Thursday, November 19, 2009
This Week’s Posts
- EMPLOYMENT: Director, Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
- Deadline: November 20, 2009
- CALL FOR PAPERS: Human Migration and the Environment
- Deadline: December 11, 2009
- CALL FOR PRE-PROPOSALS: Postdoctoral Junior Fellowships for African Researchers (Volkswagen Foundation)
- Deadline: December 15, 2009
- PUBLICATION: Secure Land Rights as a Foundation for Broad-Based Rural Development in China
- PUBLICATION: Millions Fed: Proven Successes in Agricultural Development
- NEW BLOG: Another Countryside (PLAAS)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
PUBLICATION: Secure Land Rights as a Foundation for Broad-Based Rural Development in China
This paper summarizes the findings of a 2008 nationwide survey on farmers' land rights in China and describes the extensive implications of secure, long-term land rights.
Land is disproportionately valuable to poor households in the world. In China, it could hold the key to sustainable, broad-based development and lay the foundation for wealth-creation and empowerment for over 750 million rural people. Today, the countryside of China—where some three-fifths of the country resides—is lagging badly behind the urban sector by virtually every economic and social measure. A fundamental reason for the rural-urban disparity is that a majority of Chinese farmers do not have secure rights to the land that they farm. More than 40% of farmers lack any written documentation to confirm their land rights, and local governments can frequently take away or sell off farmers’ land rights using strong-arm methods. Where land rights have been implemented, however, Chinese farmers have a sense of security and are increasingly investing in their land and benefiting from market transfers reflecting a substantial land value. China can improve its legal regime for rural land rights by further improvements in the written legal framework and by implementing the existing laws on the ground.
Available for download here.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
PUBLICATION: Millions Fed: Proven Successes in Agricultural Development
A new IFPRI publication highlights 20 success stories in agricultural development.
Humanity has made enormous progress in the past 50 years toward eliminating hunger and malnutrition. Some five billion people--more than 80 percent of the world's population--have enough food to live healthy, productive lives. Agricultural development has contributed significantly to these gains, while also fostering economic growth and poverty reduction in some of the world's poorest countries.
This book examines how policies, programs, and investments in pro-poor agricultural development have helped to substantially reduce hunger across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The 20 success stories presented here provide both lessons and inspiration for continued efforts to eradicate hunger and malnutrition among the one billion people still facing this scourge.
The book is available for download or order here. More information, including booklets and video about Millions Fed, are available here.
CALL FOR PAPERS: Human Migration and the Environment
The editors of a special issue of Population and Environment seek a range of papers that examine human migration as related to environmental context. They do so with the aim of enhancing contemporary dialogue regarding the potential migratory impacts of environmental change. They aim for a collection of research representing both the “push” and the “pull” of environmental factors, as well as other complex dimensions of this association such as related to gender, social inequalities, environmental security, and food security. [more information]
Deadline: December 11, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
NEW BLOG: Another Countryside (PLAAS)
Another Countryside is the new Weblog page of researchers, staff and associates of the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa.
