Welcome to A Question of Development

This first video is the opening montage from Citizens of the World - the English version of the six-part documentary series called "Citoyens du Monde." The series was directed by Kelly Saxberg and produced by Les Productions Rivard. The opening is followed by 4 excerpts from stories shot in Latin America. This introductory video will introduce you to the project and provide background for the rest of the videos in this collection.

The film series follows Ron Harpelle of Lakehead University and Bruce Muirhead of the University of Waterloo, as they conduct research on project dealing with the history of the International Development Research Centre. IDRC is a unique and highly innovative part of Canada’s foreign assistance program. Together, they met with scientists and researchers around the world to discuss obstacles to development and some of the solutions Canada has been involved in funding.

Citizens of the World is a six-part documentary series, filmed in over a dozen countries and focused on Canada’s role in supporting research for development. This timely series looks at six broad themes, Water, Women, Politics, Health, Information and Communication Technologies and the Emerging Economies of China, India and Brazil, with an emphasis on research currently being conducted in these areas of international development. Filmed in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, each film examines one theme in at least three different regions of the world. Appearing in the series are leading international figures like Vandana Shiva, Rigoberta Menchu, Palmira Ventosilla, Dipak Gyawali, Maurice Strong, M.S. Swaminathan, Lloyd Axworthy, Danilo Astori, Pierre Sané, Zoubida Charouff, Margaret Catley-Carlson, Fatou Sarr, José Cassiolato, Moubarack Lo, John Biehl, Lu Mai, and Jad Isaac.