Kapuscinski lecture: Benchmarks for a truly universal Post-2015 Agenda for Sustainable Development

We are happy to invite you to the third Kapuscinski development lecture to be held in Helsinki on October 29, 2014.  Keynote speech is delivered by Director of Global Policy Forum, Mr. Jens Martens. The lecture is organized by the Doctoral Programme in Political, Societal and Regional Change and RISC Consortium in cooperation with the UNDP and The European Commission. 

Where: University main building, small hall (Fabianinkatu 33, 4th floor)
Time: Wednesday, October 29, 18:00 – 20:00 (coffee & snacks served at 17.30)

Register online by October 22:
https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/53605/lomake.html

Jens Martens, Kapuscinski development lecture

Benchmarks for a truly universal Post-2015 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Traditional development concepts and their related strategies do not provide adequate answers to the emerging global problems, be they accelerated global warming, the growing gap between rich and poor, or the further expansion of the global shadow financial system. Given these problems, a future development agenda focusing only on poor countries and not on the rich ones would be inadequate.

The old division of the world into developed and developing countries no longer reflects the political and economic realities of today’s world. Moreover, the concept of “developing countries” that gradually become “developed countries” is based on an outdated modernisation theory notion of a linear development trajectory on which progress is primarily defined as the speed of economic growth.

The debates on the Post 2015 Agenda offer the opportunity to reconsider development in light of the new realities and to overcome the old and often still paternalistic approaches of development policy. Therefore, a truly universal Post 2015 Agenda must not just become an updated set of MDGs. It should contain universal sustainability goals and a program for structural transformation which defines the necessary financial, regulatory and institutional means of implementation in all countries of the world, and this in line with their differentiated responsibilities and capabilities.