Home

New Publication by Davison Muchadenyika

Davison Muchadenyika from Zimbabwe, PhD candidate at the South African - German Centre for Development Research, published a new paper titled 'Multi-Donor Trust Funds and Fragile States: Assessing the Aid Effectiveness of the Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust Fund'.

Research for this paper was largely conducted during Davison worked on his Master thesis for the Bochum Programme of Development Management at the University of the Western Cape.

IEE Working Paper vol. 211

Marc Hansen, Mohamed Conteh, Martina Shakya, and Wilhelm Löwenstein, three institute members and one of our alumni, worked together on the just published IEE Working Paper 211:

Determining Minimum Compensation for Lost Farmland: a theory-based impact evaluation of a land grab in Sierra Leone.

more info and download

New Publication by Raffael Beier

Beier, Raffael (2016): "Shifting Urban Policies in North Africa after the "Arab Spring" - Urgent Reaction or Real Changes?" (Diskussionspapiere Volkswirtschaft des Vorderen Orients, 113) Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag.

Social injustice, corrup­tion, an autho­ri­ta­rian rule of law and the growing contrasts between rich and poor have become parti­cu­larly evident in the Arab coun­tries’ largest metro­po­litan areas. Mirro­ring the contrast between global aspi­ra­tions and local chal­lenges, these “cities of extremes” have seen the emer­gence of gated communi­ties and urban flagship projects in the direct neigh­bour­hood of preca­rious informal sett­le­ments. Far too often, the region’s urban plan­ning is not demand-led, but rather driven by a centrally controlled real-estate market that feeds a hardly tran­s­pa­rent, rentier-based economic model. Conse­qu­ently, top-down plan­ning has often prio­ri­tised ambi­tious large-scale projects instead of decen­tra­lised and diffe­ren­tiated plan­ning solu­tions.

more info

New UA-Ruhr Study by Tobias Thürer

Tobias Thürer: Does speculation with agricultural commodity futures cause price bubbles in the event of negative production shocks? - Berlin: Logos Verl. - 220 S.
ISBN 978-3-8325-3876-7 (€ 42,00)

Since the mid 2000s, an increasing financialization of commodity futures markets is taking place. This has fueled an ongoing discussion about the effect of financial investments on the development of commodity prices. Against this background, the trading activities of financial speculators also come to the fore. There is the concern that such speculators can cause irrational overshootings of agricultural commodity prices, e.g. in the event of global production shocks. In such an event the decrease of total supply induces a price surge menacing food security in developing countries. Yet, the question emerges whether speculation aggravates this price increase, eventually inducing a price bubble. The relevance of this concern is reinforced by the fact that due to climate change an increased frequency and severity of global agricultural production shortfalls is at stake. If speculation evokes an additional threat to food security in the event of a production shock, the political agenda should not be confined to focus solely on the adaptation to climate change. Instead, it is then also necessary to address speculative activities on agricultural commodity markets. This book scrutinises whether speculative bubbles can be identified in the event of severe global production shocks. For this, a framework for tracing the transmission of the futures price's development on the spot market is developed. Using annual data from 1979-2012 for maize it is analysed whether production shock related price bubbles occurred.
more info

Conference on Social Protection Systems in Africa

From 10-11 November 2016, the Institute for Development Research and Development Policy (IEE) together with the Gesellschaft für afrikanisches Recht (African Law Association) will organize a conference on

"Law for Development: Strengthening Social Protection Systems in Africa"

Experts from both African and European research institutes will discuss the current challenges of Social Protection Law in African countries. The conference will be hosted by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in Berlin.

For more information on this event please see the Agenda and Logistical Information.

You can register for the conference until 28 October 2016 at Christiane Schwausch via E-Mail (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ).

Alumni conference 9-11 Nov. 2016

Doing Good with Business?
– Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Entrepreneurship, and Fair Trade –

Dear alumni,

the submission date for proposals for the upcoming alumni conference (9-11 Nov. 2016), titled "Doing Good with Business? – Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Entrepreneurship, and Fair Trade", has passed. The proposals are currently reviewed. Notifications will be sent out mid of September 2016.

The conference is hosted by the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy (IEE) in Bochum (Germany) and organised in collaboration with its partners from HTW Berlin, University of Leipzig, and University of Duisburg-Essen. Alumni of the MA programme in Development Management (MADM; IEE), the MA programme in International and Development Economics (MIDE; HTW Berlin), the Small Enterprise Promotion and Training Programme (SEPT; University of Leipzig), the MA programme in Development and Governance (Institute of Political Science (IfP); University of Duisburg-Essen), and the MA programme in International Relations and Development Policy (Institute for Development and Peace (INEF); University of Duisburg-Essen) are highly welcomed to submit proposals for participating at the conference. Selected participants who are international alumni of the cooperating institutions will receive funding for their flight and accommodation.

Please find more information in the call.

For further questions, please refer to the IEE (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ).

New Call for Scholarship Applications at the South African-German Centre for Development Research open until 15th July 2016

The Call for Applications for Master and PhD Scholarships is now open until 15th July 2016.
All applicants have to fill in an online application form.
Any applications sent via email or as a hard copy are not eligible!
Please go to the "How to apply" section of the respective programme you are interested in to get access to the online application form, or click here in order to get to the "How to apply page" directly:
- for the Master in Development Studies
- for the Master In Public Administration
- for the PhD in Development Studies or Public Policy

5th Annual International PhD Conference in International Development -- September 5th & 6th, 2016 -- University of East Anglia

more info and Call for Papers

Forced Displacement, Regional Politics and the Middle East Autumn School 2016, Lebanon 03-12 October 2016

Since the outbreak of the conflict in Syria in 2011 over 4.5 million people have fled the country to find safe havens in neighbouring countries, including Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. As of 2016 Lebanon is host to over 1 million Syrian refugees in addition to a population of over 400,000 Palestine refugees that have been living in a protracted refugee situation in the country.

Call for Application

Summer School for Asian Alumni

A summer school for Asian Alumni of Master programmes at German universities on "Reconciling biodiversity conservation and livelihood needs in protected area management in Nepal" will take place from September 19th to 30th 2016 in Kathmandu and Chitwan National Park in Nepal. For further information and details regarding the application process please refer to the attached call. Though the deadline of the call has expired, applications are still possible.

Call