ISS IN 2013 ANNUAL REPORT IN BRIEF
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Also in this issue: • What are the BRICS to the ISS? • Social Impact @ Sciences: Why Does Science Matter? • ISS Alumni Ambassadors • DevISSues Readers’ Survey
DevISSues DevelopmentISSues
Volume16/Number2/July 2014
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From the Editorial Board For this DevISSues we decided to turn introspective and take a look at ourselves – both at DevISSues the journal and at ISS itself. For a while now we’ve been considering the format and layout of DevISSues and have decided that now is the time to get you, the reader, involved as well. We feel DevISSues could do with both a new look and a new focus – a different emphasis on what we share. We have our own ideas of what this focus should be of course, but before we do anything we need and want to know your opinion. That is why in this edition you will find a link to a short online questionnaire in which you can tell us exactly what it is you do and don’t like about DevISSues, and of course your ideas on how we can improve it: www.iss.nl/devissues_survey In terms of taking a look at ISS, this edition includes the main elements of our 2013 Annual Report. As the ISS rector, Professor Leo de Haan, states in his interview in this issue, 2013 was a year of repositioning for ISS and we want to share this with you. Internally we went through a reorganization which inevitably had its effect on staff and students and on the institute as a whole. In terms of our research and teaching, ISS consolidated many changes last year. Our four new research programmes really took off, with publications, projects, conferences and seminars showcasing the societal relevance of ISS research. Likewise, our restructured MA programme, with five Majors and the possibility to specialize further, completed its first academic year in 2013. The general response from students to this new structure has been overwhelmingly positive. We have also included two articles which highlight ISS research and its societal impact. In his article on ISS research and the BRICS, senior lecturer Lee Pegler considers the growth of the BRICS and their changing relationship with traditional donor and recipient countries and how the ISS research programmes focus on this changing relationship. And in their joint article on the social impact of research, Peter van Bergeijk and Linda Johnson consider the discussions and conclusions of an international symposium on research valorization held at ISS in May this year. They highlight the changes ISS research needs to make in order to do what ISS aspires to do, namely ‘…build bridges between academia and society’. In this issue we also focus on our alumni, and in particular on our new alumni ambassador programme. We hear from 15 recent MA graduates who were selected at the end of 2013 to act as ISS Ambassadors in their home countries. Their work highlights the important role of ISS alumni, all ISS alumni, in introducing ISS to potential students and funding agencies. Especially in the current economic climate in which funding is becoming more difficult to find, their role is of paramount importance. We hope you enjoy this somewhat introspective DevISSues and that you will be able to take the time to fill in our short questionnaire so that we can be sure the journal truly provides what you, our readers, want to read. Thank you, DevISSues editorial board
Annual Report 2013 Annual Report International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague
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The full Annual Report is available for download at www.iss.nl/ annualreport2013
ISS is the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam
ISS is the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam
Contents
Page 4 / ISS in 2013 - Annual Report in Brief Page 12 / What are the BRICS to the ISS? Lee Pegler Page 13 / Alumni News Page 14 / ISS Alumni Ambassadors - Spreading the ISS Word! Page 16 / Some Recent Publications by ISS staff and PhD Researchers Page 17 / Virtual Open Day – ISS from the Comfort of your Own Home Aleksandra Stuip Page 18 / Social Impact @ Sciences: Why Does Science Matter? Peter van Bergeijk and Linda Johnson Page 20 / ISS News Page 21 / DevISSues Readers’ Survey Page 22 / ISS Alumni Meetings and Potential Student Walk-in Sessions Page 23 / Working Papers Page 24 / Development and Change
The views expressed in DevISSues are those of the original authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute. The online versions of all articles with full bibliography can be found at www.iss.nl/devissues
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ISS in 2013 Annual Report in Brief Interview with Professor Leo de Haan, ISS Rector In many ways 2013 can be considered a year of repositioning for ISS. We ran the new Majors in our MA programme for the first time, and the first responses from students are very positive. The new Majors still give students the opportunity to specialize if they wish but are also an attractive proposition for those who want a broader study programme. 2013 was also the first full year in which the four new Research programmes were operational. These programmes were designed to create more focus and cohesion so as to better position our research activities and increase our success rate in gaining much-needed external funding. RESTRUCTURING SUPPORT STAFF ISS is facing financial challenges, as further cuts have been announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2013 we completed an internal reorganization of our support services in order to increase efficiency and reduce costs. I am very happy that we were able to avoid compulsory redundancies. I feel confident that the new structure will give us the basis we need for the challenges ahead. MA AND PHD PROGRAMMES The number of PhD researchers increased considerably in 2013. Our next step will be to expand supervisory capacity to make sure that quality supervision is available. We are also working to build strong networks with others outside the institute. The establishment of double degree
programmes at both PhD and MA level is a good example of that. All PhD candidates are embedded in a research programme to ensure that they will have an intellectual home for the duration of their stay at ISS. The MA programme in Development Studies remains an important part of what we do. We have started to diversify this part of our teaching programme by creating different pathways for students. The Repoa model is a good example: students from Tanzania do part of their training in Tanzania so that their period of residence in The Hague can be reduced from 15.5 months to one year. AGENDA FOR DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION We have a strong relationship with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in particular with the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. After a round of breakfast meetings on the future of development cooperation, an important conference on the future of international cooperation was held at ISS in early 2013. The participants came from a wide range of organizations: from the WTO and the African Development Bank to universities and ministries, NGOs and the private sector. Minister Lilianne Ploumen attended the conference and was most appreciative of the ‘building blocks’ we offered to provide input for her new policy. In my view, ISS has had a clear influence on this policy, especially when it comes to the importance of inclusive develop ment– development for many. We are working hard to increase our impact on the role of the private sector in develop ment. Our aim is to push private sector initiatives in the direction of inclusive growth, for example through social responsibility.
COOPERATION WITH OTHERS We work with universities and research institutes in other parts of the world, concentrating on the development of collaborative teaching programmes and providing access to PhD level education for partner institutes wishing to offer advanced development opportunities to their staff and students.
ISS events in 2013 CONFERENCE THE FUTURE OF INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION In March 2013 ISS hosted a conference on the Future of International Co-operation in close co-operation with SID (Society for International Development), FMO (Netherlands Development Finance Company) and NCDO, the Dutch expertise and advisory centre for citizenship and international co-operation. HONORARY DOCTORATE FOR PROFESSOR ROBERT CHAMBERS
On the 100th anniversary of Erasmus University Rotterdam, Professor Robert Chambers was awarded an Honorary Doctorate during the centennial’s official celebration at the Dies Natalis in November 2013.
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SEMINAR ON CHALLENGES AND POTENTIALS OF AFRICAN ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION: CAN ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION BE INCLUSIVE? On the occasion of the launch of the African Transformation report, the African Center for Economic Transfor mation (ACET) in collaboration with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ISS held a seminar on 13 June 2013.
ISS AND NUFFIC CELEBRATE 60 YEARS OF CO-OPERATION
Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador) and LIDEMA (Bolivia). In addition, Murat Arsel and Lorenzo Pellegrini were awarded a grant by the Rockefeller Foundation to host a workshop for academics and representatives of civil society working on extractive industries in Latin America. PRESENTATION OECD REPORT TOGETHER WITH FMO
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INDONESIA DEVELOPMENT The International Conference on Indonesia Development 2013 was organized by Indonesian students at ISS. The conference was designed as a hub for Indonesian scholars, policy-makers, professionals and the public and aimed to create a ‘blueprint’ of an ideal Indonesian development. One on the keynote speakers was Lilianne Ploumen, Minister for Development and International Co-operation of the Netherlands. DICK DE ZEEUW LECTURE: FOOD IS A SERIOUS ISSUE
Leo de Haan receives the watercolour of Noordeinde Palace from Nuffic’s new Director, Freddy Weima. The Artwork by Jan Verschueren presented by Leo de Haan is in the background.
