Projects

Abstract

The proposed Small Research Grant (SRG) is complementary to an ongoing FWO project, Driving Change, on the participation of small-scale producers in ethical supply chain initiatives for Congolese cobalt and 3T (tin, tungsten, tantalum). The context is the growing demand for mineral resources (especially cobalt) for the green energy transition, which comes with questions around the labour, human rights and environmental impact of extraction in the Global South. To address these questions, numerous initiatives have been set up to increase transparency in mineral supply chains, to ensure due diligence and to promote responsible sourcing. As such, access to information is considered to be important, but it is seen from a downstream perspective: how to mitigate risks in mineral supply chains so as to protect lead companies' reputation? How to reassure consumers that the products they buy do not contain minerals associated with human rights abuses and child labour? This SRG has two objectives. First, I will assess how different categories of "miners" (meaning all producers and workers involved in extraction and initial processing up to the point of sales) access information about the supply chain they are part of. This includes information about actors in the chain, but also financial flows, mineral prices, mineral quality, technologies, geology, value, and governance. Second, I aim to contribute to and facilitate the dissemination of information, in an accessible format and with relevant content that responds to miners' needs. The proposed SRG will focus on three questions: 1) How do miners access information about the supply chains they are part of? 2) What are the (material, discursive, technical…) barriers to access? 3) How can researchers contribute to and facilitate the dissemination of information that responds to miners' needs? Empirically the SRG focuses on two mineral-producing regions: Lualaba province in southern DRC (cobalt-producing region) and South Kivu province in eastern DRC (3T-producing region). In both regions, a range of ethical supply chain initiatives have been implemented. However, initial research from the FWO project has indicated that the interviewees have a very low level of knowledge about these initiatives; and that participation is limited to selected cooperative leaders and "legitimate" artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) "pilot projects". This SRG will allow us to send the research teams back to the sites that were visited in 2023 to carry out two main activities: ● A workshop in which the team presents the preliminary findings of the Driving Change project and presents the booklet that has been designed for outreach. We will invite miners and discuss the opportunities and barriers for accessing information with them. ● Focus group discussions on the questions 1) How do miners access information about the supply chains they are part of? 2) What are the (material, discursive, technical…) barriers to access? 3) How can researchers contribute to and facilitate the dissemination of information that responds to miners' needs?

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Katz-Lavigne Sarah

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research seeks to (1) inventory and categorize different security incidents occurring in Haut Katanga's mining sites, (2) understand the presence and the role of 'community actors' as nodes in security provision, more specifically focusing on security provision by miners' cooperatives, (3) understand the cooperation, resistance and competition between different nodes, (4) theoretically contribute to the field of security governance.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The specific climatic, geological and geomorphological conditions in the Eastern and Southeastern part of the DRC are natural interacting drivers that play a major role in the occurrence of geo- hydrological hazards such as landslides, (flash-)floods and erosion. These drivers are compounded by processes such as agricultural expansion, deforestation, road construction, urbanization and mining activities. Such intense environmental changes are often accompanied by natural resource degradation, which in turn leads to new geo-hydrological hazards. Using advanced Earth observation techniques, EDITOR seeks to assess the extent to which mining activities and their related landscape disturbance, including the settlement and growth of villages in its vicinity (the mining zone of influence) cause or amplify the prevalence of geo-hydrological hazards, as well as to assess the vulnerability of populations exposed to mining-induced environmental changes.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The global energy transition requires countries to transition to a low-carbon economy. But it still depends on critical minerals to produce, among others, the lithium-ion batteries needed for electric vehicles. The booming production of such batteries has intensified the global demand for cobalt, a mineral for which about 70% of global production currently takes place in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)'s Copperbelt region. This cobalt boom is further fueling urban expansion and population growth at a rate that is likely to be unsustainable for some key resources such as water. Furthermore, the booming demand has inflamed artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). While providing more labour opportunities to local populations, ASM also increased the pressure on natural resources through population growth as well as polluting extraction and processing techniques. In this project we will focus on water quality and access to water in urbanised mining areas in the Copperbelt. The overarching aim of this research project is to understand the distribution of water resources, the dynamics of water pollution in the Katanga and the uneven access to clean water, in order to propose policies that can ensure a fair, safe and sufficient access to clean water for communities in cities and mining areas. Three specific objectives will be pursued: 1) assessing the availability of water resources and natural risks due to the local geology and presence of (potentially toxic) metals in the soil and underground, 2) assessing the anthropogenic risks due to mining activities and human settlements. These risks will include pollution of water resources, biodiversity loss and risks for human communities, and 3) understanding the political ecology of water governance in this region. These objectives will be pursued through three interlinked work packages with specific disciplinary and methodological approaches, including the production of validated maps and participatory mapping; water, sediment, macroinvertebrate and fish samples; survey and interviews. The principal researcher will be embedded in an interdisciplinary team at RMCA, IOB and Ecosphere. The project is justified by the strategic importance of cobalt in the green energy transition, as well as its negative externalities in terms of water pollution and uneven access to water resources for local populations.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara
• Fellow: Nkuba Bossissi

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Data has been extolled as the new frontier of development. Whereas western elite actors have contested big data for its flattening of social life and information extraction, grassroots initiatives have been championing big data to promote citizen rights, improve state accountability, and reduce inequality. InfoCitizen will: (1) study the citizenship practices and technologies coalescing around model initiatives to produce and circulate data in the Global South. We contend that for favela residents in Brazil, ethnic minorities in Portugal and Germany, and poor citizens in Tanzania and Kenya, far from splintering and prying, data has the potential to promote cultural change, political identity, and economic wellbeing via "better," "faster," and "more reliable" public and private statistics. (2) blend insights from the social studies of quantification, the anthropology of data, and citizenship studies to grasp data produced by experts and citizens across top-down and bottom-up data ecosystems. Via the concept of informational citizenship, we will illuminate the politics (infrastructures, epistemologies, visibilities) and poetics (experiences, socialities, and affects) of datafication, their impacts on law- and policymaking, and their effects on individuals, communities, and institutions in Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Tanzania, and Kenya. (3) combine archival, digital, audiovisual, and quanti-qualitative methods to unpack the tools—censuses, smartphones, policy reports—and actors—NGOs, data labs, legal commissions—crystallizing in the wake of grassroots numbers. We propose a global and comparative ethnography of datafied subjectivities and their interplay with transnational networks of expertise—such as think tanks, governments, and businesses. (4) generate applied and analytical research and a unique database of quantification tools and practices to critically probe the imaginaries, contingencies, materialities, and spaces of data for radical democratic change today.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Kopper Moisés

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Data has been extolled as the new frontier of development. Whereas western elite actors have contested big data for its flattening of social life and information extraction, grassroots initiatives have been championing big data to promote citizen rights, improve state accountability, and reduce inequality. InfoCitizen will: (1) study the citizenship practices and technologies coalescing around model initiatives to produce and circulate data in the Global South. We contend that for favela residents in Brazil, ethnic minorities in Portugal and Germany, and poor citizens in Tanzania and Kenya, far from splintering and prying, data has the potential to promote cultural change, political identity, and economic wellbeing via "better," "faster," and "more reliable" public and private statistics. (2) blend insights from the social studies of quantification, the anthropology of data, and citizenship studies to grasp data produced by experts and citizens across top-down and bottom-up data ecosystems. Via the concept of informational citizenship, we will illuminate the politics (infrastructures, epistemologies, visibilities) and poetics (experiences, socialities, and affects) of datafication, their impacts on law- and policymaking, and their effects on individuals, communities, and institutions in Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Tanzania, and Kenya. (3) combine archival, digital, audiovisual, and quanti-qualitative methods to unpack the tools—censuses, smartphones, policy reports—and actors—NGOs, data labs, legal commissions—crystallizing in the wake of grassroots numbers. We propose a global and comparative ethnography of datafied subjectivities and their interplay with transnational networks of expertise—such as think tanks, governments, and businesses. (4) generate applied and analytical research and a unique database of quantification tools and practices to critically probe the imaginaries, contingencies, materialities, and spaces of data for radical democratic change today.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Kopper Moisés
• Fellow: Kopper Moisés

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Today, in the Eastern and Central African regions, only less than 10% of the working-age population earn their living in the formal economy, a very low percentage that is not likely to change substantially for the current generation. Therefore, the informal economy plays an essential role in the economic fabric of this region of Africa, providing most of the jobs and livelihoods for its citizens. With this in mind, a consortium of academic and political actors in Belgium and three African countries (Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, and Uganda) have joined forces in a platform called SPRING (Social Protection and Inclusive Growth) to reflect on the challenges of transformative social protection in such a context. It aims to support the Belgian cooperation policy in these countries and beyond, by deepening the knowledge on the dynamics of the informal economy, focusing on the promotion of labour intensive and decent work, seeking ways to increase social protection coverage and its financing, to work towards universal health coverage and promote social dialogue.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Herdt Tom

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

My research is multidisciplinary in scope, building bridges between development economics, health economics, and refugee studies. With colleagues from the Refugee Economies Programme at the University of Oxford, I am collecting and analysing data on more than 15,000 refugees and members of host populations in Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia, exploring themes such as refugee economies, self-reliance, mobility, cross-border trade, and mental health. In partnership with the World Food Programme, I am assessing the impact of various cash transfer models on the socioeconomic outcomes of refugee households and refugee businesses in the Kakuma refugee camp and the Kalobeyei settlement in Kenya. I am also working with the World Bank on various impact evaluations of cash-based assistance programmes in Africa and elsewhere. With the charity Talent Beyond Boundaries, I am also studying the impact of skilled-worker visas for refugees to move and work in the UK and EU.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Sterck Olivier
• Fellow: Sterck Olivier

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The research will assess the impact of shocks (including climate change) on coping strategies and livelihood of affected populations in Africa. Two coping strategies will be examined in details: debt and migration.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Sterck Olivier
• Fellow: Rostom Nada

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project aims at increasing the M&E capacity of actors in partner countries of Belgian development cooperation. The project particularly focuses on increasing organisational capacities of Voluntary Organisations for the Professionalisation of Evaluation (VOPE) and M&E capacity of individual evaluators. The project focuses on increasing knowledge, skills and networking in the area of organisational learning/strengthening, M&E policy and M&E methods. It organises training seminars in Belgium, Tanzania and Uganda and will set up a network (community of practice on inclusive evaluation).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project
• Education Project

Abstract

Over several phases and centering around memory, resistances, and imaginaries — this project intends to examine the erasures undertaken by settler-colonialism and the subsequent practices of resistance to that erasure, by exploring ways of relating to and cultivating the land through generative acts of resistance rooted in issues of seeds, soil and popular pedagogies. The main objective is to interlace the reactivation of collective memories with multiple forms of storytelling and critical remembrance drawing from notions of the undercommons and fugitivity, collaborative grassroots filmmaking methodologies and practices of critical fabulation, to inform artistic gestures and conversations envisioning post-colonial and land-centered imaginaries. As a starting point, this project experiments with developing decolonial aesthetics and forms grounded in lived realities. It also looks into facilitating moments of encounter and congregation in and with the landscape through walking, alongside exploring filmmaking and walking as subversive forms of re-relating to the land and of re-worlding? Structured around the Palestinian agricultural calendar, the project unfolds through different strands; a speculative documentary located primarily in Om Sleiman Community Farm capturing histories and moments shaping current sociopolitical and ecological movements; a participative digital sound archive encompassing personal cartographies and sounds of a fading landscape; a series of guided pedagogical walks, and finally collaborative multi-lingual journal.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Van Hecken Gert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The climate emergency is a reality. Climate change impacts are expected to intensify over the 21st century no matter what emissions reduction scenario. Communities in low-lying coastal areas, particularly in small island developing states (SIDS) are facing an existential risk to livelihoods from compounded climate challenges: extreme weather events and slow on-set (sea level rise). The most urgent question for policy and decision-makers is on the future and long-term (un)habitability of these coastal areas and the possibility of retreat and relocation. Life beyond the point of 'no-return' under climate change requires ground-rooted research on challenges linked to the historical ties to land, culture and risk perception, social acceptability of adaptation, land tenure and compensation. Empirical studies are needed to bring the voices of the communities at the forefront of climate change and habitability issues, in order to inform local-to-national and international adaptation policy and the design of compensation tools for non-economic losses associated with relocation. This project uses multi-disciplinary methods in two case studies (Anguilla and Barbuda) to support radical shifts in adaptation studies and implementation that is based on bottom up approaches for co-designing adaptation pathways where coastal retreat and relocation go hand-in-hand with community empowerment, ownership and the fulfillment of fundamental rights.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso
• Fellow: Anisimov Ariadna

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project aims to untangle return decision-making strategies of South Sudanese transnational families, in the aftermath of the South Sudanese civil war (2013-2018). Through a multi-sited ethnography with members of South Sudanese families, we will create insights into the precise dynamics within transnational family networks and more specifically, into their decision-making processes during the period in between the conflict and post-conflict stage. We will do so through a combination of multiple qualitative research methods, including auto-ethnography, in-depth interviews, observations and life history interviews. Combining the insights generated at our three research sites, namely in the northern Ugandan refugee settlements, Kampala and Juba, we will pave the way for a better understanding of the nature and working of refugees' transnational family networks; and how their configurations evolve and adapt to changing conditions. In doing so, the study will add critical contributions to the literature on return migration, migration decision-making and transnational families.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Herdt Tom
• Co-promoter: Belloni Milena
• Fellow: Vancluysen Sarah

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

To curb the climate crisis, we need to promote green energy. Economic research can play a key role in evaluating different policy options. In recent years, Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) rose to prominence in effectiveness research. However, the issue of scalability remains understudied: what happens when successful experiments are scaled? Limited by their short-term micro-data, RCTs do not have an answer to this question. I seek to contribute to closing this knowledge gap by studying the scaling up of a green energy policy in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. Goma's 1.1 million inhabitants mainly use charcoal for cooking, which not only poses an individual health hazard, but also threatens Virunga National Park. In an attempt to safeguard the Park, Virunga Energies (VE) is distributing Electric Pressure Cookers (EPCs) to clients connected to its electric grid. After a successful pilot in 2021 and an RCT in 2022, VE decided to scale up the EPC distribution. I will study whether the pilot results hold in the longer term, or whether maintenance and repair issues set in, and – if so – how they can be addressed. In addition, I will study whether the large-scale EPC distribution slows down deforestation, or whether second-round effects in the charcoal market nullify this intended effect. Finally, I will study whether armed actors, who currently control the charcoal trade, are weakened and violence abates, or whether they adapt and turn to other illicit income sources.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke
• Co-promoter: Stoop Nik
• Fellow: Collart Lara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Refugee policies in the Global South have increasingly become the focus of international interest. However, there is little understanding about how these policies are shaped and managed in these Southern countries. This doctoral project aims to understand how national refugee policies are the outcome of political negotiations between different levels, and what implementation effects this has. Taking the national refugee policy as a vantage point, this project aims to understand the entire policy process of refugee policies at the global, national and local: In what way do these different levels influence each other, and what is the effect on the national and local refugee policy? Thus, this project aims to understand how refugee policies emerge, are negotiated and implemented. This novel approach has not been taken before, and will be done by using a case study: Uganda's refugee policy. The country is seen as a 'success story' in refugee governance: it is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees flagship country for its key-policy, which was implemented in 2017. This project aims to conduct multi-sited field research at different levels: at the global level (New York and Geneva), the national level (Kampala) and the local level (two Ugandan refugee settlements). This will result in a ground-breaking research that provides more insights in the ways in which these different levels impact both on each other, and ultimately, on the quality of refugee policies itself.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof
• Co-promoter: Belloni Milena
• Fellow: Derrix Roos

