Co-creation of Research and Development Issues for South Asia

Last Tuesday, 23 April 2024, Dr. Bishawjit Mallick was invited to give an interactive lecture on the “Co-creation of Research & Development Issues for South Asia”, during the “Imagining [equitable] transport and [inclusive] city-making in the Global South” seminar, presented by EQUIMOB and IOS Open Cities Platform. South Asia falls behind in many systemic social issues and would benefit from further research.

Four statistical examples were presented by Dr. Mallick:

• In 2020, approximately 10% of all South Asian residents lived below the international poverty line ($2.15).
• More than 50% of children live in learning poverty – unable to read and understand a simple text by age.
• In 2022, the adult male literacy rate was 82%, while the adult female literacy rate was approximately 67%.
• South Asia has the highest number of children exposed to severe water scarcity: 347 million children under 18 are exposed to high or extremely high water scarcity.

The central question posed, then, was: “How can the region of South Asia achieve sustainable and inclusive development while addressing its diverse socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural challenges?”.

Guests and attendees were then asked to write down on post-its potential research issues and questions that would be important to research, and which sources to gain funding from. This resulted in an insightful discussion on potential topics and knowledge gaps. It encourages us to develop further research on climate change adaptation and resilience, healthcare access and equity, inclusive economic development, education and skill development, and inclusive cities.