In 2013 ISS and Nuffic celebrated 60 years of cooperation. Although there is no formal organizational link between the organizations, they cooperate closely on the Niche, NFP and other programmes. NEW PRINCE CLAUS CHAIRHOLDER: JUMOKE ODUWOLE
In July the OECD report Perspectives on Global Development 2013: Industrial Policies in a Changing World was presented at ISS. Speakers were Nanno Kleiterp, CEO of FMO, Leo de Haan, Rector of the ISS, Annalisa Primi, lead economist at OECD, Henri-Bernard Solignac-Lecomte, Head of the Europe, Middle East and Africa Unit of OECD, Robert Dijksterhuis, Strategic Policy Advisor Directorate Africa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Peter Knorringa, ISS professor in Private Sector & Development. HEALTH INSURANCE AND ACCESS TO HEALTH
On 5 September 2013 Professor Louise O. Fresco gave the annual Dick de Zeeuw lecture, entitled Food is a Serious Issue. She spoke about how consumers are becoming increasingly worried about food safety and large-scale industrial production. DIES NATALIS ISS On the occasion of the 61st birthday of ISS, celebrated on 8 October 2013, Alan F. Fowler, Professor of Civil Society and International Development, delivered his valedictory lecture entitled Civic Driven Change: Where From, Where Now, Where Next.
Dr Jumoke Oduwole from Nigeria was appointed to the Prince Claus Chair in 2013. She will hold this position for a period of two years, working on research on The Right to Development.
Research NATIONALIZATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES, COOPERATION AND CONFLICT IN LATIN AMERICA Dr Murat Arsel and Dr Lorenzo Pellegrini submitted a successful project proposal to NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) to upscale the ‘Nationalization of natural Resources, Cooperation and Conflict in Latin America’ project. Partners in the project are Hivos (the Netherlands and Bolivia),
A symposium on Health Insurance and Access to Health was jointly organized by Partos (umbrella organization for international cooperation) and the Netherlands Health Insurance Platform for the Poor (HIP) in July 2013, supported by the Prince Claus Chair in Development and Equity and ISS. The purpose of the symposium was to exchange knowledge on new developments in health financing and access to health care in developing countries.
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NEW RESEARCH CENTRE ON ‘FRUGAL INNOVATION IN AFRICA’
food and energy crises, the emergence of new hubs of global capital, and demographic transitions, the programme pays particular attention to how agrarian, food and environmental policies shape the political economy of rural areas and their social policies, population and gender dynamics.
Cooperation between the Universities of Leiden and Delft, and Erasmus (LDE) with ISS taking a leading role. The main question for this new research centre is about the conditions under which frugal innovations are more likely to offer development opportunities for producers and consumers in Africa.
CIVIC INNOVATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE (CIRI)
Research programmes
GOVERNANCE, GLOBALIZATION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE (GGSJ)
In 2013, ISS reorganized and strength ened its research activities across four themes. These are organized into four research programmes: • Economics of Development and Emerging Markets • Governance, Globalization and Social Justice • Political Economy of Resources, Environment and Population • Civic Innovation Research Initiative
The Governance, Globalization and Social Justice research programme aims to produce internationally leading, socially committed and societally relevant research outcomes on issues of governance, explicitly from the perspective of social justice. More specifically, the faculty and PhD members of the research programme study how and to what extent particular gover nance arrangements help or hinder the achievement of social justice goals.
ECONOMICS OF DEVELOPMENT AND EMERGING MARKETS (EDEM) The point of departure of the Econo mics of Development and Emerging Markets research programme is the observation that three-quarters of the global poor are not in developing countries but in emerging markets. This challenges the traditional concepts of development, including poverty reduction targets and other Millennium Development Goals. 2013 achievements include 3 major grants, 7 A journal articles, increased supervision of an additional 11 PhD students, significant success in publica tions during the PhD trajectory.
In 2013, the programme started research activities in three main areas: 1. Climate change governance 2. The political economy of crises: Continuity and change 3. Migration and social justice POLITICAL ECONOMY OF RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENT AND POPULATION (PER) The Political Economy of Resources, Environment and Population research programme investigates the ways in which resource scarcities are created and contested, particularly in contexts of unequal access, poverty and social exclusion. Within the framework of climate change and environmental,
KidsRights Index In November 2013 ISS presented the first Kids Rights Index. This index is the first to provide insight into how countries all over the world score in the field of implementing children’s rights in five different domains: the right to life, health, education, protection and child rights environment.
The Civic Innovation Research Initiative is a research programme exploring how organizations and individuals mobilize to change their societies. It focuses on how they co-shape political, economic and cultural trends in pursuing the common interest whilst respecting differences. The faculty and PhD researchers look beyond development theories and policy frameworks which tend to emphasize structure, or actors them selves that overly stress the key role of charismatic change agents. The programme aims to build up a vibrant intellectual home that can take on board both academic and activist concerns relating to citizenship struggles and identities. This approach relates to civil action for generational and gender equality, for democratic rights, and for economic justice in development.
ISS PhD Programme ISS offers a 4-year PhD programme which includes course work and on average one year of fieldwork. By 31 December 2013 there were 97 PhD researchers enrolled in the PhD programme.
11 th Development Dialogue BRIDGING VOICES The Development Dialogue organized annually by ISS PhD researchers, aims to exchange the results of recent and ongoing research by young scholars and doctoral candi dates. In 2013 the event hosted more than 30 international speakers, with the aim of opening both formal and informal spaces for all to contribute to the debate of bridging voices in development.
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PUBLIC DEFENCES 2013 Name
ISS promotor
Country
Thesis title
Date
Shyamika JayasundaraSmits
Salih
Sri Lanka
In Pursuit of Hegemony: Politics and State Building in Sri Lanka
23 May 2013
Sandra Sunanto
Van Dijk
Indonesia
The effects of modern food retail development on consumers, producers, wholesalers and traditiÂonal retailers: the case of West Java
10 September 2013
Agnes Corradi
Helmsing
Brazil
Evolution of business start-ups in southeastern Brazil: pathways of learning
18 September 2013
Richard Ameyan Ampadu
White
Ghana
20 September 2013 Finding the middle ground: tenure reforms and land claims negotiability in rural Ghana
Holly Alexandra Ritchie (cum laude)
Helmsing
UK
Negotiating Tradition, Power and Fragility in Afghanistan. Institutional Innovation and Change in Value Chain Development
PhD programme PhD programme PhD programme PhD defences end of 2013 FrewtoMengistu Van Dijk PhD defencesPhD to end of 2013 defences to end of 2013 Number of Number with Number of Number Number of with Number with defences Distinction defences Distinction defences Distinction 2010 and before de Boer 106 Diederik Van 6Dijk 2010 and before 106 2010 and before 106 6 6 2011 8 2011 8 2011 8 2012 11 2012 11 2012 11 2013 7 1 2013 7 2013 7 1 1 Total 132 7 Total PHD PROGRAMME 132 Total 132 7 7
Gender of PhD researchers Ethiopia Institutional interfaces and actors’ Gender of PhD researchers Gender of PhD researchers behaviour in transitional real31estate 31 markets of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
The Netherlands
26 September 2013
19 December 2013 31
Local Sustainable Development and Conservation? Research into Three Types of Tourism Partnerships in Tanzania
19 December 2013
PhD programme PhD programme
A total of 26 PhD researchers A total of 26programme PhD researchers A total of 26 PhD researchers per research programme PhD defences to end of 2013 entered the in PhD 2013researchers of researchers 2013 PhDper PhD research programme entered the programme 2013 researchers per research programme entered theinprogramme in 2013 PhD defences to end Number of Number with Distinction Number of defences Number with
defences 2010 and before 2011 2010 and before
2011 2012 2013 Total
2012 2013
106
8
8
11
11
Total
106 Distinction
7
A total of 26 PhD researchers 132 entered the programme in 2013
6
6
7 132
Gender of PhD researchers
Gender of PhD researchers
1
1 7
7
PhD researchers per research programme
17 Researchers, full-time, resident 25 Economics of Development and 17 Researchers,17 full-time, resident Emerging Markets Researchers, full-time, resident 25 Economics of Development 25 Economics ofand Development and A total of 26 PhD researchers 7 Researchers, part-time Emerging Markets Emerging Markets 7 Researchers,7part-time Globalization and Social Justice Researchers, part-time PhD researchers per research programme entered the programme28in Governance, 2013 1 Researcher, full-time, non-resident 28 Governance, Social Justice 28Globalization Governance,and Globalization and Social Justice 1 Researcher, 1full-time, non-resident 24 Political Economy of Resources, Environment Researcher, full-time, non-resident 1 Researcher, late entry (started at other and Population 24 Political Economy of Resources, 24 Political EconomyEnvironment of Resources, Environment institutes but doing finallate phase and 1 Researcher, entrythe (started atentry other 1late Researcher, (started at other and Population and Population public defence at ISS) institutes but doing the fi nal phase and institutes but doing the final phase and 19 Civic Innovation Research Initiative public defence at ISS) defence at ISS) public 19 Civic Innovation Research Initiative 19 Civic Innovation Research Initiative
03 Annual_Report_2013_print.indd 31
17 Researchers, full-time, resident
03 Annual_Report_2013_print.indd 31 3977.1003 Annual_Report_2013_print.indd 31
7
Researchers, part-time
1
Researcher, full-time, non-resident
1
Researcher, late entry (started at other institutes but doing the final phase and 17 Researchers, full-time, resident public defence at ISS)
7
Researchers, part-time
1
Researcher, full-time, non-resident
21-07-14 14:20 21-07-14 14:20
25
of Development and Emerging Markets
28
Governance, Globalization and Social Justice
24
Political Economy of Resources, Environment and Population
Economics 21-07-14 14:20
25
Economics of Development and
28
Governance, Globalization and Social Justi
24
Political Economy of Resources, Environme
19 Emerging Civic Innovation Research Initiative Markets
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The PhD researchers are all integrated into one of the research programmes, providing an intellectual home as well as an organizational home. RESEARCH SEMINARS ISS hosts two kinds of research seminars: Development Research Seminars (DRS) present cutting-edge research on development studies by noted scholars from around the world. In 2013 the DRS included seminars organized by the newly-formed Sexuality Research Initiative (SRI). Its Why Sex Counts series of seminars aimed to readdress what sexuality and sex mean, not just as a subtext to development but as an important entry point through which to understand development studies. Research in Progress Seminars (RIPS) provide an informal venue for presen tations of ongoing research by ISS scholars and other scholars from the wider development studies community. In 2013 ISS hosted around 40 RIPS on a wide range of development related topics.
