Are Countries Building Back Better?

Ministers and policy influencers from across the world discuss how they are addressing inequality and why we have not seen the scale and speed of progress the pandemic has warranted. This event will draw on a recent report, From rhetoric to action: Delivering equality and inclusion from the Pathfinders initiative hosted by the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, which considers what actually works to address inequality and exclusion in different country settings.

Meet our speakers and chair

Ha-Joon Chang is Reader in the Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism, and Economics: the User’s Guide.

Francis Mustapha Kai-Kai (@kaikaifm) is Minister of Planning and Economic Development of Sierra Leone. Dr Kai-Kai was previously Sierra Leone’s Permanent Representative (PR) to the United Nations in New York. Prior to his appointment as the PR of Sierra Leone to the UN, Dr Kai-Kai spent 12 years as a senior United Nations staff member.

Faiza Shaheen (@faizashaheen) is Visiting Professor in Practice at LSE and Program Lead on Inequality and Exclusion at the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. Faiza is an economist, activist, and political commentator.

Waleed Shahid (@_waleedshahid) is the spokesperson and communications director for Justice Democrats, the grassroots progressive organisation that recruited and helped elect Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, and Jamaal Bowman, and launched the campaign for a Green New Deal. He is a member of The Nation’s editorial board.

Francisco Ferreira (@fhgferreira) is the Amartya Sen Professor of Inequality Studies and Director of the International Inequalities Institute at LSE.