Because decisionmakers are not just those who are 'in power' as policy makers in the public and private sector, but every single person who has the capacity to think and act for themselves, we have created this space where we — and you — can speak and argue and debate about key issues relating to land and agrarian change in the subcontinent. Let us all imagine another countryside…
CALL FOR PRE-PROPOSALS: Postdoctoral Junior Fellowships for African Researchers (Volkswagen Foundation)
The Volkswagen Foundation has released a call for pre-proposals for postdoctoral junior fellowships for African researchers on "Resources, their Dynamics, and Sustainability - Capacity Development in Comparative and Integrated Approaches”. The Foundation's funding initiative, “Knowledge for Tomorrow – Cooperative Research Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa,” and this call for pre-proposals aim at providing sustainable support for research in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is to be achieved in cooperation between African and German scholars, and further partners, if necessary. The overall intention is to provide junior scholars in Africa with opportunities to enhance their skills and academic qualifications, and thus to open up perspectives for the best of them to stay in academia. Besides this Afro-German cooperation, a second focus lies on the development and extension of academic networks in Africa. [more information]
Deadline: December 15, 2009
EMPLOYMENT: Director, Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) is seeking to recruit its Director. The post is restricted to nationals from the Eastern Africa Region of the ACP States. CTA is an ACP-EU organisation established under the Lomé Convention, now succeeded by the Cotonou Agreement, between the EU and 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states. CTA’s tasks are to develop and provide services that improve access to information for agricultural and rural development, and to strengthen the capacity of ACP countries to produce, acquire, exchange and utilise information in these areas. The Centre is based in Wageningen (The Netherlands). [more information]
Deadline: November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
This Week’s Posts
- EMPLOYMENT: IDRC Senior Program Officer – Agriculture and Food Security
- Deadline: November 15, 2009
- CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Scaling-up Grassroots Approaches for Improving Secure Access to Land and Housing
- Deadline: December 1, 2009
- CALL FOR PROPOSALS: International Indigenous Women’s Forum
- Deadline: January 15, 2010.
- Graduate Programs in Development Studies at China Agricultural University
- Deadline for Chinese Government Scholarship: January 5, 2010
- Deadline for Admissions: April 30, 2010
- REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS: International Research Initiative on Adaptation to Climate Change (IDRC)
- Deadline: January 7, 2010
- PUBLICATION: Community forestry in Nepal
- PUBLICATION: Are Farmers’ Organizations a Good Tool to Improve Small-Scale Farmers’ Welfare?
CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Scaling-up Grassroots Approaches for Improving Secure Access to Land and Housing
In many countries, laws and policies exist that have the potential to enhance secure access to land for poor women and men. These laws relate to issues such as adequate housing and freedom from eviction, land reform and access to all land-based resources. They relate to cross-cutting issues such as the rights of women and marginalized groups to freedom from discrimination in relation to land and housing. However, very often the implementation of these laws and policies is weak because governments lack the necessary expertise, resources or political will.
But many solutions to these problems are being developed by grassroots organizations and other civil society organizations that work closely with grassroots communities. These grassroots approaches are based upon the mobilization of grassroots groups to fill the gap left by government. But grassroots civil society often faces difficulties in replicating and scaling up these approaches beyond small-scale, local initiatives.
In 2010, the Global Land Tools Network, in partnership with the Hakijamii Trust, Huairou Commision, International Land Coalition and Slum/Shack Dwellers International, will provide small grants support for the scaling up of innovative, participatory approaches to improving the secure access of poor women and men to land and housing.
Deadline: December 1, 2009
PUBLICATION: Community forestry in Nepal
A New IFPRI discussion paper examines “Community forestry in Nepal: a policy innovation for local livelihoods”.
The Community Forestry Program in Nepal is a global innovation in participatory environmental governance that encompasses well-defined policies, institutions, and practices. The program addresses the twin goals of forest conservation and poverty reduction. As more than 70 percent of Nepal’s population depends on agriculture for their livelihood, community management of forests has been a critically important intervention. Through legislative developments and operational innovations over three decades, the program has evolved from a protection-oriented, conservation-focused agenda to a much more broad-based strategy for forest use, enterprise development, and livelihood improvement. By April 2009, one-third of Nepal’s population was participating in the program, directly managing more than one-fourth of Nepal’s forest area.
The immediate livelihood benefits derived by rural households bolster strong collective action wherein local communities actively and sustainably manage forest resources. Community forests also became the source of diversified investment capital and raw material for new market-oriented livelihoods. Community forestry shows traits of political, financial, and ecological sustainability, including emergence of a strong legal and regulatory framework, and robust civil society institutions and networks. However, a continuing challenge is to ensure equitable distribution of benefits to women and marginalized groups. Lessons for replication emphasize experiential learning, establishment of a strong civil society network, flexible regulation to encourage diverse institutional modalities, and responsiveness of government and policymakers to a multistakeholder collaborative learning process.