MUNDUS MAPP The Erasmus Mundus Master in Public Policy is a Joint Master. A two-year programme, offered by a consortium consisting of the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary (coordinator), the University of York in the United Kingdom, the Barcelona Institute for International Relations (IBEI) in Barcelona, Spain and ISS.
• Civic Activism, measuring use of media and protest behaviour. • Clubs and Associations, defined as membership in local voluntary associations. • Intergroup Cohesion, which measures ethnic and sectarian tensions, and discrimination. • Interpersonal Safety and Trust, focusing on perceptions and incidences of crime and personal transgressions. • Gender Equality, reflecting gender discrimination in home, work and public life. • Inclusion of Minorities, measures levels of discrimination against vulnerable groups such as indigenous peoples, migrants, refugees, or lower caste groups.
POSTGRADUATE COURSES These courses are policy-oriented, issue-driven and skill-intensive, and are comprised of coursework with exercises, case studies, and individual and group assignments, usually based on real-life experiences. In 2013 ISS offered the following postgraduate courses: • Children, Youth and Development • Governance, Democratization and Public Policy • Universalizing Socioeconomic Security for the Poor • Sustainable Local Economic Develop ment (offered together with IHS, the Institute for Urban Management of Erasmus University Rotterdam)
Teaching ISS offers various teaching programmes: • PhD programme (more information in the PhD section) • MA programme • Erasmus Mundus MAPP • Postgraduate courses • Collaborative degrees • Tailor-made training
COLLABORATIVE DEGREES
MA IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
Students per Major and Mundus MAPP
INDICES OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 50 ISS hosts the Indices of Social Develop ment (ISD) database. This is a system 50 that includes 200 indicators, synthesizing them into a usable set of measures to track how different societies perform along six dimensions of social development:
ISS offers a 15.5-month MA Programme in Development Studies. The MA 2013/ Students per Major and Mundus MAPP 42 Economics of Development 2014 consists of five majors: 35 42 Social Policy for Development • Agrarian, Food and Environmental Economics of Development Studies 31 35 Human Gender and Conflict Studies: SocialRights, Policy for Development • Economics of Development Social Justice Perspectives • Governance, Policy and Political31 Human Rights, Gender and Conflict Studies: Social Justice Perspectives ISS invests in the development of 28 Governance, Policy and Political Economy Economy collaborative degrees 28 Governance, Policy and Political Economy because it regards • Human Rights, Gender and Conflict 20 Agrarian, Food these and Environmental Studies way of expanding as an important Studies: Social Justice Perspectives 20 Agrarian, Food and Environmental Studies 12 Mundus MAPP these networks, strengthening the • Social Policy for Development 12 Mundus MAPP
168168Total Total MA IN STATISTICS / NUMBER OF MA STUDENTS of funding Number of MA students and Mundus MAPP Overview Nationality of MA students and Overview of funding Students per Major and Mundus MAPP Mundus MAPP 2013/2014 Number of MA students and Mundus MAPP Nationality of MA students and Students per Major and MundusMAPP MAPP 190 Netherlands Fellowship Programme 63 Students per Major and Mundus Mundus MAPP 2013/2014 185 190
180 50 50
174
50
180 170
170
160
160
150
Netherlands Fellowship Programme
Social Justice Perspectives Government IndiaEconomy Government of Indonesia 28 Policy andof Political 28 Governance, Governance, Policy and Political Economy
10/11
11/12
12/13
13/14
Wim Deetman Scholarship 28 Agrarian, Governance, Policy and Political Economy Government of Indonesia 20 Food and Environmental Studies
150
10/11
11/12
63
18542 Economics of Development StuNed Scholarships 42 Economics of Development
StuNedofScholarships 42 Economics Development 174 Policy forEU Mundus MAPP 35 Social Social Development 35 Policy for Development EU Policy Mundus MAPP 168 35 Social for Development World Bank 168 31 Human Human Rights, Gender and ict Confl ict Studies: 31 Rights, Gender and Confl Studies: 162 World Bank Government of India Justice Perspectives Social Justice Perspectives 31 Social Human Rights, Gender and Confl ict Studies: 162
20 Agrarian, Food and Environmental Studies Conacyt Wim Deetman ScholarshipStudies 12 Mundus MAPP 20 Agrarian, Food and Environmental 12/13 13/14 12 Mundus MAPPColfuturo Scholarships Conacyt 12 Mundus MAPP
168 Total
Getfund
18 6% 6% 18 North12 America America North 1% 129% 6 Australia 1% Europe 9% Australia 6 Europe 5
12% Latin America
5 3 12% 3 3 Latin America
Colfuturo Scholarships 168 Total Organization of American States 168 Total Getfund Other sponsors
Overview of funding
students 2013/2014
42% Africa
330%2Asia 2 2 2
2 2
2 30% Asia 9
Organization ofnanced American 2 41 Self-fi Gender of States MA and Mundus MAPP Total Other sponsors
Gender and Mundus MAPP GenderofofMA MA and Mundus MAPP students 2013/2014 students 2013/2014
9 168
42% Africa
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Institute’s profile and fulfilling its educational mission more effectively. In 2013 ISS participated in several collaborative degrees: • Two-year part time Master in Public Administration with the FHR Lim A Po Institute in Surinam. • Two-year Double Degree Programme with the University of Indonesia • Double Degree with Ritsumeikan University in Japan Master of Development Economics in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Vietnam • One-year part time Postgraduate Diploma in Poverty Analysis • Transatlantic ATLANTIS programme TAILOR-MADE TRAINING In 2013 ISS provided tailor-made training in both Vietnam and Nepal. The course on Policy-Making for Natural Resource Management in Vietnam dealt with the challenges of managing water and land. The course was held at the Ho Chi Minh Academy of Politics and Public Administration in Hanoi (HCMA). In 2013 ISS also organized a training of trainers in Nepal, in collaboration with the Forum for Protection of People’s Rights Nepal (PPR). In total 40 Nepalese PPR staff and volunteers were trained to become trainers on aspects of genderbased violence in Nepal.
Tailor-made training in Nepal
‘ISS believes in
GRADUATION CEREMONY FOR THE MA IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES 2012-2013
the strength of networks’
Student activities OPENING MA PROGRAMME 2013-2014 The opening of the MA in Development Studies Programme and the Erasmus Mundus MAPP Programme took place on 6 September. Renée Jones-Bos, Secretary-General of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague gave the keynote speech on Dutch Foreign Policy: Adapting to a Changing World; a personal perspective on three decades as a foreign policy practitioner.
