SA-GER CDR: Research Fair of the DAAD Centres of African Excellence

Report about an online Research Fair called 'Past and Future Research for Inclusive and Sustainable Development‘

From September 28-30, 2021, members of the 12 DAAD Centres of African Excellence, experts from other related institutions,and colleagues from the DAAD joined an Online Research Fair called 'Past and Future Research for Inclusive and Sustainable Development‘, organized by the Centre for Development Research ZEF, Bonn University, and the DAAD West African Centre for Sustainable Rural Transformation. Many colleagues from both partners of the South African-German Centre for Development Research, the University of the Western Cape and the Ruhr-University Bochum contributed in several sessions. Dr. Anne Siebert and Prof. Julian May presented their research on “Continuing on the road to ending hunger in Africa: Exclusionary food systems and transformative attempts”. Dr. Christina Seeger presented her findings related to the topic of “Introducing certified safe cabbage into traditional food markets in Tamale, Ghana: actual buyer characteristics, market demand, producers’ profits and recommendations for the design of suitable certification schemes”, and Prof. Wilhelm Löwenstein gave a presentation on ”Eradicating absolute poverty through creating decent jobs?” related to his current research on economic growth in developing countries.

Britta Niklas, Anne Siebert, and Ruth Knoblich adding research topics to the digital pinboard

Overall, roughly 80 participants joined for the exchange and discussions of research and scientific projects taking place at the different Centres in order to explore potential synergies, particularly with a focus on opportunities within the new “Round Table Africa” initiative by the German Government. Participants enjoyed a rich and inspiring programme with lots of opportunities to get into discussions with colleagues about cross-cutting themes, forming a basis for further joint projects that will focus on five major research topics:

• Climate as a Dimension of Development Research
• Capacity Building: policy aspect
• Livelihood, (Un)Employment and Entrepreneurship,
• ICT, Data and Knowledge
• Transformation in Agriculture, Organizations and other.

Britta Niklas
SA-GER CDR Coordinator