DOUGLAS ALEXANDER MUST ENSURE
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY WORK FOR THE POOR
STEPS Centre press release - For Immediate release
On the appointment of Douglas Alexander as the new secretary of state for International Development Professor Melissa Leach, director of the STEPS Centre, a new research centre linking environment, technology and poverty reduction said:
“Douglas Alexander must take advantage of unprecedented opportunities for scientific advance and recent aid commitments to combat poverty, and improve health and the environment.
“But he also needs to address outdated policies and promote new approaches to making science and technology work for the poor in 21st century conditions, or billions in aid could be wasted.
“Silver bullets for poverty reduction are failing the poor and risk failing altogether. They assume one-size-fits-all solutions can be applied across a stable world. But we live in a world of dynamic change and uncertainty.
“Opportunities to address these global challenges exist right now, with international interest and investment higher than ever: The G8’s $60bn pledge to fight disease in Africa; record levels of philanthropy such as $1.56bn last year from the Gates Foundation.
“Mr Alexander takes over the Department for International Development on the day new UN figures reveal humans will make the historic transition from a rural to an urban species within a year. He has a golden opportunity to help make this unprecedented transformation work for the poor and the environment, rather than for vested interests,” Professor Leach added.
Douglas Alexander’s appointment coincides with this week’s launch of the STEPS Centre, a new research centre linking technology and environmental sustainability with the development challenges of reducing poverty and social injustice.
NOTES TO EDITOR:
Find out more www.steps-centre.org
THE STEPS CENTRE (Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) is a major new interdisciplinary global research and policy engagement hub uniting development studies with science and technology studies. We aim to develop a new approach to understanding, action and communication on sustainability and development. The STEPS Centre is collaboration between the Institute of Development Studies and SPRU Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Sussex with a network of partners in Asia, Africa and Latin America and is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. Find out more: www.steps-centre.org
The ESRC is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It provides independent, high quality, relevant research to business, the public sector and Government. The ESRC’s planned total expenditure in 2006/7 is £169 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and research policy institutes. Find out more at: http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Julia Day, STEPS communications officer
T: +44 (0)1273 876814 / M: +44 (0)7974 209148 / E: j.day@ids.ac.uk