The Graduation Ceremony of the MA programme 2012/2013 was held in December 2013. It included speeches by Dr Freek Schiphorst, Deputy Rector for Educational Affairs, Professor Leo de Haan, Rector, and Howard Onyok, outgoing President of student association Scholas.
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ISS OPEN DAYS
WORLD CLASS STUDENTS PROGRAMME ISS students participate in the ‘World Class The Hague’ programme, which gives students the opportunity to attend special master classes and events on topics including international relations, peace and the justice system.
ISS hosted Open Days on 1 June and 23 November 2013, which included master classes by ISS staff. Prospective students received information on the MA programme at ISS. Both days were well attended. PEACE RUN 2013
In June 2013 World Class Students had a lunch at ISS with Professor Martha Nussbaum, Honorary Fellow of ISS.
CAREER TALKS Career talks, where ISS alumni and current students and staff share their experiences and progress in their careers, are offered on a regular basis. In May 2013, ISS alumnus Jerome Surur, now Deputy Governor in the Eastern Equatoria State of South Sudan, visited ISS and met with a group of 20 current students.
THE FUTURE OF PEACE AND JUSTICE ISS students participated in the impres sive TEDx conference The Future of Peace and Justice, held in September 2013. At this TEDxHagueAcademy event, video and live speakers combined to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group.
Career and alumni ISS CAREER PROGRAMME ISS offers students a Career Planning Workshop. The workshop consists of three sessions and focuses on a personal SWOT analysis, CV-writing, preparing for interviews and networking. ISS students participated in the Peace Run 2013, held around the Peace Palace. The Peace Run is one of the many sporting events in which ISS students participate.
ISS ALUMNI – CONNECTING THE WORLD A number of alumni gatherings were organized in 2013. Hosted by an ISS staff member, alumni dinners were organized in Brazil, Colombia, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Uganda and the United Kingdom. Future ISS students who had already registered were invited to the alumni meetings as well, giving them the opportunity to learn from the experiences of former students.
In 2013 ISS continued to invest in its alumni relations. News on alumni, ISS, career and funding possibilities is actively shared by alumni and ISS through newsletters and ISS Alumni groups on both LinkedIn and Facebook. This photo: ISS Alumni event in Colombia.
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Human Resources €16.728 Finance mln Total and income
REFRESHER COURSE UGANDA
A two-week course was held in Uganda for a group of 23 former students from Uganda and nearby countries. The topic was Re-imaging young people’s right to education, health and well-being: A gender and generation perspective on current dilemmas and challenges in Eastern Africa. ISS AMBASSADORS PROGRAMME 2013 saw the start of the first ISS Ambassadors programme (2013/2015). Graduates of the 2012/2013 MA programme were selected and trained to represent ISS in their country. The ISS Ambassadors liaise with prospective students, alumni, funding organizations, embassies, universities, the media and anyone else with an interest in ISS. (See the article on page 14)
ISS Management
€16.728 mln Total income
€16.728 mln Total income
Faculty
Faculty
Faculty
10.674 mln Core subsidy
10.674 10.674 mln mln Core subsidy
Core subsidy
36%
Senior lecturers
2.449 mln
36%
Tuition fees
2.449 mln Tuition fees 1.939 mln
Project income and research funding
1.939 mln 2.449 mln 1.666 Project income andmln research funding Tuition
Other income fees
1.666 mln
Other income The Institute is managed by the Institute Board, which is advised by the ISS Advisory Board. The Institute Board is income and research funding Project accountable to the Executive Board of Erasmus University Rotterdam.
1.939 mln
26%
Senior lecturers
Professors
26%
17%
36%21%
Professors
Lecturers
Associate 17%lecturers Senior
Lecturersprofessors 21% Associate professors
17%
Lecturers
1.666 mln Other income
3977.1003 Annual_Report_2013_print.indd 61
26%
Professors
21%
Associate professors 21-07-14 14:21
3977.1003 Annual_Report_2013_print.indd 61
21-07-14 14:2
In Memoriam DR JOS MOOIJ
SUNILA ABEYSEKERA
3977.1003 Annual_Report_2013_print.indd 61
The ISS Deputy Rector for Educational Affairs Dr Jos Mooij passed away in February 2013. Jos was a passionate educationalist with a great belief in the important role education can play in international development.
The ISS community was saddened by the loss of ISS alumna and guest researcher Sunila Abeysekera in September 2013. She was one of Sri Lanka’s most amazing and determined feminists and human rights defenders.
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What are the BRICS to the ISS?
Lee Pegler
Recent years have seen increasing reference to the rise of the BRICS, suggesting that their prominence signifies something new in terms of global and regional economic and political power relations. Such popularizations and acronyms conjure up memories of the Asian ‘tigers’ and the Newly Industrialized Countries (NICS). It is probably incorrect to think of them as a block, yet their rise does lead us to think comparatively about what they may represent relative to past processes in the North; of Western European and North American trajectories of growth and change. At this level, does their rise suggest something different in terms of southsouth relations? Does it make any difference whether the BRICS are self-proclaimed or labelled by others? In addition, what might their massive resource and economic position mean for the governance of economic and political processes at a global and regional level? Will their strategies and posturing come to be reflected in flows of trade and in new types of production, sourcing models and labour standards, for example? Moreover, how might their own domestic processes and social outcomes be influenced by their newly found economic and diplomatic position? Researchers at ISS are engaging with these questions from a critical perspec tive. ISS research reflects the particular emphasis of our teaching and, especially, of our research programmes. What unites these interests is a questioning of the governance of both global processes (e.g. trade, aid, sourcing) and local impacts (e.g. land grabbing, food security, civic expression, rights-livelihoods). These efforts are well-documented in ISS academic publications, project work, journalistic contributions, PhD develop ment, networks and via the articulation of debate in public forums in both the global North and South, a few examples of which are discussed below. ISS RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND THE BRICS Researchers within the Economic of Developing and Emerging Markets
(EDEM) programme, for instance, note that the term ‘emerging’ actually applies to the majority of nations. They docu ment the fact that south-south trade is very much on the rise but argue that the subsequent achievement of quality standards will require a new approach to economic diplomacy or even a new global contract. Their desire to integrate value chain research and economic diplomacy (in projects and PhD promo tions) reflects key Dutch government objectives. Other projects (such as the impacts of aid) seek to flesh out local processes of equity within a specific BRIC. The Governance, Globalization and Social Justice (GGSJ) programme continues this tradition of a macro focus reaching down to an analysis of impacts on the ground. In a recent article for the International Spectator, for example, Hout et al explore this global gover nance-social justice impact rubric for the case of sub-Saharan Africa. The article ’New Players, Old Practices’ highlights that, contrary to the idea of new collaboration, the behaviour of the BRICS in Africa involves many of the same ‘games’ used by Western countries in the past. African resource export dependence has grown considerably (from 78 per cent in 2000 to 85 per cent in 2012) with exports of unprocessed goods flowing mainly to the BRICS. Aid has also increased considerably between BRICS countries and Africa, yet much of this is tied to loan repayments or strategic goals.
