The impact of old age pensions in India
Dr Vidhya Unnikrishnan, Lecturer in Development Economics, Global Development Institute
Estimates by ILO shows that 92 % of the total employment in India is at the informal sector who are not protected by any formal pension system. The informal sector is characterized by poor working conditions and low wages, that prevents people from making lifetime accumulation of wealth. The lack of an institutionalized social security arrangement for the poor has highlighted the role played by Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) – a national social assistance program targeted on the elderly members of poor in India. In this context, we evaluated the impact of this social assistance program on various household welfare dimensions. The welfare dimensions include monthly per-capita expenditure, food and non-food per-capita expense, assets, and labour supply. The details of the program are discussed in a previous blog on “Gender and Social Assistance” posted on 24th January 2020. read more…
In conversation: Tanja Bastia and Ronald Skeldon on Migration and Development.
In this special podcast, we are lucky to be joined by the editors of the newly published Routledge Handbook of Migration and Development, Tanja Bastia and Ronald Skeldon.
In this episode, they talk about their long-term collaboration in the fields of migration and development and their wish to build on long-standing research by bringing together established thinkers and new areas of research – an approach which has culminated in this handbook. read more…
Managing organisational tensions between business goals and development goals
How can organisations manage the tensions between business goals and international development goals? These tensions often derail projects, organisations and partnerships but a newly-published paper identifies three strategies used in initiatives that sustain: combining, compromising and decoupling.
Hybrid organisations are on the rise: public-private partnerships; multi-stakeholder partnerships between private, NGO and public sector actors; and business—development hybrids that include venture philanthropists, impact investors, fair and ethical trade, cooperatives, social enterprises, and state-owned enterprises. read more…
GDI Webinar: Engaging with complexity, ambiguity & identity: a leadership challenge for leaders in development
Watch an extract of Natalie Cunningham’s webinar on ‘Engaging with complexity, ambiguity and identity – a leadership challenge for leaders in the world of development’. read more…
Covid-19 and the Hrishipara Diarists: May 2020: climbing for a fall?
The story so far
The first blog in this series was written just after an anti-corona lockdown was enforced in Bangladesh on 26th March 2020. We showed how the shock was dealt with by the 60 low-income households in central Bangladesh who volunteer as ‘diarists’ in our daily financial diary project. In the second blog we saw just how bad things got during April 2020, the first full month under lockdown. In this, the third blog in the series, we look at the partial recovery that took place in May. read more…
In conversation: Alicya Mamo and Shamima Khonat founders of Electric Bazaar
In the latest episode of our ‘In Conversation’ podcast we caught up with Shamima and Alicya; two Manchester Alumni whose fashion business was recently highly commended for social innovation at the Manchester Making A Difference Awards 2020. read more…
How Greater Manchester Savers were Inspired by African Activists
For many years, as part of our master’s in Global Urban Development and Planning, we’ve welcomed members of Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) to teach students in Manchester. More recently, we’ve introduced SDI members to Manchester based community groups and have helped facilitate a series of exchanges between them. With support from the Realising Just Cities programme at Sheffield’s Urban Institute, this has helped to catalyse the Greater Manchester Savers, who have just published a new report documenting their story so far. This is a short extract. read more…
GDI Webinar: Women’s empowerment and healthy digital dividends with Dr Gindo Tampubolon
Watch Gindo Tampubolon, Lecturer in Poverty at The Global Development Institute discusses ‘Women’s empowerment and healthy digital dividends: Depression in Dhaka slums 2018’ read more…
Understanding the Impacts of Covid-19 on Livelihoods in Bangladesh: Findings from the PPRC-BIGD Rapid Response Survey
Dr Nicola Banks, Senior Lecturer in Urban Development and Professor David Hulme, Professor of Development Studies
On 21 May we had the pleasure of attending a webinar and report launch hosted by our long-standing research partners in Bangladesh, the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) at BRAC University and the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC). As the scale of the Covid-19 challenge became apparent earlier this year, these two distinguished research centres came together to plan a longitudinal Rapid Response Survey into Livelihoods, Coping and Support Systems During Covid-19. While admirably rapid in response to the crisis – thereby feeding into Government and NGO practical responses on the ground – the speed in execution did not sacrifice anything in the way of research rigour and Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman of PPRC and Dr Imran Matin of BIGD presented findings from a survey conducted in early April, just after the Government launched a ‘holiday’ lock-down period. A follow-up survey will be conducted in June to see how things have changed. read more…
New September entry for distance learning course on Management and Information Systems
Our two years master’s programme in Management and Information Systems: Change and Development is now accepting students for September 2020 entry. So if you’re in a job you love or have family commitments – but still want to immerse yourself in postgraduate study, then this distance learning programme might be course for you.
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