The International Co-operative Alliance has announced Patrick Develtere as one of the keynote speakers at its Global Conference in Kigali, Rwanda.
Mr Develtere is principal adviser for European social policy at the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC), the in-house think tank of the European Commission.
An academic, he also teaches development co-operation at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Leuven. His research areas include the emergence of non-state actors such as the civil society, co-operative movements or social movements, their relations with the state and the private sector, and their role in international co-operation. He has written the book “Cooperating out of poverty: The renaissance of the African cooperative movement”.
Prior to joining the EPSC, he was the president of the Belgian Christian Workers’ Movement (Beweging.net), one of the largest civil society networks in Belgium with over 4.5 million members.
He will be part of the high-level panel of the Parallel Session 4 on ‘Globalisation of inclusive ethical value chains’, on the second day of the conference. This is one of the four parallel sessions that will run on 15 October, where delegates will explore the significance of multi-stakeholder partnerships and the role that the co-operative movement can play in achieving agenda 2030 and the UN’s SDGs.
Other keynote speakers at the conference include Rwandan president Paul Kagame and Environmental activist Dr Vandana Shiva.