The Civic Innovation Research Initiative (CIRI) brings together more diverse and local level foci but there is still a discernable BRICS concern. A key project (Rising Powers - Economic and Social Research Council, University of Manchester) in which CIRI researchers are involved asks the question of whether these rising powers are ‘changing the rules of the game’ (of production, trade and consumption). If so, how is this move from agenda taker to agenda maker occurring? CIRI researchers analyse this process through case studies elaborated through interviews with major commer cial, public sector and civic society actors in all the BRICS, especially in respect to labour standards developments. The Governance of Labour and Logistics for Sustainability (GOLLS) research and educational exchange project incorpo rates a similar interest in social/labour outcomes but from a perspective of bilateral trade between Brazil and the Netherlands. The project seeks to promote sustainable global value chains and decent labour rights by demonstrat ing the links between key global drivers such as buyers, traders and logistics managers and social conditions at source via case studies which run from local production/livelihoods and local logistics/ports in Brazil to their final Rotterdam destination. This focus also has clear links to the work of others at ISS in respect to governance processes and the policies of private (Corporate Social Responsibility; social
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movements) and public (e.g. economic diplomacy) actors. The Responsible Chain Management (RCM) project for the Dutch Government echoes a similar preoccupation with the promotion of good social practices by investors in, and firms buying from, these countries. The issues of chain responsibility, the BRICS and public policy (integral to projects such as GOLLS, RCM and Rising Powers) will come together within a conference on ‘Emerging Chains and the Rising Powers – Implications for Sustainability’ planned to be held at ISS in 2015. Staff working within the Agrarian, Food and Environmental Studies (AFES) Major and the Political Economy of Resources, Environment and Population (PER) research programme are very solidly involved in research and networks relating to the implications of the rise of the BRICS for rural change, the environment and the distribution of access to resources. Conservation, rural social movements and food security are key themes within research studies, consul-
tancies and PhD projects especially focussed on the influence of (and impacts on) China, Russia and South Africa. One good example is the BRICS Initiatives in Critical Agrarian Studies (BICAS) academic coalition and research network: driven by questions concerning transnational capitalist strategies, their new hubs of power and local impacts, the network is moving towards a BRICS-based seminar, events and publication series. The Centre for the Study of Transition and Development (CESTRAD) continues to carry out extensive work on transitional economies (e.g. Russia and China). For PER overall, land grabbing holds a central role (as a process or impact) across all five BRICS countries, and beyond, and biofuel politics and environ mental and livelihood impacts figure strongly in their many projects relating to the BRICS as global players. The specific impact of China’s growth and sourcing strategies is also an especially important key theme for many researchers as is the short and long term impact of this growth
on social outcomes, livelihoods and social policy within China itself. What the rise of the BRICS may mean thus remains a critical and multifaceted theme for ISS, both in terms of the overall political economy of change but also in terms of specific impacts on enterprise, labour, land and other resources. We are engaged with an analysis of what the impacts of the BRICS may be for equity, participation and social/democratic processes. We are also optimistic about the potential of research, social engage ment and public debate to promote a more contested process of change, if not fairer governance processes and outcomes. Lee Pegler works as a lecturer (Work, Organization and Labour Rights) within the Social Policy for Development (SPD) Major at ISS and is an associate member of the Civic Innovation Research Initiative. Lee Pegler was recently interviewed by EUR magazine on social policy in Brazil. You can read the article (in Dutch) in EM#19 at www.erasmusmagazine.nl/
Alumni News Award for Dr Malika Basu In March this year ISS alumna Dr Malika Basu (PhD 2008) received the Women Achiever’s Award in recognition of her gender-related knowledge management work. Malika Basu (in photo, right) is employed by the United Nations in Delhi, India, as Resource Person & Moderator – Gender Community. Prestigious research award for MA alumni Christina Schiavoni MA student Christina Schiavoni has won the prestigious award Onderzoekstalent 2014 (Research Talent 2014), a 3-year full scholarship grant from NWO. The grant will allow her to pursue her PhD research at ISS on ‘food sovereignty’ starting in September 2014. Book on migration by ISS alumnus Michael Sharpe ISS alumnus Michael Orlando Sharpe (International Law and Organization, 1997) has recently seen his book, Postcolonial Citizens and Ethnic Migration: the Netherlands and Japan in the Age of Globaliza tion, published by Palgrave Macmillan. Dr Sharpe now works as Assistant Professor of Political Science at York College of The City University of New York.
Award for Ashok Kumar Bhargava ISS alumnus Dr Ashok Kumar Bhargava (Governance, Democra tization and Public Policy, 2011) received a national award from the Honourable President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, for best electoral practices and innovative measures taken to increase voter awareness and turnout. Ashok Kumar Bhargava is now posted as the District Collector and Magistrate of the district Shahdol, M.P (India), which has a high tribal population. ISS alumna Shubhra Pachouri appointed Additional District Judge Shubhra Pachouri is one of the new Additional District Judges in the High court of Chhattisgarh in any district of Chhattisgarh. She graduated from ISS in 2008 with an MA specializing in Human Rights, Development and Social Justice. ISS alumna Rina Alluri defended her thesis for the PhD programme at the University of Basel Dr. Rina Alluri (Governance & Democracy, 2005/2006) successfully defended her thesis for the PhD programme at the University of Basel in Switzerland. Her dissertation is entitled ‘Politics of Peace and Conflict: The Role of Local Business Actors in Sri Lanka’.
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ISS Alumni Ambassadors spreading the ISS word! With over 1200 alumni from over 150 countries, ISS has always valued its alumni as one of its strongest assets in encouraging others to follow in their footsteps. Once they return home, many of our alumni, in their work and communities, promote ISS in a natural and informal manner. In 2013 we decided to strengthen this informal network with a more formal ISS Ambassador programme – ISS graduates who, for one or two years after completing their teaching programme, liaise with prospective students, alumni, funding organizations, embassies, universities, the media and anyone else interested in ISS. In November 2013, students from the then current MA batch were invited to write a motivation letter explaining why they thought they would be suitable ISS Ambassadors and how they expected to fulfil this role. Several interview rounds later and ISS had its first batch of Alumni Ambassadors. Like our general student population, they come from a variety of countries and have various backgrounds. What they all share is their enthusiasm for ISS and a desire to ‘spread the ISS word’ in their home countries.
ALUMNI MEETINGS Armed with ISS posters, brochures, flyers, pens and a personalized ISS business card, the Ambassadors returned to their home countries in December 2013 and started liaising. For many of them, the first step was to make contact with other ISS alumni in their home regions – either individually or as part of an ISS-organized alumni meeting. Offering logistical and practical help, the Ambassadors played an important role in supporting the ISS Alumni Office in The Hague in these meetings in which alumni could meet up with old ISS friends and potential students could get first-hand knowledge about studying at ISS. (See the article elsewhere in this DevISSues about recent alumni meetings.) NETWORKING In the past six months, our ambassadors have initiated broader networking
1st batch of proud ISS alumni ambassadors in the ISS coffee lounge with Rector Leo de Haan
activities with the aim of increasing interest in ISS education and research. They have started talking to universities, institutes and both state and non-state organizations to: 1. make ISS known amongst their students, faculty, employees and management; 2. encourage cooperation between them and ISS; 3. encourage their students or employees to consider furthering their education at ISS. Ying Zheng from China, for example, set up meetings with professors and students from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Guizhou University of Finance and Economics to try to find ways to promote develop ment studies amongst Chinese students and promote academic cooperation between ISS and Chinese universities. In other parts of Asia also, ambassadors
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have been busy networking: in Nepal, Mimu Raghubanshi is hoping to participate in an education fair and in Indonesia, Ridwansyah Achmad is one of the speakers at an international education exhibition at the University of Padjajaran in Bandung. In Zimbabwe, ambassadors Fungai Matarise and Vimbai Mabiza are trying to break new ground in a country where so far little is known about ISS. To this end they have organized meetings with relevant institutes in order to reach out to final year undergraduate students. In South Africa ISS has two Ambassadors, one based in Johannesburg and one in Cape Town: both are working hard to increase ISS visibility in the region via alumni meetings, contacts with universities such as the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and more informal networking activities. And in Eritrea, Berhane Assefaw is working with another ISS alumn, Afewerki Tesfai, to reach out to various governmental and private sector organizations, many of whom are already actively looking into sending their employees to ISS to study. From what our Alumni Ambassadors tell us, it is clear that they do not carry out all this work on their own but make grateful use of other ISS alumni in their home regions. In Nigeria, for example, Ruthie
Okugbeni contacted an ISS alumn who is now State Secretary for National Employees of Local Government and, via this contact, was able to market ISS and its teaching programmes by participating in a 3-day National Workshop. This once more highlights the great importance of all ISS alumni and the close, supporting network they form – with each other and with ISS. SOCIAL MEDIA All our ambassadors rely heavily on social media in their communications – with potential contacts, with ISS and with each other. We have set up an ISS Ambassadors group on Facebook where they can communicate with each other and ISS and share experiences and ideas. In Namibia Helena Magano Asimo has set up an ‘ISS Prospective Students Group Namibia’ group on Facebook to help potential students get all the information they need about studying at ISS and living in The Hague. Likewise, Zandile Ngada in Johannesburg has set up a similar group, ‘ISS Prospective Students – South Africa’, for South Africans who have an interest in academic research in development studies. Both Helena and Zandile use these groups to answer questions about studying at ISS, about funding, about life in The Hague, to provide help with the
application process and to deal with any number of other questions potential students may have. Yet even when technology fails, our Ambassadors use their local networks and word-of-mouth to make sure that information about ISS is spread – Berhane Assefaw from Eritrea, for example, despite having to deal with a shortage of electricity and no fast or reliable internet access, has managed to reach out to a number of other Eritrean alumni who are spreading the ISS name amongst their networks and forwarding potential students to him. As Helena Magano Asimo from Namibia has put it: ‘Networking [is] an importance task of an ISS Ambassador. I was able to create awareness of ISS programmes and activities through word of mouth by telling friends, colleagues and family members. Through this channel these people were able to tell their friends, forming a network’. NEW AMBASSADORS Towards the end of 2014, ISS will start a new round of interviews for its next batch of ambassadors. As with all our alumni, we hope this next batch with also actively encourage new students to come to ISS and share in its participatory teaching and learning environment.
