Gambling on Development - In Conversation with Stefan Dercon

Please note that this event will be held on 7 July 2022 from 5.30 pm to 8.30pm at Crown Agents, 110 Southwark St, London SE1 0SU

Join us, in partnership with Crown Agents, for an in-person event on 7 July 2022 from 5.30 pm in conversation with Stefan Dercon, most recently Development Policy Advisor to successive Foreign Secretaries at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) between 2020 and 2022,  as he shares insights from his recently published book, “Gambling on Development: Why Some Countries Win and Others Lose” He will probe into how he believes development has been achieved across the world, and share perspectives on why some countries have prospered, while others have failed? 

A panel discussion with a Q&A session will explore some of the key takeaways from the book with perspectives from Gwen Hines CEO of Save The Children, and Onyekachi Wambu the Executive Director of AFFORD UK. This will be followed by networking and drinks reception for an hour.  

In the last 3 decades, the developing world has undergone tremendous changes. Generally, it appears poverty has fallen, people live longer and healthier lives, and many economies have been transformed. And yet other countries have failed to leverage the opportunities and simply missed the boat. Why have some countries prospered, while others have failed? 

Stefan Dercon argues that the answer lies not in a specific set of policies, but rather in a key ‘development bargain’, whereby a country’s elites shift from protecting their own positions to gambling on a growth-based future. Despite the imperfections of such bargains, China is among the most striking recent success stories, along with Indonesia and more unlikely places, such as Bangladesh, Ghana, and, tentatively Ethiopia.

Gambling on Development is about these winning efforts, in contrast to countries stuck in elite bargains leading nowhere. Building on three decades’ experience across forty-odd countries, Dercon winds his narrative through Ebola in Sierra Leone, scandals in Malawi, beer factories in the DRC, mobile phone licenses in Mozambique, and relief programmes behind enemy lines in South Sudan. Weaving together conversations with prime ministers, civil servants, and ordinary people, this is a probing look at how development has been achieved across the world, and how to assist such successes.

Programme:

5.30 - Registration & Networking

6.00 - Welcome and introductions

6.10 – Presentation, Panel Discussion, and Q&A 

7.10 - Closing remarks

7.15 - Networking & Drinks Reception

8.30 - End