Annual Reports

Inclusive prosperity goes beyond alleviating poverty. CID seeks to have everyone grow to achieve their full potential in a way that benefits society as well. In all these efforts, it is critical to engage all stakeholders so that even the poorest can take advantage of the most transformative opportunities.

2021 was a year of recuperation, reflection, and strategic forward-thinking. This crisis has given the world a window of opportunity to make use of the lessons learned and capitalize on emergent innovations sparked by the pandemic. With this understanding, CID launched our Beyond COVID project in 2021. The project combines research and practice and aims to build the knowledge needed for immediate and long-term COVID response, to test and refine innovation improvements, and to build the response capacity required for future crises. This year has also been defined by growth and momentum for CID. We identified potential partners and country sites for collaborative research; CID faculty affiliates and programs have continued to adapt their research as the pandemic has changed over time; we hosted podcasts and panel events, showcasing the response work of faculty and international development practitioners; and we pivoted executive education programs to include online and hybrid offerings, expanding access to more participants. Through all these amazing efforts, I feel privileged and grateful to be a part of such an innovative, resilient, and intelligent group of people who are determined to build a thriving world for all. Thank you to our entire CID community including our faculty affiliates; our three research programs, Building State Capability, Evidence for Policy Design, and Growth lab; our Global Development Council members; our staff; our Student Ambassadors and other engaged students; research fellows; partners; funders; Harvard leadership; and most of all, our program participants and beneficiaries for giving meaning to our work. As we conclude 2021, I am even more hopeful that what we set out to do at the start of the year will continue to address and solve problems exacerbated by the pandemic in the years to come. CID is guided by our mission to increase prosperity for all by bringing researchers and practitioners together to solve the problems people face, and I know we will continue to harness our momentum to ensure this mission is carried through.

Asim I. Khwaja

Director, Center for International Development & Sumitomo-FASID Professor of International Finance and Development