Ryszard Kapuscinski Development Lectures

In October 2014 - December 2015 the lectures organised in all EU member states contribute specifically to development policy debates as part of the European Year for Development 2015. Previous keynote speakers included Crown Prince Haakon of Norway (UNDP Goodwill Ambassador), Paul Collier (Oxford University), Jerzy Buzek (President of the European Parliament), Kemal Dervis (vice-president of Brookings Institution, former head of UNDP), Jan Vandemoortele (former UNDP director, co-author of MDGs), Andris Piebalgs (European Commissioner for Development), Dirk Messner (Director of German Development Institute), Simon Maxwell (former Director of Overseas Development Institute), Eveline Herfkens (founder of UN Millennium Campaign), and Aung San Suu Kyi (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate) among others.

The lectures honor the name of Ryszard Kapuscinski, a Polish journalist and writer, who died in 2007. Kapuscinski, whose books were translated into many languages, was often named the “Third World Chronicler” or the “Voice of the Poor” for his famous reportages and books describing developing countries on all continents. Among other books, he was famous for: “The Emperor” on Ethiopia, “Shah of Shahs” about Iran, “The Shadow of the Sun” about Africa, “Another Day of Life” about Angola, and “Imperium” about the Soviet Union.

The Romanian series of the Kapuscinski Development Lectures (KDL) is organized by the Centre for International Cooperation and Development Studies (IDC) of the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Bucharest (FSPUB).

The keynote speakers of the KDL Bucharest editions were HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway (2009), Paul Collier (2011), Owen Barder (2012) and Thomas Pogge (2015).

More about the Kapuscinski Development Lectures and planned events: http://kapuscinskilectures.eu/.

For more information, please contact:

Jan SZCZYCINSKI (UNDP, jan.szczycinski@undp.org)

Luciana Alexandra GHICA (IDC, luciana.ghica@fspub.unibuc.ro, idc@fspub.unibuc.ro)