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

While our research group analyses development processes, actors and policies in general, development monitoring and evaluation is one of the crucial aspects hereof and our group has also developed a critical mass of expertise on this topic. To date, however, there is a large gap between the literature in this field and the recent literature on the decolonial turn in development studies. The post-doc challenge can be a welcome opportunity to explore how the literature on decolonization of development questions both thinking and practice in development monitoring and evaluation. To be sure, there are some existing streams of literature that may help in closing the gap between both literatures: This work may involve, among other things, (1) building further on power analyses of participatory or community based evaluation methods (Cooke & Kothari 2001; Cohen et al 2021), (2) engaging with 'indigenous knowledge systems' (Shepherd & Graham 2020) and transformative forms of evaluation (Mertens 2009), (3) adapting evaluation processes to cultural contexts through 'culturally responsive approaches' (Chouinard & Cram 2020), (4) explicitly dealing with the ecological sustainability aspects of development interventions (Patton 2020) and (5) pursuing "aidnography" to analyze the political economy context in which many monitoring and evaluation activities take place, also taking into account the importance of donor involvement in processes of monitoring and evaluation (Lewis & Mosse 2006; Eyben et al 2015; Olivier de Sardan 2021).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Cassimon Danny

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In 2018, mass protests in Nicaragua were met with repression and lethal violence by the Ortega government. To many, this resembled the darkest hours of the Somoza dictatorship (1936-1979), comparing or equating both regimes with each other and the struggles against them. This PhD project examines the role of memory and space in cross-generational resistance to autocracy in Nicaragua. Scholars in the fields of autocratization have conducted little systematic research on cross-generational aspects within long-term resistance to system(s) of autocracy, nor on the consequences these may bring forth regarding activists' political outlooks and/or strategies. To fill this gap, this project will engage with and expand upon Cultural Studies and Memory Studies to unravel the role of memory and space in the (dis)continuities in the resistance to two consecutive but distinct autocratic state projects. This project will draw upon the experiences and political outlooks of two generations of Nicaraguan activists and the consequences that elapsed time has upon these. To collect these accounts, it will deploy a combination of ethnographic research tools and historical data collection. From this case study, a critical theoretical framework will emerge that addresses the issue of cross-generational resistance to autocracy, whilst de-centering and de-privileging the state as primary site for political analysis.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Van Hecken Gert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The energy transition makes the world greedy for cobalt, a mineral that is primarily extracted in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In response to growing environmental, human rights and labour concerns surrounding this extraction and trade, a multitude of so-called responsible cobalt sourcing initiatives has emerged. This project critically questions the discourses and practices of these responsible sourcing initiatives, conceptualizing them as a 'responsible cobalt assemblage'. The project (1) maps this emerging assemblage, making an empirical contribution to the literature on supply chain governance; (2) conceptualizes responsible cobalt initiatives as an assemblage, making a theoretical contribution to assemblage theory; (3) analyzes legitimizing discourses and practices employed by different assemblage actors, as well as their effects on the ground. It will do so by combining a range of qualitative research methods, primarily discourse analysis, interviews and focus group discussions, and will explicitly create space for non-hegemonic forms of knowledge production. This will also be done through embedding the project within an institutional collaboration with a Congolese partner university. The project complements the FWO Driving Change project (2022-2025) theoretically, analytically and methodologically by engaging with assemblage theory, focusing on legitimacy and including national-level actors, and using discourse analyses.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara
• Co-promoter: Katz-Lavigne Sarah
• Fellow: Arian Hadassah

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Around 2.6 billion people remain dependent on biomass fuel for cooking. This has severe health, budgetary and environmental consequences. Electric cooking is a healthier, cheaper, and cleaner alternative. It has also become a feasible one, given the recent improvements in reliable electricity access. But, while both development and environmental actors are now seeking to untap the potential of eCooking, very little is known about barriers to its adoption, and whether it can deliver on its promises. We study the uptake and impact of Electric Pressure Cookers (EPCs) in the city of Goma, North-Kivu, where people's reliance on charcoal entails huge individual and social costs. Here, the burning of charcoal not only constitutes a health hazard, but also severely exacerbates poverty, as it drains one third of household budgets. In terms of social costs, charcoal reliance not only threatens the nearby Virunga National Park; it also perpetuates conflict as armed groups seek to control its production and trade. To co-create the first experimental evidence on EPC uptake and livelihood impact, we team up with a local electricity provider and randomly distribute 1,000 EPCs. We include different treatment arms to learn about factors affecting adoption, including financial and informational constraints and social learning. The experiment will entail lessons for scaling up. When scaled up, we will be able to also study social benefits in terms of deforestation and peace.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke
• Fellow: Stoop Nik

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In this project, we trace the value chain of sand and stones, manually extracted along Lake Kivu, transported to the city of Bukavu, and materially transformed into the city's handmade architecture. Focusing on human labour, nature and material constructions, we envisage a threefold change: better protection of the environment around extraction, transport and construction sites, better protection of human labour (and particularly female labour) along the sand and stone value chain, and improved constructions and urbanisation of the city of Bukavu and future extensions. This project will co-construct knowledge in the fields of labour, environment and architecture, and train two PhD students (one in Environment and one in Development Studies) and two MSc students (one in Architecture and one in Human Settlements). In doing so, the project will contribute to strengthening multidisciplinary research and inter-faculty collaboration, through the consolidation of the existing research centre Centre d'Expertise en Gestion Minière (CEGEMI) and the creation of a new Academic Design Office (ADO) for a sustainable, inclusive and enriching urban future. The project responds to pressing needs in the city of Bukavu. It will have a solid societal impact through the continuous involvement of key stakeholders. A stakeholder platform, annual stakeholder meetings and creative outreach provide the conditions for uptake, while CEGEMI and ADO can consolidate these collaborations in a sustainable way.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara
• Co-promoter: Bervoets Lieven

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Western companies that source minerals for electric-vehicle batteries have increasingly been tasked with doing the due diligence of verifying and remedying human rights, social, and environmental abuses in their supply chains. This increased responsibility has gone hand in hand with growing involvement and power of corporate and other non-state actors in transnational regulation. Yet the speed with which new regulatory initiatives are being rolled out means that the meaningful participation of communities and small-scale producers in decision-making around supply-chain initiatives lags behind in both policy and research. This oversight, combined with insufficient consideration of competing normative and knowledge systems and of structural power relations within and beyond mineral supply chains, means that due-diligence initiatives will struggle to create meaningful change on the ground. By bringing together the literature on transnational non-state regulation and critical work on participation, this project aims to develop a framework for putting small-scale producers in the driver's seat, including when it comes to digital technologies. This empirically rich project will collect data in the Democratic Republic of Congo through a novel mix of participatory research methods. By combining theoretical and methodological innovation this study advances the debate on non-state regulation and (digital) participation.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a research contract awarded by the University of Antwerp. The supervisor provides the Antwerp University research mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions stipulated by the university.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Cassimon Danny

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

From wild trees to world crop commodities, from forest destroyers to forest saviors: cacao and oil palm have a special place in histories of global socio-environmental connections. Responding to threats posed by the expansion of commodity agriculture to climate and biodiversity, policy-makers now seek solutions in these tree-crops themselves. They are deemed to be able to integrate multiple ecosystem services with commodity production to improve communities' livelihoods. This project engages with the analytical challenge of an improved understanding of the complex relationships between the material specificities of cacao and oil palm, and the human meanings and values that make them drivers of both extinction and hope. Through the innovative conceptual approach of multifrictional crops, this research follows cacao and oil palm from Congolese forests to Dutch and Belgian cities and ports. It looks at how various forms of environmental governance and knowledge, everyday practices, and multispecies relations come in tension to shape the social-ecological lives of these crops, and those of the people and landscapes who grow them. Comparing a nonnative to a native crop in the Congo Basin allows to explore the importance of cultural-environmental histories and of place-based knowledge to (agro)biodiversity. As such, it will critically broaden conceptions of sustainability and justice to ask how ethical human-nonhuman encounters can be built so as to produce just outcomes.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Van Hecken Gert
• Fellow: Windey Catherine

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The gender & participation sub-project aims at mainstreaming a gender and community perspective in ARU's training, research and outreach activities to ensure a higher level of gender & community sensitivity in academic outputs and impact. We apply a threefold strategy and focus on numbers, content and organizational issues. First, in terms of numbers, gender balance will be envisaged in all academic activities. The sub-project is expected to enrol 4 PhDs and 4 advanced masters, 500 participants in short course/outreach activities, reach 500 bachelor/master students, of 50% are expected to be female. Second, in terms of content, a gender and community perspective will be mainstreamed through increasing staff capacity in gender sensitive and community approaches. The sub-project will offer trainings and advice to project staff which is expected to have a trickle down effect on the overall project's gender and community sensitivity. The sub-project will develop new courses and/or contribute to the revision of existing curriculum contents. Short courses and outreach activities targeted at communities, civil society, government, etc. will be introduced to increase societal knowledge and skills on gender mainstreaming and community participation. At the project research site(s), an action research project on gender-sensitive community based monitoring/citizen science will be set up in which students, staff, communities and duty bearers engage in joint research with an immediate societal and sustainable impact. Research findings will be disseminated using different channels, including peer reviewed publications, conference contributions, policy briefs, policy seminars, posters and videos. Third, at the organizational level, the sub-project will review the existing ARU gender policy and sensitize the leadership to mainstream gender more robustly. In order to support (female) PhD and master students a mentorship system will be set up. A yearly career network event with stakeholders from government, donors, alumni, civil society will be organized to increase networking and employability. Throughout the sub-project synergies and complementarities will be explored and valorized with other sub-projects, previous vlir-uos projects and alumni, new initiatives of other (national and international) actors and stakeholders on similar topics.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

We measure the impact of electricity provision on economic development, security and conservation. Our case study focuses on rural and urban communities nearby Virunga National Park, in DR Congo. Impoverished by armed conflict, the communities complement their livelihoods with the park's resources to make ends meet. These resources are also illicitly exploited by several armed groups that have their hideouts within the park's boundaries. The electricity rollout is implemented by Virunga Alliance. According to their theory of change, electrification will spur development, which will in turn reduce people's reliance on the park's resources and their support for rebel groups. The theory of change finds support in the literature, but needs further testing. To learn about the causal effect of electrification, we designed an impact evaluation that compares time trends in socio-economic development, conservation and security across treatment and control localities. Treatment localities are being connected in the period 2019-2020; control localities only at a later stage. We are currently halfway the baseline data collection in treatment and control localities before the onset of electrification. The final baseline data will contain census information on about 72,000 households and 3,200 firms, and a detailed structured survey among a stratified random sample of 2,400 households and 800 firms. We are seeking to fund follow-up research in order to complete the impact evaluation.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke
• Co-promoter: Stoop Nik

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Cash transfers are a common component of social security and poverty reduction policies. To date, positive effects have been registered on expenditures, investments and children's education and health outcomes while the evidence base as regards savings and production effects is somewhat smaller and less consistent. Drawing on intrahousehold allocation literature and the assumption that women tend to spend more on children's human capital and public goods, cash transfers are generally allocated to women in the household. However, while the expectation is that his might lower gender-based inequalities and increase women's empowerment, findings are mixed so far. While research on the topic is booming, there are gaps in the evidence base which we seek to address: (1) The scope of existing research has centred on individual and household effects. We broaden the scope to the community level by investigating the effects on social cohesion and networks, trust and collective action. Focusing on changes at the collective level is critical because social cohesion, in itself, is a desirable outcome and also a means to generate the public goods (e.g. schools, water, roads) needed to sustainably lift citizens out of poverty. Moving beyond the individual and intra-household level might also help us to understand the mixed effects of cash transfer interventions on gender equality, as gendered effects are often mediated through changes (or lack thereof) at the collective level. (2) There has been little attention paid to long term effects, something our study wants to correct by explicitly investigating to what extent cash transfer effects, both at household and individual level (first order & second & third order effects) and at collective level are sustainable after program closure. Drawing upon insights of social sciences and development studies, we hypothesize likely effects that will materialize and test hypotheses in rural western Uganda using a cross-sectional & longitudinal design and mixed methods approach. Our quasi-experimental impact study is linked to a recently finalized two-year experiment of universal unconditional mobile cash transfer (UCT) implemented by the Eight project in western Uganda (http://www.eight.world). Two rounds of data collection using a multitude of data collection tools (including conventional survey, network survey and focus groups) have been done so far and will be (partial) input for the currently proposed study. In addition to a substantive contribution, our study is also methodologically innovative as it applies social network analysis (SNA) to analyze cash transfer effects on social interaction patterns and structures, something which has, to the best of our knowledge, not been done before. Given the widespread use of cash transfers and the existing gaps in the evidence base, our study is obviously not only interesting for an academic audience but also for policy makers and practitioners. As to trigger the policy impact of our research, findings will be synthesized through infographics, policy briefs and will be presented during (policy) seminars and the European Development Days. Eight's substantial media-coverage (see http://www.eight.world for an overview), which is likely to get a new boost in the future as a documentary is in the making, also opens opportunities to reach a broader audience with vulgarized research findings, something which is increasingly high on the academic agenda. Also tailor-made feedback to local communities and duty bearers is part and parcel of the outreach plan.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie
• Fellow: Grisolia Filippo

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project aspires to a scientific revision of contemporary African political cultures, adopting a non-Eurocentric and interdisciplinary approach. Beyond making new in-depth knowledge available to aid and peacebuilding organisations, it seeks to have a direct impact on the well-being of the communities being studied through the method of digital restitution of cultural heritage. The underlying premise is that knowledge of one's cultural history constitutes a cultural capital that is a source of self-esteem and contributes to societal commitment and cohesion. The project is built on a cross-pollination of three complementary strands of research. The first is a political and development science investigation of the resurgence of customary authorities in contemporary DRCongo. This will take seriously the full spectrum of local expressions on the matter, to acquire a better understanding of the region's historically-rooted political culture and its underlying cultural logic. The second consists of research on ritual objects and their provenance, to shed new light on customary authority and to prepare for digital restitutions. The third component will explore the transformative potential of efforts to reconnect historically dispossessed 'source communities' with their material cultural heritage. The digital restitution will be guided by object provenance research, by an assessment of existing digital infrastructures in the region, and by a thorough consultation with (local) stakeholders to determine what is desirable and feasible.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

