17
February
2016
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06:00
Europe/London
“Our broken economic system works for the few at the expense of the many.” – keynote lecture from Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam International
- Oxfam's Executive Director will return to The University to open the Global Development Institute
- Winnie Byanyima will tell academics: 'We have the talent, the technology and the imagination to build a much better world.'
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Oxfam’s Winnie Byanyima will challenge academics working on poverty and inequality to come up with ‘disruptive’ new solutions, as she gives a keynote lecture to mark the opening of Europe’s largest research and teaching institute, dedicated to international development, at The University of Manchester.
Winnie, an alumna of The University and executive director of the global charity, will launch the Global Development Institute (GDI) tonight (WED) with a speech that calls for more imaginative ways to fix the world’s broken economy.
Speaking ahead of the launch, Winnie said: “We are today facing a global crisis of extreme and widening inequality, which affects us all. Our broken economic system works for the few at the expense of the many. Such obscene levels of inequality make no moral or economic sense, especially when almost a billion people are still going to bed hungry every night.
“We can do far better. We have the talent, the technology and the imagination to build a much better world and a far more human economy where the interests of the majority are put first. It is an economy in which governments act on behalf of the majority and not in the interests of a tiny but powerful elite and business show concern for their workers, their customers and the communities. It is an economy that asks how it can work better for women, and not the other way round, how technological progress can liberate, and where the economy lives within the boundaries of our planet.
"A more human economy requires substantial new, disruptive ideas - and academia has a responsibility to help generate them. The new Global Development Institute can stand firm upon the University's radical tradition and play a role of global leadership for the future of international development: it can be a truly intellectual force that connects with struggles and movements around the world and lays the groundwork for a more human economy.”
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The new Global Development Institute can stand firm upon the University's radical tradition and play a role of global leadership for the future of international development.
Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam International
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Addressing Global Inequalities is one of the University’s five flagship research beacons. The Global Development Institute will focus on finding solutions that will bring sustainable development and social justice for all of humanity, uniting the strengths of the Institute for Development Policy and Management and the Brooks World Poverty Institute and building on 60 years of University of Manchester work on international development. The University’s research in the field was ranked 1st for impact and 2nd for quality in the UK Research Excellence Framework 2014 and third in the QS World University Rankings.
A key part of the GDI will be the Rory and Elizabeth Brooks Doctoral College – the world’s first doctoral college for international development and the first in the UK to be funded by philanthropy. It recognises the long-standing generosity of the Rory and Elizabeth Brooks Foundation.
GDI Executive Director Professor David Hulme said: “We believe The University of Manchester must shape ‘what comes next’. The world needs a different way of thinking and new solutions to tackle inequality but governments aren’t going to implement system reform without proof that another way is possible. The Global Development Institute will provide that proof by bringing together indisputable evidence of what works. We will also make sure our knowledge reaches beyond academia because people are demanding an alternative to chronic poverty, deepening inequality and environmental degradation.”
Notes to editors
Winnie Byanyima and Professor David Hulme are available for interview. Winnie will speak at 5pm, Wednesday 17 February, at The University of Manchester. The event will be live streamed on You Tube.
For more on the Global Development Institute please visit the website.
Addressing Global Inequalities is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons – examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet.