ECOSF participated in a webinar on “Aid, Development and the Lessons of History: Urban Reconstruction under Ayub Khan”

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Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) organized a webinar on “Aid, Development and the Lessons of History: Urban Reconstruction under Ayub Khan” on May 7, 2020. Dr. Markus Daechsel, Reader of History at Royal Holloway College, University of London was the main speaker in the webinar, which was moderated by Dr. Nadeem ul Haque, Vice Chancellor PIDE. President ECOSF, Prof. Dr. Manzoor Hussain Soomro also participated in the webinar.

The webinar discussion mainly centered around the way Pakistan became so dependent on foreign consultants and that the trend seems to growing upwards in the developing world. Dr. Daechsel drew some pertinent conclusion about the inevitability of international development and the value of aid and explained which lessons should not be taken from the development history.

During the Q&A session, President ECOSF Prof. Soomro raised a question to the speaker as to how important is the inclusion of History including development history in the curricula of schools and universities especially in Science and Technology or Engineering, for sustainable development and societies? Dr. Daechsel responded that it is very important to teach history but one needs to be cautious to avoid miscommunication or misunderstanding by the scientific community for they may over-push their theories.

Webinar can be accessed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ihkj7Cw-mM&feature=youtu.be