The year 2010 has offered a number of milestones to reflect on future directions for development cooperation policy. As donors consider how to move forward with the MDG Agenda, improve the effectiveness of their development interventions, and engage in organisational restructuring processes to confront future challenges, they find themselves in a global context that is different in quality from the world of ten or twenty years ago, given the growing differentiation of developing countries and the rising prominence of issues such as climate change and state fragility on the development agenda.

This conference deliberated on fundamental questions of future development cooperation by discussing the legitimacy of development policy in a changing world. The focus on legitimacy draws attention to the interests that are represented within the development policy arena and how the institutional framework for the management and delivery of aid that is in place responds to the interests it is intended to represent.

The conference raised pertinent questions on the future purposes of aid, if any, and how its ability to contribute to development goals can be strengthened. The event braught together researchers, civil society representatives, and policymakers to engage in an open-ended and critical dialogue on the legitimacy of bilateral and multilateral development cooperation with a view toward stimulating strategic thinking among development professionals at an early stage in their careers. Through a series of panels and group discussions, participants engaged in a constructive debate aimed at contributing to a common understanding of what legitimate global development policy in the decades ahead could look like.