Welcome to the website of Sakiko Fukuda-Parr.
I am a development economist interested in human development and capabilities and the broad question of national and international policy strategies. I am currently a Professor at The New School, in the International Affairs Program where I chair the Development Concentration. I do research, graduate level teaching, and am also involved in formal and informal advisory work with NGOs, think tanks, foundations, and international organizations. From 1995 to 2004, I was lead author and director of the UNDP Human Development Reports. Previously, I worked at the World Bank and UNDP on agriculture, aid coordination in Africa and capacity development. Please go to the header tab for short bio and full cv.
My current research initiatives include:
* A book manuscript on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
* A book on measurement of Economic and Social Rights and the Socio-Economic Rights Fulfilment Index (coauthored with Terra Lawson-Remer and Susan Randolph) a
* The Power of Numbers: A Critical Review of MDG Targets for Human Development and Human Rights (co-coordinator with Alicia Yamin, Harvard University) – a multi-author research initiative on the impact of global goal setting on international development agendas.
* Economic and social rights – handmaiden or obstacles to economic growth? The role of economic policy in the realization of the right to food in democracies of the Global South, focussing on South Africa and Brazil.
My books include: Human Rights and the Capabilities Approach: an Interdisciplinary Conversation (co-edited with Diane Elson and Polly Vizard); The Gene Revolution: GM Crops and Unequal Development, Readings in Human Development and Capacity for Development – Old Problems, New Solutions.
I serve on the UN Committee on Development Policy as Vice Chair, The Lancet-University of Oslo Commission on the Global Governance for Health, and the boards of the International Association for Feminist Economics, Centre for Economic and Social Rights, Knowledge Ecology International, as well as several advisory panels for research projects.
News
May 2013: “The MDG Hunger Target and the Contested Visions of Food Security.” FXB Working Paper Series: The Power of Numbers: A Critical Review of MDG Targets for Human Development and Human Rights. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr and Amy Orr. For more information on this working paper series, please visit the FXB website.
April 2013 – Invited panel speaker at the 2nd meeting of the UN General Assembly’s Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (statement in recent events. )
April 2013 – New working paper - “Global Goals as a Policy tool: Intended and Unintended Consequences” was published in the Working Paper Series of the International Centre for Inclusive Growth and can be downloaded following this link. http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCWorkingPaper108.pdf The key points are summarized in the “One Pager” policy brief that was simultaneously published in the IPC One Pager series. http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager193.pdf
April 2013 – New article – “MDG Strengths as Weaknesses” published in Great Insights by the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM). As part my on-going research on global goals and to contribute to the debates about post-2015 development agenda, I argue that global goals should not be confused for planning goals.
March 2013 – New appointment – elected Vice-Chair of the UN Committee for Development Policy.
Please go to the header tabs for further information.
(Header photos taken by students at the New School in the summer field program. Credits in order left-to-right: The Grace of Women by Timo Mueller; Paddy Fields in the Rain by Melissa Edwards; Assemblage by Brandon Fischer; and Night in Durbar Square by Tobia Neufeld)