Current ISS ambassadors SYLVIA NAMUBIRU - UGANDA
MAJIJA ATHI - SOUTH AFRICA
HELENA ASINO - NAMIBIA
FUNGAI MATARISE - ZIMBABWE
VIMBAI MABIZA - ZIMBABWE
MIMU RAGHUBANSHI - NEPAL
SAMSOM BERHANE ASEFAW - ERITREA
ZANDILE NGADA - SOUTH AFRICA
RUTH OKUGBENI - NIGERIA
(AKOS) ENYONAM AKOSUA GANYO - GHANA
GENEVIEVE PARTINGTON - GHANA
YING ZHENG - CHINA
RIDWANSYAH ACHMAD - INDONESIA
THOMAS MUNZERERE - TANZANIA
DANIEL CRUZ - BOLIVIA
To contact our Ambassadors (or indeed other ISS alumni) just send an email to the ISS alumni office at alumni@iss.nl and we will happily forward your message.
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Some recent publications by ISS staff and PhD researchers ‘HEALTHCARE-SEEKING BEHAVIOUR IN RURAL ETHIOPIA: EVIDENCE FROM CLINICAL VIGNETTES’ Published in the online open access journal BMJ Open, the lead author of this article is ISS PhD researcher Anagaw D Mebratie. With his co-authors (Ellen Van de Poel, Zelalem Yilma, Degnet Abebaw, Getnet Alemu and Arjun S Bedi) he investigates the determinants of healthcare-seeking behaviour using five context-relevant clinical vignettes.
‘COPING WITH HEALTH SHOCKS IN ETHIOPIA’ In this article published in the Journal of Development Studies, lead author ISS PhD researcher Zelalem Yilma Debebe and his co-authors (Anagaw Mebratie, Robert Sparrow, Degnet Abebaw, Marleen Dekker, Getnet Alemu and Arjun S. Bedi) investigate which shocks trigger which coping responses and why.
‘THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF DIETARY ALLOWANCES’ PhD researcher Christina Sathyamala has contributed this chapter to Handbook on Food edited by Raghbendra Jha, Raghav Gaiha and Anil B. Deolalikar. She presents key shifts in the development of nutrition from the late nineteenth century, to support the assertion that nutritional recommendations are shaped by the socio-political contexts in which they are formulated.
‘THEORISING AGE AND GENERATION IN DEVELOPMENT’ Co-authored by ISS lecturer Roy Huijsmans, this article forms the introduction to the special issue of The European Journal of Development Research (Vol 26). The article outlines the analytical approach informing the articles presented in the issue.
‘ASSESSING THE “ARRIVAL OF DEMOCRACY” IN CENTRAL AMERICA’ A review essay by Kees Biekart in the European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
‘FULL EMPLOYMENT TARGET: WHAT LESSONS FOR A POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT AGENDA?’ In this article published in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, ISS professor Rolph van der Hoeven looks beyond the Millennium Development Goals to consider what policies are needed for a post-2015 development agenda.
‘YOUTH, FARMING AND PRECARITY IN RURAL BURUNDI’ In their article in The European Journal of Development Research, authors Lidewyde Berckmoes and ISS professor Ben White explore the precarity of rural youth livelihoods in the aftermath of war in eastern Burundi.
‘RETURN MIGRATION AS A WIN-WIN-WIN SCENARIO? VISIONS OF RETURN AMONG SENEGALESE MIGRANTS, THE STATE OF ORIGIN AND RECEIVING COUNTRIES’ Published in Ethnic and Racial Studies, in this article Giulia Sinatti explores the topic of return migration. She reveals how return migration is understood differently by policymakers in Senegal and Europe and by the migrants targeted by their policies.
‘HUMAN CAPITAL ACCUMULATION IN PAKISTAN IN THE LIGHT OF DEBT, MILITARY EXPENDITURE AND POLITICS’ Written by Syed Mahmood Murshed and Maher Saleh, this article in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities investigates factors responsible for low public sector human capital investment in Pakistan.
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Virtual Open Day – ISS from the comfort of your own home
Aleksandra Stuip
In 2013 ISS started organizing Open Days to showcase our programmes, faculty and students. Up until now these were organized in-house in The Hague – not very practical for the majority of our potential students who are international and live outside the Netherlands. We therefore decided to harness the potential of social media and online communication and organize a virtual Open Day thus allowing prospective students to attend ‘from the comfort of their own home’. After a lot of testing and tweaking, the very first ISS virtual Open Day took place on 22 April 2014. We sent an invitation to everyone who had shown an interest in our teaching and research programmes over the past academic year, asking them whether they were still interested and encouraging them to register for the Open Day. In total over 60 potential students registered and 25 actually participated in our virtual Open Day – numbers which we consider a great success. Unfortunately many of the potential students who had shown an interest in attending were unable to do so due to external factors such as time differences, work meetings, classes that they currently follow at their home universities or other restraints. However, many of these contacted us after the Open Day, requesting the information provided during the presentations and the overview of our Q&A session.
The programme was short but varied. Following a welcome, the floor was given to education policy officer Wieke Blaauw who provided some general information about ISS and details of application procedures and require ments. This was followed by a short lecture by Senior Lecturer Helen Hintjens on the simulation exercise she carries out with the students as part of her conflict resolution course. Both these talks were well-received and the ISS staff member were able to react to listeners’ questions during their presentations. But the most popular part of the day by far was the Q&A session which followed these presenta tions. Participants posed questions online (by typing them into a special ‘communications’ field on their screen), enabling ISS staff to simply read them out and provide the answers immedi ately – all live online! In this way we spent 30 minutes answering all kinds of questions on many different aspects of our programmes and on living in The Hague: questions about funding and scholarships, about the size of the classrooms and our education methods, about accommodation and student life. POSITIVE FEEDBACK From ISS’ point of view, the day was successful – but what did the participants think? Did we live up to their expecta tions; did we provide them with the answers to their questions? In order to find out, we sent a questionnaire to all of the participants together with the presentations and the questions and answers from the Q&A session. The same email, but without the question naire, was sent to everyone who had registered but had unfortunately been unable to attend the Open Day.
The response was very positive with participants indicating they liked the format and found the information both useful and interesting. This positive response has prompted us to continue organizing such events with the aim of holding at least two virtual Open Days per year (but hopefully many more) – the next one possibly as early as this June. We want to make it possible for many more of you to engage with ISS and find out what it is that makes the institute, its staff and students so special. Although each will be different in details, every virtual Open Day will include a live chat session with support staff, current students and/or alumni, direct conversations with staff who know about ISS accommodation, admissions and student support, presentations by academic staff as well as detailed course information and videos showing what life at ISS is like. With our Virtual Open Day we hope our prospective students will not only gain valuable practical information about our programmes but also be able to experience something of the warm ISS feeling our students so often comment on - the feeling that you belong, even before you get here! Let’s hope that this new initiative will help attract more talented students to ISS and help those who have already chosen to come and study here to get even better acquainted with us. Aleksandra Stuip is responsible for education marketing at ISS and organizes the Open Days. She can be contacted at stuip@smc.eur.nl. Virtual Open Days are organized several times per year.