A sustainable relationship between host and refugees is essential to guarantee the social and political stability of countries and regions. Uganda is known to be hosting one of the largest refugee populations in the world. This project aims to contribute to a better understanding and facilitate policy interventions that can ameliorate social relations between hosts and refugees. This will be done by (1) developing innovative research approaches studying conflict trajectories (escalation vs. mediation); (2) structurally improve and strengthen the research capabilities (e.g. methodological skills) at Ugandan partner institution (students, PhDs and staff mem-bers); (3) propel the Southern Partner (MUST) and its staff into a recognized leader regarding high quality re-search on forced displacement; (4) translate findings to policy makers through participation of international and national NGOs and Ugandan authorities (national/local).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ingelaere Bert
• Promoter: Titeca Kristof
• Promoter: Vancluysen Sarah
• Co-promoter: Titeca Kristof

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Indigenous peoples have been repeatedly displaced from their ancestral lands in the name of conservation (Dowie, 2012). To deliver on the dual imperatives of environmental protection and social justice, a growing number of NGOs, activists and academics are calling for indigenous peoples to be given greater control over their lands and resources inside protected areas (for example, Minority Rights Group and Forest Peoples Program). However, we know very little about how indigenous peoples relate to their ancestral forests decades after having been displaced from them for conservation purposes. Do they go back to living a traditional, ecologically sustainable lifestyle? Or do they come to view their customary lands and resources as an opportunity for extraction and economic gain? This research project will address this fundamental gap in our understanding through an in-depth analysis of Kahuzi-Biega National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where groups of indigenous Batwa people recently returned after decades living outside its boundaries. Concretely, I will examine how the Batwa now relate to their ancestral forests inside the park; and the extent, trajectory and causes of environmental changes (principally tree cover loss) that have followed their return. To conduct the research, I will develop an innovative mixed methods toolkit whereby satellite images of tree cover changes inside the park will then be 'ground-truthed' with ethnographic techniques during fieldwork. The research findings will be published in at least 1 high-impact journal, 1 policy brief and 1 blog post. I will also present the key conclusions at 1 academic and 1 policy-oriented conference. The project effectively represents a bridge between my PhD, which focussed on conservation conflicts around Kahuzi-Biega National Park, and an FWO postdoctorate project, where I will combine satellite and ethnographic data to study conservation, armed conflict and environmental change more broadly in Africa's Great Lakes region.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Simpson Fergus

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Consultancy project African Cities Research Consortium Consultancy project African Cities Research Consortium Consultancy project African Cities Research Consortium Consultancy project African Cities Research Consortium

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Herdt Tom

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In the context of political, environmental and social precarity as well as resistance, the project Disaster Capitalism in the Caribbean Region: Networking, Sharing and Learning from Community Responses, supported by a 2022 grant from the Open Society Foundations aims to share the stories and experiences of regional grass root organizations' experiences with disaster capitalism at varying scales. The project builds on previous work from the 2020 UK Global Challenges Research Funded, (GCRF) Food Insecurity at the Time of Climate Change project that was led by the Bristol University, with Principal Investigator Dr Jessica Paddock. The GCRF project unified four academic /university partners and 5 grassroots civil society organizations across five Caribbean countries, namely Barbuda, Belize, Colombia, Jamaica and Puerto Rico, to share experiences on food insecurity and climate change. This fostered the creation of a regional community and website, Stronger Caribbean Together, to strengthen grassroots organizations' efforts to address food insecurity and climate issues (https://strongercaribbeantogether.org/). The previous project which ended March 2022, also enabled grassroots organizations to identify connections between their problems and provide pathways towards solutions. Overall, our current project, proposes dialogue and knowledge exchange between non-state actors to empower and equip organizations to challenge local disaster capitalism projects and policies. The international exchange of ideas from multiple partners across the region to share experiences not only unifies the region but also allows locals in the region to identify political patterns that are often construed as exceptions (Bethell-Bennett & Furst, 2021). With this project we seek to expand the current network of partners to twenty grassroots organizations across the region and fill 3 gaps, namely: 1. The lack transnational network; 2. The lack of digital space for knowledge and information sharing and 3. The limited access to legal advocacy and support. The project will thus share the stories and experiences of our project partners and make them easily accessible online for additional support. And, it will provide them with access to international actors operating around legal advocacy and legal support, namely through the Global Legal Actors Network (GLAN), the Climate Litigation Accelerator (CLX) and Freedom Imaginaries (FI). Through these means we wish to help amplify the voices of the project partners and build bridges to additional support for their struggles.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This citizen science project addresses two major societal challenges of Tanzania, gender inequality, and the need for knowledge to address water scarcity and quality (also linked to climate change). The project will train women monitors in 5 Tanzanian villages situated around Bagamoyo to increase and broaden skills, confidence, and networks. Training (young) women can encourage them to pursue education and learning which might contribute to the improvement of their employability prospects. The project will also increase knowledge and awareness about water quality and availability in the communities, among specific target audiences (e.g. school children, farmers) and duty bearers. Besides, it has the potential to stimulate a change of water treatment behavior. Uploading the data on online databases will contribute to academic research and outreach. Finally, the project's activities will enhance community-science-policy interactions. In the long term, it sets out to contribute to the improvement of the water sector policy making and reduce water-borne diseases in communities through a better-informed community (women especially) and behavioral change (e.g. by promoting water treatment methods). The project also hopes to trigger an empowerment process by increasing women's agency to voice their concerns and claims in the policy arena.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research proposal sets out to critically examine how the military institution could function as an 'agent of change' in terms of gender relations for a post-conflict society and promote a gender-just peace (Björkdahl 2012). As such, it focuses on the role of gender in the reform of the military in two states following conflict: Liberia and Mali. In particular, it focuses on the intertwined processes of gender integration and gender mainstreaming in the post-conflict phase. Gender integration refers here to the participation and inclusion of different genders in the armed forces and gender mainstreaming is understood as a strategy to achieve gender equality by making visible and creating awareness of the gendered nature of assumptions, processes and outcomes (Verloo 2001; Walby 2005). Specifically, the proposal focuses on how women are recruited and integrated in the armies, which actors that push for or resist their integration and what functions, roles and experiences women come to have within the militaries.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Cassimon Danny

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Around 2.6 billion people remain dependent on biomass fuel for cooking. This has severe environmental and health consequences. Electric cooking is a greener and healthier alternative. It has also become a feasible and cheaper one, given the recent improvements in reliable electricity access and electric cooking devices. We study the uptake and impact of Electric Pressure Cookers (EPCs) in the city of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, where people's reliance on charcoal entails huge individual and social costs. To co-create the first experimental evidence on EPC uptake and livelihood impact, we team up with a private green electricity provider and randomly distribute 1,000 EPCs. We include different treatment arms to learn about factors affecting adoption, including financial and informational constraints and social learning.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This feasibility study will explore the conditions to implement GOBLAR, a participatory governance and accountability tool at the commune-level in mega-city Kinshasa. GOBLAR is based on WHO's UrbanHEART approach and was developed and implemented in 2020 in two municipalities of Guatemala City. Our objective is to better understand under what conditions this tool and the underlying approach can be adopted and be made to work in Kinshasa (DRC), another challenging urban environment. We will adopt the realist evaluation approach and the case study design. We will collect qualitative and quantitative data through a wide range of methods. The analysis will be based on principles of realist evaluation and lead to a more detailed programme theory underlying GOBLAR. The project is also intended to lead to (1) a full-fledged FWO research project, through which we aim to strengthen local health priority-setting based on a participatory accountability assessment that involves local authorities, civil society organisations, communities and private health providers and (2) a proposal for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral network focusing on the use(fulness) of public accountability tools in urban public services.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof
• Co-promoter: De Herdt Tom

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The research project addresses the need to transform the allegedly environmentally and socially undesirable and destructive dynamics in Nicaraguan agricultural frontier. It focuses on the possible role of providers of credit, technical assistance and other complementary services. It aims to acknowledge the risks and limitations of mainstream technical-economic approaches that tend to understand transformation to sustainability as a straightforward linear process, with clear consensual objectives to be achieved by top-down manageable strategies of farmers and other relevant actors. The research adopts a "territorial development pathways" approach, to address the political nature of processes of transformation to sustainability. It aims to identify the structural underpinnings driving territorial dynamics and explicitly takes into account farmers' interrelated perspectives, motivations and values. This perspective contributes to the design of embedded financial strategies towards more inclusive and environmentally sound transformative changes of current territorial dynamics. The research is based on a mixed methods approach, highlighting the importance of the active involvement of different actors and the collective construction of knowledge as a key mechanism for the transformation of territorial pathways.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bastiaensen Johan
• Fellow: Romero López Milagros

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

We propose a number of pathways to decolonize Belgian development cooperation, starting from the concepts of dignity, recognition, solidarity, and coherence. We study 1) what these four concepts mean for Northern cooperation; 2) what these four concepts mean for Southern partners of Belgian development cooperation ; 3) what are the similarities and the differences between the two meanings; 4) thinking about a common basis from which the different visions can meet and which can serve as a foundation for a truly decolonial cooperation.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Volgens de taakomschrijving is de centrale doelstelling van het onderzoek het versterken van normen en beste praktijken om onverantwoorde en illegale winningsactiviteiten tegen te gaan door middel van richtsnoeren en instrumenten voor het sturen, bewaken en beheren van zandwinning, en door het uitwisselen van informatie en het tot stand brengen van een dialoog tussen de belangrijkste spelers en belanghebbenden. Dit zal worden gedaan door middel van: (i) een algemeen in kaart brengen van relevante informatie (academisch en beleidsmatig) over (duurzame) zandgrondstofketens, en van internationale en Belgische initiatieven met betrekking tot de sector, inclusief snelgroeiende "due diligence"-benaderingen met betrekking tot mensenrechten. (ii) case studies in Marokko en Tanzania, om de (zandgovernance) realiteit op het terrein beter te begrijpen, en om de toegevoegde waarde van Belgische diplomatie en ontwikkelingssamenwerking te onderzoeken. (iii) aanknopingspunten aanreiken om het onderwerp op het niveau van internationaal engagement te brengen, waarbij specifiek gefocust wordt op de effectieve verspreiding van resultaten, alsook op de rol van Belgische initiatieven in het werken aan duurzame, gender-gevoelige zandwaardeketens. Wat weten we over het beheer van zandgrondstofketens? Hoe kunnen evoluerende normen en beste praktijken inzake global resource governance, in het bijzonder gericht op transparantie en due diligence, helpen om niet-duurzame en illegale zandontginning in te perken, en wat zijn mogelijke onbedoelde gevolgen voor specifieke (kwetsbare) bevolkingsgroepen die hiermee te maken krijgen? Hoe kunnen we deze lessen toepassen op specifieke gevallen zoals Tanzania of Marokko?

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Katz-Lavigne Sarah

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The study wants to identify a number of important local, regional and international determinants and drivers of urban development of Bukavu, on the basis of secondary sources. The objective is to start from this scoping study to define a more extensive empirical research phase at a later point in time.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Herdt Tom

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This short assignment supports the integration of a gender dimension in the Joint Strategic Framework (JSF) Kenya. The JSF Kenya is elaborated by the non-governmental actors that are operational in Kenya and sets out the strategy and focus of collaboration between NGA and partners in the south.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Context: The conversion of natural ecosystems for agricultural land use and minerals' extraction is one of the main drivers of global biodiversity loss. At the same time, deforestation and forest degradation in the tropics is the second largest source of global greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. Despite the scientific evidence about agriculture and mining as major threats to biodiversity and the global climate, the frontiers of global value chains continue to be expanded into tropical forests, causing deforestation, forest degradation and biodiversity loss. The planetary organization of value chains is part of the problem: it intensifies the need for meat and minerals, increases the distance between the locations of extraction and production, and places of processing and final consumption. This telecoupling disconnects spaces of consumption with the local socio-ecological impacts of production. In the last years, consumers, governments and companies based in the EU are increasingly looking for solutions to address environmental and social externalities of imported commodities such as meat and minerals. This renewed sensitivity has led to new regulations (e.g., the EU FLEGT), but also transnational corporations to adopt best practices guidelines and certification schemes (e.g., Fairmined). Main objectives and methodology: EPICC applies a polycentric governance and environmental justice approach to investigate four selected commodity chains (cattle, palm oil, gold and tin) that 'feed' the European market. EPICC seeks to map the governance and power links that connect the multiple territories of production and transformation and their plural legal systems with the European regulatory, political and socio-economic space. By doing so, EPICC identifies and analyzes leverage points (chokeholds) and blind spots, and sheds light on the micro and macro conditions that may facilitate the mitigation of environmental and social impacts that occur at the selected locations of production (in Brazil, Colombia and Indonesia). Potential impact: EPICC will contribute to the production of new bottom-up and co-constructed multidisciplinary scientific knowledge about the interactions between transnational commodity chains reaching the EU, climate change, social and biological diversity loss and territorial ecological injustices. It will challenge the geographical and disciplinary sylos in which loss of social and environmental diversity and climate change are often put. It will study them through the lenses of the complex set of material and immaterial relationships that exist between the local and the global economy, their institutions, actors and interactions (including through the regulations, legislations and private interventions that are undertaken by the EU and EU actors such as NGOs, civil society organizations and THE private actors) It will enrich mainstream governance studies with a political ecology, ecological justice and transnational value chains perspective. It will bring to light the interconnectivity of decision making, from global to local, so that policies and interventions at all levels of the chain are defined by a locally rooted, ecologically just, complex and multi-disciplinary understanding that what happens on the ground is connected with the network of private actors, institutions and power dynamics that shape, govern and operate within the value chains.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ferrando Tomaso
• Co-promoter: Kolinjivadi Vijay Krishnan
• Co-promoter: Van Hecken Gert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Over the past 15 years, payments for ecosystem services (PES) have become a leading tool to advance both conservation and sustainable livelihood transitions by offering economic incentives to protect soils, water, sequester carbon, and protect biodiversity. While premised as a market-based transaction, PES design and implementation is shaped by diverging value frameworks predicated on the intersection between contextually-specific socio-cultural relations, historical asymmetric relations of power in the governance of land and resources, emergent ecological processes, and ongoing economic land-use drivers. This research project will be the first attempt to systematically compile all peer-reviewed literature on PES research, resulting in the "ePEStemology" database to identify plural epistemologies in assessing PES success or failure. It will complement this database with in-depth case studies in Québec (Canada) and Nicaragua (building on the long-term development cooperation of the Flemish host institution) as two differing agrarian contexts experimenting with PES for more than 10 years. Research will be grounded in a transformative paradigm prioritizing social and environmental justice by holding scholars, practitioners, and research participants accountable to how knowledge is co-generated. The project also aims to initiate a global consortium, building off the database to foster transdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration on existing conservation projects around the world.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Van Hecken Gert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This programme is the third and final stage of the long-term Institutional Interuniversity Cooperation programme between the Université du Burundi and the Belgian Flemish Universities, initiated and funded by VLIR-UOS. The programme encompasses education, research and institutional capacity-building at the level of the partner university. This third phase-out stage focuses on completion of programme activities (in particular doctoral research at the faculties concerned) and on the consolidation and sustainability of the results of the programme in the post-IUS stage.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vandeginste Stef

