Ethics in Global Development: Rethinking Power and Responsibility
February 27th 2026 | 18h15 | Fórum Fnac Chiado
In a world marked by structural inequalities and deep interdependencies, global development is no longer just a technical matter. It is, above all, an ethical issue. Who defines what progress is? Who sets priorities? And who bears the consequences of these decisions? By opening the Festival Impacto conversation cycle with this theme, we begin with what underpins many contemporary dilemmas: the global architecture of power.
Development is the intersection of politics, economics, environment, technology, and human rights. It is the space where decisions made in one context produce effects in another, often without symmetry in voice, responsibility, or benefit. Starting here means starting at the foundations: at the structures that shape narratives, distribute resources, and shape future outcomes.
This conversation proposes a critical analysis of development policies and international aid, questioning the power relations that sustain them and the ethical tensions between effectiveness, legitimacy, and justice. Between multilateral institutions, governments, civil society organisations, and local communities, where does responsibility begin and end? How can impact be measured beyond formal indicators? And how can we recentre development on people, contexts, and future generations?
More than identifying flaws, this session establishes the conceptual framework of the festival: a critical lens for thinking about responsibility and structural transformation.
Because impact does not begin with outcomes; it begins with the decisions that shape and organise the world.
Speakers
Luís Mah is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Economy at the ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon and Director of the Master’s in Development Studies. His teaching, research, and professional work have focused on global development and humanitarian aid. He has regularly worked with national and international civil society organisations and led the United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC) in Portugal between 2007 and 2011. He is one of the founders of Oficina Global, a research initiative aimed at helping civil society actors navigate the turbulent and challenging transformation of the global order over the past two decades. He holds a PhD in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), a Master’s degree in Political Science from Yonsei University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Communication from the NOVA University of Lisbon.
Susana Réfega is a Guest Lecturer in several Master’s and postgraduate programmes at ISEG, UCP, and ISCTE in the field of International Development Cooperation. She is part of the action-research initiative Oficina Global at CESA – Centre for African Studies and Development (ISEG). Over the past twenty years, she has held leadership roles in several civil society organisations, namely the Global Laudato Si Movement, Fundação Fé e Cooperação, and the Portuguese Platform of NGOs for Development. She holds a Master’s degree in Development, International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid from the Faculty of Political Sciences at Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Paris and a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from René Descartes University in Paris.
Catarina Rodrigues Marques is Head of Innovation at the Semapa Group. She was CEO of MOVE, a non-governmental organisation that empowers entrepreneurs in communities in São Tomé and Príncipe, Timor-Leste, and the Azores, work for which she was distinguished by the European Commission in the Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise 2023 list. She holds a degree in International Relations, has studied Public Policy and Social Inequalities, and holds a Master’s degree in Management from Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics, where she was an assistant lecturer in Lean Entrepreneurship.
Tcherno Amadú Baldé holds a degree in Political Science and International Relations from the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at NOVA University Lisbon and a Master’s degree in Development and International Cooperation from the Higher Institute of Economics and Management (ISEG – University of Lisbon). He is currently a PhD candidate in Development Studies at ISEG, where he researches the localisation of development aid and the power relations between international and national NGOs in Guinea-Bissau. He was recently awarded the António Brandão Vasconcelos Prize, which recognises academic and professional merit. He works directly with the Guinean community in Portugal and is one of the coordinators of the Ubuntu Schools, a project of the Padre António Vieira Institute (IPAV) focused on education for leadership, active citizenship, and social transformation.
Curated by
Sebastião Malheiro da Silva, has recently begun his professional career, having completed internships at the Portuguese Association for Victim Support and at the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe in Lisbon. He holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights and Democratisation from the Global Campus of Human Rights, completed in Venice and Brno. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from the Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon. He also holds postgraduate qualifications in Development Cooperation Project Management from the Catholic University of Portugal and in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights in Conflict Situations from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and the National Defence Institute.
Inês Tomaz holds a degree in Management from Nova SBE and a Master’s degree in Development Studies from ISCTE-IUL. She has professional experience in international development cooperation and humanitarian aid contexts, with a particular focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment, child protection, human rights, and community development. In Portugal, she worked as a project manager in an applied human rights research start-up and as a programme assistant at G4G Portugal, an association dedicated to promoting female leadership and mentoring. She also worked in Bolivia with Médicos del Mundo as a European Union volunteer, performing administrative and financial support functions. Since 2017, she has developed significant field experience in Mozambique, particularly in Beira, where she worked as a project coordination assistant in a temporary shelter institution for vulnerable children. In this context, she designed a project on empowerment and non-formal education for adult women, which became the subject of her Master’s thesis. In 2026, she will begin working as a Humanitarian Action Officer in Valencia, Spain, continuing her professional career path.
Guilherme de Lidon Guerra is President and Founder of the Academic Association of Political and Economic Sciences, an organisation dedicated to promoting political and economic education among young people in Portugal. He holds a degree in International Relations and Public Policy from NOVA University Lisbon and completed an Erasmus programme at Sciences Po Paris. In 2022, he published his first poetry book, Sombra Chama, edited by Húmus. Alongside international relations and poetry, he also engages with science, photography, and economics — an unlikely but essential mix for building the generational foundations of the future.
Moderator
Miguel Meneses He is an editor and screenwriter. With nearly 30 years of experience in the publishing world, he has been at the helm of the local newspaper Notícias do Parque for 23 years. He holds a degree in Political Science and International Relations and has worked as an observer for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including a significant period in the former Yugoslavia. In parallel, he collaborates on photography, video, and fiction projects for film and television as a writer and actor, keeping alive his passion for stories and characters, which he has nurtured since childhood.
Partners
HOSPITALIDADE_FNAC These monthly meetings at FNAC Chiado, from February to July, function as a ritual of inquiry — a space where the DNA of the festival is gradually revealed. More than a prelude, they are a deep dive into the ethical questions that shape our time. An invitation to think, question, and co-create. This is where the festival begins, not as an event, but as a movement.