Open access book: The Politics of Social Protection in Eastern and Southern Africa
“The recent creation or expansion of programmes of social protection all across East and Southern Africa raises intriguing and important issues for scholars of the region’s politics. This book, with its admirable combination of empirical substance and analytic clarity, is a landmark contribution to this new field. It will be a key point of reference for our discussions and debates for many years to come.” – James Ferguson, Stanford University
A new, open access book on The Politics of Social Protection in Eastern and Southern Africa has been edited by GDI’s Sam Hickey, Tom Lavers, together with UNU-WIDER’S Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, and Jeremy Seekings of the University of Cape Town.
Closely linked to the Effective States and Inclusive Development research centre’s work on social protection, the book challenges existing accounts of how social protection has spread in Africa. read more…
Uma Kothari announces RGS with IBG 2020 conference theme
Professor Uma Kothari is chairing the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) 2020 conference which will be held at the Society in London, from Tuesday 1 to Friday 4 September 2020.
The theme Uma has selected for the conference is borders, borderlands and bordering. The conference programme will include sessions and papers which engage directly with this theme, as well as others focusing on all areas of geography. read more…
Climate action: why developed countries should track imported emissions, and how to make certification and labelling work for developing countries
Aarti Krishnan, Research Fellow, Global Development Institute, The University of Manchester, and Simon Maxwell, Senior Research Associate of ODI
Developed countries are making progress in reducing carbon emissions – and Government regulation of the private sector is playing its part. In the UK, for example, and alongside other measures, the requirement to report energy and carbon emissions has recently been extended to a wide range of quoted and unquoted companies and limited liability partnerships. This is intended to help improve energy efficiency, support companies in cutting costs, and at the same time reduce carbon emissions. Many hundreds of companies have signed up to measurement and certification, and sometimes offset, schemes, like the footprint label from the Carbon Trust, the carbon neutral label from Natural Capital Partners, or Carbon Smart certification from Carbon Smart. The scope and coverage of such schemes is expanding, as indirect emissions and life cycle issues are recognised. read more…
Obituary – Professor Dennis Austin
It is with great sadness that we report the death on October 21, 2019 of Emeritus Professor Dennis Austin at his home in Colchester. Born at the Grove Hospital, Tooting on 14th March, 1922, he was the son of Henry Edmund Austin. After wartime service with the Royal Air Force, he obtained his B.A. degree from King’s College (University of London) in 1949, and that same year was appointed an extra mural tutor at the new University College in the British Gold Coast dependency in West Africa. read more…
Call for Papers: Interrogating regional value chains & their implications for development
University of Johannesburg & University of Manchester Workshop
CCRED, Johannesburg, 6-8 July 2020
![State [in]capacity and national development](https://blog.gdi.manchester.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/3.jpg)
State [in]capacity and national development
Mohammad Kamrul Hasan, PhD Researcher and Teaching Assistant, Global Development Institute
Capacity development has become an important issue in the management of public affairs. It deals with obtaining, strengthening and maintaining individual or organizational capabilities in order to fulfil its goal or objectives. Though capacity development has been the centre of attention in developed nations for long period of time, it has gradually become an issue for both developing and underdeveloped countries in the last decade or so. And it has become an important tool for ensuring inclusive development. read more…
How mega infrastructure projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America are reshaping development
GDI Lecture: Can technology solve global poverty with Rachel Glennerster
Listen or watch Rachel Glennerster, the Chief Economist of the Department for International Development, discuss whether technology can solve global poverty. Prior to her current role she was the Executive Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, a research centre in the Economics department of MIT.
Dr Glennerster discusses how technology has driven improvements in income and health in poor countries, why there is too little innovation designed to meet the needs of the poor, and the promise of the data revolution. read more…
Watch: participatory urban planning in action
In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, local SDI groups have played a critical role in making participatory planning a reality.
Dialogue on Shelter, the Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation, together with staff and students from the National University for Science and technology, and the Bulawayo city council have come together to map, plan and deliver improvements in 12 informal settlements.
GDI Lecture: wealth levels, wealth distribution and wealth inequality with Tony Shorrocks
Listen or watch Professor Tony Shorrocks, Honorary Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Manchester, Senior Research Fellow at the World Institute for Development Economics Research UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki, and Director of Global Economic Perspectives Ltd, discuss wealth levels, wealth distribution and wealth inequality.
Drawing on the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2019, the lecture reviews the latest evidence on the level and distribution of household wealth, both within and between countries. It highlights the growing importance of China and other Emerging Market economies, which have taken over as the principal engine of global wealth growth in the post-crisis era. It also identifies and assesses the underlying factors which help explain the level and trend of global wealth inequality since 2000. read more…