This PhD is part of a project that addresses the sustainability of food systems in Kenya and Bolivia. It is focusing on the five basic aspects of food sustainability: Food security, the right to food, poverty and inequality, environmental integrity, and social-ecological resilience. The aim of the project is to analyse different food systems according to these aspects, develop an framework for assessing ‘food sustainability’ in concrete contexts, formulate policies and discuss them in local to global policy dialogues and workshops to communicate the results.
Jobs and Announcements
PhD position at the Centre for Development and Environment / University of Bern in the R4D project "Towards food sustainability: Reshaping the coexistence of different food systems in South America and Africa
Deadline 20 February 2015
Call for papers European Conference on African Studies (ECAS) 2015: Living in State Housing: Expectations, contradictions and consequences – call for panel papers
Closing Date: 9 January 2015
State-supported low-cost housing is a significant tool and electoral strategy across African cities, which often draws on notions of urban formality, social decency, rights, material integrity, welfare, and citizenship to underpin its aims. This session examines he contradictions of
housing urban poor people in cities where affordable and well-located
space is highly restricted, where social inequalities and tensions are
rife, and where unemployment persists in shaping residents daily
lives. The panel hopes to attract papers from across the continent to
build understanding of the lived experiences of state-housing in an
effort to contribute to further scholarship in this relatively
neglected area. Delegates can submit paper titles and abstracts via the link on the website and will be notified by email of the acceptance or rejection of their proposal.
Emerging Powers in Africa Project call for grant proposals
Call closing December 2014 (negotiable)
Fahamu’s Emerging Powers Project is issuing a call for grant proposals to examine the political, economic, social and cultural impact of the emerging powers footprint in Africa. The grant is specifically related to empowering civil society actors in gaining the appropriate knowledge and developing the necessary tools to articulate an informed perspective on the emerging powers in Africa and the corresponding impact. In particular, attention should be given to the forthcoming China-Africa Forum (FOCAC), the India-Africa Forum Summit, and the South Korea-Africa development cooperation meeting that is going to take place in 2015, as well as the recent Africa-Turkey Summit that took place in November 2014. Applicants are encouraged to explore how these platforms inform Africa’s relationship with emerging actors; what impact have these engagements had on Africa’s relationship with these and other actors; and how African civil society actors should advance African voice. The grants are for 5000 Euro, with further details on the application procedure on the website.
Save the Children South Africa: Action/2015 Campaign Coalition Coordinator
Call for applicants closes January 10 2015
The action/2015 Campaign Coalition Coordinator will help drive the strategic direction and delivery of the South African action/2015 coalition. This is a high-level position which will play a key role in building a broad based national action/2015 coalition and in supporting the design and delivery of the coalition’s action/2015 campaign. This is a 3 month consultancy opportunity. Further information on the website.
Universal Health Coverage network to be launched in Africa on UHC Day
Africa Civil Society Network for Universal Health Coverage, Accra, December 2014
The African Platform for Universal Health Coverage (AP-UHC) will be launched with events in 9 African countries and online during the first Global Day for Universal Health Coverage (12th December 2014). The same date, two years ago, all countries unanimously supported a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly which encouraged member states to “plan or pursue the transition of their health systems towards Universal Health Coverage”. AP-UHC will contribute to civil society efforts for the implementation of Universal Health Coverage policies at national, and Africa level as the practical expression of the Right to Health in Africa. The network is a result of the global effort to improve and expand healthcare delivery to every locality where everybody receives the health services they need. The network will provide adequate support to national NGOs in their advocacy, using people-centred, right-based approach, to influence governments and policy makers at regional, national and community levels to implement Universal Health Coverage policies.
Call for Applications: Teen and Young Adult Reading Groups
Closing date: 12 December 2014
FunDza aims to get youth reading and writing for pleasure. The organisation creates, collects and shares stories that ignite the imagination of youth from under-resourced communities. FunDza is calling for applications from reading groups to apply to join its 'Popularising reading' programme. The programme is designed to support reading groups for teens and young adults, especially in South Africa. Small organisations and reading groups are also welcome to apply.
Call for conference session papers: Private sector and Universal Health Coverage: Examining evidence and de-constructing rhetoric
Closing date: 15th January 2015
The international Conference on Public Policy is being held 1st to 4th July 2015 in Milan Italy and will include a session on "Private sector and Universal Health Coverage: Examining evidence and de-constructing rhetoric". The conference aims to support exchanges between researchers on public policy from all over the world and registration opens 1st January 2015. The specific session aim seeks to discuss evidence on the scope and effectiveness of the commercial sector (and the paradigm of public private partnerships) in achieving Universal Health Coverage in low and middle income countries. The organisers invite abstracts for papers reporting findings of empirical research to critically examine role of private sector, scope of public-private interactions, and their implications for the UHC agenda. Abstracts should outline original research/ reviews and methodologies suitable for examining private sector engagement in health care systems. Commentaries/ Opinion pieces will NOT be accepted. Abstracts should include title, authors and affiliations (please * presenting author), abstract text (500 words); keywords (up to 5); a statement listing any research funders or other sources of financial support which have contributed to the work presented and declaration of potential conflict of interest. For further details please contact Oxfam UK.
Citizens call to action on a petition on Ebola
Mahta Ba A: August 2014
A petition has been launched by Africans calling for concerted in the struggle to contain the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. It suggests three affirmative actions and rejects isolationist measures. Sign on to the petition is invited.
Even It Up Campaign
Oxfam International
Oxfam has launched a global campaign to end extreme inequality, with campaigns in 37 countries uniting behind the call for a more equal world. Extreme inequality is argued to be threatening to undo much of the progress made over the past 20 years in tackling poverty. It is not inevitable. It is the consequence of economic and political choices. The campaign invites people to play a critical role and provides a pack of content, including ‘sharegraphics’ to share on social media platforms. From targeting big corporations whose tax dodging activities help deny developing countries billions in revenue, to demanding policies that can close the gender gap, the campaign invites people to play a key role in amplifying the call to even it up and raise extreme inequality to the top of government’s agendas.
Global Health Watch 4
Peoples Health Movement: Zed books, November 2014
With the world still battling the Ebola outbreak, the evidence of a clear link between the inability of affected countries to deal with the crisis and the collapse of public health systems is becoming stronger. Extreme poverty in the affected region, engendered by neo-liberal policies, further created the conditions for the rapid spread of the epidemic. This is the context that informs the contents of the 2014 Global Health Watch (GHW) report that was released in November. With contributions from more than 80 experts from across the globe, GHW4 addresses key issues in the health sector. Through its five sections, it covers diverse issues related to health systems and the range of social, economic, political and environmental determinants of health. GHW4 locates decisions and choices that impact on health in the structure of global power relations and economic governance and is complemented by the ' Watching' section that scrutinises global processes and institutions. The final section on 'Alternatives, Action and Change', documents inspiring stories of struggles and actions for change.