Agency in a changing world of development

‘Development agency’ cannot meaningfully be attributed only to government agencies, NGOs and development consultants. The role of a wide range of actors is increasingly becoming apparent. These include citizens of the ‘places of development’, foreign and domestic investors, tech-firms and street-level bureaucrats.

At the recent 5th Nordic Conference on Development Research held at Copenhagen Business School (CBS), entitled 'Knowledge Production in North-South Collaboration: Challenges in an Era of New Global Divides', DIIS researchers had organised a key panel on the roles and motivations of a wide range of development actors and the potential impact of their agency in the changing development landscape.

The panel included the following presentations:

• Lars Engberg-Pedersen: Agency in development research
• Lily Lindegaard: Adaptation’s Agency Issue: Questioning the Role of the Individual in Climate Change Adaptation
• Esbern Friis-Hansen: Women emancipation and changes in men’s view on women: Individual and collective agency in Kenyan Farmer Field Schools
• Helle Munk Ravnborg and Rikke Brandt Broegaard: Dreams and motivations: Insights from an exploration among Danish agricultural investors in sub-Saharan Africa
• Adam Fejerskov: Agents of Silicon Valley? The roles of tech-firms in development cooperation

The Nordic Conference on Development Research was hosted by the Centre for Business and Development Studies (CBDS, CBS), jointly organised by the associations for development research in Denmark (FAU), Finland (FSDR), Norway (NFU), and the Swedish Development Studies Network (SDSN) Programme and included participation of more than 150 researchers from a wide range of countries.