Task Forces

IPD’s Task Forces gather experts on specific policy issues from the policy, academic, and civil society communities to outline the best ideas and policy alternatives available to decision-makers. Our Task Forces represent an international collaborative effort aimed at enhancing the quality of policy dialogue in developing countries on key economic issues. In convening these teams, IPD fosters the kind of policy analysis that is required if developing countries are to forge strategies that will promote sustainable, equitable, and democratic growth. Each group is co-directed by representatives from both the global North and South. 

Our Task Forces summarize the literature on development issues, lay out alternative positions, and present the landscape of knowledge in a non-partisan, policy-relevant manner. The purpose is to ensure that decision-makers have a comprehensive catalogue of the theory and evidence that underlies each central issue, so that policymakers can make the best decisions given all available knowledge, while laying the groundwork for serious research on economic alternatives in development economics.

The debates and ideas set forth in our Task Forces help to improve policymaking, but also serve as fertile ground for new ideas within the academic and research community. By identifying areas of disagreement, and reframing issues in a broader way, research can be directed at critical areas where improved knowledge and insights would be particularly valuable in shaping policy dialogue.