Two days in Tokyo across four host venues. The first day opens with the finals of the 2026 Global Development Awards Competition and turns to hands-on work in the Co-Creation Labs. The second moves to policy at Europa House and closes with the awards and 25 years of the competition.
The programme may still change. Keep the line "The programme may change and speakers will be added as they are confirmed" visible until the speaker list is complete.
WhenTuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 December 2026
WhereSasakawa Peace Foundation, ADBI, World Bank Group TDLC and Europa House, Tokyo. See the addresses
Time zoneJapan Standard Time (JST, UTC+9). Pick your own zone below to see local times.
OnlineEvery session is streamed except the Co-Creation Labs
Sasakawa Peace Foundation (Day 1) and Europa House (Day 2)Asian Development Bank InstituteWorld Bank Group TDLC
Day 1 · Tuesday 15 December
Global South talent and co-creation
09:00
Sasakawa Peace FoundationStreamed
Sasakawa Peace Foundation Building, 1-15-16 Toranomon, Minato-ku
Welcome and GDAC 2026 Finals
The conference opens with the live finals of the 2026 Global Development Awards Competition, held this year under the theme "Science, Technology, and Innovation for Peace and Human Security". Six finalists, selected from 225 applications, present their work in person to the jury and to the conference audience. Each finalist pitches and then takes the jury's questions. Winners are announced on the afternoon of 16 December.
How the morning runs
09:00 · Welcome remarksSpeakers to be announced
09:30 · Round 1 · Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development (ORD)Three early-career researchers from low- and middle-income countries present their research.
11:00 · Coffee break
11:30 · Round 2 · Japanese Award for the Most Innovative Development Project (MIDP)Three civil society organisations present development projects.
The competition is administered by GDN, funded under the Policy and Human Resources Development Fund managed by the World Bank, and supported by the Ministry of Finance of Japan since 2000. See the six finalists.
13:00
Lunch and transfer to the Lab venues
Participants in the Co-Creation Labs move to ADBI or the World Bank Group TDLC. Each will know beforehand which venue and which table they join.
No document states where lunch is served. Add it here once confirmed.
14:15
ADBIWorld Bank Group TDLCIn person only
ADBI · Kasumigaseki Building 8F, 3-2-5 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku World Bank Group TDLC · Fukoku Seimei Building, 2-2-2 Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku
Co-Creation Labs
Fourteen GDN grantees and alumni each lead a table, seven at each venue, where they work with technical specialists, potential funders and a facilitator on one concrete scale-up concept. Each table produces a two-page Project Scale-Up Concept, and together these form the Tokyo Portfolio, presented on Day 2. The Labs are working sessions around small tables and are not streamed.
Hub 1 · ADBI
Inclusive Digital Transformation and Sustainable Economies
Hub 2 · World Bank Group TDLC
Health Innovation, Governance and Resilient Societies
Point this link at the Co-Creation Labs page once it is live. The card shows a split teal and plum edge because the Labs run at two venues.
17:00
End of Day 1
The evening is free.
Day 2 · Wednesday 16 December
Policy, awards and 25 years of GDAC, all at Europa House
09:00
Europa HouseStreamed
Europa House, 4-6-28 Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku
Global Policy Symposium
Hosted at the Delegation of the European Union to Japan, the symposium brings together donors, Japanese public institutions, foundations and researchers to look at what it takes to move a locally tested pilot to national scale, and at the place of research cooperation between the Global South and North in that process. The concepts drafted in the Co-Creation Labs the day before give the discussion real cases to work from.
How the morning runs
09:00 · Opening and keynote · The Importance of Global South-North Research CooperationHow research partnerships between institutions in the Global South and North build the evidence donors look for before they scale, and how that cooperation also builds trust between countries.Speaker to be announced
09:30 · High-level panel · Beyond 2030: Co-Creating Financing Mechanisms to Move Local Pilots to National ScaleMany innovations work at small scale while the routes from pilot to national policy remain poorly understood. The panel takes this up with the people who fund that step.Panellists to be announced
11:00 · Coffee break
11:30 · Voices of the Global SouthGDN alumni from Africa, Asia and Latin America describe how early-career funding changed the policy course of their work and, in some cases, of their countries.Speakers to be announced
13:00
Europa House
Europa House, 4-6-28 Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku
25-Year Impact Lunch
A networking lunch with posters drawn from the competition's impact stories, tracing 25 years of the Global Development Awards Competition through the people and projects it has supported, alongside displays from other GDN programmes and from the Japanese partners and co-hosts of the conference. Read the impact stories.
Confirm which programmes and partners bring posters, and whether the poster material goes online for remote viewers.
15:00
Europa HouseStreamed
Europa House, 4-6-28 Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku
GDAC Awards Ceremony and Closing
The afternoon opens with 25 years of evidence on the Global Development Awards Competition, presented by the President of GDN, and the premiere of a documentary on the people behind it. He then presents the training GDN has built for future grantees. The 2026 winners of the ORD and MIDP awards are then announced. In the closing session, GDN leadership and the competition's funding partners mark the end of its first 25 years and discuss where it goes next, with the Tokyo Portfolio as a first example. The session ends with the announcement of the 2027 Global Development Conference.
