Mark Lowcock speech to the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin
Permanent Secretary for Department for International Development speaks about development agencies and conflict
Mark Lowcock, source: Hertie School of Governance
Mark Lowcock, Permanent Secretary for the UK Department for international Development, visited Berlin in June 2013. He gave a speech at the Hertie School of Governance entitled – “Development Agencies and Conflict: Good Progress, But Can Do Better”.
The recent report from the UN High Level Panel on the post-2015 development agenda noted that by 2015, most of the people in the world whose lives are affected by extreme poverty will reside in places troubled by conflict and violence. In his speech, Mark Lowcock discussed recent trends in the nature of conflict and violence, noting that while war is decreasing and the world is becoming a less violent place, conflict is now the greatest challenge to the development agenda. He argued that whilst the international community has made huge progress in reducing conflict and violence in recent years, conducting development activities in fragile and conflict-affected states is highly complex, and offered up solutions and interventions that we should be investing in to make further development gains.
Watch a video of the full debate on the Hertie School’s YouTube channel Mark Lowcock Lecture and Discussion.