The issue of ‘skills’ and the importance of qualitative migration research
Juno Ellison, Wellcome EDI Research Placement intern
The outcomes for migrants are often determined by how states define and value their skill sets. Defining such skills has become increasingly controversial in migration research as there are a variety of contemporary criticisms on the nature of skills themselves: why they are socially constructed, how this translates into policy and legislation, and the consequent implications for our understanding of skilled migration. read more…
Who Is Poor and Ultra-Poor In Urban Bangladesh?
Nusrat Jahan, Dr Imran Matin and Prof David Hulme
Urban Change
Bangladesh’s cities are changing fast…make that very fast. They are rising and spreading as their populations are exploding. The share of the country’s urban population has been growing rapidly since independence in 1971 from a meagre 8%. It has doubled between 2000 and 2021, now standing at 39% of the total population. The emerging infrastructure in these largely unplanned cities on steroids—roads, flyovers, WASH facilities, for example—means that these bumper-to-bumper, no room on the pavement places are also building sites, exacerbating the already difficult urban life. read more…
In Conversation: Stefano Ponte discusses Business, Power and Sustainability in a World of Global Value Chains
In this episode, Stefano Ponte talks to Aarti Krishnan about his research into sustainability, the wine and seafood value chains in South Africa and his recent book Business, Power and Sustainability in a World of Global Value Chains.
Dr Stefano Ponte is a Professor of International Political Economy at Copenhagen Business School. His research looks at transnational economic and environmental governance, with a focus on overlaps and tensions between private authority and public regulation. Dr Aarti Krishnan is a Hallsworth Research Fellow at the Global Development Institute read more…
Can business associations link policymakers and academia? Reflections from Ghana
Dr Irene Okhade, Lecturer in HRM and International Development, Global Development Institute
The €1.4 million “ManaGlobal” project funded by the EU Horizon 2020 is an innovative research project that seeks to explore the evidence of management approaches practiced in Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon, Morocco and UAE. Key components of this collaborative project involve the exchange of knowledge and skills for conducting cross-cultural research, the way business is conducted and how organizations are managed locally and globally. read more…
Remembering Dr Ron Clarke
By Jayne Hindle, David Hulme, Merrick Jones and Debra Whitehead
It is with great sadness that the Global Development Institute (GDI), University of Manchester reports the passing of Dr Ronald Clarke (‘Ron’) on 12 September 2022 at the age of 89. Dr Ron Clarke was appointed to the Department of Administrative Studies (DAS) in 1975 when the department was in its infancy and had very few staff. Subsequently, and with major contributions from Ron, it evolved into the Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM). Ron taught at DAS and IDPM, as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer for almost 25 years until his retirement in 1999. In the 1990s he served as Deputy Director for IDPM at a time when the Institute was expanding and rapidly strengthening its academic reputation. read more…
Community of Practice (CoP) Engagement Series
GDI is launching a Community of Practice (CoP) – Engagement Series: a place designed to link students, academics, practitioners and alumni and we hope you can join us. read more…
Fieldwork without the field? Courtesy of Covid-19
Luv Arora, International Development: Environment, Climate Change and Development MSc
Today, we live in what has been termed the ‘information age’. Screens surround our lives and even the toaster in our kitchens has a brain of its own. News apps are replacing newspapers and information from any corner of the world is just a few keystrokes and clicks away. Don’t believe me? Just google it. read more…
Shifting South: Horticulture regional value chains and decent work in Africa
In the second of our Shifting South series, Stephanie Barrientos talks to Margareet Visser and Maggie Opondo. They reflect on the project and their research into horticultural value chains.
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Call for abstracts: The new green global division of labour: Emerging geographies of decarbonisation
The ongoing shift away from fossil fuels has sometimes been framed as a ‘green energy race’ among states, each competing with one another on national missions to develop and deploy renewables. Complicating this picture, various economies across both global North and South are specialising within new geographies of production for green energy infrastructure, with attendant cross-border interdependencies and inequalities coming increasingly into focus. Unequal relationships and capabilities, however, do not merely replicate a familiar North-South, centre-periphery geography, but are forming around new patterns of production, trade, finance and governance. read more…
How costly political realities undercut Ghana’s electricity reforms
Barnaby Joseph Dye, University of Manchester
Ghana reformed its electricity sector by the book but has lurched from blackouts between 2012 and 2015 to a glut of energy which costs government about 5% of GDP. Fitch ranks the energy sector as the biggest driver of national debt. How did this happen? It’s a classic case of implementing the “standard reform model” – a one-size-fits-all approach – that ignores a country’s political realities. read more…