News

The global development landscape is changing in significant ways. Persistent inequalities, climate change, technological disruption, increasing fragility and, more recently, the ‘polycrisis’ continue to occupy the attention of development actors, including those who fund and support research for development (R4D). These interconnected development challenges are taking on a truly global scale and impact. As new development actors continue to emerge, we also need new and different ways of dealing with these challenges, engaging in participative strategic foresight being one such option.

IDRC and Stellenbosch University are working on a foresight project about “Disruptors and Enablers of Research for Development (R4D)” to help better anticipate future shocks and leverage potential opportunities more proactively. As part of this project, we are convening knowledgeable stakeholders to understand better alternative futures crafted from multiple perspectives in a structured and systematic manner with peers and colleagues.

To accommodate participants from various geographical areas, the workshop on 5 and 6 October 2023 is scheduled for 14:00 CAT (Central Africa Time) on 5 October and then for the same time slot on 6 October. Day 1, 5 October, is all about collectively conducting an implications analysis of disruptors and enablers and generating alternative future scenarios for R4D. Day 2, 6 October, is about generating strategic options to make change happen using the learnings and insights from Day 1’s futures exploration. We very much hope you can attend both days.

Please register your attendance here, registration is open: https://forms.gle/iQLUtzkvnvHUKsys7. As soon as you register, we will provide you with exact times, the meeting links and some short background reading based on the foresight work conducted for this project.