GCRO researcher presents at HDCA conference in Japan

GCRO researcher Darlington Mushongera recently attended the 2016 Human Development Capacity Association (HDCA) conference in Tokyo, Japan. This three day conference took place at Hitotsubashi University from the 1-3 September 2016. The conference was themed ‘Capability and Diversity in a Global Society’ and attracted over 200 participants from across the world. Darlington presented part of his work on poverty and inequality which looks at multidimensional poverty in the Gauteng City-Region. This is the second HDCA conference that Darlington has attended, with the first being the 2015 conference at Georgetown University, Washington, DC.

The HDCA is a global community of academics - with a membership base that spans 70 countries - that seeks to build an intellectual community around human development and the so- called 'capability approach' to understanding poverty. The capability approach is a theoretical framework that stresses two considerations: (i) that the freedom to achieve well-being is of primary moral importance; and (ii) that freedom to achieve well-being is understood in terms of people's capabilities, i.e. their real opportunities to do and be what they value. The pioneer and chief proponent of this approach, Amartya Sen, also attended the 2016 HDCA conference.

The next HDCA conference is scheduled to take place in Cape Town in 2017. This will be the first time in the history of the Association that the HDCA conference will be held on the African continent.

Further detail regarding GCRO’s Poverty and Inequality project can be found on the GCRO website via this link. In the 2016/17 financial year GCRO's work in the area of poverty and inequality is being deepened to include the capability approach.

Cover photograph for this news item by Clive Hassal