Our annual theme this year “Poverty, Inequality and Development” tackled issues that lie at the heart of the study and practice of International Development. ‘Development’ has always claimed poverty eradication as its ultimate goal – we see this reflected in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the 17 SDGs with its commitment to ‘leave no one behind.’ But we live in an affluent world where at least 1 billion people presently live in extreme poverty.

We posed some questions at the start of this year to stimulate thinking; How are images and narratives of poverty represented to development audiences? How can we assess the historical entanglement of global poverty and inequality with colonialism and its legacies? How do we define and measure poverty? How does gender and other vectors of inequality cut across strategies to address poverty? How effective are the global institutions for tackling poverty (from multilateral agencies and donor governments to NGOs and popular celebrities)? What are the limits of global governance and the need for alternative paths to sustainable development? Does climate change make sustainable development an oxymoron?

Click here to view the full End of Year Message by Professor Ann Stewart.