Pardee Center to host HDCA Secretariat

The Pardee Center at Boston University will host the Secretariat of the Human Development Capability Association (HDCA), an “association that promotes research from many disciplines on problems related to impoverishment, justice, and well-being.” The secretariat had been hosted by the Global Equity Initiative at Harvard University before this.

Launched in September 2004, the Human Development and Capability Association promotes research from many disciplines on key problems including poverty, justice, well-being, and economics. Martha Nussbaum is the president of the HDCA. Nobel-winning economist Amartya Sen, who was the first Pardee Center Visiting Professor (2001-02), was the Founding President of HDCA 2004 – 2006.

The Mission Statement of the HDCA reads: “Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA) shall promote high quality research in the interconnected areas of human development and capability. It shall be concerned with research in these areas across a broad range of topics where the human development and capability approaches have made and can make significant contributions, including the quality of life, poverty, justice, gender, development and environment inter alia. It shall further work in all disciplines – such as economics, philosophy, political theory, sociology and development studies – where such research is, or may be, pursued. While primarily an academic body, the Association shall bring together those primarily involved in academic work with practitioners who are involved in, or interested in, the application of research from the fields of human development and capability to the problems they face.”

The next HDCA Annual Conference will be held in New Delhi, 10-13 September, 2008, on the theme of “Equality, Inclusion and Human Development.” The HDCA is also the publisher of the Journal of Human Development.