Doing Research on Africa - Web

The Partnership for Higher Education in Africa

Wonderful resource for where to start your research in Africa. They also have a starting point if you are searching for a Regional Network in Africa within your field or Grant opportunities (mainly American foundations).

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Sustainable Agriculture

Deadline May 1, 2007

Applications are now being accepted for a 2-year fellowship, valued at CDN$35,000 per year, tenable in the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Macdonald Campus, McGill University. The competition is intended for new incoming candidates to the university. The successful candidate will conduct postdoctoral research in the area of sustainable agriculture under the supervision of a professor in one of the Faculty’s academic units. The proposed research would address themes such as food quality and safety, nutrition and health, biosciences, bioproducts and biotechnology, bioresource and environmental engineering, conservation and the environment.

For more information, click below:

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Sustainable Agriculture [.pdf]

2007 International Essay Competition - CIPE

Center for International Private Enterprise hosts an essay contest under categories of:

Citizenship in a Democratic Society
Educational Reform and Employment Opportunities
Entrepreneurship and Leadership

Formatting Guidelines

• All essays must be written in English.
• All essays must be original and unpublished.
• Word count: 2,000-4,000.
• Indicate the essay's category on the cover page.
• Provide full contact info on the cover page, including citizenship.

Deadline

All essays must be submitted by May 31, 2007.

How to Submit

• E-mail a copy of the essay as a .pdf file or MS Word document to essay@cipe.org.
• An e-mail will be sent confirming receipt of the submission.
• For more information, click here.
  

2007 Summer School on "Inequality, Growth and Human Development"

Unicredit Foundation, the University of Florence and the European Development Network (EUDN).

Civita Castellana (Viterbo), 1-6 July 2007

The Summer School will provide an advanced training to some 20 young
academics, PhD students or middle level practitioners from developing
and advanced countries with specific academic training, experience and
interest in the topics of the summer school. The Summer School is fully
financed and will be held in Civita Castellana (about an hour from Rome)
between 1 and 6 July 2006. On-line and paper applications (see below)
should be submitted by 15 April, and those accepted will be notified by
11 May 2007.

Application Instructions

Online Application Form

Background Information

Job Posting: Global HIV and AIDS Programme Advisor - Pretoria

International relief organisation, Oxfam, seeks a suitably trained individual to take up the role of Global HIV and AIDS Programme Advisor in South Africa's capital city, Pretoria.

Duties include working from Oxfam's Global Centre of Learning on HIV/AIDS and helping programme managers develop and deliver strategic and high quality anti-AIDS programmes.

The successful candidate will also help ensure that individual country and regional strategies directly address the local situation and are aligned to the overall Oxfam approach.

To find out more and to apply online visit www.oxfam.org.uk/jobs quoting ref: INT2109.

Application deadline: 12 March, 2007

Local Economic Development....Problems of and by democracy

Local Economic development (LED) has become the "new" development model after impasse of the traditional forms of development. While the wave of a 'new development paradigm' seems to drive processes and goals of all levels of governments, it appears that development requires a particular system for successful implementation. It is currently unclear as to whether public bureaucratic system which has almost become a synonym to government is a capable vehicle to implement local development which is participatory, relevant and sustainable.

In this case, it still remains to be proven that democratization has really taken place in many governments, not the least developing countries. The discussions and debates around bureaucratization and democratization-how they should be conceptualized implemented - have not been given adequate attention in public conversation. The kind of forces that are intrinsic in each of these systems need to be made explicit, and related to sustainable livelihoods kind of development. This is a gap that seem to exist in the "new" development model, LED.

In South Africa LED has become a contested space, with tensions and pressures between the government and intended beneficiaries. service delivery related protests between 2004 and 2005 financial year South Africa's ministry of safety and security reported 5085 legal protests (averaging 16 per day) and 881 illegal protests ( (Atkinson in 2007 State of the Nation, 2006:58, Bond and Chitonge, 2007:1). These protests fly over performance awards to municipalities. The question then becomes, whose development, how, by who and with who...

In Kenya the concept of decentralization of both governance and development seem to apparently translate to tribalism, nepotism, and other ugly faces of a bureaucratic system.

Thus questions and problems exist in LED conceptualization and implementation. My Masters dissertation focuses on South Africa's eThekwini (Metro) municipality, investigating how LED is operationalised. Whether outcome indicators exist, and if so, who sets these indicators on basis of what. The themes that recur in my research will be sustainable livelihoods, LED, Integrated Development Plans (IDP), and outcomes. Indispensable themes that cushion the project will be participatory methodology of economic development.

Jason-School of Development Studies, UKZN South Africa