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Social Impact @ Sciences: Why Does Science Matter? Peter van Bergeijk and Linda Johnson co-organized the conference on valorization
Professor Mohamed Salih On the occasion of the end of his term as the first deputy rector for research affairs at ISS, Professor Mohamed Salih asked ISS to organize an event that would not mark an ending, but which would be the start of something new. The topic chosen was the evaluation of research at ISS. On April 16, 2014 ISS invited representatives from academia, from the business community, policymakers, the media and other relevant organizations to discuss the social impact and valorization of science.
ISS DNA Societal impact is part of the ISS DNA. Ever since its establishment, the ISS mission has been to combine academic best practices with relevance for development practice and to use this as the basis for its teaching programmes. The wording of the mission may have changed over time but the fact remains that ISS was finding solutions for the increasing gap between rich and poor countries in the 1960s, that ISS studied inclusion and exclusion during societal transformations in the 1990s and that ISS is presently seeking to define new forms of development and craft post-2015 MDGs (millennium develop ment goals) that will work. The strategy behind the mission, however, has remained the same. It has always emphasized the ISS commitment to societal relevance in terms of contributing to the solving of social problems in response to the needs expressed by developing regions and by helping to give a voice to those people that are not usually invited to sit at the table where decisions are made.
So what did ISS want to learn from the symposium on social impact? IMPACT AND RELEVANCE The answer is, ‘Quite a lot’: Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) Rector Magnificus, Huib Pols, expressed the view that the Dutch government is inclined to steer science into directions that can help achieve economic growth, in response to the financial and economic crisis. This is not only a threat to fundamental research but also to critical research on contested societal problems. New rules and new incentives have altered the Dutch science landscape significantly. The recently unveiled strategy of the EUR aims to give direction to our university in such a way as to foster the achievement of ‘impact and relevance’. Against this background, friends and faculty of ISS met to discuss the relationship between, on the one hand, quality and academic impact and, on the other hand, the societal relevance of research in the social sciences.
EXCELLENT SCIENCE CONTRIBUTES Jack Spaapen (KNAW - Royal Nether lands Academy of Arts and Sciences) introduced the new Dutch approach to assessing impact in the social sciences and humanities. Dr Spaapen reflected on the new Standard Evaluation Protocol (drawn up by the KNAW), the association of Dutch universities (VSNU) and the Dutch Science Council (NWO). Excellent science will continue to be scrutinized as to its scientific merit and influence but this should no longer be the only factor to be considered. Commercial valorization of knowledge and societal impact were added to the list of areas in which scientists must demonstrate their contribution. An important issue is that development studies deals, for a large part, with non-EU countries and truly global issues so that impact at the level of national units is often difficult to demonstrate. Even where impacts of research on policy-making can be expected to be local or national, the question arises as to how this is to be demonstrated (for example, should ISS collect testimonials and, if so, from whom?) and in particular, how does one factor in impact which will not be felt in the short term but will affect future generations? TABOOS ISS has a complex relationship with commercial activities. Professor Eric Claassen of the new Erasmus Valorisation Centre, argued that many opportunities exist to generate impact from excellent curiosity-driven research. Excellent research is the basis for
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Ann Buchanan presents the lessons the UK has learnt on social impact evaluation to ISS staff, students and guests.
excellent education and for both hard (that is commercial) and societal valorization. In particular, professor Claassen stressed the fact that the translation of scientific knowledge into policy advice is sadly often left to consultants and NGOs. This creates attribution problems. It is also a wasted opportunity to learn from the interaction with policy makers. Activist-type research that is characteristic of many of the knowledge-building activities conducted by ISS staff, also involves societal movements, local actors and other stakeholders. Indeed, the academic working places of ISS are often located outside of the Netherlands where staff and PhD researchers are doing field research that often involves two-way communication and can be perceived as violating academic taboos because it can seem to lack distance between researcher and research objects. BEST PRACTICES Professor Ann Buchanan (Oxford University and former Chair of the ESRC Evaluation Committee) focussed on lessons that can be drawn from the UK where a longer tradition of social impact
evaluation exists. The first criterion is excellence, because bad research with strong impact is disastrous. She pointed out several best practices which help projects to achieve impact, including: 1. the development of relationships and networks of user communities and their involvement at all stages; 2. portfolios of research that build reputations with research users; and 3. recording impact-generation activities. Relevance and impact cannot be predicted, but they can be destroyed or negated – for example by poor writing and by not adjusting knowledge to the special needs of different audiences that the research community wants to address. A mechanism that is especially useful (and often used) in the Netherlands consists of informal networks of policy makers and advisors that meet to discuss specific policy questions. A NEW STRATEGY FOR ISS? Wilfred Mijnhardt (Erasmus Research Institute of Management and Rotterdam School of Management) developed a model that distinguishes between (low versus high academic) quality and (low versus high societal) relevance in order
to discuss the challenges and strategic options for the EUR and in particular for ISS. Based on bibliometric indicators, the challenges are to get more publications in the top-notch journals and to do so in larger, more international teams. ISS research often has a potentially strong social impact, but the quality of its multidisciplinary research is not sufficiently picked up by academic quality indicators. Moreover, ISS research is not showing sufficient coherence and during the discussions it became clear that very different notions exist as to the type of social impact that ISS is trying to generate. ISS should be more aware that the current hetero geneity of (research) interests cannot be sustained over time and should be prepared to make choices and consider the instruments that can be used to build and strengthen impact. This is not simply necessary for survival in a highly competitive environment; it is also a pre-requisite for what ISS aspires to do: build bridges between academia and society. Peter van Bergeijk is professor of International Economics and Macroeconomics at ISS. Linda Johnson is Executive Secretary at ISS.
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ISS News ISS Professor Des Gasper speaks at the UN General Assembly On 18 June 2014, Professor Des Gasper spoke at the General Assembly’s thematic debate on ‘Responding to the opportuni ties and challenges of the 21st Century: Human Security and the Post-2015 Development Agenda’. ‘Can social media help conservation?’ ISS Associate Professor Bram Büscher recently gave an interview on Earth Touch News video in which he discusses how social media influences and changes nature conservation. In the interview he discusses the rise of extreme and violent discourses in defence of nature. What do these violent discourses do for conservation, and do they help to save nature? Karin Arts co-presents expert group report on Palestinian Children in Military Detention to Dutch government On 17 April 2014 a Dutch multidiscipli nary experts group published its report on Palestinian Children in Military Detention, and presented it to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Dutch Parliament. At the initiative of the Dutch NGOs Gate 48 and Palestine Link, the expert group travelled to Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory (East-Jerusalem and the West Bank) in November 2013. This field visit, combined with reviews of relevant literature and legal and other relevant documents, was the basis for drafting the report.
Karin Astrid Siegmann demands participation in worker-centred responsibility initiative from Royal Ahold On April 16 2014, ISS senior lecturer Karin Astrid Siegmann and representatives of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers participated in the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Dutch multinational enterprise Royal Ahold. They demanded that Ahold puts its commit ment to responsible business conduct into practice by joining the Fair Food Program (FFP). ISS team successful in bid for policy review good governance An ISS team led by Professor Wil Hout has won the bid to carry out a study on the implemen tation of the Dutch policy on good governance in Uganda. The policy review will look at all Dutch assistance for justice, rule of law and decentralization, and will focus in particular on activities related to police accountability and budget transparency. The policy review was commissioned by the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ISS and University of Padjadjaran to offer Double Degree Master programme On 2 April 2014 Dr. H. Sulaeman Rahman Nidar, Vice Director of the Post Graduate Programme of the University of Padjadjaran in Bandung, Indonesia and Budhi Gunawan PhD, met with ISS deputy rector educational affairs, Dr. Freek Schiphorst and ISS teaching staff to discuss the final details of the programme and sign the agreed business plan. In September 2014 the first group of students will arrive in The Hague for the second year of the Double Degree programme.
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Leo de Haan appointed for second term as Rector of ISS The Executive Board of Erasmus University Rotterdam has appointed Professor Leo de Haan for a second term as Rector of the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague. Professor de Haan will remain in office until 1 October 2015, the date of his retirement. Young Pakistani researchers and activists success fully conclude capacity building in labour research The tailor-made training on ‘Understanding Globalization and Labour: Topics and Methods’ jointly provided by the ISS and the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) in Karachi was successfully concluded with the award of training certificates to 16 young Pakistani researchers and activists.
