Page Text: Introduction
GDRC
The Global Development Research Center is an independent policy think tank that carries out initiatives in education, research and practice, in the spheres of environment, urban, community and information, and at scales that are effective.
Vision
To contribute to broad-based global development by facilitating the creation and use of knowledge
GDRC aims to consolidate disparate issues, themes and topics into one umbrella to highlight their interconnectedness and interdisciplinary nature. With the focus on knowledge transfer and information dissemination, GDRC targets the micro scale - at the level of the man-on-the-street, where most everyday decisions are taken.
Recognizing that research and information delivered at the right level and at the right time is central to economic growth and sustainable development, GDRC facilitates information packaging and delivery for informed decision-making and targeted interventions.
Through its online and offline resources, GDRC seeks to build and mobilize the capacity of its target constituency to understand the importance of knowledge, and facilitate the use of information for policy dialogue and development.
Goals
GDRC aims to bring together disparate knowledge resources on a three pronged approach:
To carry out research and development at the global level
To implement education and training programmes at the regional level
To facilitate policy and programme development at the local level
As these goals are interdependent and mutually reinforcing, GDRC's strategies also overlap, and have been designed for five areas:
To put in place an adequate research capacity
To facilitate the undertaking of strategic research
To facilitate and stimulate the utilization of research findings
To enhance alliances with stakeholders
To enhance GDRC's capacity to support decision-making
Agenda for Intervention
GDRC's agenda for intervention is concerned with broad sustainable development in developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. It's fifteen programmes represent a broad spectrum of priorities faced by individuals, communities and governments, particularly those related to environmental management and sustainable development.
GDRC in one word
If there is one word that epitomizes GDRC, then that is "Transdisciplinarity." For GDRC, this word means the interconnectedness between problems and solutions, of a diversity of stakeholders doing different things, but towards a common goal, of understanding a societal problem from different perspectives ... Transdisciplinarity is not just a conceptual approach, but a skill that we will need to tackle the multifaceted challenges that we face.
GDRC uses the outcomes of these research programmes to function as an information repository (in terms of gathering, collating, packaging and disseminating information); as a research and training center (in terms of organizing training sessions, and seminars and conferences) and as an educational center (knowledge developed from the activities of the center are fed back into academic programmes and capacity building exercises).
Spheres of Action