IfE’s Deborah S. Rogers brought messages from Field Hearings communities around the world to the UN on 06 June 2016. The central message she delivered was that “the key to working effectively on behalf of poor, socially excluded and marginalized communities is to let people articulate their own needs, and to let people set their own development agenda.”

Rogers spoke at a Side Event at the first Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals at the UN HQ in New York City. The Side Event, titled “Co-designing fit-for-purpose Science, Technology and Innovation systems at national, regional and international levels,” was organized by the International Council for Science (ICSU), International Social Science Council (ISSC), and Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training (START).

Summarizing voices from Field Hearings conducted over the past four years, she made the following science & technology-related points, among others:

  • they want to participate in developing the ideas and making the decisions,
  • they want to be the ones to get the contracts for development projects,
  • they want good education for their children,
  • they want improvements to the public infrastructure, and
  • they want to continue meeting, discussing, sharing ideas, and planning for the future.

 

See her slide presentation here: ROGERS STI Presentation 06 June 2016