DevNet connects academics, students and development practitioners to facilitate the exchange of ideas, information and research.
The Aotearoa New Zealand International Development Studies Network links people and organisations involved and interested in the broad field of international development in Aotearoa New Zealand and the wider world…
DevNet’s conferences have been held biennially since 1998. Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest, regular conference on international development, provides a great opportunity for people from Aotearoa, the Pacific and others to learn from each other and from international experts. Keynote speakers have…
eSocSci is an interactive knowledge space for communicating social science research and bringing together people who have common research interests in Aotearoa New Zealand. It includes an eLibrary of working papers on topic related to a variety of topics including migration, health, education…
Director of the Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, MA, USA
Director of the Governance and Civil Society Unit at the Ford Foundation
Economics Nobel prize won by academics for tackling poverty
Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Michael Kremer ‘dramatically improved’ practical solutionsCheck out what Jojo Woodham from Victoria University of Wellington got up to thanks to her Field Research Award from New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade! Her topic is 'From Dumpsite to Landfill: navigating social inclusion within solid waste management in Dili, Timor-Leste'
"Flying into Dili, Timor-Leste’s capital, you might see smoke rising from the west. This is Tibar dumpsite, Timor-Leste’s official waste disposal site. I took this picture on my first site-visit, but the smoke is a daily occurrence. The people in the photo are burning rubbish to expose scrap-metal, which is then stockpiled and sold to a dealer. In a way, these waste-workers provide a public service; reducing the volume of waste and facilitating recycling. Dumpsites like Tibar are not uncommon in developing countries, yet they pose severe environmental and public health risks - this was very much evident from my site-visits to Tibar. You can feel the smoke in your eyes.
The Timorese government is currently looking to upgrade Tibar to a controlled landfill. Elsewhere, waste-workers are excluded from this process, governments typically prohibit waste-workers’ access to their livelihoods. Guided by environmental justice, my research looks at balancing social inclusion with improved environmental outcomes in Dili’s dumpsite-to-landfill transition.
Are you doing Master's or PhD research on development-related topics at a NZ university in 2020? Check out the links below to see if you're eligible for a MFAT Field Research Award! Please spread the word...
Thanks to a Field Research Award from New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Cristine Werle of Institute of Development Studies at Massey was able to do fascinating fieldwork on the Cuban scheme to train medical doctors - "The gift of health: Cuban medical cooperation in Kiribati"
Cristine (centre of photo, long hair) writes: "I recently spent a month in Tarawa talking to the community and the incredibly resilient Cuban-trained doctors featured in the picture. My main interest was to investigate how the public health driven medicine practised by Cuba is translated by these doctors in the Pacific context, where a lot of disease is preventable. With insufficient workers and high demand for specialised care, Kiribati’s health system is largely curative, meaning that Cuban-trained doctors struggle to make the transition and that their knowledge about prevention is under-explored". Massey University
Weldone!
Bravooo
Continuing our series celebrating New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Field Research Award recipients, here is what Ruby McGruddy, Master of International Development student Massey University Institute of Development Studies at Massey found when examining
- Natural disasters, mental health and service responses: A case study of the 2009 Samoan tsunami.
“Fieldwork in Samoa really helped me to better understand the local context, both culturally and geographically. Seeing the landscape of Aleipata, the region worst affected by the 2009 tsunami, was eye opening. Nothing you read can compare to standing on the coast with the hills behind you and imagining the sheer terror that must have overcome the people of this region when the tsunami hit. However, faith and strong familial and communal ties provide an invaluable source of resilience. Coming together, sharing stories and finding humour in even the worst situations are just some of the ways that the Samoan people supported psycho-social wellbeing in the wake of a disaster”.
Great news! @MFATgovtNZ have now advertised Field Research Awards for 2020. Are you a Master's or PhD student in a NZ university planning to do development fieldwork in 2020? Check out if you're eligible for this funding!
Applications are due 9 December.
https://t.co/vhXUfqGyBS.
