Events

Jointly organized by the Global Development Network (GDN), OCP Policy Center, Economic Research Forum (ERF), GDN’s 16th Annual Global Development Conference was held around the theme of Agriculture for Sustainable Growth: Challenges and Opportunities for a New ‘Green Revolution’, and in Morocco from June 11-13, 2015; an event that was attended by over 300 practitioners in the field of development where the winners had presented their proposals. The winners were recognized at the Prize Distribution Ceremony at the Conference. 

The Conference was organized around a competitive call for sessions and papers, in addition to our annual Global Development Awards and Medals Competition. It showcased the research and development work conducted by young researchers from developing countries through presentations, discussions and posters exhibition.

The Global Development Awards Competition is an innovative award scheme that recognizes excellence in policy-oriented research, supports research capacity development of researchers in developing countries and funds innovative social development projects benefiting marginalized groups in the developing world. This year, the competition received 268 expressions of interest from 57 developing countries and finally, 174 submissions were received.  

Students enrolled in a university from a MENA country and who are between 21 and 29 years old, speak out on the strategies for a better rural Development in the MENA region have been invited to write a paper of 2000-2500 words. Submissions have been judged for both their analytical rigor and their quality of exposition and written expression. Their papers had to be innovative and able to put forward positive proposals for one of the following themes:

- Rural development and food security: What kind of agricultural model to ensure food security? Which role for innovation and biotechnologies? What about small farmers? How to raise productivity? 

- Natural resource management: water (irrigation, pricing, scarcity,...), degradation of soil, biodiversity, impact of climate change on the yields and the cultures;

- Demographic pressure: job policies and employment perspectives in rural areas, migrations, rural and urban divide;

- Institutions and government policies: which role for local authorities, for farmers’ cooperatives, water users associations, for local credit institutions? What about the social and cultural capital in rural areas? What kind of market intervention and trade policies?

The winners are:

	Noureddine EL HADDAD from Ecole Normale Supérieure de Rabat, Morocco for his essay “La situation actuelle et les stratégies de protection des ressources naturelles dans la région MENA”
	Siham MATALLAH from University Abou Bakr Belkaid, Algeria, for her essay “The Agricultural Sector in Algeria: Improving Institutions Can Ensure the Paradigm Shift towards Food Self-Sufficiency”
	Hajer KRATOU from Université de Carthage, Tunisia, for her essay “Le développement régional en Afrique du Nord et au Moyen-Orient”
	Sahand FAEZ from University of Mazandaran, Iran, for his essay “Making Public Works Work an Analysis of Iran's Rural Institutional Arrangements”
	Nada BUSHNAK from American University of Beirut, Lebanon, for her essay “A Lens through Rural Development”

Learn more about GDN essay for competition.