GDI PhD researcher Dani Cocco Beltrame and 25 co-researchers from the Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) federation have been recognised in The University of Manchester’s annual Making a Difference awards.
The group won the prestigious ‘outstanding benefit to society through research’ prize for their work on intergenerational movement-building for more just urban futures.
Dani’s PhD supervisor, Professor Diana Mitlin commended the work in this video address:
Dani’s PhD research explores why African youth from urban marginalised backgrounds participate in social movements, their visions for change and their aspirations for the future. She also wanted to know how their ideas relate to older people in the movement.
As well as answering these urgent questions, Dani’s research has also advanced a model for co-producing a PhD with marginalised young people in Africa.
In their words, “We believe useful research must be done, not about but with the communities it discusses. This means building and sustaining a network to create context-specific solutions to address the most pressing development challenges from the ground up.”
Dani worked closely with SDI, a transnational movement of federations of women-led savings groups found in hundreds of urban centres across the African continent and a core research partner of GDI.
An instant report from the research in Nairobi can be found here.
The findings are currently being implemented by SDI affiliates in Kenya and Zimbabwe. Both affiliates recognised the need to be more effective in their efforts to include young people within their work. Dani’s co-researchers in Harare and Nairobi are actively engaging with the findings to strengthen young people’s political engagement.
Watch the Making a Difference Awards prizegiving ceremony here:
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