GDP - The Global Development Primer

Soledad is a documentary by Peabody Award Winner Lisa Molomot that tells the story of a young woman from Central America who was imprisoned in the Eloy Detention Facility when she sought asylum in the United States. Soledad set out on a perilous journey from her homeland after enduring horrific persecution where she was kidnapped, sex-trafficked, tortured and nearly killed. Through one woman's...

There is a lot of talk amongst Global Development Studies as to whether or not the discipline itself is in decline. One of the key features of global development education was the opportunity to gain real world experience in cross-cultural settings. Dodgy past practices, climate concerns, and decolonial critique have put service learning abroad out of style. Prof. Anke Schwittay says that before w...

Clean energy is coming to Asia. But who is going to get it there? Multilateral development agencies like the Asian Development Bank are sometimes overlooked, or not well understood as important players by development scholars. But big ideas, big projects, and big dollars are involved in taking on ambitious development work. To get a sense of how the Asian Development Bank rolls, we're joined b...

2024 is turning out to be deadly for many. Expanding war in the Middle East, the war of attrition continues in Ukraine, and now gangs are trying over run Ecuador. How do we answer the question "Why is this happening"? To some degree the answer lies in understanding why young men, and they are mostly men, are willing to enter into high risk deadly combat in the first place. What's dra...

If you think it's a real chore getting your parents or grandparents connected to new technology? Try 3.7 billion people! That's the digital divide we're facing today on a global scale. Industry wants to see this happen, and as we've seen in the past , there are ethical concerns about getting connected too quickly. Where are governments on this in terms of providing effective aid? I...

⁠ CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE ON THE BILL KELLY PODCAST. ⁠ Nearly two years into the war in Ukraine, is the west still paying attention, notably the United States? If funding or support from Washington wanes, will Ukraine be able to win a war of attrition against Russia? For this special issue of GDP, Dr. Bob is interviewed by legendary radio personality, Bill Kelly. Bob and Bill get...

Ecuador has tumbled into a state of fear and peril. In early January 2024 armed men stormed a popular evening television show in Guayaquil. It was a brazen visualization of growing gang violence across the country. Under state of emergency, Ecuador is now facing declared internal conflict. Why? In part due to the changing geography of narco-trafficking in the region, in part due to economic instab...

So you want a career in Global Development? You asked your professor about what to do next, and their response was underwhelming? A lot of that going around. This is why Gretchen Villegas is the person to talk to. In this interview with GDP, Gretchen shares some powerful advice on how to get involved in global development. Sharing stories of her own career, Gretchen spells out why more students sh...

Today, nearly one billion people lack electricity, over three billion lack clean water, and 750 million lack basic literacy skills. Many of these challenges could be solved with existing solutions, and technology enables us to reach the last mile like never before. Yet, few solutions attain the necessary scale to match the size of these challenges.  Scaling Up Development Impact     is written by...

The war between Israel and Hamas is unfolding into a humanitarian catastrophe. Water is the most precious resource for Gaza, and it is in short supply. Ground water supplies are sparse, and Israel controls inflow into Gaza. To punish Hamas, Israel temporarily turned off the taps which led to further humanitarian emergencies. Israel has mastered scarce water resource technology, including de-salini...

As smelly as they are, flatulent cattle really take their toll on the climate. Major producers of methane, cattle, and other industrialized animals in agriculture, produces detrimental levels of methane which warm the planet faster than carbon. Not only is there no end in sight to seeking alternatives to this industry, but the World Bank has approved Industrial Agriculture as being compliant to th...

War is raging in The Gaza Strip. As Israel prepares for a ground invasion, Hamas holds dozens of prisoners, and now with knowledge that U.S. citizens are in the mix, it all spells disaster for Gaza. The Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million people under a heavy blockade on movement and basic resources, are now facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in this conflict. The simple question is: "Wh...

