Abstract for: Innovating Through the Crisis: System Dynamics Modeling Applied to International Development Work and World Bank Operations

The recent financial and economic crisis in the world’s richest economies has exposed developing countries, already affected by the lingering impact of the fuel crisis, to an economic slow-down. Moreover, emerging economies continue to face exacerbated challenges in providing adequate nutrition and care to its poor populations. The devastating consequences of weather-related disasters deterred governments' efforts to contain the food crisis and undermined the need for a holistic approach to poverty alleviation agenda. In view of these unprecedented events, it is essential to facilitate nutrition and health efforts and implement effective disaster-risk management strategies. It is also vital to look for new drivers of growth within the hard-hit economies, such as developing information and communications technologies (ICT). The later are increasingly used as a transformational tool to foster economic growth, accelerate knowledge transfer, develop local capacities, raise productivity, and alleviate poverty in a variety of sectors. To support policy-makers in designing optimal development strategies, this Roundtable aims at bringing together development experts and system dynamics modelers. Although very little known and used by large international organizations, such as The World Bank, system dynamics modeling technique is increasingly proving its applicability and relevance to developing work.