ANNUAL REPORT - Global Development Network

SHOWCASE:
PROJECT MENTOR
ROBERT BUCKLEY
“Development
choices have to be
home grown”
AJulian Studley Fellow in the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the
New School for Social Research, USA, Robert Buckley is a mentor on the GDN
‘Urbanization and Development: Delving Deeper into the Nexus’ Global
Research Project. As part of the project, he is guiding two researchers from Colombia on
the What Pulls Stronger the Urban Poor: Individual Characteristics or Location study.
Professor Buckley’s work at both the Rockefeller Foundation and previously, at the
World Bank has focused largely on issues relating to urbanization in developing
countries. He has worked in more than 50 developing countries and believes that
development choices have to be“home grown.”
Professor Buckley considers developing and transition country scholars to be key
participants in developing not only a strategic perspective about how countries should
plan about development and engage donors and multi-laterals in dialogues. He
believes they are also central inputs into the creation of democratic decision-making
and empowering indigenous choices. But such problem solving through strategic
planning necessitates technical skills, which can only be supported by scholarship and
engagement with other scholars, he asserts.
In most emerging markets where Professor Buckley has worked, “Scholarships,
particularly in economics, are in short supply. Helping to develop and empower this
technical skill is a necessary condition of home grown strategies to be effective. GDN’s
role here is unique and essential. By supporting scholarship, GDN makes significant
contributions to this long-term human capital development project” and strengthens
research capacity of Southern researchers tangibly.
Professor Buckley also points out that the global interconnectedness that GDN strives
to advance is crucial for researchers because ideas and criticism are vital aspects of
developing a rigorous, empirically-based understanding of how the world works. In this
context, he referred to the ‘Urbanization and Poverty’ plenary session at GDN’s 13th
Annual Global Development Conference, held in June this year, in Budapest, Hungary,
where he gave a presentation.
GDN ANNUAL REPORT 2012
He reflects that it was the first time he had seen so much interaction of this sort. “As a
former World Bank economist I have often witnessed international meetings and those
with considerable participation from
emerging countries, but not to the
extent that occurred at this event. The
size and distribution of participants
lent the discussions an interesting, and
I think, productive tone.”
Robert Buckley
Mentor, GDN
‘Urbanization
and Development’
Global Research
Project
Professor Buckley has taught at several
universities, including Syracuse, Johns
Hopkins, and the University of
Pennsylvania. He has written widely
on urbanization, housing, and
development issues both in the popular
press as well as in academic journals. His
most recent publication co-edited with
Michael Spence and Patricia Annez is
Urbanization and Economic Growth.
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