Dear Con­fer­ence Participant,

The world wit­nessed a host of momen­tous changes in 2011. Devel­op­ing and devel­oped coun­tries alike have roiled from deep finan­cial crises, pop­u­lar upris­ings, and destruc­tive nat­ural dis­as­ters. Well-conceived, fresh ideas and poli­cies are crit­i­cally needed to meet these new realities.

The 18th Annual Inter­na­tional Devel­op­ment Con­fer­ence, “7 Bil­lion: Devel­op­ment in a New World,” held on April 14, 2012 on the Har­vard Kennedy School cam­pus, will explore both proven and inno­v­a­tive strate­gies to address the new devel­op­ment, eco­nomic, and polit­i­cal chal­lenges fac­ing the world today.

Each year, the Con­fer­ence brings together the world’s lead­ing aca­d­e­mics, prac­ti­tion­ers, and pol­icy mak­ers to reflect on cur­rent trends in devel­op­ment and artic­u­late the most effec­tive approaches mov­ing for­ward. Last year, we wel­comed a host of global lead­ers, includ­ing inspi­ra­tional Keynote Speak­ers, Bruce McNamer, CEO of Tech­noServe, and Jana­mi­tra Devan, Vice Pres­i­dent of Finan­cial and Pri­vate Sec­tor Devel­op­ment at the World Bank and IFC.

Global pop­u­la­tion just reached seven bil­lion, and devel­op­ment chal­lenges loom as large as ever in our crowded and inter­con­nected world. The global reces­sion has left the world econ­omy in a pre­car­i­ous state, while many devel­op­ing coun­tries have shown eco­nomic resiliency and growth. In the Mid­dle East, poverty, unem­ploy­ment, and a lack of polit­i­cal free­dom have brought immense change with still uncer­tain out­comes. As our pop­u­la­tion grows and economies progress, our biggest chal­lenges — envi­ron­men­tal degra­da­tion, inequal­ity, gov­er­nance — become more and more important.

The devel­op­ment com­mu­nity is lead­ing and respond­ing. New tech­nolo­gies and inno­v­a­tive part­ner­ships between com­mu­ni­ties, gov­ern­ments, busi­nesses, and inter­na­tional orga­ni­za­tions are cre­at­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to take on the big issues. Hybrid approaches such as social enter­prise and impact invest­ing are emerg­ing as their via­bil­ity and poten­tial for social impact in new mar­kets is proven. Impact eval­u­a­tion is push­ing gov­ern­ments, NGOs, multi­na­tion­als, and donors to take a hard look at what works, ques­tion­ing the role of “tra­di­tional” aid meth­ods and sug­gest­ing cre­ative new approaches.

Given the com­plex­ity and dynamism of the new envi­ron­ment, effec­tive devel­op­ment responses require an intri­cate and mul­ti­di­men­sional under­stand­ing of the issues at stake. The Inter­na­tional Devel­op­ment Con­fer­ence seeks to pro­mote just that kind of under­stand­ing, by bring­ing together experts at the fore­front of the­ory and prac­tice, and by pro­vid­ing a unique learn­ing plat­form for a new gen­er­a­tion of devel­op­ment leaders.

We hope you will join us as we explore the future of inter­na­tional development.

Best Regards,