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The Development Leadership Dialogue (DLD) at SOAS University of London, co-directed by Ha-Joon Chang, Christopher Cramer, and Jonathan Di John, announces its eighth Future Leaders Programme (FLP), to be co-hosted with Fundar, the Argentinian organisation, and held 17-21 March, 2025 in Buenos Aires.

DLD promotes dialogue and mutual learning between the key actors that drive economic and social development – governments, private firms, civil society organizations, international organizations, trade unions, academia, and others – and that often operate in separate spheres, understanding each other poorly, even seeing each other as adversaries. 

The FLP is one of the key programmes of DLD, bringing together a small number of people who will be in leadership positions in the next five to ten years in different sectors of the development community for a workshop of lectures, discussion sessions, and debates, led by speakers with a wealth of senior experience in government, international organizations, and academia.

This time, we are organising our 8th FLP with Fundar, the Argentinian organisation dedicated to the study, research and design of public policies focused on the development of a sustainable and inclusive Argentina, with interests in the broader Latin American region.

Over the last five centuries, Latin American countries have served as a major source of a huge range of natural resources for the industrialised countries in the ‘North’ and increasingly for resource-poor East Asian industrial economies, especially China (given its sheer size and rate of growth). 

It has been well known that, in the long run, the overreliance on natural resources has produced a host of problems, including slow productivity growth, volatility of export earnings, vulnerability to the development of synthetic substitutes, and the difficulty in creating a large volume of stable employment with decent wages, among other things. The attempts by a number of Latin American countries to try to ‘get out of natural resources’ during the so-called import-substitution industrialisation (ISI) period between the 1930s and the 1980s had mixed results. However, the neo-liberal policies that were supposed to improve Latin America’s economic performance have only produced ‘premature de-industrialisation’ and ‘reprimarisation’, increasing the region’s reliance on natural resources. 

Latin America needs to reverse this negative trend through re-industrialisation, but this need not be – and cannot be – a simple revival of policies of the ISI era. Not only does the region need a new policy framework that overcomes the limitations of both ISI and neo-liberalism, it needs to use policy tools that are suited to the changes in the international environment for industrial policy since the days of ISI. 

Moreover, the climate crisis is unintentionally creating new opportunities for certain countries (including those in Latin America) to leverage their renewable energy resources and the so-called ‘critical’ minerals, for economic development.At the same time, the climate crisis is also creating pressure on countries with big ‘carbon sinks’ not to increase natural resources production through the destruction of tropical rainforests. Moreover, natural-resource-based industries themselves now offer many more possibilities of productivity growth and innovation than even, say, 40 years ago – such as high-value agriculture, the developments of biotechnology, and, increasingly, biomimicry.

Confirmed speakers are (in alphabetical order of surname): Martin Abeles (CEPAL/ECLAC), José Miguel Ahumada (former Undersecretary of International Economic Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chile), Antonio Andreoni (SOAS), Piero Ghezzi (former Minister of Production, Peru), Paul Jourdan (former Deputy Director-General in the Department of Trade Industry, South Africa), Amir Lebdioui (Oxford University), Thiago Miguez (BNDES), José Antonio Ocampo (former Finance Minister, Colombia, and former Chief Economist, United Nations), and Cristina Reis (Undersecretary for Sustainable Development, Ministry of Finance, Brazil), as well as speakers from Fundar and the DLD Co-Directors, Ha-Joon Chang, Christopher Cramer and Jonathan Di John.

Applications are welcome from people from different sectors – governments, the corporate sector, civil society, international organizations, trade unions, etc – especially from Latin American countries. Applicants should complete the following online application form, uploading a CV and a cover letter explaining their work and their view on economic diversification and energy transition in Latin America.

Applicants are normally expected to have at least ten years’ experience in their fields. If they are from academia, they should provide evidence that they have worked with development practitioners – in national governments, international organisations, the private sector, or CSOs.

The fee for the programme is USD 3,000. Participants are also expected to cover their costs of attending, travel, accommodation, and subsistence in Buenos Aires. However, there are some full (covering the fee, travel accommodation and subsistence) or partial (covering the fee only) scholarships available. Applicants who want to be considered for a scholarship should tick the relevant option on the application portal and explain their financial circumstances in their covering letter. 

The deadline for application is 31 January, 2025.

Future Leaders Programme (FLP) workshops bring together a small number of people who are expected to be in senior leadership positions in the coming years for a workshop involving lectures, discussion sessions, and debates.

Each FLP workshop has a key theme and/or regional focus and is led by presenters with a wealth of senior experience in government, academia, the private sector, civil society, and international organisations.