Welcome back to Candid Conversations where we explore the complex dynamics of demographic shifts. In our latest episode "Populations in Transition: Challenges and Opportunities,", we discussed France's efforts to address declining birth rates, India's surpassing of China in population, and the challenges and opportunities of youthful demographics in developing countries.

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Facebook: @CatalystMcGill

Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/

Welcome to Candid Conversations, Catalyst McGill’s International Development podcast. In this episode, we will talk to Professor Bart Édes about his new article “What a world of difference a little foresight could make” and his research on strategic foresight in international development cooperation agencies. Professor Édes is a Professor of Practice at McGill University. He is also the author of Learning From Tomorrow: Using Strategic Foresight to Prepare for the Next Big Disruption.

You can find Professor Édes’ article and contact information here: https://bigtrendsguy.medium.com/what-a-world-of-difference-a-little-foresight-could-make-58dd722ff20c

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bartedes?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Catalyst Website: ⁠https://catalystmcgill.com/⁠

Welcome to Candid Conversations, Catalyst McGill’s International Development podcast. On this podcast, we will explore current issues in international development around the world. This episode, we will be taking a deeper dive into the recent news of the United Nations’ approval of foreign intervention and peacekeeping missions in Haiti.

Sources and Additional Links:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/02/haiti-un-security-force-kenya-gangs

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/12/haiti-crisis-jovenel-moise-gangs-water-way-out

Catalyst Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/

We spoke with Economics Professor Sonia Laszlo about her recent study on gender norms in Paraguay. We discuss the process of running a lab experiment and the findings of the working paper. We also discuss the significance and challenges of women's economic empowerment. 

Professor Sonia Laszlo is an Associate Professor of Economics at McGill University who specializes on applied microeconomic analysis in economic development. Her work focuses on the microeconomics of social policies and their effects on women and women's economic empowerment. She also studies decision-making under uncertainty, namely concerning technology adoption among subsistence farmers. She is a cofounder and executive member of the Canadian Development Economics Study Group and directed this Institute for the Study of International Development between 2016 and 2019. Her most recent work, which we discuss in our conversation, is a behavioral study on norm shifting interventions and beliefs about gender in Paraguay. 

You can find professor Laszlo's work and more at https://sites.google.com/site/sonialaszlo. 

Candid Conversations is a series where we speak with professors and academics about their research and current topics in development related to their field of study.

Instagram: @idssapublications

Facebook: @CatalystMcGill

Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/

Welcome back to the Candid Conversations podcast, supported by Catalyst McGill and the IDSSA. This week we're continuing with our series looking at the basics of development. On this episode we discuss how international development is measured and what steps the international community has taken to strive for sustainable development.

Instagram: @idssapublications

Facebook: @CatalystMcGill

Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/

Email: [email protected]

Welcome to the Candid conversations podcast, supported by Catalyst McGill and the IDSSA. This semester we’re starting a series where we look at the basics of development. What is the past, present and future of international development? And how does it interact with our society? On this episode, we’re looking broad and asking that big question, so what is international development?

Instagram: @idssapublications

Facebook: @CatalystMcGill

Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/

Email: [email protected]

We spoke with Professor Sarah Turner about her ethnographic fieldwork in Southeast Asia. We discuss the significance of and challenges facing the informal labor economy, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this market, and approaches and strategies to qualitative fieldwork and development practice. 

Sarah Turner is a professor in the Department of Geography at McGill University. Her research focuses on everyday livelihoods in Asia, specifically upland ethnic minorities in peninsula Southeast Asia and southwest China, Hanoi small-scale traders and street vendors, and Eastern Indonesia entrepreneurs. She has completed fieldwork in multiple countries in the region and anchors her research and practice in local knowledge and day-to-day realities. Her most recent book, Frontier Livelihoods: Hmong in the Sino-Vietnamese Borderlands, which was released in 2015 is an ethnography of cross-border dynamics between ethnic minority Hmong communities in Vietnam and China's Yunnan Province. She co-edited a forthcoming book Fragrant Frontier: Global Spice Entanglements from the Sino-Vietnamese Uplands that explores the modern Spice Trade in the Sino-Vietnamese Borderlands and will be released this year. 

Candid Conversations is a series where we speak with professors and academics about their research and current topics in development related to their field of study.

