INNOVATING IN TIMES OF CRISIS

Abstract

The financial crisis has already had a major effect on the real economy and has evolved into a global development crisis: with aid budgets being slashed, international development cooperation institutions are being called upon to respond. The present situation increases the urgency for innovation and could be an opportunity to widen the scope of this rethinking beyond mere changes in the form of aid modalities to a new conceptualization of development and development cooperation itself, based on the notion of agency, on the protagonism of local territories and their many public and private actors. In this issue of Universitas Forum, each contributor has put forward elements of a possible strategy for addressing the present crisis, drawing on her/his particular experiences and analyses: a shared view is that only through strong local economies and territorial networks we can emerge from this multifaceted crisis.