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) accounts for approximately one fifth of global mine production and sustains tens of millions of livelihoods. At the same time, it is associated with a range of detrimental environmental and health impacts. For instance, ASGM is linked to deforestation, mercury pollution, respiratory diseases, and mine accidents such as tunnel collapses, asphyxiation, drowning and landslides. Since about six years I am codirector of CEGEMI, the Expertise Center on Mining Governance at the Catholic University of Bukavu in DRC's South Kivu province. Previous research by CEGEMI members has documented some of the abovementioned health and environmental effects. Yet despite these risks, hundreds of thousands of people continue working and living in the mines, as they (in)directly depend on them for their livelihoods. Nevertheless, they are likely to suffer from the consequences of deforestation, water, dust pollution and soil degradation in the long run. What remains little understood, however, is whether the persistence of such harmful practices is mostly a matter of limited information, of limited resources (financial, material), of prioritization (trade-off between short-term economic gain and long-term gains), of structurally unequal power relations, of bad governance or misguided government policies, or due to something else. As long as this is insufficiently understood, all proposed solutions risk to either not be adapted to the context, or not be accepted by local populations (as happened in the case of the recent Ebola outbreak). Building on this and together with a CEGEMI team, I aim to find out how artisanal miners and local communities, but also other supply chain actors and (non-)governmental organizations can be actively involved in sensitization and adoption of better mining practices. To this end, we will set up a participatory action research in one selected mine, and try to learn from this experience to set up similar projects in other mines in the future.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Increasingly, environmental films from the Global South – circulating everywhere from small screens to major film festivals – have proved to be empowering, as they are used as tools for advocacy. However, despite their potential to raise global awareness, they remain unexamined in academia. Rethinking the environmental crisis from within the humanities and social sciences needs to include experience-based perspectives from the Global South. My project takes the DR Congo as a case-in-point. How does environmental filmmaking from the DR Congo expose abuses and reflect upon the uneven distribution of the environmental crisis? In this project, I will research their alternative understandings of the causes of the crisis and how they articulate worldviews as responses to it. To do this, I will implement decolonial perspectives on environmental humanities within film studies and acquire innovative research skills.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Kolinjivadi Vijay Krishnan
• Co-promoter: De Groof Matthias

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In response to growing concern on the detrimental impacts that modern society is having on the earth's life support systems, scholars have begun adopting the 'Anthropocene' concept referring to the geological epoch of humanity's physical imprint on the planet. In response, policy-makers have sought to transition to a 'green economy' in which environmental problems are addressed through economic growth based around technological improvements in material and energy efficiency and the internalization of environmental values through market-based solutions. However, social scientists have been quick to point out the historically uneven political and economic systems, along classed, racialized, and gendered lines, which shape how the Anthropocene gets reproduced in practice. By adopting the recent conceptualization of the 'Plantationocene', this research explores the way 'green economy' strategies, such as carbon and biodiversity offsetting and ecotourism, are still informed by the disciplining power of historical plantation logics, rooted in efficiency, calculability, predictability, and controllability. Through the use of multi-disciplinary methods and two case studies in Indonesia and India, this study aims to advance crucial insights on how plantation logics are reinforced or defied through these strategies in responding to dynamic and uncertain socio-ecological conditions. As such, this research lies at the heart of clarifying important debates within sustainability science. GENERAL - 1

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Van Hecken Gert
• Co-promoter: Bastiaensen Johan
• Fellow: Kolinjivadi Vijay Krishnan

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

While the negative effects of armed conflict on the environment and nature conservation are well documented, we have a limited understanding of how environmental change and conservation shape armed mobilization. Armed actors often exploit natural resources in protected areas. They also capitalize on park-people conflicts and struggles around natural resources that may enmesh with communal conflict. Environmental changes can exacerbate these conflicts and intensify armed mobilization. This creates complex feedback loops as more armed conflict can lead to further environmental degradation. This project aims to improve our understanding of the relations between conservation, armed conflict and environmental change by studying two protected areas in eastern DRC. The resulting knowledge will inform policies and programming for environmental peacebuilding (theme 1), biodiversity conservation, and natural resources governance (theme 2). The project will also provide insights into dynamics of social inclusion and exclusion (theme 3).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project explores whether the concept socio-ecological resilience can further our empirical and conceptual understanding of changes in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) communities. It has three main objectives that will address gaps in the ASM literature: 1) to improve our understanding of the internal structures, actors and dynamics of ASM communities; 2) to develop a conceptual framework to understand the interacting socio-ecological systems that surround ASM communities, by focusing on key trends transforming ASM; 3) to contribute to the literature on resilience by exploring the relationship between resilience at the community level and at the socio-ecological system level. It will use the conceptual framework of socio-ecological resilience combined with perspectives from political ecology to examine case studies – namely, two different ASM communities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In doing so, it aims to provide more holistic perspective of the role of ASM as a livelihood strategy. Moreover, the knowledge generated could be used to better inform policies and interventions to mitigate the problems that have for so long afflicted ASM communities. The findings will be published through four articles in high-impact academic journals: one article for each of my three research objectives; and a fourth to discuss the potential for socio-ecological resilience to be combined with perspectives from political ecology.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara
• Fellow: Simpson Fergus

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Since 2001 several thousand Rwandan FDLR rebels (Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda), active in the east of the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), have been demobilised and repatriated to Rwanda. The FDLR rebels that emerged in the year 2000 from the Hutu refugee community in DRC are known to foster a strong "Hutu" ideology, rooted in the ideational tradition of pre-genocide Rwanda. It revolves around ethnic antagonism and emphasizes a deeply pronounced Hutu victimisation by the Tutsi. This ideology stands diametrically opposed to the one the current, Tutsi-dominated RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) government under President Paul Kagame has established and imposed in post-genocide Rwanda. By returning to Rwanda, the FDLR members thus not only cross a national border, but an ideological one as well. Our research aims to understand how demobilised and repatriated FDLR members navigate between these "old" and "new" ideational frameworks at work in Rwanda's past and present. We will study whether, how and why the exposure to the "new" ideology has changed – reversed, weakened or reinforced – "old" ideas, beliefs and mindsets. In this way, we aim to contribute to the academic literature on post-genocide Rwanda from a bottom-up perspective; to push the theoretical understanding of the role of ideology in and after violent conflict; and to develop appropriate research approaches and techniques to study the demobilization of mindsets.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ingelaere Bert
• Promoter: Titeca Kristof
• Fellow: Giezendanner Eliane

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Over the past two decades, statebuilding has emerged as a central yet contested concept of international engagement with fragile states, with new questions arising under the current global rise of authoritarianism. To remain in power, what are the mechanisms authoritarian regimes rely on to legitimate themselves? And what is the nature of interplay between these legitimation mechanisms and international engagement? These are the questions this research aims to answer, through exploratory within-case analysis. The research focusses on European statebuilding support to Burundi throughout the 2015 elections. While these elections sparked a legitimacy crisis, they did not prevent further consolidation of authoritarian rule. The applicant's preliminary findings point towards distinct stages of interplay between European engagement and domestic legitimation, following a shift from support to contestation of the incumbent regime. This shift, in turn, triggered notable changes in domestic legitimation, revealing both clear yet unexpected regime agency and the tactical use of time and temporality. Two provisional conclusions can be drawn from this. First, European actors have dealt inadequately with the legitimacy dimension of state fragility, and second, through the interplay with domestic legitimation they seem to have contributed to authoritarian regime consolidation. Process tracing, a suited method for inferring causality, will be used to further refine and conclude the analysis. test

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Molenaers Nadia
• Co-promoter: Vandeginste Stef
• Fellow: De Maesschalck Filip

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a rebel group, notorious for its use of extreme violence and its large-scale abductions of children, who were used as child soldiers or forced 'wives'. The LRA is led by the infamous Joseph Kony and became active in northern Uganda during the second half of the 1980s. Rebel Lives is built on an archive of photographs taken by LRA commanders themselves between 1994 and 2003. The photographs show life within the group and depict the rebels as they want to be seen, both among themselves and by the outside world. The images bear witness to how the abductees tried to live within extremely violent circumstances, but also portray a surprising normality. Rebel Lives tells the story of a conflict where the line between victim and perpetrator is blurred, where people struggle to survive, and where children in particular bear the brunt of this tension. Kristof Titeca, Professor in Development Studies at the University of Antwerp and expert on the LRA, collected this material, and used it to trace the photographed (former) rebels and understand the photographs – a process which took several years. Together with Congolese photographer Georges Senga, he travelled back to photograph the former rebels in their current context.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) has become a dominant paradigm in environmental and climate policies. The approach encourages land users to generate benefits of nature (ecosystem services) on their land through conditional payments from interested consumers (e.g. energy-intensive companies paying for forest conservation). Global climate finance instruments such as voluntary/compulsory carbon markets, the UN programme for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation & Forest Degradation (REDD+), and biodiversity offsetting mechanisms reflect PES' popularity among donors. While appealing, PES also elicits criticism. Practices often impose global neoliberal governance on territories, dispossess land users, retrench existing inequalities, spawn resource struggles and prioritize carbon outputs over biodiversity. Tensions between PES' win-win promises and 'green grabbing' concerns, combined with mounting evidence of ecosystem collapse, begs for critical attention to how global concerns entwine with localized knowledges. Comparing of PES sites in Nicaragua and Guatemala, we study how PES shapes and is shaped by contested understandings of place, power and difference (class, gender, racial/ethnic. This research breaks open bounded or abstracted understanding of both PES and local ecological knowledge, offers insights into how historical geographies condition and rework global policies, and makes visible the multi-scaled processes through which alternatives emerge and gain traction.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Van Hecken Gert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Despite an emphasis on strengthening the capacity of the public sector as a key policy component of the state-building approach in fragile states, the issue of public sector remunerations has received little attention. This empirical gap extends beyond the policy realm, as the scholarship dealing with African public governance has also remained silent on this issue. Addressing both gaps, this project explores the functioning of the Democratic Republic of Congo's wage bill and payroll system through an analytical framework building on the ethnographic tradition in the study of 'real governance' and 'negotiated statehood', applied to the back office bureaucracy of the central administration. We will focus on analysing the politics behind the allocation and (re)distribution of the wage bill in the DRC, particularly the system of public sector remunerations, both in terms of its composition and its sources. We concentrate on the degrees of differentiation across ministries, departments in five ministries targeted by civil service reform, while also examining the intersection of remunerations with ongoing policy reforms. In so doing, we address the empirical gap within the literature on African governance by providing an in-depth exploration of the system of public sector remunerations and recruitment processes in Congo's central bureaucracy, while also providing insights on the development implications that this system carries for international actors.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Herdt Tom
• Co-promoter: Titeca Kristof

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

ECA — CREAC aims to promote improved access and dissemination of knowledge about central Africa. The organisation offers a platform for dialogue and exchange of information between the academic world, policy makers, civil society actors and the private sector at the Belgian, European and international level. CREAC inserts itself into a tradition of partnership between Belgium and central Africa, by critically looking at contemporary dynamics, and launching debates around the opportunities and challenges for future collaboration.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Peru is the sixth largest producer of gold in the world (USGS 2017). At least 15% of Peruvian gold is produced through small-scale, informal operations – more than half of which are in located in the region of Puno. Mining is undoubtedly one of the most important livelihood activities in the region; yet it comes at a considerable socio-economic and socio-environmental cost. This project aims to address these issues by developing knowledge that will promote a more sustainable, more inclusive and socially just ASGM sector. We will achieve this aim by delivering on two objectives. Firstly, we will improve the co-creation of critical knowledge about the process of gold production, both in terms of how the activity is embedded in local communities (by focussing on 'workforce') and its impact on the surround environment (by focussing on 'water'). Knowledge will be co-created by academic and non-academic stakeholders so as to ensure that the work has practical as well as academic value. Secondly, we will develop a mechanism to ensure knowledge is effectively shared among all relevant stakeholders.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara
• Co-promoter: Vangehuchten Lieve
• Co-promoter: Van Hecken Gert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This stay as a Visiting Research Scholar at Columbia's Department of Anthropology is an entire part of my PhD research project, training and research career development. Its added scientific value is threefold. First, under the supervision/mentorship of Prof. Paige West, I will deepen my data analysis by better integrating my empirical findings with conceptual frameworks from anthropology and ontological/epistemological questions. Second, I will collect some additional empirical data on the interface between science and technology and forest politics. I will carry out in-depth interviews with geospatial experts from the Global Forest Watch project (based at University of Maryland and World Resource Institute in Washington) and with other important stakeholders based in the USA. It will also serve as an exploratory research for building a future research project. Finally, with its essential interdisciplinary character, American academia will challenge me to further develop critical and innovative thinking, as well as better communicate my expertise and exchange ideas through participation in seminars at the Anthropology Department and other scientific events at Columbia University.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Windey Catherine

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

We measure the impact of electricity provision on economic development, security and conservation. Our case study focuses on rural and urban communities nearby Virunga National Park, in North-Kivu, DR Congo. Impoverished by two decades of armed conflict, the communities complement their livelihoods with the park's resources to make ends meet. These resources are also illicitly exploited by at least eight armed groups that have their hide-outs within the park's boundaries. The electricity roll-out is implemented by Virunga Alliance, a public-private partnership that seeks to bring about security and conservation through development. According to Virunga's theory of change, electrification will spur development, which will in turn reduce people's reliance on the park's resources as well as their support for, and participation in, rebel groups. The theory of change finds support in the literature, but needs further testing. To learn about the causal effect of electrification, we designed an impact evaluation that exploits the gradual roll-out of electricity, in combination with a difference-in-differences estimation. The treatment localities will be connected in the period 2019-2020; the control localities only at a later stage.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke
• Co-promoter: Stoop Nik
• Fellow: Lunanga Elie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Million-dollar projects are implemented with little understanding. Indeed, the number of performance-based financing (PBF) interventions in the health sectors of low and middle-income countries has risen sharply over the last two decades. Yet, in spite of many interesting studies, we lack a comprehensive theory explaining how PBF interventions work. The main reasons are the multi-component nature of PBF (including financial incentives, increased supervision and new management tools), the various implementation contexts, and the different implementation modalities. This complexity can only be tackled by complexity-sensitive methodologies. This ResQ-study sets out to develop a multimethod approach that combines two such methods: realist synthesis (RS) and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). RS is a literature review method that focuses on the generative mechanisms underlying interventions and the conditions under which they are triggered (in contrast to the successionist approach). QCA is a technique that uses Boolean logic to discover the necessary and sufficient conditions for a certain outcome to occur, in this case the triggering of a mechanism. The research project uses the multimethod approach to investigate the mechanisms of PBF, to create an evidence-based theory of PBF and to simultaneously further develop the new multimethod approach. This will lead to a better understanding of PBF and the health sector in general, and will expand the innovative methods toolbox.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie
• Fellow: Renmans Dimitri

