What an enlightening session our attendees had in our first interaction with the Harvard Center for International Development (CID) as they discussed how to close the global “potential gap” – the space between where people
are and where they could be if given the right tools and opportunities.
Development is not just about reducing poverty but about helping every person to thrive. In Asia, for example, economic prosperity has risen, but it has not been felt evenly, and many populations still fail to thrive. Some
initiatives shared to narrow the global “potential gap”:
a) Invest in People
This is not just about degree teaching, but involves experiential learning, internships for international students, and pro-active engagement with future CEOs, Prime Ministers and industry leaders.
b) Invest in Places
CID aims to have a strong presence in many regions, say in Singapore within Southeast Asia, to collaborate with our alumni and various stakeholders to achieve its objectives. Though CID is housed at Harvard Kennedy School, it is a Harvard-wide organisation.
c) Invest in Ideas
Incubate ideas not just from within Harvard but from the world, for e.g. a few Harvard alumni coming up with urban transport initiatives and working with CID, the government and local students to solve traffic congestion in developing cities.
As this event was held during a weekday morning, our small group of alumni attendees were able to have thought-provoking dialogues with the Professor and ask questions on DEI-related initiatives, CID’s projects in Southeast Asia,
both public and private collaborations with CID, lobby for more research and intellectual interest on China, and climate initiatives (Salata Institute).
We look forward to hosting the Harvard CID when they next visit Singapore (preferably an evening session) and meanwhile, do check out CID’s website
(https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid) and reflect on how each of us can collaborate with them to solve some pertinent issues within our country/in this region.
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