Early 2011
The idea behind the Collaboration for Research on Democracy (CORD) network was originally forged by a group of international researchers who had been previously involved in the Citizenship DRC Project at the Institute of Development Studies in the UK. The researchers involved in this ten-year project wanted to continue to work on similar themes through the creation of a new research and learning network. Thus, CORD was born.
Mid-2011
The original CORD steering committee organized its first four-day online conference in order to identify potential areas for future collaboration. With almost 30 researchers from around the world in attendance, some of the crosscutting research themes that arose were:
- Engaging citizens and states in building pro-poor social policies
- Understanding the role of citizen participation and social mobilization in informal social arenas
- Understanding the challenges of global research collaboration and new BRICS-led development initiatives
Early 2012
- A second 4-day online conference was organized in March 2012, on the topic of “Defining the Global South.”
May 2012
CORD’s first, official workshop was hosted by the University of Toronto in Scarborough, Canada. This workshop aimed to:
- Establish the foundational concepts and organizational structures of the network
- Familiarize CORD members with each others’ research interests and foster working relationships
- Understand and develop strategies for longterm and sustainable funding mechanisms
December 2012
CORD’s second workshop was hosted by the Centre for Policy Research in Delhi, India. The aim of this workshop was to:
- Bring a comparative dimension to country-based research, opening up new possibilities of generalizability
- Exchange and source ideas, theoretical & technical knowledge, and resources which are difficult for any one project on its own to secure fully
May 2014
CORD’s third workshop was held in Cape Town, South Africa. The aim of this workshop was to:
- To strengthen CORD’s structures of governance and priorities as a network
- Continue to develop the structure and priorities of Working Groups
March 2017
CORD’s fourth workshop was held in Bellagio, Italy. The aim of this workshop was to:
- Bring together global south researchers, government officials, and activists to reflect on their experiences in building forms of collaboration to address urban service delivery for marginalized groups
- Discuss how different participatory, deliberative, and confrontational spaces could be used to enable better service delivery, especially for marginalized groups