Philippine Vice President Binay gives lecture on migration and development perspectives of the Philippines On 26 March 2014, Vice President of the Philippines, Mr. Jejomar Binay gave a lecture at ISS on migration and develop ment perspectives of the Philippines. In front of an audience of over 100 students, staff and guests, Mr. Binay discussed future development perspectives in the Philippines. His lecture was followed by a lively discussion in which the Vice President answered questions from the floor.
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ISS News Inaugural lecture PCC chairholder Professor Jumoke Oduwole On 20 May 2014, Professor Jumole Oduwole from Nigeria held her inaugural lecture as Prince Claus Chair holder 2013-2015 at ISS in the presence of Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. In her speech on ‘International Law and the Right to Development: a Pragmatic Approach for Africa’, Professor Oduwole discussed how the Right to Development, as shaped in international law, could be made more relevant for Africa. Professor Oduwole argued that negative obligations (e.g. not to impose unfair trade agreements, or not to enter into such agreements) should be prioritized. ISS to co-host Secretariat for Knowledge Platform on Development Policies The African Studies Centre (ASC), the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), ISS and the globalization think tank The Broker are to host the Secretariat for the Knowledge Platform on Development Policies. The core themes developed in this Platform are productive employment, strategic actors for inclusive development and social protection.
DevISSues readers’ survey We continually strive to improve DevISSues, to make it a journal that you want to read. We’ve been working with the current format – articles around a specific theme, ISS news, news of our alumni and our programmes – for a number of years now and felt it was time to find out whether we are providing what you, our readers, want. Should we be concentrating more on keeping you up-to-date with developments at ISS, do you see DevISSues more as an alumni journal, what do you think is missing?
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In order to get answers to these questions we’ve set up a short online readers’ questionnaire. We would love to know what you think of the journal and your ideas on how we can improve it. The questionnaire will take no more than 10 minutes to complete but will give us invaluable information about how our readers read DevISSues and how they feel it can be improved. So if we could take 10 minutes of our time, we’d very much appreciate it if you could fill in the questionnaire. You can find it online at www.iss.nl/devissues_survey
Thank you!
‘The Politics of Service Delivery in the Social Sector’ Between 16 and 20 June 2014, ISS hosted an international work shop on the politics or service provision. The workshop was supported by the Civic Inno vation Research Initiative and the Governance, Globalization and Social Justice ISS Research Programmes, and funded by grants from the ICSSR-NWO Social Science Collaboration India-Netherlands and the EUR Support Programme National and International Research Projects. Plenary sessions were followed by smaller group discussions to develop different research components, and the exploration of funding opportunities and joint investigations with research organizations. Speech by Dr. Andrew Fischer to French Senate On 24 May 2014, Dr. Andrew Fischer spoke to the French Senate during a special session dedicated to Tibet in the context of China since 1980. His speech was entitled ‘The Great Transformation of Tibet: economic and social changes over the last 30 years’.
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ISS alumni meetings and potential student walk-in sessions On a regular basis ISS organizes alumni meetings in countries across the world. These meetings, generally including a lunch or dinner, are hosted by an ISS staff member and are open to all former ISS students living and/or working in that area. Recently ISS has also started linking its alumni meetings to information walk-in sessions for prospective students. In this way we hope to provide potential students interested in or thinking about studying at ISS to meet an ISS staff member and alumni and discuss with them the possibilities of completing a short course, MA or PhD at ISS. This year we have already had seven such meetings, all of which were successful in bringing together alumni and potential students: in Johannes burg, Sao Paulo, Dhaka, Manila, Windhoek, Bogota and Addis Ababa. Feedback from these sessions tells us that all concerned find them both positive and useful.
We have two more alumni meetings/ walk-in sessions confirmed for later this year – in Kigali (Rwanda) and Islamabad (Pakistan), both in September – and there are many more in the pipe-line so keep an eye on our website (www.iss.nl/ alumnimeetings) and the ISS Facebook fan page for updates.
Joop de Wit talks to alumni and prospective students in Dhaka, Bangladesh (March 2014)
And if you’re interested in organizing a meeting in your area, why not get in touch with the ISS Alumni Office (alumni@iss.nl) and we’ll see what can be arranged.
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Working Papers The ISS Working Paper series provides a forum for work in progress which seeks to elicit comments and generate discussion. The series includes academic research by staff, PhD participants and visiting fellows, and award-winning research papers by graduate students.
Weather variability and food consumption S. Lazzaroni (Sara) and A.S. Bedi (Arjun Singh) April 2014 Innovation in institutional collaboration A.F. Fowler (Alan) April 2014 Competing sovereignties, contested processes C. McGee Schiavoni (Christina) March 2014 The building blocks of a resource-based theory of business start-ups A.A. Corradi (Ariane Agnes) March 2014 Juventud Sin Futuro P. Trejo Mendez (Paulina) February 2014 Crafting symbolic geographies in modern Turkey B. Çakir (Beril) February 2014 Human Trafficking, Globalisation and Transnational Feminist Responses T-D. Truong (Thanh-Dam) January 2014 Enrolment in Ethiopia’s Community Based Health Insurance Scheme A. Derseh (Anagaw), R.A. Sparrow (Robert), Z.Y. Debebe (Zelalem), G. Alemu (Getnet ) and A.S. Bedi (Arjun Singh) December 2013 From futures markets to the farm-gate H. Bargawi (Hannah) and S.A. Newman (Susan) December 2013 Tracing the Welfare and Livelihood Choices of Farm Households following Displacement through Land Recovery in Vietnam J. de Wit (Joop) December 2013 Healthcare Seeking Behavior among Self-help Group Households in Rural Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India W.A. Raza (Wameq), P. Panda (Pradeep ), E. Van de Poel (Ellen), D.M. Dror (David) and A.S. Bedi (Arjun Singh) December 2013 Demographic and social trends affecting intergenerational relations in the MENA region M. Messkoub (Mahmood) December 2013 South-South Migration B. Campillo Carrete (Beatriz) November 2013 Border Studies S. Donzelli (Stefania) November 2013 Climate change and migration O.A. Gómez (Oscar) November 2013 How portable is social security for migrant workers? N. Taha (Nurulsyahirah), M. Messkoub (Mahmood) and K.A. Siegmann (Karin Astrid) November 2013 Community-Based Health Insurance Schemes A.D. Mebratie (Anagaw), R.A. Sparrow (Robert), G. Alemu (Getnet ) and A.S. Bedi (Arjun Singh) October 2013 Neither Here nor There J. Joseph (Jolin) and V. Narendran (Vishnu) October 2013 Macroeconomics of natural disasters P.A.G. van Bergeijk (Peter) and S. Lazzaroni (Sara) October 2013 A meta-analysis of economic diplomacy and its effect on international economic flows S.J.V. Moons (Selwyn) and P.A.G. van Bergeijk (Peter) October 2013
Development and Change Vol. 45, issue 3 May 2014
Jeroen Vos and Rutgerd Boelens
Sustainability Standards and the Water Question
Adam Sneyd When Governance Gets Going: Certifying ‘Better Cotton’ and ‘Better Sugarcane’ Andrea Rigon Building Local Governance: Participation and Elite Capture in Slum-upgrading in Kenya Maryann Bylander
Borrowing Across Borders: Migration and Microcredit in Rural Cambodia
Åshild Kolås Degradation Discourse and Green Governmentality in the Xilinguole Grasslands of Inner Mongolia Charlotte Lee and Go East, Young Cadre: Experiments in Inter-Provincial Training of Party Xiaobin He and State Managers in China Huck-ju and Eunju Kim Poverty Reduction and Good Governance: Examining the Rationale of the Millennium Development Goals Review Essays George Irvin
The End of Business as Usual
Louis Emmerij
The Future of Development Cooperation in Times of Crisis
DevISSues is published once a year by the Institute of Social Studies, PO Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, the Netherlands, tel: +31 (0)70 4260 443 or 4260 419, fax: + 31 (0)70 4260 799, www.iss.nl, DevISSues@iss.nl Editor: Jane Pocock. Editorial Board: Lee Pegler, Susan Newman, Sunil Tankha. Editorial Assistant: Marie-Louise Gambon. Production: Opmeer Drukkerij. Circulation: 6,500. The text material from DevISSues may be reproduced or adapted without permission, provided it is not distributed for profit and is attributed to the original author or authors, DevISSues and the Institute of Social Studies. ISSN: 1566-4821. DevISSues is printed on FSC certified paper.