the Southern African Liaison Office, the meeting of key development programme people from DFATD provided an ideal opportunity to share ideas that will feed into and inform future strategies for the Canadian Development agenda in Southern and Eastern Africa.
The presentation included an outline of major macro development trends in the international arena:
* Democratisation
* Climate change and the low carbon economy
* Natural Resource depletion and demand shifts
* Demographics and urbanisation (2.6 billion Africans by 2063)
* New technologies and innovation
* Changes in the global financial architecture
* Global political and economic power shifts
* Protracted forms of social conflict and resource driven violence
* Politicisation of the Development Agenda
In addition the presentation and discussion focused on the African Union Vision 2063, the Post 2015 Development Agenda and the upcoming Financing for Development discussions that will take place in Addis Ababa in July 2015.
This is a critical year for development actors with Post 2015, the Forum on China Africa Cooperation, the Climate Change Conference in Paris in September and the Financing for Development negotiations all set to reach conclusive outcomes in the next 9 months.
The ASC will continue to remain engaged in these processes, seeking opportunities to close the gaps between policy makers and practitioners, and to ensure that any developmental dialogue includes a focus on human security, conflict and the transformation of structural barriers to eradicating violence, poverty and underdevelopment.
We appreciate the opportunity this engagement provided and thank our partner SALO for facilitating the opportunity to get involved.