Our flagship event, the SEEP Annual Conference gathers leading global thinkers and doers, at the forefront of economic inclusion and social empowerment efforts across the world. The SEEP Annual Conference is a unique forum where we debate bold ideas and learn openly from our failures, and challenge our own assumptions to build the next generation of development solutions in and beyond market systems.
Yes, the SEEP Annual Conference was very different in 2020. In response to the rapidly evolving global crisis and with our steadfast commitment to creating a meaningful and safe experience for our community, we knew that the in-person 3-day conference model of years past would not be possible. It was with this in mind that we hosted the conference entirely online with enhanced interaction and dynamic learning spaces.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the social and economic upheaval it has caused, has resulted in deep uncertainty and has accelerated SEEP's own journey of becoming a more agile network and team. The 2020 conference theme, Disruptive Collaboration: navigating a radically uncertain world, embodied this discomfort.
The conference was powered by four technical streams:
Registrants had access to:
Last year's theme - Building Resilience through Market Systems - highlighted proven and experimental strategies that harness the potential of the market to support people, enterprises and communities that are highly vulnerable to the shock-stress-shock cycle.
Together, we convened 382 inclusive development champions from 50 countries representing 151 organizations from a cross-section of academia, research, development, government, civil society, and the private sector.
The quality of themes covered, innovations explored and the format split was excellent, especially given the circumstances.
-Oxfam
The discussion hub is so innovative. Even after the conference, it is a great tool to keep participants engaging.
-World Vision
Especially valuable were sessions with speakers from multiple countries weighing in and those that were intergenerational. Two that come immediately to mind are the panel on filmmakers and the one on environmental justice.
-Opportunity International
Interactive sessions where Design Thinking and problem solving was at the fore. There was a lot of learning-by-doing. That is thrilling.
-Snap On Tools
The topics selected cut across major segments in the development sector and the contents of presentation and discussion were very practical and addressed issues needed for consideration by all development actors.
-Compassion International