WIDS deemed a success

**The seventh annual Warwick International Development Summit (WIDS) took place at the end of Week 7, and despite some setbacks it was hailed as a success by organisers and attendees.**

This year’s theme was ‘The Faces of International Development: Old Ideas, New Solutions’. Speakers from non-government organisations, social enterprises and academia gave their views on new approaches to tackle age-old problems such as poverty, conflict and sustainability.

The speakers list included Jeffrey Sachs, special advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Mahmoud Mohieldin, Managing Director of the World Bank, as well as Warwick professors Omer Moav, Wyn Grant and Mark Harrison.

The Summit opened with a talk from Vinay Nair, head of business development in Europe for the Acumen Fund, which provides start-up capital and advice to social enterprises.

He was followed by Jeffrey Sachs, via video conference from New York, who spoke about the Millennium Development Goals before answering questions from the audience, although the event hit a snag as Sachs’ speech suffered from a number of technical difficulties.

During the twenty minute Skype conference, the call cut out four times. Ultimately this resulted in an organiser, contacting Professor Sachs on his mobile phone which he then held up to the microphone, allowing them to complete the Q&A session.

Nonetheless, Professor Sachs remained upbeat, answering questions on the Development Goals at the Rio+20 Earth Summit, which he criticised US president Barack Obama for not attending: “Obama had a responsibility to be there, and he didn’t go.”

The second day of WIDS, Saturday 17 November, saw talks on food security, ethnic conflict and human rights in Burma. Attendees were also able to mingle with speakers during the networking session, and discuss their opinions during one of three seminars.

Unfortunately, the most anticipated seminar, due to be hosted by a Syrian activist known only as Leila, was cancelled at short notice. Instead Joel Kibazo, who had already spoken, held a seminar on his home country of Uganda.

The final day of talks, on Sunday 18 November, dealt with gender equality, international trade and globalisation. World Bank Director Mahmoud Mohieldin was due to speak, although the organisers received an email late on Saturday night claiming that he had missed his connecting flight.

Professor Mohieldin’s talk was likely to have been controversial. As former minister of investment for the Mubarak government, he has been accused of serious corruption, and hasn’t set foot in the country since the overthrow of Mubarak.

Despite this setback, Sunday’s talk by Lord Meghnad Desai’s on globalisation had him walking through the crowd, cracking jokes and encouraging the audience to get involved.

Fourth-year PPE student Amy McGlinchy said: “I felt that WIDS was very successful this year: the neo-liberal talks on trade and globalisation certainly woke up the audience on Sunday afternoon, and encouraged lots of debate.”

Attendees commented on the professionalism and well-organised nature of the conference. The refreshments in particular received many compliments, including a wine reception provided by Warwick conferences and a three-course meal at Ego in Kenilworth.

Some speakers said it outshone professionally organised academic conferences they had attended.

Coordinator Aleksandra Katolik, a third year Maths and Economics student, praised the work of the organising team, saying: “The team really went above and beyond my expectations this year. Apart from things beyond our control, the summit could not have gone any better.”

The conference was due to end with the announcement of the winners of the internship competition, new to this year’s WIDS.

However, the organisers were pleased to announce that the institute hosting the internship were so impressed with the quality of the applications they received, that they would potentially be offering several more internships to Warwick students. Therefore, the winners of the competition will be announced at a later date.