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

We measure the impact of electricity provision on economic development, security and conservation. Our case study focuses on rural and urban communities nearby Virunga National Park, in North-Kivu, DR Congo. Impoverished by two decades of armed conflict, the communities complement their livelihoods with the park's resources to make ends meet. These resources are also illicitly exploited by at least eight armed groups that have their hide-outs within the park's boundaries. The electricity roll-out is implemented by Virunga Alliance, a public-private partnership that seeks to bring about security and conservation through development. According to Virunga's theory of change, electrification will spur development, which will in turn reduce people's reliance on the park's resources as well as their support for, and participation in, rebel groups. The theory of change finds support in the literature, but needs further testing. To learn about the causal effect of electrification, we designed an impact evaluation that exploits the gradual roll-out of electricity, in combination with a difference-in-differences estimation. The treatment localities will be connected in the period 2019-2020; the control localities only at a later stage.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke
• Fellow: Stoop Nik

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Since independence (1962), the 'ethnic' conflict between Hutu and Tutsi in Burundi led to thousands of deaths on both sides. In 2000, the signature of the Arusha peace agreement inaugurated a transition period towards peace and democracy. Thanks to the agreement, political competition was de-ethnicized, and political parties no longer represented a single ethnic group. At the local level, people could progressively return to their occupations. Despite the absence of violence, these people had to deal with the consequences of war and ethnic violence. Given the circumstances of poverty, most of them opted for a peaceful cohabitation with those who perpetrated violence. The results obtained so far have been undermined by the 2015 crisis, which followed President Nkurunziza's unconstitutional bid for the third term. During the crisis, ethnic hatred has been injected in the political discourse, and started circulating in some milieus. Some responsiveness to ethnic appeals still existed. The question is whether, to what extent and how ordinary citizens are responsive to such discourses. Our research aims to understand the meaning and salience of ethnicity in Burundi's contemporary socio-political context. This will contribute to a better understanding of ethnicity, and will illuminate the dynamics of change in the meaning and salience of ethnicity. This will be relevant for scholars and policy-makers concerned with similar dynamics in other post-transition countries.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ingelaere Bert
• Co-promoter: Vandeginste Stef
• Fellow: Paviotti Antea

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

We measure the impact of electricity provision in Congolese communities nearby Virunga National Park, in North-Kivu, DR Congo. Impoverished by two decades of armed conflict, the communities complement their livelihoods with the park's resources to make ends meet. These resources are also illicitly exploited by at least eight armed groups that have their hide-outs within the park's boundaries. The electricity roll-out is implemented by Virunga Alliance, a public-private partnership that seeks to bring about security and conservation through development. According to Virunga's theory of change, electrification will spur development, which will in turn reduce the people's reliance on the park's resources as well as their support for, and participation in, rebel groups. The theory of change finds support in the literature, but needs further testing. To learn about the causal effect of electricity on economic development, security and conservation, we designed an impact evaluation that exploits the gradual roll-out of electricity, in combination with a difference-in-differences estimation. The treatment localities will be connected in the period 2019-2020; the control localities only from 2021 onwards.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Stoop Nik

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Despite the slogan 'never again', the world continues to be plagued by violence that is group-selective and aimed at the extermination of people belonging to certain social categories. This type of mass categorical violence often has an ethnic dimension involving members of majority and minority groups . Popular wisdom seems to be that ethnicity – or the emotional sense of belonging to a specific group and distinction from or even antipathy to outsiders – is the source of this type of violence. This research project aims to empirically demonstrate that this hypothesis is wrong. Instead, based on what is called a constructivist account of ethnicity, the proposed research activities aim to demonstrate that the salience of ethnicity is the outcome of mass categorical violence not its underlying cause. In addition, the research activities aim to verify whether, to what extent and why the salience of ethnicity following mass categorical violence is declining. To do so, the research project will examine 'ways of seeing the world' (cognition) and 'ways of acting in the world' (behavior). The former will be studied by making use of an available and unique database of over 700 life histories from people that experienced mass categorical violence in two case study countries: Rwanda and Burundi. The latter will be examined through the in-depth study of the daily behavior of a number of these individuals carefully selected based on an analysis of the available life history dataset.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ingelaere Bert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This action research specificially focuses on the use of mobility technology in (community-based) monitoring of local public water points and its contribution towards learning and accountability with the final aim to improve (drinking) water service delivery and (health) outcomes. The main research questions are: 1) can ICT enhanced (community based) monitoring improve the existing M&E system in the rural water service sector? More specifically, can it improve the information flow and use for accountability and learning by different actors (water users, technical and political duty bearers at different levels), if so, why and in what way? 2) can ICT enhanced (community based) monitoring contribute to improving rural water services delivery (access, functionality, quality and use), if so, why and in what way? 3) can sharing of information between upstream and downstream water users potentially reduce conflicts among communities, if so, why and in what way? To answer these research questions our action research will use a cross-sectional longitudinal research design. More specifically, we will compare (over time) the effect of the existing system of water monitoring (control) with two slightly different modalities of mobile water monitoring being implemented in highly similar villages of Mvomero district. Data collection will rely upon mixed methods, including conventional survey, social network survey and qualitative data collection (observation, focus group discussions). Social network analysis will e.g. be particularly important in analyzing the (changes) in the characteristics of the information networks and the (changes) of the positions of stakeholders in the network as well as in the use of information by different actors involves (water users, technical staff, duty bearers at different levels). As water quality might also be affected between the collection at the water point and the final consumption of drinking water at home by a variety of environmental and human-based factors, we will also test drinking water quality in a random sample of 100 households. Based on test outcomes, sensitization/prevention activities will be done on water treatment and its effects will be measured and analysed over time. In the analysis of the findings, particular attention will be given to the way in which the effects materialize, and the degree to which (influence) networks are important. Both structural features of networks (e.g. density of the network, degree of centralization, etc.) will be analysed as well as the positions of actors in the networks (and the links with their background characteristics, including gender, educational status, marital status, age, etc.). Insights into how networks might be important in spreading information might be particularly useful for future sensitization/prevention activities.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In a context of increasing deforestation and forest reform policies in the Democratic Republic of Congo, this project aims to understand the political and socio-economic aspects of forest resource use and deforestation. Through this political ecology approach, an increased collaboration will be established between three academic institutions (UNIKIS, ISDR-Bukavu and IOB) and two civil society organizations (Tropenbos DRC and Africapacity). This project is part of a research-action approach aimed at strengthening the voices and participation of local and indigenous people in these forest reform processes, and to contribute to better environmental and social justice.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof
• Co-promoter: Windey Catherine

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Recognizing the impacts of climate change, several adaptation initiatives have been implemented in Ethiopia. However, many of the adaptation strategies tend to neglect the existing gendered differences in perceptions, vulnerabilities and adaptation preferences as well as possible intersections of gender with other variables of influence (i.e. intersectionality). This research project will be conducted in drought prone areas of Northwest Ethiopia, aiming at designing evidence-based gender sensitive agriculture related adaptation strategies so as to help in mainstreaming gender in the adaptation process. The project will have two components: i) Diagnosis and participatory designing of gender sensitive adaptation strategies; and ii) Documentation and dissemination of the project outputs to local communities, development practitioners, policy makers and scientific community so as to promote uptake the findings for future intervention, the project will contribute to the elaboration of an innovative methodological approach for analysing the gendered climate change adaptation strategies. It shall serve as a platform for institutional collaborations and contribute to build research capacities of the University of Gondar.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Despite the slogan 'never again', the world continues to be plagued by violence that is groupselective and aimed at the extermination of people belonging to certain social categories. This type of mass categorical violence often has an ethnic dimension involving members of majority and minority groups . Popular wisdom seems to be that ethnicity – or the emotional sense of belonging to a specific group and distinction from or even antipathy to outsiders – is the source of this type of violence. This research project aims to empirically demonstrate that this hypothesis is wrong. Instead, based on what is called a constructivist account of ethnicity, the proposed research activities aim to demonstrate that the salience of ethnicity is the outcome of mass categorical violence not its underlying cause. In addition, the research activities aim to verify whether, to what extent and why the salience of ethnicity following mass categorical violence is declining. To do so, the research project will examine 'ways of seeing the world' (cognition) and 'ways of acting in the world' (behavior). The former will be studied by making use of an available and unique database of over 700 life histories from people that experienced mass categorical violence in two case study countries: Rwanda and Burundi. The latter will be examined through the in-depth study of the daily behavior of a number of these individuals carefully selected based on an analysis of the available life history dataset.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ingelaere Bert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a research contract awarded by the University of Antwerp. The supervisor provides the Antwerp University research mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions stipulated by the university.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bastiaensen Johan

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

To what extent do ruling elites, and the coalitions which support them, influence the governance and development of a particular country? Recently, the 'political settlement' analysis has made important advances in understanding these issues, by specifically looking at how power is organized and distributed in society. This analysis has generated great interest, both in academic and policycircles. This research project wants to add to this literature through the case-study of the Democratic Republic of Congo: first, it wants to provide a concrete methodological tool to analyse these political settlements. This will be done through the establishment of a dataset of the ruling elites in the DRC since the country's independence in 1960. Moreover, through qualitative interviews, the relation between those elites and their wider support base (the 'ruling coalition') will be understood. Second, adding to the political settlement literature, which principally focusses on the national level, this project aims to analyse the multi-leveled nature of these settlements: these are not only determined at the national level, but are in a process of mutual interaction with the local level. In order to understand this, a similar research exercise (dataset and qualitative interviews) will be conducted in two key-provinces. Third, in doing so, this project will determine the main characteristics guiding these political settlements, such as ethnicity, military support base, and so on.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The FWO project 'InForMining: an in-depth study of informalization in global gold production' (promotor Sara Geenen, postdoctoral researcher Boris Verbrugge, doctoral researcher Maria Eugenia Robles Mengoa) combines a global mapping of structural trends with a comparative case study analysis of ASGM expansion in different countries. One of the countries not covered in the InForMining proposal is Peru, currently the 6th important gold producer in the world and home to an interesting variety of mining sites. This Global Minds project aims at developing the case study of Peru within the InForMining framework. Second, we have been working on a VLIR TEAM proposal for a collaboration with the Universidad Nacional del Altiplano (UNA) in Puno, Peru. The second objective of the Global Minds project is hence to prepare the ground for a more sustainable engagement with UNA by organizing a research workshop and resubmitting a VLIR proposal. The InForMining project is guided by two research questions, which respectively focus on global- and local-level dynamics associated with informalization: 1. How are informalization mechanisms rooted in structural trends in the global gold production system? 2. How are informalization mechanisms restructuring local labour markets and what are the implications for the workforce?

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This policy oriented research maps the integration of the SDG goals, targets, indicators and principles in the Belgian Development Sector. This research is carried out by KULeuven (HIVA) and IOB (UAntwerpen).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Molenaers Nadia

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The project addresses the global-local institutional dynamics that generate the socially and environmentally unsustainable cattle development pathway. In Latin America, this pathway is the main driver of deforestation, contributing to climate change, the destruction of critical biodiversity stocks and the dispossession of indigenous people. The research specifically focusses on the agricultural frontier around the Bosawas Nature Reserve in Northern Nicaragua and consists of an action-research process in cooperation with the microfinance organization Fondo de Desarrollo Local and the environmental NGO Centro Humboldt. The project analyzes the potential of a 'Green Microfinance Plus' program (loans + technical assistance + Payments for Ecosystem Services), and connects to broader reflections in local deliberative fora promoted by the project and a citizen science approach to local climate data generation and use. In terms of research methodology, a multidisciplinary mixed methods set-up combines inputs from development sociology and economics with the Agrarian Systems approach, and makes use of an original simulation game informed by local data. The research aims to co-identify in-roads for policies of 'institutional entrepreneurship', offering opportunities to affect relevant institutional processes to transform today's detrimental pathway in the direction of more sustainable, equitable and climate-sensible agriculture, less dependent on deforestation and cheap land. The objective is to develop scientific outputs and policy proposals (in particular also for environmentally responsible rural finance) that contribute to change towards sustainability in the Nicaraguan agricultural frontier and beyond.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bastiaensen Johan
• Co-promoter: Van Hecken Gert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) has become a dominant paradigm in international environmental and climate policies. The approach looks appealing: land users, often poorly motivated to protect nature and the benefits we obtain from it (the so-called 'ecosystem services'), may be incited to do so through conditional payments from interested consumers/buyers (e.g. carbon-constrained electricity companies paying for forest conservation). PES schemes also tend to be hailed as attractive tools for rural poverty alleviation in the Global South. The idea of conditional 'green' payments is clearly reflected in international climate finance instruments such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol, voluntary and compulsory carbon markets, and the UN global programme for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+, included in the 2015 Paris Climate Accord). All of these can be conceptualised as global PES mechanisms. Despite their increasing popularity among donors and governments, evidence regarding the environmental and social outcomes of PES projects is not unequivocal. Indeed, PES remains weakly theorized in socio-economic and political terms, resulting in a superficial understanding of how power relations and cultural diversity shape the social-ecological outcomes of these projects. Through the comparative analysis of at least two cases in Nicaragua and Guatemala, this research will further develop a novel methodology to address important analytical and empirical gaps in current PES scholarship. It also aims to study in greater depth how PES instruments succeed or fail to reshape nature-society relations and how they change resource use behaviour in socially and culturally diverse contexts. In this way, this research offers crucial policy-relevant insights into the ways in which global-to-local interactions reshape PES interventions, allowing to better fit local notions of value, justice and equity, while contributing to global ecological goals.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Van Hecken Gert
• Fellow: Rodríguez Fabilena René Ricardo

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project explores whether the concept socio-ecological resilience can further our empirical and conceptual understanding of changes in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) communities. It has three main objectives that will address gaps in the ASM literature: 1) to improve our understanding of the internal structures, actors and dynamics of ASM communities; 2) to develop a conceptual framework to understand the interacting socio-ecological systems that surround ASM communities, by focusing on key trends transforming ASM; 3) to contribute to the literature on resilience by exploring the relationship between resilience at the community level and at the socio-ecological system level. It will use the conceptual framework of socio-ecological resilience combined with perspectives from political ecology to examine case studies – namely, two different ASM communities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In doing so, it aims to provide more holistic perspective of the role of ASM as a livelihood strategy. Moreover, the knowledge generated could be used to better inform policies and interventions to mitigate the problems that have for so long afflicted ASM communities. The findings will be published through four articles in high-impact academic journals: one article for each of my three research objectives; and a fourth to discuss the potential for socio-ecological resilience to be combined with perspectives from political ecology.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara
• Co-promoter: Titeca Kristof
• Fellow: Simpson Fergus

