Collective Action & Property Rights News

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

• CALL FOR CONSULTANTS: ILC global study on “Framing the Debates on Land Governance
• Deadline: November 13, 2009
• SCHOLARSHIPS: 20 PhD Positions for Students from Developing Countries
• Deadline: November 15, 2009
• SCHOLARSHIP: PhD Opportunity on International Forest Policy, Göttingen University (Germany)
• Deadline: 16 November 2009
• CALL FOR PAPERS: Climate Vulnerability and Adaptation (ICARUS)
• CALL: International Associations for the Study of the Commons USA Regional Meeting
• Deadline for abstracts: April 01, 2010.
• CALL: FEEM 20th Anniversary Prize in Environmental Economics
• Deadline for nominations: March 1, 2010
• FUNDING for TRAVEL: CIDA Conference Fund
• PUBLICATION: Successful Organizational Learning in the Management of Agricultural Research and Innovation

As part of an international joint doctoral programme of seven European Universities, Göttingen University is offering the opportunity for a PhD in the field of international forest policy, which is well-funded by the EU. Highly qualified PhD-candidates are sought for the topic "The international forest regime as driver for sustainable national forest policies". Key questions include (i) the manifestation of international forest-related commitments in national policy, (ii) the role of national administrations in the implementation of such commitments and (iii) options for strengthening their future impact. [more information]

Deadline: 16 November 2009

The International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) is offering 20 PhD Scholarship Positions for Students from DAC Countries beginning March 1st, 2010. ICDD is an interdisciplinary and international scientific network of excellence with the head office located at the University of Kassel, Germany and partner universities in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Under its Graduate School of Socio-Ecological Research for Development, ICDD invites applications for 20 PhD scholarship positions for students from developing countries at the following internationally renowned universities:

• 8 at the University of Kassel, Germany in the fields of political and agricultural science,
• 2 at the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS), India in the field of sociology,
• 2 at the Universidade Estaduale de Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil in the field of economics,
• 2 at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits), South Africa in the field of sociology,
• 2 at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), Pakistan in agricultural science,
• 2 at the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatan (UADY), Mexico in agricultural science, and
• 2 at Egerton University (EGU), Kenya in agricultural science.

[more information]

Deadline: November 15, 2009

The Secretariat of the International Land Coalition (ILC) is commissioning a global study entitled “Framing the Debates on Land Governance” (see ToR below). A consultant team of four (4) members (to be hired individually) will be responsible for the study. The task allocation among the four consultants is as follows:

• A Team Leader will be responsible for the Global Component of the Study and for the final synthesis report
• Each of the three (3) other consultants will be responsible for one regional component: Africa, Asia or Latin America.

[more information]

Deadline: November 13, 2009

A recent IFPRI publication uses the Mexican Produce Foundations (PF) as a case study to examine how an organization that manages public funds for research and extension can sustain organizational innovations over extended periods, and how it can learn and adapt to maximize its impact on the agricultural innovation system.

Previous studies found that human resources, organizational cultures and governance structures are three of the most important factors influencing institutional change and innovative capabilities. Despite their importance, these factors have been largely neglected in the literature on agricultural research and extension policies. This document analyzes what role these factors played in the Mexican experience.

The full report is available for download here.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of its foundation, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei will bestow the FEEM 20th Anniversary Prize in Environmental Economics. The Prize, which carries a monetary reward of € 10,000 (ten thousand euro), will be conferred on a researcher or a group of researchers from anywhere in the world who have most significantly contributed to the development of the field of environmental and resource economics over the 20 year period 1989 to 2009. [more information]

Deadline for nominations: March 1, 2010

The Initiative for Climate Adaptation Research and Understanding through the Social Sciences (ICARUS) invites your participation in two linked ICARUS workshops on vulnerability and adaptation. The first will be on ‘Climate Vulnerability and Adaptation: Theory and Cases’, to be held 11-13 February 2010 at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. The second will be on ‘Climate Vulnerability and Adaptation: Methods and Cases’, and will be held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, from 1-3 April 2010. Those interested in participating in the workshop and contributing papers on theories, frameworks, and empirical applications of the concepts of vulnerability and adaptation should submit their title, 150 word abstract, and contact information at the ICARUS website. [more information]

The Conference Fund of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) supports participation by eligible delegates at conferences that address topics of particular interest to CIDA. Conferences must directly support one or more of CIDA's program priorities (governance, health, basic education, private-sector development, and environmental sustainability, with gender equality as a cross-cutting theme), and seek to influence sustainable development in developing countries and/or countries in transition. In response to Agency requirements, the Conference Fund may favour conferences that address areas where CIDA is strengthening its programming. Conferences may be held in Canada or abroad.

