Monday June 24 at 14:00-15:30 (and at 9:00-12:30 in Marina Congress Center)
The workshop will provide journalists with conceptual tools needed for understanding and reporting on the impact of foreign aid on development in different themes ranging from economic growth at the macro level to the consequences of specific interventions, for instance in the sectors of health and education. This is a complex subject where critical reporting needs to be illuminated by some basic scientific knowledge. Participants will be able to draw upon the latest findings in development economics regarding data and methods for measuring impact, and to use the implications in their own journalistic work.
Participants will first be given an introduction to the central findings in the research project ReCom – Research and Communication on Foreign Aid by UNU-WIDER director Finn Tarp. This will also provide an opportunity for open discussion about the many misconceptions and myths regarding foreign aid.
Thereafter the workshop will deal with specific findings from an African country by a local researcher involved in the ReCom project.
The workshop will be held at University of Helsinki premises on 24 June, 2013, from 14:00 to 15:30. Earlier in the day (9:00-12:30) participants will be given access to the UNU-WIDER development conference, ‘L2C – Learning to Compete: Industrial Development and Policy in Africa’ http://www1.wider.unu.edu/L2Cconf/. That conference will be held at Marina Congress Center, Katajanokanlaituri 6.
Participants in the morning session will be guided from the WCSJ-venue to and from the conference venue by UNU-WIDER staff.
About the organiser:
UNU‐WIDER (www.wider.unu.edu) was established in 1985. The institute undertakes multidisciplinary research and policy analysis on structural changes affecting the living conditions of the world’s poorest, provides a forum for professional interaction and the advocacy of policies leading to robust, equitable, and environmentally sustainable growth, and promotes capacity strengthening and training for scholars and government officials in the fields of economic and social policy-making. In 2012 UNU-WIDER was ranked sixth in the International Development Think Tank category of ‘The Global Go To Think Tanks Report’.
Finn Tarp is Director of UN University-WIDER, Helsinki, Finland. He is also Professor of Development Economics at the University of Copenhagen. Professor Tarp has some 35 years of experience in academic and applied development economics research and teaching. His field experience covers some 20 years of work in more than 35 countries across Africa and the developing world more generally, including longer term assignments in Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Vietnam. He is a leading international expert on issues of development strategy and foreign aid, with an interest in poverty, income distribution and growth, micro- and macroeconomic policy and modeling, agricultural sector policy and planning, household and enterprise development, and economic adjustment and reform. In addition to his university positions, Finn Tarp has held senior posts and advisory positions within government and with donor organizations, and he is member of a large number of international committees and advisory bodies. They include the European Union Development Network (EUDN) and the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC).
Carl-Gustav Lindén has been a senior communications consultant working for the ReCom research programme since August 2012. Previously he worked as a business journalist and business editor working for print, radio, and television media. He has a PhD in media studies from University of Helsinki.