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Since 2001 several thousand Rwandan FDLR rebels (Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda), active in the east of the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), have been demobilised and repatriated to Rwanda. The FDLR rebels that emerged in the year 2000 from the Hutu refugee community in DRC are known to foster a strong "Hutu" ideology, rooted in the ideational tradition of pre-genocide Rwanda. It revolves around ethnic antagonism and emphasizes a deeply pronounced Hutu victimisation by the Tutsi. This ideology stands diametrically opposed to the one the current, Tutsi-dominated RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) government under President Paul Kagame has established and imposed in post-genocide Rwanda. By returning to Rwanda, the FDLR members thus not only cross a national border, but an ideological one as well. Our research aims to understand how demobilised and repatriated FDLR members navigate between these "old" and "new" ideational frameworks at work in Rwanda's past and present. We will study whether, how and why the exposure to the "new" ideology has changed – reversed, weakened or reinforced – "old" ideas, beliefs and mindsets. In this way, we aim to contribute to the academic literature on post-genocide Rwanda from a bottom-up perspective; to push the theoretical understanding of the role of ideology in and after violent conflict; and to develop appropriate research approaches and techniques to study the demobilization of mindsets.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ingelaere Bert
• Fellow: Giezendanner Eliane

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

I would like to deepen the topic of "real governance" of my research, in different ways. First of all, I want to scrutinize the real governance theme in terms of the literature on public governance, power and rationality in so-called developed countries. Usually, these countries are seen as the "model" for Southern countries, but this framing can be criticized through a real governance lens. After writing a concept paper on this theme. I want to apply by writing a research project on this theme, by organising a collective research & training initiative on the theme of "black Europe" and by completing a chapter on a critique of inequality of opportunity in my course book on poverty and inequality.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Herdt Tom

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The study extends an ongoing field experiment (see Van Campenhout, Lecoutere, & Spielman, 2017) in which farmers were randomly assigned to particular ICT-mediated agricultural information interventions differing in the gender composition of the messenger and/or audience. The specific research question for the case of female-headed households is what gender of the messenger in an ICT-mediated agricultural extension information campaign about crop intensification is most effective for knowledge transfer, efficiency of maize farming and women's empowerment. To do so, the study will compare female-headed households where the gender composition of the individual messenger and the individual audience is matched—i.e. the messenger and audience are both women—and female-headed households where the gender composition of the messenger and audience differ—i.e. the messenger is a man and the audience a woman. In particular, the study will establish the causal link between extension videos and the knowledge gained, between extension videos and (intensity of) adoption of recommended intensification practices, between extension videos and yield changes, between extension videos and well-being (measured by consumption expenditure as a proxy), and between extension videos and women's empowerment.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Lecoutere Els

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This paper will provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution of external and public debt levels of lower income countries over the last ten years, the reasons behind it, and their consequences for debt sustainability and growth. Ten years after the international community provided large-scale debt relief to a number debt-ridden low income countries (LICs), which provided them with a close to clean debt slate, debt levels are again rapidly increasing in some of these low income countries: at least as many as 11 post-HIPCs countries are again experiencing a high risk of debt distress, with 3 additional ones already being in debt distress. These trends give renewed urgency in understanding recent debt trends and their drivers in lower-income countries. The paper will start by briefly summarizing the 4 pillars of the current international framework to keep debt sustainable (DSA/DSF, responsible borrowing/lending; sovereign; sovereign debt workout mechanisms, including ad hoc rescheduling and debt relief initiatives; debtor country debt management capacity building). Many low-income countries have taken advantage of the new borrowing space provided by their improved debt situation, in order to meet large financing gaps for infrastructure needs, poverty reduction and the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Thus the paper then discusses, for all LICs together, as well as for individual HIPC countries/other important LICs, how these new borrowing strategies have impacted on the evolution of public debt levels and debt ratios during the last 10 years, to document but also to qualify this general renewed build-up for individual country experiences. Emphases will be placed on: 1) The drivers of these changes, especially in the case of more vulnerable and less diversified LICs 2) The changes in composition of these debt levels. The composition of debt has clearly changed in most LICs, with traditional external bilateral lending being replaced by emerging lenders and new types of commercial lending, namely through Eurobonds, and the growing role of domestic capital markets. On the side, we also try to assess whether changed DAC rules of ODA accounting have impacted the observed decrease of lending from these donors to LICs 3) The extent to which increased debt levels lead to problems of debt distress 4) The extent to which joint responsibilities between debtor and lenders (or lead managers of bond issues) can influence borrowing and lending practices. The concluding section will also reassess the current international framework to keep debt sustainable, with a view suggesting potential avenues for improvement to improve assessments and monitoring of debt sustainability.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Cassimon Danny

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

What is the relation between inequality of access to key political and economic institutions and conflict? Equality does not only manifest itself along economic lines, but also politically, in the distribution of political power. It has been claimed that inequality of access of certain social and political groups can explain patterns of war and peace (Lindemann 2010). Yet, investigating these questions require data in support of these claims. For the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has been affected by cycles of conflict, these data are missing. This project aims to construct a dataset on the inequality of access to key political and economic positions since independence in 1960. More particularly, this project aims to analyse the characteristics of cabinet ministers and board members of parastatals. While similar works have focused on ethnicity as a determinant of inclusion and exclusion in political positions in a number of African countries (e.g. Francois, Rainer & Trebbi, 2015), this project seeks to capture the process of inequality along a wider range of characteristics: linguistic, regional, political-party, gender, and military background. On the basis of these, the relation between political inequality and the presence of war will be studied.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research is an evaluation of a project implemented by ICG (funded by the EU). The project aims at enhancing the early warning systems so that conflict can be prevented. The evaluation focusses on the implementation of the planned activities and does a 180° perception survey to assess performance of the project.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Molenaers Nadia

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This evaluation aims at checking the extent to which the ICG internal activities, results match the mission, vision, policies and projected results. The evaluation covers the period 2017 and 2018. The evaluation will focus on the core activities of the organization.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Molenaers Nadia

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Globalization, and market integration more generally, has created winners and losers around the world. Recent political events (e.g. US elections and Brexit) show that many people are concerned and demand policies to stop globalization through new trade barriers and limits on free movement of people. Research on the precise impact of globalization and market integration has been constrained by measurement and data problems. Theoretical and empirical models using aggregate data failed to capture detailed heterogeneous effects. Identifying precise impact mechanisms or causality is complicated when other factors (such as technological change) occur simultaneously. Our project wants to improve impact analysis using unique and new detailed micro-data (at the firm-, region-, and household-level) and state-of-the art micro-econometric techniques. Our project's focus is global (covering many countries, both rich and poor) and local (with the use of micro-data) at the same time. We use a modern view of market integration — i.e. that trade is more than a flow of goods – by integrating local and global value chains into our analysis, taking into account embedded technology transfer and product and process requirements. In combination, this will allow to identify impact at the level of firms, sectors, regions and households, accounting for the complexity of the impact mechanisms.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke
• Co-promoter: De Weerdt Joachim
• Co-promoter: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

chains, and -production networks, to make sense of trends in global production. It concludes that the global economy has witnessed a geographical expansion of production; a concentration of power in the hands of lead firms; and the rise of a flexible and irregular workforce. Despite its strengths, this research has important shortcomings, including a neglect of informal production, and of extractive industries such as mining. This project addresses both shortcomings, by investigating informalization processes in global gold production. More precisely, it analyzes two mechanisms that indicate a growing reliance on informal labour: (1) outsourcing by large mining companies to local subcontractors who operate at the margins of the formal economy; and (2) the massive expansion of low-tech, labour-intensive and predominantly informal artisanal and small-scale gold mining. We will first conduct a mapping of the global gold production system, to understand the global roots of informalization processes. We then conduct case studies of six mining areas in three countries (Philippines, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo) with a view to understanding how informalization processes intersect with changes in local labour markets, thus affecting who stands (not) to benefit from these informalization processes.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

While there is a wide literature on taxation, this literature is mainly focusing on taxes that end up in the state's coffers, and in doing so is ignoring many other practices of revenue collection. The concept of 'informal taxation' was initially introduced by Prud'homme in 1992, who defined the concept as 'nonformal means utilized to finance the provision of public goods and services' (Prud'homme 1992: 2). Although informal taxation has been receiving increased policy and academic attention in recent years empirical data on the subject are weak to non-existent. The reason for this is straightforward: informal taxes are inherently difficult to document in a systematic manner. This research project aims to fill this gap. By relying on an innovative data collection method, it will collect data of informal taxation practices of the Congolese traffic police. It aims to understand the nature and scale of informal payments in the administration, as well as how the structure of the market affects the level and amount of informal taxes: for examples, how does the nature of intersections affect revenue collection? This project will deploy a range of surveyors to collect these data. Crucial is that i) a pilot project has been conducted to test this methodology (Titeca and Malukisa 2014), and ii) that the project has access to the Congolese police administration to conduct this study. In doing so, the project will both have a major policy and academic impact.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) lags behind in health and gender equality. A vast ethnographic literature argues that magico-religious beliefs (MRBs) rooted in African cosmology affect these development outcomes. We investigate if and how MRBs indeed affect health and gender equality in SSA. We look at two alleged channels. First, MRBs may affect health behavior by shaping the understanding of disease causation and prevention. Second, MRBs may affect gender relations by awarding a higher status only to those girls and women who are believed to have a link with the divine. We empirically analyze these channels in three ways. First, we look at a sample of 13 SSA countries to study the relation between MRBs of 165 ethnic groups and the use of bed nets to prevent malaria. Second, we focus on West Africa to quantify the impact of an MRB-related higher status for women and girls on intra-household resource allocation. Third, in Benin, where MRBs are especially vibrant, we study whether their effect on the status of women and girls leads to higher earning potential and empowerment of women later in life.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

ECA — CREAC aims to promote improved access and dissemination of knowledge about central Africa. The organisation offers a platform for dialogue and exchange of information between the academic world, policy makers, civil society actors and the private sector at the Belgian, European and international level. CREAC inserts itself into a tradition of partnership between Belgium and central Africa, by critically looking at contemporary dynamics, and launching debates around the opportunities and challenges for future collaboration.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

ECA — CREAC aims to promote improved access and dissemination of knowledge about central Africa. The organisation offers a platform for dialogue and exchange of information between the academic world, policy makers, civil society actors and the private sector at the Belgian, European and international level. CREAC inserts itself into a tradition of partnership between Belgium and central Africa, by critically looking at contemporary dynamics, and launching debates around the opportunities and challenges for future collaboration.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Dit onderzoek is een deskstudie. Het tracht een duidelijk en genuanceerd overzicht te geven van de bestaande empirische resultaten van Algemene Budgetsteun aan Ontwikkelingslanden. Dit onderzoek werd uitgevoerd ism met Geske Dijkstra van ISS (Den Haag)

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Molenaers Nadia

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Since independence (1962), the 'ethnic' conflict between Hutu and Tutsi in Burundi led to thousands of deaths on both sides. In 2000, the signature of the Arusha peace agreement inaugurated a transition period towards peace and democracy. Thanks to the agreement, political competition was de-ethnicized, and political parties no longer represented a single ethnic group. At the local level, people could progressively return to their occupations. Despite the absence of violence, these people had to deal with the consequences of war and ethnic violence. Given the circumstances of poverty, most of them opted for a peaceful cohabitation with those who perpetrated violence. The results obtained so far have been undermined by the 2015 crisis, which followed President Nkurunziza's unconstitutional bid for the third term. During the crisis, ethnic hatred has been injected in the political discourse, and started circulating in some milieus. Some responsiveness to ethnic appeals still existed. The question is whether, to what extent and how ordinary citizens are responsive to such discourses. Our research aims to understand the meaning and salience of ethnicity in Burundi's contemporary socio-political context. This will contribute to a better understanding of ethnicity, and will illuminate the dynamics of change in the meaning and salience of ethnicity. This will be relevant for scholars and policy-makers concerned with similar dynamics in other post-transition countries.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ingelaere Bert
• Co-promoter: Vandeginste Stef
• Fellow: Paviotti Antea

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project provides technical support tot Tanzania's Prime Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG) to collect data on Emerging Small Towns (ESTs). PO-RALG estimates indicate that there may be as many as 800 ESTs, many of which are undocumented within the government system. PO-RALG has identified the lack of accurate and timely information on ESTs as a major obstacle to sound policy making and urban planning.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Weerdt Joachim

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a country in which prolonged insecurity has caused long-term and cyclical displacement, especially in the east. Most Congolese flee to host communities within their own country. Bukavu is one of the cities in Congo that receives large numbers of displaced people. This research looks at the consequences of migration in terms of the justice and security concerns in the host communities, both for newcomers and for longer-term residents. The project will further analyse already collected qualitative and quantitative data and build on these data. Findings will be used to set up stakeholder consultations with policy-makers and practitioners at local, national, and international levels. Key responsibilities of the UAntwerpen: • To support the project coordinator in the data management of the project; • To conduct qualitative and quantitative analysis of collected data, making use of Atlas.ti and SPSS; • To carry out qualitative interviews with international actors involved in justice and security policy and programming in the DRC; • To support the project coordinator in the organization of a workshop in the Netherlands; • To coordinate and execute internal and external project communication.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ingelaere Bert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Although oil production in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) already started in the 1960s, production and interest in the resource long remained relatively limited. This changed in the 2000s with a renewed international interest in oil across Africa, sparking exploration and exploitation in the DRC. During this period, a range of multinational companies started activities in the country. Very little is known about these oil explorations, despite potentially serious impacts, including border tensions, local disputes (with potential for expansion), and regional power shifts (ICG 2012). There is a long-recognised link between natural resource abundance and negative political and economic outcomes, a theory generally packaged as the 'resource curse' (Ross 1999). Theorists agree that governance processes are a major determinant of how this 'curse' plays out. While a few policy reports look into the Congolese oil sector (Global Witness 2013, ICG 2012), the underlying governance dynamics, and the risk on conflict, remain poorly understood: no in-depth academic study has been done on this issue. For this reason, this project targets the following questions: What are the political settlements underlying oil governance in DRC? In unpacking oil governance dynamics, this project draws on 'political settlements' theory, looking principally at the informal coalitions underlying the oil governance arrangements. In gaining a better understanding of these governance arrangements, we are able to understand the potential conflict risk of oil explorations. How do these political settlement at the national level translate to the local level, and affect the local population? Deals are made at the national level, but have a profound impact at the local level, where the oil exploitations take place. These 'local' translations have a significant but poorly understood impact, which this research project aims to apprehend. Through these lenses, this project will make a strong empirical contribution to a little understood area with a major impact on DRC's development, and equally make an important contribution to political settlement theory, currently at the centre of international development debates.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In accordance with you TOR of 16 June, we offer to provide consulting services to build on the draft paper "Expanding horizons – Secondary towns and rural-urban migration in Tanzania". We will further explore the life histories to reflect on the role villages of origin play as safety net and its implications for migration decisions and destination choices, as well as the underlying (qualitative/quantitative) factors (initial conditions, destination characteristics and shocks, and their interactions) shaping the likelihood of different migration trajectories (linear to the city, ladder migration, churning, return migration). The consultancy will reflect the emerging insights from this body of work in a blog series of 3 blogs for the World Bank Jobs and Development Blog series. We will further produce two short notes reflecting 1) the emerging insights on the role of villages as safety nets for migration and destination choice and 2) the factors shaping migration trajectories. We will also present the findings in a BBL at the World Bank.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ingelaere Bert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Belgian policy research group on Financing for Development (BeFinD) is a consortium of three research centers at Belgian universities with the objective of covering the policy and research questions that are the most relevant to Financing for Development in the framework of the Academic Research Group for Policy Support (ACROPOLIS). ACROPOLIS aims to support the decision-making of the Belgian Directorate General for Development Cooperation (DGD) by evidence-based research. BeFinD (2017-2018) research is structured around two main topics and 5 work packages: 1: Domestic resource mobilization WP 1: Towards effective intervention models for supporting local taxation programs in weak institutional contexts. WP 2: Contributory social protection schemes for informal workers as alternative mechanisms of domestic resource mobilization. 2: Implications of the private sector through innovative financing and private sector development A: Innovative Financing WP 3: Development Impact Bonds WP 4: Blending B: Private Sector Financing WP 5: A randomized evaluation on a Belgian development program: the case of BTC agricultural support in Benin.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Cassimon Danny

