Global Governance and the Politics of Aid
David Hulme gave the plenary presentation at the University of Bradford’s Symposium: Global Governance and the Politics of Aid.
The website for the symposium can be viewed here.
Should academics change the world?
David Hulme is Executive Director of Brooks World Poverty Institute, CEO of ESID Research Centre, and Professor of Development Studies
A recent keynote I delivered at the University of Oslo asked me to think about the role of academics in society…so I mulled on ‘should academics change the world’?
There is a general moral argument that all human beings whose needs are secure should seek to reduce the suffering of other human beings – that the poor in any part of the world should be assisted by those with the means to help them. From this perspective, if an academic’s work can help individuals, groups or states, they have a responsibility to provide assistance.
Improving labour conditions in the computer industry
by Khalid Nadvi and Gale Raj-Reichert
Many leading global brands, like Apple and Hewlett-Packard, source components from, and have their products manufactured by, a variety of independent suppliers. These suppliers undertake production in many locations across the world in vast global value chains. Ensuring that these suppliers meet international standards on labour, health and safety and environmental impacts is an increasing challenge for the global brands in the computer industry. These pressures are often accentuated by campaigning non-governmental organisations (NGOs), trade unions seeking to ensure better working conditions, and by governments keen to enforce public regulations. There has been substantial progress by the leading brands to engage with their first tier suppliers on such concerns. However, little is known about how labor standards and codes of conduct are addressed by second tier suppliers found at the lower tiers of global value chains, where the governance of labour conditions can be extremely challenging. Are private or public measures more successful in reaching suppliers down the global value chain? This question is addressed in a recent paper by Dr Khalid Nadvi and Dr Gale Raj-Reichert from the Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM) at the University of Manchester, “Governing health and safety at lower tiers of the computer industry global value chain” in the journal Regulation & Governance (the article is offered as open access and is free to everyone).
The challenges of managing development differently
Pablo Yanguas is a Research Associate at the Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID) research centre.
On April 2nd ODI hosted a group of aid practitioners and public sector researchers gathered for the purpose of discussing whether the “Doing Development Differently” (DDD) agenda can in fact be managed by development organisations. It seemed like a very necessary step after the “Doing Development Differently” Manifesto and ODI report, which have focused on changing the basic assumptions and discourse of aid, as well as providing some supporting evidence. The last panel of the day was tasked with debating whether the institutional barriers to DDD could in fact be overcome. Having worked on a similar question for political-economy analysis, I was invited to participate in this conversation, and this is what I had to say.
High Quality Education for National Development
David Hulme is Executive Director of Brooks World Poverty Institute, CEO of ESID Research Centre, and Professor of Development Studies
Education is still considered a key strategy for reducing poverty by the poor. Universal primary education was included as a Millennium Development Goal, and it looks as though the new Sustainable Development Goals will aspire to provide pre-primary, primary and secondary education for all. This emphasis on quantity however is not enough. We need to ensure quality. Alongside this, education should not just be thought of as a poverty reduction tool but as central to national development. Higher education is costly but essential as national development requires a proportion of the population to be highly skilled. Like it or not public investment in the education of non-poor people has to be an element of the education budget.
Social accountability or social transformation? Working ‘with’ and ‘against’ the grain
By Sophie King
Social accountability has become an important ‘buzzword’ among development actors seeking to understand the forms of state-society relations that may be supportive of better public services. Malena and McNeil (2010: 1) define it as: ‘the broad range of actions and mechanisms beyond voting that citizens can use to hold the state to account’. The trouble is that the focus has become the mechanisms, rather than the inequality and social and political relationships shaping public goods expenditure and quality.
“To plan or not to plan….that is the PhD question!”
by Sally Cawood, a PhD researcher at the Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester.
I need a plan, I like to plan, I LOVE plans! At least that’s what I thought before starting fieldwork. I had meticulously planned each part of my fieldwork schedule from finding language classes at the beginning, to organising dissemination workshops at the end. Whilst this was a useful way to prepare, I’ve learnt that flexibility is of utmost importance for a PhD student. Let me share some examples of ‘plan’ vs. ‘reality’ during my first three months of fieldwork in Dhaka;
Understanding the politics of inequality
By Sam Hickey, Sophie King and Sarah Hunt
History has much to tell us about the politics of inequality, but the moral of the story depends upon the lens through which we choose to interpret its lessons. The recent DLP conference on this theme raised many of the questions that ESID is attempting to address, as well as demanding some considered defence of the ‘political settlements plus’ framework that constitutes our analytical lens for understanding the politics of inclusion.
International Women’s Day
by Brooks World Poverty Institute
International Women’s Day on Sunday 8th March celebrates the economic, political and social achievements of women. Brooks World Poverty Institute research demonstrates that women play a vital role in improving global value chains – as workers, farmers, producers and consumers – which can have a significant impact on pro-poor development.
3 Big Issues for Research Uptake
by Chris Jordan, Communications and Research Uptake Manager at Brooks World Poverty Institute
There’s an increasing pressure both in the UK and around the world for researchers to demonstrate the tangible benefits to society of their work. ‘Impact’, ‘uptake’ and ‘knowledge exchange’ are taken (and resourced) increasingly seriously. The days of the ivory tower are numbered.
I joined The University of Manchester a year ago from ActionAid, where I’d worked on campaigns and advocacy. As a ‘communications and uptake manger, I’m excited about the shift, and making the most of the amazing research that is done here.