The paper is available here.
Graduate Programs in Development Studies at China Agricultural University
China Agricultural University (Beijing-based) is recruiting students for the international Master and Ph.D Programs in Development Studies. The program is in English, and the students who are accepted have chances to be awarded the China Government Scholarship. Admissions and scholarship information is available on the CAU website.
Deadline for Chinese Government Scholarship: January 5, 2010
Deadline for Admissions: April 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS: International Research Initiative on Adaptation to Climate Change (IDRC)
The International Development Research Centre, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada are partners in this funding opportunity to support research and networking on the adaptation to climate change in Canada and in low and middle income countries.
Adaptation to climate change is a shared challenge that presents a unique opportunity for collaborative and comparative research to advance knowledge, shape policy and programs, mentor students and facilitate networks. Adaptation is the adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic conditions or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities.
This Initiative will support the formation of multinational teams from Canada and from low and middle income countries, who will develop networks and programs of research. Successful applicants will initiate interdisciplinary and multisectoral collaborations with researchers, communities, practitioners and policy-makers in Canada and around the globe.
Deadline: January 7, 2010
CALL FOR PROPOSALS: International Indigenous Women’s Forum
The International Indigenous Women’s Forum (IIWF/FIMI) in its commitment to the empowerment of Indigenous women’s human rights and Indigenous peoples’ collective human rights around the world, has opened the first Indigenous Women’s Fund Call for Proposals. Proposals should be innovative, sustainable and will promote the Indigenous principle of ¨good living¨ on the foundation of Free, Prior and Informed Consent. The priority areas of the Indigenous Women’s Fund are:
- Educational Empowerment
- Economic Empowerment
- Political Participation
- Institutional Strengthening
For the first grant cycle, proposal budgets must not exceed $5,000 USD. Application requirements, information, and guidelines are available on the IIWF website.
Deadline: January 15, 2010.
PUBLICATION: Are Farmers’ Organizations a Good Tool to Improve Small-Scale Farmers’ Welfare?
A new paper by M.E. Bachke uses evidence from Mozambique to analyze welfare impacts of membership in farmers’ organizations.
This paper examines the hypothesis that farmers’ organisations act as a tool to improve the living conditions of farmers in poor countries, both by improving their market situation and enhancing the dissemination of information. In this context, the paper estimates the causal effect on small-scale farmers’ income from being member in a farmers’ organisation in Mozambique.
The paper finds that membership might have a positive effect on income from animal production and that it is contributing to the overall effect on agricultural profits. Nevertheless, for the sales value of plant production the results are somewhat opposite those from animal production.
The paper concludes that:
- farmers’ organisations are a good tool to enhance small-scale farmers’ welfare
- for this reason, supporting farmers’ organisations is an efficient policy to reduce poverty among small-scale farmers, and these efforts should be strengthened
Yet, the paper underlines that there are questions that still need to be addressed to give policy makers more detailed policy advice on how to best support of farmers’ organisations, beyond the fact that it is working.
The paper is available here. (.pdf)
Friday, November 06, 2009
EMPLOYMENT: IDRC Senior Program Officer – Agriculture and Food Security
The Canadian International Food Security (CIFS) Research Fund is a collaborative program of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). It will finance applied research initiatives that seek to solve immediate and concrete food security challenges on the ground in the developing world. The CIFS Research Fund will focus on developing quality applied breakthrough solutions, and will seek to maximize the breadth and potential impact of the research by supporting a variety of research initiatives. A primary feature of the CIFS Research Fund will be partnerships between research organizations in Canada and in the developing world.
Based in Ottawa, Canada and reporting to the Program Leader, the Senior Program Officer’s role is to develop projects within the priority areas by reviewing, developing, monitoring, managing and evaluating research projects; and liaising and maintaining productive working relationships with partners, researchers and government institutions. [more information]
Deadline: November 15, 2009
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