Instagram: @idssapublications

Facebook: @CatalystMcGill

Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/

Music:

Track: Good Evening — Amine Maxwell [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: https://youtu.be/2BEJUXf_U38Free Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/good-evening

Creative Commons Hip Hop Instrumentals - Bassment FM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6pYjYDlu_M

We spoke with Professor Manuel Balán about his research and work on democratic threats and corruption in Latin America. We discuss the variety of threats facing the region, centering Latin America within his research and the challenge of avoiding a deterministic process, the dynamics and persistence of corruption, anti-corruption mechanisms, and the relationship between corruption and development. 

Manuel Balán is currently the associate dean of student affairs in the faculty of arts. He previously served as the acting director of the Institute for the Study of International Development and as an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Development. His research addresses comparative politics with a regional focus on Latin America, particularly on issues of corruption and development, corruption scandals, political competition, media and politics, transparency and anti-corruption policies, and democracy and the rule of law. Prior to his academic career, he worked in Argentina on Transparency Policies at the National Anti-Corruption Office.

Candid Conversations is a series where we speak with professors and academics about their research and current topics in development related to their field of study.

Instagram: @idssapublications

Facebook: @CatalystMcGill

Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/

Music:

Track: Good Evening — Amine Maxwell [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: https://youtu.be/2BEJUXf_U38Free Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/good-evening

Creative Commons Hip Hop Instrumentals - Bassment FM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6pYjYDlu_M

We spoke with Professor Jon Unruh about his research and work on post-conflict land and property rights. We discuss the dynamics of post-conflict land redistribution, government involvement in restitution, the role of UN peacekeeping troops, fieldwork experience, and the weaponization of land rights by the Syrian government during the Civil War. 

Jon Unruh is a professor in the Department of Geography at McGill. His research focuses on war-affected land and property rights in addition to the peace process and recovery from armed conflict and the intersection between land rights and environmental change. He has conducted research, policy, and practice work in many countries including Syria, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia, and with the UN, World Bank, USAID, and other bilateral donors and NGOs.

https://www.genevacall.org/

Candid Conversations is a series where we speak with professors and academics about their research and current topics in development related to their field of study.

Instagram: @idssapublications

Facebook: @CatalystMcGill

Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/

Music:

Track: Good Evening — Amine Maxwell [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: https://youtu.be/2BEJUXf_U38Free Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/good-evening

Creative Commons Hip Hop Instrumentals - Bassment FM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6pYjYDlu_M

We spoke with Pratik Mahajan and Kai Scott, two McGill students and organizers of the Week for Solidarity Against Authoritarianism in Asia. We discuss the motivation and inspiration behind the event series, the importance of student engagement against authoritarianism, and highlight the upcoming events. 

Week for Solidarity Against Authoritarianism in Asia Events

March 7 at 12PM EDT (ZOOM): Perspectives on Countering Authoritarian Governance in Asia: At this event, a group of engaged academics, researchers, politicians, and student organizers will present their perspectives on anti-authoritarian activism. This event will allow a diverse set of politically active speakers and students to exchange ideas and approaches amongst themselves and will focus on engendering greater student engagement with different perspectives on authoritarian governance in Asia.

March 8 at 6pm EDT: Intersections of Gender, Migration, and Asian Authoritarianism: This event will be held in conjunction with International Women’s Day (March 8th). Through this event, we hope to focus on Asian diasporic perspectives specifically. This will include participation from McGill professors, researchers and community organizations in Montreal.

March 10 at 8pm EDT (ZOOM): Journalism and Freedom of the Press in Authoritarian Contexts. Student journalists engage in a dialogue with current and former journalists and activists, to understand what it is like to write, document, and work in contexts where the state actively threatens and represses citizenry.

March 11 at 6pm EDT: Filmmaking and Engaging with Authoritarianism in the Everyday: Join us for an in-person viewing at Mcgill of two UdeM student-produced films, ‘Naglalahong Pamana’ and ‘Women for Yangon’, followed by a short discussion with the filmmakers themselves.

Instagram: @idssapublications

Facebook: @CatalystMcGill

Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/

Music:

Track: Good Evening — Amine Maxwell [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: https://youtu.be/2BEJUXf_U38

Creative Commons Hip Hop Instrumentals - Bassment FM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6pYjYDlu_M