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Little is known about the impact of war, mass violence and other instances of state-sponsored violence on what is often captured under the umbrella term "(informal) institutions". Understanding the (long-term) impact of wartime violence on these institutional and social processes is key for our understanding of a society's postwar recovery, transformation and, ultimately, development. This project seeks to understand what factors shape people's differential experience of human security, trust and political participation over time by analyzing hundreds of life history narratives and trajectories from individuals living in countries (case studies Rwanda and Burundi) that experienced large-scale violence in the recent past.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ingelaere Bert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project is the third phase of a long term, institutional cooperation programme between a number of Flemish universities and the public university 'Université du Burundi', based in Bujumbura. The programme spans a period of ten years in total, ending with this third phase, and covers five different areas of scientific cooperation, including law, agronomy, physics, medecine and ICT. In addition, the project contributes to capacity-building of the partner university in its research capacities, i.a. through the establishment of a Doctoral School (Ecole doctorale). The project is part of the VLIR-UOS country programme with Burundi.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vandeginste Stef
• Co-promoter: Van geertruyden Jean-Pierre

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The incremental funding (IF) project is linked to the Advanced Master in Development Evaluation and Management. The aim of the IF-project is to increase the southern perspective of the Master. The project focuses on the nexus between education, research and service delivery, the two main partners are Mzumbe University (Tanzania) and de la Salle University (Philippines). One of the main nexus projects is the action research on mobile community based water monitoring, the Fuatilia Maji project, in which staff, students of Mzumbe University and IOB are involved together with communitors and duty bearers of villages around Mzumbe University. The action research is partially financed by IF and IUC (Antigone ID 41579).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Education Project

Abstract

This is a capacity building project in which education programs are co-created by a team of UA and researchers of the Université Catholic de Bukavu (UCB). The education program is centered around Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods and the Governance of Natural Resources.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Education Project

Abstract

This funding is linked to the ICP 'Development Evaluation and Management' of which I'm the promoter. This programme is one of the three advanced master programmes organised at the Institute of Development Policy, University of Antwerp.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Education Project

Abstract

Resource optimists believe that large-scale mining is not only a powerful engine of economic growth, but can boost other productive sectors and thus contribute to broader social and economic development. In order to achieve this, companies and governments are now increasingly urged to promote local content policies and support local small and medium-sized enterprises especially in developing countries. Theoretically, this view is inspired by the academic literature on linkages and global commodity/value chains. What this literature fails to acknowledge, however, is that linkage development occurs in a local context that is highly politicized. Linkage development is thus affected by power, social relations and embeddedness in local institutions. In addition, it creates patterns of inclusion and exclusion, for example by giving certain groups of people access to employment and contracts, while excluding others. This is an important reason for focusing on locally-owned subcontracting companies and assessing their contribution to development. The proposed research provides this focus by theoretically extending and problematizing the notion of backward linkages. Methodologically it takes a novel approach by embedding quantitative surveys and descriptive statistics within qualitative field research focusing on a) power, social relations and embeddedness and b) patterns of access and exclusion in two selected mining concessions in Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This two-year research programme (1 January 2017- 31 December 2018) aims to further understand governance, service delivery and economic growth in the Democratic Republic of Congo. More particularly, it aims to understand policy implementation from national to local levels and generating lessons from what works in promoting positive change, and how to measure change. The research program will do this by tackling a range of sector-specific topics that link closely to the programs of DFID – DRC. Topics are thus chosen for their potential to contribute practical operational knowledge. At the same time, it is the ethos of the individual research projects to also address big cross-cutting questions of governance and state-society relations that might help inform DFID's broader discussions on how to engage in fragile states with weak governance.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof
• Co-promoter: De Herdt Tom

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

When it comes to the topic of sex in the context of war much scholarly and practical concern has been shown for the terrible occurrences of rape. Evocative language describing rape as a "weapon of war" and the female body as a battlefield is now commonplace. Although some scholars note similarities with violence before, during and after conflict, very little is known about the relationship between sex and war—in other words between violent events such as rape or war and "normal" male-female relationships. Much of the work in the area of sex in the context of war is focused either on sexual violence, sexual exploitation, or HIV without putting the analysis into the broader context of sexuality and neglecting the complex interweavings of power, desire, violence and survival; or it is focused on women—particularly as victims and often minimizing or underappreciating female agency even if under seriously constrained circumstances. This post-doctoral project aims to address this gap through an in-depth ethnographic study of the relationship between sex and war in the Acholi sub-region of northern Uganda. Building on research focusing on forced sex from over seven years of fieldwork, the study will illuminate the ways war variously works to continue, exaggerate and/or rupture "normal" social and gendered orderings of Acholi society. This has implications for understanding logics of violence and practical endeavors to prevent or respond to it.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof
• Fellow: Porter Holly

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project will assess to what extent more participatory intra household decision making about production and resource allocation contributes to more sustainable, efficient and equitable household farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa, more specifically coffee farming systems in Uganda and Tanzania. An intervention in which household are intensely coached in participatory decision making about production, resource allocation and income expenditure will be randomly introduced among Ugandan and Tanzanian smallholder coffee farming household. A framed economic experiment will permit to appraise if provision and appropriation behaviour by spouses in households with more participatory intra household decision making, the treatment group, is more cooperative, than in control households. The impact of participatory intra household decision making on the sustainability, efficiency and equitability of the outcomes from provision and appropriation behaviour in household farming systems will be studied with using individual survey data collected among spouses in treatment and control households. Inspired by the methods and findings of this project, a practical monitoring tool will be developed to capture changes in intra household decision making about production and resource allocation and their effect on sustainable, efficient and equitable (coffee) farming in collaboration with one of the partner organisations.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie
• Fellow: Lecoutere Els

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

To organise academic events for CRE-AC and to define the themes for these events; to organise the communication and outreach of CRE-AC and to co-edit a yearly publication of CRE-AC. To organise academic events for CRE-AC and to define the themes for these events; to organise the communication and outreach of CRE-AC and to co-edit a yearly publication of CRE-AC.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Herdt Tom

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project aims to conduct a mixed methods study on migration destination choice in order to understand the differential roles played by cities and secondary towns with respect to growth and poverty reduction.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Weerdt Joachim

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project will assess to what extent more participatory intra household decision making about production and resource allocation contributes to more sustainable, efficient and equitable household farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa, more specifically coffee farming systems in Uganda. An intervention in which household are intensely coached in participatory decision making about production, resource allocation and income expenditure will be randomly introduced among Ugandan smallholder coffee farming households. A framed economic experiment will permit to appraise if provision and appropriation behaviour by spouses in households with more participatory intra household decision making, the treatment group, is more cooperative, than in control households. The impact of participatory intra household decision making on the sustainability, efficiency and equitability of the outcomes from provision and appropriation behaviour in household farming systems will be studied using individual survey data collected among spouses in treatment and control households.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Lecoutere Els

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The enhancement of the global financial safety net is at the forefront of policy discussions about the international monetary system. Since the global financial crisis the IMF has extended its toolkit with new precautionary lending instruments, most importantly the Flexible Credit Line (FCL) and the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL), in support of the IMF's role as international lender of last resort. The main contribution of this research project is to bring more empirical rigour to the ongoing debates about these precautionary instruments, and that on two fronts. First, the key macroeconomic, financial and political variables that explain whether or not countries enter into such precautionary arrangements will be identified. Second, the effect of the arrangements on bond spreads and other outcome variables in the participating countries will be evaluated using a novel counterfactual approach, the so-called 'synthetic control method'.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Essers Dennis

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

We study the impact of electoral gender quota in post-war Burundi and Rwanda on women's political representation. First, we look at descriptive representation, by studying the number of female representatives and the prestige of their positions in the legislative and executive branches of government. Second, we focus on political representation as perceived by ordinary women, before, during and after the introduction of gender quota. We find that, both in Rwanda and Burundi, descriptive female political representation significantly increased with the introduction of gender quota, with the share of women in parliament and ministries consistently exceeding 30%. While women still disproportionally end up in Ministries of relatively lower prestige, the gap with men is closing as more women have joined the executive branches of power. We do not find any tangible effect on women's perceived political representation. Among the possible explanations, we discuss the authoritarian nature of the regime and the crowding out of gender identity by ethnic identity. We argue that these explanations are not entirely consistent with our data, and put forward a third explanation, i.e. that the perception of political representation depends on the implementation of policies - thus substantive representation, not descriptive representation - and that men and women are to a very large extent appreciative of the same policies.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal service agreement between UA and on the other hand VLIR. UA provides VLIR research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vandeginste Stef

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

How are public services provided in a context of a state which has been affected by enduring conflict and economic downfall? According to the 'failed state' literature, these places are characterized by a vacuum of authority. This is challenged by the literature on 'hybrid governance' which highlights how state actors are only one actor among a wide range of actors providing governance in a certain area: the weakness of the formal state framework does not necessarily create chaos, or a vacuum. By using a hybrid governance perspective, this research project wants to analyse primary education services in Somaliland: Somalia, and the Somaliland region, is considered a typical 'failed state', and although the state is largely absent from public services, education services continue to be provided. However, the hybrid governance perspective largely neglects two crucial aspects: the role of legitimacy and power in these arrangements, as well as the role of international actors. Both of these aspects have a profound impact on the outcome of these hybrid arrangements, but have been largely ignored in the analysis. Particular attention will be given to Islamic donors, which play an important role in supporting the education sector in Somaliland: their specific religious character, with specific sets of legitimacy, and their impact on public service (education) provision, has not been studied properly, particularly in the context of a largely absent state.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof
• Fellow: Gandrup Tobias

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The project studies the nexus between conflict, mineral resources and employment opportunities. Does the presence of mineral resources increase conflict? Why do young men fight? How can employment creation contribute to social stability? We study these questions in the context of eastern DRC, home to large stocks of mineral resource wealth, yet one of the poorest and most conflict-affected regions in the world.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke
• Fellow: Stoop Nik

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Review of a paper analysing the effects of participation to microcredit schemes on women entrepreneurship. The empirical analysis, based on a large HH survey, and taking into account the potential endogeneity of access to microcredit on entrepreneurship, systematically compares outcomes for men and women, as well their potential interconnections.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Sanfilippo Marco

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project aims to conduct a mixed methods study on migration destination choice in order to understand the differential roles played by cities and secondary towns with respect to growth and poverty reduction.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Weerdt Joachim

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand the client. UA provides the client research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Informal taxes play an important role in the 'real' governance of taxation. Although, both in academic and policy circles, increasing attention has been given to the issue, very little empirical data are available. Through unprecedented access to the Congolese police, this research project wants to address this gap.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This exploratory field research in Ghana is part of my research project on 'hybrid governance in mining concessions in Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo', which proposes to study the impact of transnational mining companies' activities on local governance in a novel fashion. The field research consists of 2 phases: 1) networking and introduction in selected communities, 2) qualitative data collection in selected communities.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The overall objective is to understand social mobility in a post-conflict context. I will study the extent and differential nature of social mobility: whether, how and why individuals and households move up, move down or remain immobile. I use both a narrow and a broad concept of social mobility. In a narrow sense, social mobility is defined as the (perceived) movement in (socio-) economic position over time of individuals, households and/or social categories. An enlarged conception of social mobility also encompasses the changing experience and perceptions of security, trust and political participation/representation over time, which are all highly relevant in a post-conflict setting.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ingelaere Bert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Armed conflicts generally cause a disproportionate number of male victims. The related fall in the share of men in the population is likely to push women to assume new roles and responsibilities. Moreover, it may have important repercussions on electoral outcomes and, ultimately, on policy decisions. In particular, there may be a shift to more female political representatives as well as to more pro-female policies. This project aims to understand the relationship between conflicts and female political empowerment, which is a blind spot in the existing literature. The focus will be on Rwanda, a country where conflicts led to a sharp decrease in the sex ratio, and where the postconflict period was characterized by a notable increase in the share of elected women. We will combine qualitative and quantitative information to explore if and how the increase in the share of elected women affects actual policy decisions and the perception of women in the society.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand VLIR. UA provides VLIR research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Herdt Tom

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand VLIR. UA provides VLIR research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Ingelaere Bert
• Promoter: Reyntjens Filip

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand the client. UA provides the client research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Sanfilippo Marco

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal service agreement between UA and on the other hand Min. Buitenlandse Zaken (NL). UA provides Min. Buitenlandse Zaken (NL) research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Molenaers Nadia

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Demand for mineral resources is growing, while reserves are drying up. This evolution has pushed transnational mining companies (TNCs) towards extraction in formerly inaccessible locations, including post-conflict areas. Quite often in such settings, the TNCs concerned also perform governance functions, such as providing security, social services and public infrastructure. In so doing, they conform to the requirements of 'corporate social responsibility', which is often translated as 'doing good for the community'. But in addition to delivering benefits through hospitals, schools and roads, TNCs can also damage the environment and restrict people's access to land and resources. Moreover they may induce unintended harm through channels that remain largely unobserved. The arrival of a TNC tends to affect not just the local economy, but also local politics, creating winners and losers in both arenas. The proposed research takes a novel approach in studying such political changes, drawing on the literature on hybrid governance and analyzing power and authority 'from below'. Cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ghana are used in a comparative study with a view to gaining insight into local conflicts in their institutional and historical contexts. This is crucial for a more general understanding and management of companycommunity conflicts, as communities are never homogeneous and conflicts are as much about authority and legitimacy as they are about resources and land.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Reyntjens Filip
• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke
• Fellow: Geenen Sara