Almost 1/3 of the 8 billion people on this planet have never used the internet. Landlocked countries, conflict zones and remote islands have the highest rates of people who have never "logged on". This is a problem that goes beyond being a new face of inequality. As Anir Chowdhury says, the internet "is like oxygen"as those who have it, exist through it. But for those who do no...

Howard Zinn said, "People in all countries need the spirit of disobedience", and that "once they organize and protest and create movements—have a voice no government can suppress". High school students like Iman Mannathukkaren are doing exactly that. Concerned about the the world that they are going to inherit, and ready to talk to the highest offices in the land to demand a carbon-free economy, s...

In April 2020 rumour spread like wildfire that Kim Jong Un died.  Greg Scarlatoiu and Dr. Bob Huish didn't believe it.  They were right.  So how did the world get this story so wrong?  In this episode of GDP, Dr. Bob chats with Greg Scarlatoiu, the Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) in Washington, D.C., about the challenges of doing research in North Korea. ...

The Sustainable Development Goals were at the top of the agenda for the United Nations General Assembly in New York this year. How many donor countries get a failing grade when it comes to meeting the target of contributing 0.7% of their Gross National Income? A lot. But 3 countries in Europe are standing out as leaders in surpassing the 0.7% commitment. And this comes at a time when countries lik...

Did the bedlam of Brexit impact the United Kingdom as a global partner and donor? Is Russia and China pushing the UK out of Africa? Are partner nations in Africa rejecting the "assistance" from former colonial powers? Looking at the changing dynamics in East Africa, Simon Rynn and Michael Jones take a deep dive into the subject with their recent policy paper Furthering Global Britain? Re...

It continues to baffle many as how hunger remains in a planet of 8 billion people when there is the ability and potential to feed everyone. In this conversation with Tim Prewitt, CEO of the Hunger Project, we explain why Las Vegas buffets probably won't save humanity from hunger. But local level community development projects in Uganda just might. In Uganda, The Hunger Project is working in ni...

The spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank are underway. Climate change adaptation is a top concern, and many wonder whether or not emerging economies can be part of the New Green Industrial Age. Technology, resources and political will exist. But do the finances? Will green technology remain a reserved commodity for affluent nations? Is it possible to change over millions of two-stroke Tuk...

Globally, public health is pretty beat up after the pandemic. High and low income countries alike are struggling to get their own health systems back to capacity, let alone think about preparing for the next global pandemic. Yet, if pandemics teach us anything, being prepared for the next one is what really matters. As Spring meetings commence for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund...

It's hard to predict what will happen next week, let alone more than 25 years down the road. Nevertheless a new report has come out from the Centre for Global Development titled: Scenarios for Future Global Growth to 2050 . In it, there are many positive calls made. Severe poverty may disappear as we currently know it and measure it. Military spending may well be exhausted, and rich country gr...

During the COVID-19 pandemic women health care leaders stood out. Jurisdictions with women as elected leaders or top public health policy experts seemed to manage the challenges of the pandemic a bit better, and with a bit more public trust. Well before the pandemic, in parts of rural India communities that train Dalit women as community health workers often experienced dramatic improvements in he...

Many countries around the world are growing deeply concerned about the health and well being of their democracies.  China's foreign interference in elections is is a major concern at the moment for Canada, as it has been to New Zealand.  But foreign governments are not necessarily the greatest to the health of democracies.  In fact, one of the greatest threats to democratic well bei...

"Permacrisis" was declared word of the year by Collins English Dictionary.  The idea is that state of crisis lingers on despite society's best efforts to wish it weren't there.  War, climate change, economic crisis, and global inequality are with us.  How do we begin to understand what we're up against?  Do we pursue learning in order to find solutions?  Do we attempt to l...

We promise that this podcast write up is in fact written by a human being.  But we can't say the same about this episode of GDP itself.  In this episode we let ChatGpt do some of the work by scripting dialogue, and then we ask it to write an essay about climate change and climate justice.  With us this week is Dr. Becca Babcock and Dr. Anders Hayden both from Dalhousie University. &...