Global Development Institute Blog

Global Development Institute Blog

We’re the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester: where critical thinking meets social justice.

Is there a silver lining to this Covid-19 pandemic? The impact of government transfer on financial inclusion

Is there a silver lining to this Covid-19 pandemic? The impact of government transfer on financial inclusion

Gindo Tampubolon, Global Development Institute and United Nations University – World Institute for Development Economics Research

The toll of the Covid-19 pandemic is still being counted. Meanwhile, new variants continue to threaten because the reservoir of people infected is still large enough for some random mutations to take hold and spread. Excess deaths, a global measure, were estimated by the WHO to be around 14.9 million in 2020-2021.

With all this immense suffering, is there a ray of hope? After all, governments supported family finances, delivered through digital and other means. With deepening financial inclusion (more families owning bank accounts or formal institutions), there are benefits to share. Account holders can smooth consumption and manage risks, banks can arbitrage between savers and inventors, governments can expect increased investment in the economy and better information on the funds circulating, useful for macroeconomic management. read more…

MSc HRM Enhancement Programme: Ethical Grand Challenge and Visit to Stoke-on-Trent

MSc HRM Enhancement Programme: Ethical Grand Challenge and Visit to Stoke-on-Trent

On-campus session with the University Ethical Grand Challenge Team and Organisational Visits to the World of Wedgwood and Trentham Gardens

The MSc Human Resource Management Enhancement Programme (HRMEP) has been developed over seven years, with support from Heads of School and Faculty, to offer closer student engagement with a wide range of organisational contexts in the field of HR practice, with a focus on the professional, cultural and social dimensions of student’s experience. HRMEP aims to equip learners with a robust theoretical framework in human resource management and at the same time to provide students with an opportunity to gain insights into practice-focused human resource practices across a wide range of management contexts and sectors. read more…

Responses and resilience to future climate extremes in urban areas: ECR vacancy

Responses and resilience to future climate extremes in urban areas: ECR vacancy

The project

We are seeking an ECR (working on their PhD or having recently been awarded a PhD) to work on an exciting research pilot. Our project aims at generating a step-change in our understanding of societal responses and resilience to future, unprecedented climate extremes in urban areas. To help achieve this aim, we are developing a new conceptual approach, which combines critical social sciences and climate projections to explore the interplay of future climate extremes and urban inequalities. read more…

DSA Call for papers: Development Studies Association conference 28–30 June 2023

DSA Call for papers: Development Studies Association conference 28–30 June 2023

Academics from the Global Development Institute are helping to convene a number of panels at the annual Development Studies Association conference taking place on 28–30 June 2023. The theme of the conference is Crisis in the Anthropocene: Rethinking connection and agency for development.

The annual conference will be hybrid (in-person and online combined) to ensure the highest levels of inclusion, flexibility and engagement.

There is a call for papers for all panels at the DSA Conference, for more information on all the panels visit the DSA website. The deadline for submitting papers is 10 February.

For full details of each session and to propose a paper, click on the title. read more…

Podcast: Community-led planning and transformation with Charity Mumbi and Jane Wairutu

Podcast: Community-led planning and transformation with Charity Mumbi and Jane Wairutu

This episode comes from the African Cities Research Consortium podcast.

“It’s not our data as SDI, it’s not ACRC data, it’s not their data. It’s the community’s data. So you have to have that understanding that, at the end of the day, it has to benefit the community.”

In this episode, Miriam Maina talks to Charity Mumbi and Jane Wairutu from SDI-Kenya about community-led mapping and data collection, participatory planning processes, and the role of research in inclusive urban transformation.

Charity Mumbi is an urban and regional planner and a project officer at SDI-Kenya, supporting community-led planning, research and data management activities.

Jane Wairutu is a sociologist and programme manager at SDI-Kenya, working closely with data and project implementation teams.

Miriam Maina is from Nairobi and is a postdoctoral research fellow at the African Cities Research Consortium, working on the housing domain.

The African Cities Research Consortium is a major six-year investment by FCDO to fund new, operationally-relevant research to address intractable development challenges in African cities.

read more…

MSc HRM Enhancement Programme: Learning from industry partners including the European Commission

MSc HRM Enhancement Programme: Learning from industry partners including the European Commission

The MSc Human Resource Management Enhancement Programme (HRMEP) has been developed over seven years, with support at school and faculty level, to offer closer student engagement with a wide range of organisational contexts in the field of HR practice, with a focus on the professional, cultural and social dimensions of their experience. read more…

MSc HRM Enhancement Programme: Learning from industry partners

MSc HRM Enhancement Programme: Learning from industry partners

The MSc Human Resource Management Enhancement Programme (HRMEP) has been developed over seven years, with support from Heads of school and faculty, to offer closer student engagement with a wide range of organisational contexts in the field of HR practice, with a focus on the professional, cultural and social dimensions of their experience. HRMEP aims to equip learners with a robust theoretical framework for careers in human resource management and at the same time to provide students with an opportunity to gain insights into practice-focused human resource practices across a wide range of management contexts and sectors. read more…

Inflation: how financial speculation is making the global food price crisis worse

Inflation: how financial speculation is making the global food price crisis worse

Sophie van HuellenGlobal Development Institute, The University of Manchester

UK households, like those in many other countries, are struggling to make ends meet. More than half of households have only £2.66 per week left after paying for bills and essentials, according to figures from the supermarket chain Asda.

The extreme spikes in the cost of energy and food that we have seen this year are mostly to blame for this shift. Basic grocery prices have increased by 17% on average from last year, according to the Office for National Statistics, while some products such as pasta have increased by as much as 60%. This is because the cost of staple food crops, such as wheat, have increased by more than 30% since the beginning of 2021. read more…

‘One nation in two countries’ and anything in between: Transnational lived citizenship and the complex answers to the question ‘where do I belong?’

‘One nation in two countries’ and anything in between: Transnational lived citizenship and the complex answers to the question ‘where do I belong?’

Tanja Müller, Professor of Political Sociology, Global Development Institute

Reflections from the first emerging findings workshop of the ESRC-funded project: Transnational lived citizenship: practices of citizenship as political belonging among emerging diasporas in the Horn of Africa, held in Khartoum, 9-10 November 2022. read more…

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