Evidence, knowledge and power in international development policy and practice

 Jeremy Gould, University of Helsinki

Rich nations invest more than seventy billion Euros of public funds each year in support of the development of poor economies. European nations, both individually and collectively as the European Commission, are the leading source of development aid. Dedicated public agencies in Europe employ more than 20,000 professionals to promote overseas development.

What do we know about the impact of this massive expenditure of material and human resources? How do we assess our successes and failures? What knowledge guides the policies that guide this endeavour, and how is evidence from the field factored into new policies and programs?

The NORFACE seminar series on Evidence, knowledge and power in international development policy and practice will interrogate the correspondence of aims, means and ends in the design and deployment of European development aid. The interrelations of knowledge, power and action in the field of development have attracted increasing interest in European universities and research institutions from several different perspectives. This seminar series will bring together the main proponents of these diverse debates in order to forge a new and better understanding of the mechanisms of policy-making in public development agencies.