From February 5th to 6th 2016, the International Development and Globalisation Student Association is hosting the eighth annual International Development Week Conference. This year’s conference consists of a wine and cheese networking event, two keynote speakers, and ten panel and workshop events (not to mention breakfast, lunch, and a formal closing banquet!). 

This year’s theme is Beyond Borders: From Local Issues to Global Challenges.  In exploring this theme, panels and workshops will centre on the increasingly global nature of development issues. In the morning, our panel on financial innovation examines the possibilities for development finance in the era of the SDGs, where aid is no longer the only game in town. Our French-language panel on food security will examine the nexus between gender, food security, and effective policymaking. Also before lunch, panellists will debate the possibilities for sustainable development and improved living standards vis-à-vis the ecological constraints imposed by climate change and provide a critique of Canada’s international aid legacy.

Things become more interactive after lunch, where students have the option to participate in two of four workshops focusing on: the Nepal earthquake, the Syrian refugee crisis, alter-globalist movements, and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. In the concurrent time slots, there will be panel discussions on the complex saga of Colombia’s conflict with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and on current global indigenous movements for development.

The six panels and four workshops that will be held on Saturday, February 6th will be followed by a banquet and closing address.