The Conference Fund will support up to 33% of total conference costs, to a maximum of $200,000, towards the participation of eligible delegates. Please note that complete applications must be received no later than16 weeks before the conference begins. [more information]

The regional meeting of the US branch of the IASC will have as its theme “capturing the complexity of the commons” reflecting the increasing efforts to understand commons over time at multiple levels of scale. The goal is to foster more discussion and collaboration especially among US researchers working on commons from an interdisciplinary point of view. The meeting is scheduled for September 30 to October 2, 2010 at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, USA. Scholars from the natural and social sciences as well as humanities and arts are invited.

The conference is organized in 3 subthemes: (1) Complexity, (2) New Commons, and (3) Multiple Methods to Study the Commons. Proposals for panels, workshops, and individual papers relating to the three subthemes of the conference are welcome. [more information]

Deadline for abstracts: April 01, 2010.

• EMPLOYMENT: Amazon Watch Program Director
  • Deadline: open until filled
• EMPLOYMENT: Senior Land Tenure and Gender Expert (RDI)
  • Deadline: open until filled
• EMPLOYMENT: Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Nairobi
  • Deadline: October 30, 2009
• EMPLOYMENT: IFAD Evaluation Officer
  • Deadline: November 9, 2009
• FELLOWSHIP: REDD Research Fellow with CIFOR
  • Deadline: October 31, 2009
• FELLOWSHIPS: 2 Post-Doc Opportunities at IFPRI
  • Deadline: 1 position open until filled, 1 position deadline November 20, 2009
• DOCTORAL TRAINEESHIP: Applied Biodiversity Science, Texas A&M University
  • Deadline: January 20, 2010
• CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Swiss National Science Foundation/Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
  • Deadline: January 18, 2010
• CALL FOR PAPERS: Fourth World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists
  • Deadline: January 31, 2010
• BRIEF: Just Forest Governance: how small learning groups can have big impact

The Fourth World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE) will be held in Montreal, June 28 to July 2, 2010, on the campus of the Université du Québec à Montréal. The congress is a joint initiative of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE) and the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE). You are invited to submit theoretical and applied papers in all areas of environmental and natural resource economics for presentation at the world congress. Papers must be submitted through the conference website. [more information]

Deadline: January 31, 2010

IFAD seeks a Rome-based evaluation officer to contribute to enhancing IFAD’s overall development effectiveness by conducting rigorous and evidence-based high quality evaluations in line with international good practice. IFAD’s Office of Evaluation (OE) is independent from Management and reports directly to the Fund’s Executive Board. OE’s key purpose is to conduct evaluations of the Fund’s projects, programmes and strategies in line with internationally recognized evaluation principles. Foremost among these are independence, accountability, learning and partnership building. [more information]

Deadline: November 9, 2009

A recent brief by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) looks at how to use “learning groups” for effective forest management.

Forests are power bases, but often for the wrong people. As attention turns from making an international deal on REDD to making it work on the ground, the hunt will be on for practical ways of shifting power over forests towards those who enable and pursue sustainable forest-linked livelihoods. The Forest Governance Learning Group – an alliance active in Cameroon, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda and Vietnam – has developed practical tactics for securing safe space, provoking dialogue, building constituencies, wielding evidence and interacting politically. It has begun to have significant impacts. To deepen and widen those impacts, FGLG seeks allies.

[read the whole brief]

AGRA is currently seeking applications for two program officer positions to be based in its Nairobi, Kenya office.

1. Program Officer, Market Access Program, for the Southern Africa region.  The Program Officer will manage a significant budget to develop and implement a holistic and impact-driven strategy to link African smallholder farmers to markets and create opportunities for economic transactions that generate income.
2. Program Officer - Gender. The position will report to the President of AGRA and include a range of responsibilities relating to identifying gender knowledge needs and gaps in AGRA’s programs and developing and executing an overall strategic action plan for gender mainstreaming in consultation with AGRA stakeholders.

[more information on both positions]

Deadline (both positions): October 30, 2009