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the impact of Côte d'Ivoire's secondary schooling on shaping students' attitudes towards peace, reconciliation and intergroup tolerance. The methodology consists of an innovative panel survey, whereby teachers, pupils, and their parents, of 64 secondary schools in Abidjan and Bouaké will be interviewed at three different moments in time.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke
• Fellow: Kuppens Line

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The objective of this research it to examine the norms, policies and practices developed by the African Union related to the promotion of constitutional rule in its member states. The research is in line with an international trend of increased scholarly attention for collective action towards peace, security, stability and democratic state-building in Africa. The research will contribute to a conceptual clarification of the notion of constitutionalism in the particular context of states and societies with a history of military coups and armed conflict and, very often, a lack of widely shared constitutional values. The work also contributes to the scholarship on the role of intergovernmental institutions in fostering political integration. Essentially, the research examines (1) the emerging normative framework of the AU on constitutional rule; (2) the rationale behind it; (3) the implementation of these norms, with particular attention for (i) the enforcement and sanctioning mechanisms (legal, but also political and diplomatic), and (ii) the interplay between the international and domestic legal order. In addition to its academic relevant, the research is also policy-relevant and will allow for more knowledge-based interventions in the area of rule of law promotion. In particular, it will allow for a better understanding of the merits and constraints of top-down legal and political engineering of constitutional rule in africa. The results of this research will contribute to the development of normative guidelines which may be used by policy-makers at national and international level in order to develop a sustainable and coherent culture of constitutional governance.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vandeginste Stef
• Fellow: Wiebusch Michael

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The increasing significance of PBF in the health sector in developing countries necessitates more knowledge on assumptions and mechanisms at play. We will perform a theory-based evaluation of a BTC project in Uganda to study the effect of PBF on health worker motivation, rent seeking behaviour and the role of M&E.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie
• Fellow: Renmans Dimitri

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The work requested from the University of Antwerp is to provide a contribution to a larger political economy study of the African Union and 5 African REGs, which will attempt to answer the following central research question: How and why do different actors and factors affect REG/AU policy choice and its implementation in different thematic areas? The specific contribution of the University of Antwerp will be focused on the African Union's Programme of Infrastructure Development in Africa.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Molenaers Nadia

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand 11.11.11. UA provides 11.11.11research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Molenaers Nadia

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand Unicef. UA provides Unicef research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Herdt Tom

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand VLIR. UA provides VLIR research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof
• Co-promoter: De Herdt Tom

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand the client. UA provides the client research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Cassimon Danny

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal service agreement between UA and on the other hand VLIR. UA provides VLIR research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Reyntjens Filip

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Participation in the peer group for the IOB (Institute of Development Policy and Management) policy review titled 'Good governance: democratization, promotion of the rule of law and control of corruption".

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Molenaers Nadia

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The proposed project studies the nexus between conflict, mineral resources and employment opportunities. Does the presence of mineral resources increase conflict? Why do young men fight? How can employment creation contribute to social stability? We study these questions in the context of eastern DRC, home to large stocks of mineral resource wealth, yet one of the poorest and most conflict-affected regions in the world.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal service agreement between UA and on the other hand Min. Buitenlandse Zaken (NL). UA provides Min. Buitenlandse Zaken (NL) research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Molenaers Nadia

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand VLIR. UA provides VLIR research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand VLIR. UA provides VLIR research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract. This research project is implemented in rural Uganda (Mbarara district) and focuses on the interplay between intrahousehold relations, time use and the effect on education and health seeking behavior of different household members.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Our goal is not to develop specific solutions to specific problems. Rather, we will leverage the cross-disciplinary nature of our consortium to create a flexible and adaptive set of tools, protocols and concepts to promote citizen science on ecosystem services (ESS) for poverty alleviation. As such, the project aims at nothing less than reconceptualising the approach to managing ESS for poverty alleviation.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bastiaensen Johan

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The overall objective is to understand social mobility in a post-conflict context. I will study the extent and differential nature of social mobility: whether, how and why individuals and households move up, move down or remain immobile. I use both a narrow and a broad concept of social mobility.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Reyntjens Filip
• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke
• Fellow: Ingelaere Bert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

During the last decade, the conservation tool of 'Payments for Ecosystem Services' (PES) has attracted growing attention in both academic and policy circles. The approach looks appealing: land users, often poorly motivated to protect nature on their land, may be encouraged to do so through direct and conditional payments from interested consumers/buyers (e.g. local urban water users paying upstream farmers for land conservation). PES mechanisms are also increasingly seen as promising tools for rural poverty alleviation in developing countries. PES schemes are, however, not uncontested. Despite the growing literature on PES, there is still a theoretical and empirical knowledge gap on the socio-environmental and political-economic consequences of PES schemes and on the way payment incentives influence individual and collective decisions on land use and sustained pro-environment behaviour. Through comparative case studies in Nicaragua, the research project contributes to a more comprehensive and holistic agenda on the appropriateness and socio-ecological consequences of PES schemes.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bastiaensen Johan
• Fellow: Van Hecken Gert

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The project studies the nexus between conflict, mineral resources and employment opportunities. Does the presence of mineral resources increase conflict? Why do young men fight? How can employment creation contribute to social stability? We study these questions in the context of eastern DRC, home to large stocks of mineral resource wealth, yet one of the poorest and most conflict-affected regions in the world.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke
• Fellow: Stoop Nik

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The main objectives of this Mid-Term review are to: - identify and assess the results of the Uganda programme between 2009-2013 - analyse the results where possible relate the first effects of the programme on the political party system in Uganda and the political culture emerging - on the basis of the lessons learned so far, provide recommendations for the next phase of the Uganda programme in 2014-2016.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Molenaers Nadia

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The project is built up around a comparative research studying the impact of different types of accountability mechanisms on the access to and quality of local service delivery, and the enabling (political) factors.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Molenaers Nadia
• Co-promoter: Holvoet Nathalie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Northern Uganda has been ravaged by war for the last 2 decades, but has known peace since 2005. The conflict has been a defining characteristic of Uganda polities and society, and the reconstruction process is equally important. This process is however affected by a range of governance problems, which are poorly understood. This project will generate better knowledge (academie objective) by funding PhD scholarships, research projects, research trainings, academie seminars and publications on th is issue - all of which will i) build capacity of the involved Ugandan universities, and ii) increase the networking among the Ugandan universities themselves, and with the Flemish institutes. It will also contribute to sustainable peace-building (developmental objective) by tne dissemination of the results to the relevant policy-actors and communities, which will be involved in the different phases: establishment of the research agenda, the research strategies (field research), and the dissemination ph ase.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The objective of the GAPP-project is to re-evaluate growth and poverty trends in Sub-Saharan Africa. The project consists of a serie of country case studies. The country research teams will employ consistent measurement methods to estimate monetary poverty for years in which adequate household survey exist. The research teams will attempt to reconcile poverty estimates with trends in economic growth and other development indicators.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and International Crisis Group (ICG). UA provides ICG research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in the contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Kohlhagen Dominik

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal service agreement between UA and on the other hand ODI. UA provides ODI research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Herdt Tom

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The research will focus in particular on budget support to the education sector (sector budget support or general budget support with an education focus) as this is one of key budget support sectors where over the past decade sex disaggregated targets have been introduced in PAFs and where also gender-sector working have been operational. Second, the researchers focus on countries where the EC was involved as a donor because of the fact that our earlier policy advisory work for the EC might facilitate primary data collection. Third, in order to increase internal validity, the researchers have opted to increase sample homogeneity by focusing on one specific region, i.e. Sub-Saharan Africa. The combination of these selection criteria leads to sample of 31 SSA countries.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Participation in the reference group to advise the Director of the Institute of Development Policy and Management (IOB) to support the quality of research and to give feedback of the research results.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Molenaers Nadia

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The research project aims at contributing to the broad research question: How do developmental states, where formal institutions such as control over corruption, and/or voice and political rights are largely underdeveloped, manage the effective implementation of development policies and the achievement of developmental results? More particularly this research zooms in on the question if and how governments (and other stakeholders) in developmental states actually monitor policy implementation, if and how they monitor progress, if and how they evaluate policy implementation and impact, if and how the generated evidence is fed back into the policy cycle. How, in other words, are the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) arrangements operationalised in these states? And how different are these arrangements from the so-called ideal M&E systems which satisfy commonly agreed upon standards?

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie
• Co-promoter: Molenaers Nadia

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a research contract awarded by the University of Antwerp. The supervisor provides the Antwerp University research mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions stipulated by the university.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Reyntjens Filip

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a research contract awarded by the University of Antwerp. The supervisor provides the Antwerp University research mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions stipulated by the university.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Herdt Tom

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The research aims to analyze international remittances and poverty reduction in the Philippines using the community-based monitoring system data (CBMS). It aims to determine the extent remittances can raise incomes and alleviate poverty among households by analyzing the existing household-level data from CBMS.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Calfat German

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research connects to one of the most pressing issue on the development agenda for the coming decades, i.e. climate change and more particularly the need to design effective coping and adaptation strategies in the south. It starts from the observation that thus far micro-level adaptation policies are generally targeted at households, and thus implicitly assume that households act as neutral intermediaries among policy-makers and individuals. This is in sharp contrast to intrahousehold allocation literature which has over the past decade demonstrated that the household does not typically function as a unit with one utility maximizing function where different members pool resources. In fact, it is more likely that the household functions as a locus of cooperation and conflict and that bargaining processes among different household members with different preferences and bargaining power determine whose preferences finally prevail. Strongly diverging preferences and behaviour, oftentimes structured along gender lines, have been recorded in many areas, including in how to adapt to climate change, and in how to manage and conserve natural resources. However, and somehow to our surprise, there has thus far been little cross-reading among climate change adaptation research and intra-household allocation literature. This is exactly what this research projects aims to do. We will in particular zoom into agricultural and water related adaptation interventions in the Rwenzori region in Uganda, an area which is strongly affected by climate change. We will compare the impact of interventions which use slightly different delivery modes that can be traced back to different assumptions about household decision-making. We will compare the impact of interventions targeted at households with interventions targeted at individuals, more specifically women. The study will use a quasi-experimental research design to arrive at conclusions regarding causal inferences, and combine this with qualitative methods to get insight into men's and women's perceptions of how they are affected by climate change, and how and why they respond in particular ways. This research will add to the relatively scarce robust impact studies on the topic and it is particularly relevant against the background of a growing acknowledgement that successful adaptation is not only influenced by technological innovation but also largely shaped by local norms and institutions.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie
• Co-promoter: Crabbé Ann
• Fellow: Van Aelst Katrien

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The project aims to ascertain whether citizen-led gender budget initiatives have enhanced economic efficiency and effectiveness of public healthcare service delivery; and contributed towards narrowing the gender gap in the health sector of Kabale District, with regard to access, utilisation and control over healthcare services and benefits.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

By studying specific state institutions, this research project aims at contributing to the theoretical debates on the nature of the state in Africa. It therefore discusses the following issues which are part of this commission: government/political systems; political sciences; public policy/administrations; political sociology.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Reyntjens Filip
• Co-promoter: Bastiaensen Johan
• Fellow: Titeca Kristof

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The project focuses on the impact of sexual violence on social preferences and post-conflict reconstruction in DRC. To the best of our knowledge, this would be the first study testing the impact of sexual violence on social preferences using behavioral games.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke
• Fellow: Stoop Nik

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The objective of the project isto provide highest quality expertise for integrating gender equality issues in the EU and - to the degree this is feasible in full respect of the human rights-based approach to development.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Conducting baseline assessments, follow-up assessments and quality control in the context of the consortium project "Joint MFS II Evaluations at Country Level: DR Congo" (project head in order funded by NWO-WOTRO)

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verpoorten Marijke

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Holvoet Nathalie

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Today's most popular instruments for ecosystem services and poverty alleviation overlook the complexity of socio-ecological systems. Stressing the significance of institutions and local actors' construction of pathways of change, we analyse the need for, and potential of, a more integrated approach for a more effective contribution to sustainable and inclusive rural development.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bastiaensen Johan
• Fellow: Huybrechs Frédéric

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The overall objectives of the SI" are (i) to promote knowledge - at the level of both partners as weil as the wider academic and soeietal constituencies in which they operate - obout the legal dimensions of dellelopment, and (ii) to enhonce the effectiveness of deve!opment interventions through the use of law. This wiJl be done through joint initiatives (under the three classica I functions of a university: education, research and service delivery) taken on the basis of a partnership between a Northern and a Southern partner in which both have the same degree of ownership and in which both benefit from exchanges that go in two directions.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vandeginste Stef
• Co-promoter: Vandenhole Wouter

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The main hypothesis is that the current global context generates new pressures on and threats for family farming affecting their property rights over natural resources and participation in wealth creation. The main objective is to generate evidence based policy for rural development, focusing on the role of family-farming and lts relation with other types of agricultural production.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bastiaensen Johan

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal service agreement between UA and on the other hand VLIR. UA provides VLIR research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Reyntjens Filip

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal service agreement between UA and on the other hand VLIR. UA provides VLIR research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Herdt Tom

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand WU. UA provides WU research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Titeca Kristof

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand VLIR. UA provides VLIR research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Calfat German

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Nicaragua is the most rural county of Central America; the only one where the agricultural sector is growing. But rural poverty remains high as growth tends to be exclusionary, leaving behind the land-poor, women and youth, with difficulties to connect to the dynamic sectors and often dependent on non-agricultural activities. The FDL and Nitlapán have developed significant financial and non-financial services to support the development of small scale rural enterprises. They now face important challenges to further improve their products and impact by forging more operational synergy among their programs as well as with allied organizations, and by being more effective in broader incidence in the local and (inter)national development community. The project pilots an innovative program of training-action research, focused upon the systematization of FDL-Nitlapán and similar interventions, and involving all the relevant stakeholders from clients to beneficiaries over local professional staff up to the national level directors. This should make FDL-Nitlapán a more effective 'teaming organization' and create a 'sustainable platform for social leaming among local producers-enterprises and the variety of development actors. It will also contribute to the (inter)national debate about methods to support inclusive rural development.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bastiaensen Johan

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The overall objectives of the O*platform are: -increased incorporation of insights on aid architecture and aid effectiveness in Belgian DC policy formulation and implementation -increased incorporation of insights on new aid architecture and aid effectiveness in development management in the South.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Molenaers Nadia
• Promoter: Renard Robrecht
• Co-promoter: Cassimon Danny
• Co-promoter: Holvoet Nathalie
• Co-promoter: Molenaers Nadia

Research team(s)

• Development processes, actors and policies

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project