The Capability Approach and Development Planning: Exploring the linkages

Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach has become one of the major theoretical foundations shaping development discourse during the past 25 years, via inputs such as the UNDP Human Development Reports that began in 1990 and his book Development as Freedom (1999). However, the development field still finds the articulation and application of Sen’s concepts challenging particularly in the practice of development planning. This session explores this challenge, specifically by examining how two different projects led by the International NGO Practical Action have been interrogated using the capability approach.

Speakers:
Dr. Des Gasper is a professor at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of the Erasmus University of Rotterdam.
Dr. Alejandra Boni is an associate professor in the Department of Projects Engineering at the Technical University of Valencia.
Dr. Alexandre Apsan Frediani is a DPU lecturer on community-led development in the global south.