How the afternoon runs
15:00 · 25 years of evidenceWhat has been learned about the competition since 2000: earlier evaluations, a new analysis of the ORD award, and the findings of the 2026 evaluation of the competition's impact on researchers, organisations and communities.Jean-Louis Arcand, President, GDN
Impact premiereScreening of the GDAC 25-Year Impact Documentary.
Building on 25 yearsThe training curricula GDN has developed for applicants, grantees and alumni, available to grantees and alumni on GDN's learning platform, beyond the life of the competition.Jean-Louis Arcand, President, GDN
16:00 · Awards presentationAnnouncement of the 2026 ORD and MIDP winners.Presenters to be announced
16:30 · Closing visionScience diplomacy and development cooperation that pools several donors behind implementation, with the Tokyo Portfolio as an example.Speakers to be announced
Announcement of GDC 2027
Do not publish any findings before 16 December.
17:00
To be confirmed
Closing reception
A closing reception at Europa House is planned.
Still being procured. Keep it marked "to be confirmed" until it is secured.
GDAC at 25
Supported by the Ministry of Finance of Japan, the Global Development Awards Competition has backed more than 420 researchers and civil society organisations across the Global South over 25 years. A study of what it has changed, combining an independent evaluation and film with a new analysis by GDN, is presented on 16 December.
The competition's 20th anniversary was marked in October 2021 with a panel at GDN's online conference "Evidence for Development: What Works Summit 2021", chaired by François Bourguignon, then Chair of GDN's Board of Directors. Masashi Tanabe, Director of the Multilateral Development Banks Division at the Ministry of Finance of Japan, and Dirk Reinermann, Director of Trust Funds and Partnership Relations at the World Bank, joined GDN's then President Pierre Jacquet and four grantees of the competition, Dipayan Dey (South Asia Forum for Environment, India), Kanchana Wickramasinghe (Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka), Emmanuel Yujuico (Access Health International, Indonesia) and Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka (Conservation Through Public Health, Uganda). Jaime Saavedra, a former grantee, recorded congratulatory remarks for the anniversary.
Agreed figure is over 420 researchers and organisations supported. The impact stories page on gdn.int still says "over 340" and "about US$3.8 million" and should be updated to match. Add a link to the 2026 study and the new documentary once released. The curricula are for grantees only, so no public link.
GDAC 2026 finalists
Six finalists present on the morning of 15 December. Winners are announced at the Awards Ceremony on 16 December.
The juries for both awards will be announced.
Confirm with the finalists that they can be named before 15 December. If not, hide the six cards and keep the two category descriptions.
Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development (ORD)
Open to researchers in low- and middle-income countries. This year 52 applications came from 25 countries, 46 percent of them led by women. Projects run for 12 months.
1st prize US$30,0002nd prize US$20,0003rd prize US$10,000Follow-up Collaborative Grant up to US$20,000
Indonesia
Hazard-Ready Communities: Citizen Science, Science Diplomacy, and Community-based Governance on Technological Risk in Indonesia's Energy Transition
Charina Chazali, AKATIGA Institution
Brazil
Cooling the City: Urban Trees, Public Health and Human Security for Heat Mitigation in Fortaleza
Hygor Piaget Monteiro Melo, University of Fortaleza
Cameroon
Leveraging Digital Startups for Peace and Human Security: Micro-Level Evidence from Conflict-Affected Communities in Cameroon
Thierry Messie Pondie, University of Buea
Japanese Award for the Most Innovative Development Project (MIDP)
Open to NGOs and civil society organisations in low- and middle-income countries. This year 173 applications came from 49 countries. Projects run for 12 to 24 months.
Two 1st prizes US$50,000 each2nd prize US$25,000Follow-up JSDF grant up to US$200,000
Nigeria
Increasing Access to SRHR Information and Services for Internally Displaced Women in Benue State
Lawyers Alert Justice Initiative, Project Director Rommy Mom
Mozambique
KOLEKT: Empowering Coastal Communities Through Digital Plastic Certification in Mozambique
Mozambican Recycling Association (AMOR), Project Director Angelica Miranda João
Pakistan
Digital MicroSchools
Teach the World Foundation, Project Director Adnan Ahmed Qureshi
Venues and addresses
Day 1 moves between buildings at lunchtime. Day 2 stays at Europa House throughout.
Day 1 morning
Sasakawa Peace Foundation
Sasakawa Peace Foundation Building 1-15-16 Toranomon, Minato-ku Tokyo 105-8524
Day 1 afternoon · Hub 1
Asian Development Bank Institute
Kasumigaseki Building 8F 3-2-5 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100-6008
Day 1 afternoon · Hub 2
World Bank Group TDLC
Fukoku Seimei Building 2-2-2 Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100-0011
Day 2, all day
Europa House
Delegation of the European Union to Japan 4-6-28 Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku Tokyo 106-0047
Addresses are taken from the April 2026 mission report. Confirm the floor for the TDLC rooms, since the World Bank Tokyo Office address in that report is on the 14th floor.
Watch online
The welcome and finals, the Global Policy Symposium and the Awards Ceremony are streamed. The Co-Creation Labs are in person only. The streaming link will be published on this page before the conference.
